Sony Horror Stories

[Caveman4810]

I recently broke my rule for the use of my NR70V in my occupation. I work in the Swimming Pool industry and make it a rule to never carry my unit at poolside for one obvious reason.... Water...
Yesterday I broke that rule, by mistake, after putting the unit in my pocket during lunch and then returning to work forgetting the unit was there.
I bent over to do a water test and splash. My heart went to my stomach and my unit went to the bottom in approximently 5 foot of water :o
My partner and I moved as quickly as possible to remove the unit via the homeowners pool pole and brush, but even then the Clie was in the water for over two minutes. My mind was going a hundred miles an hour by then thinking of how to save it.
After retrieving it I took it to the truck, shaking it out and removing the memory stick on the way, and after starting the truck opened it up into a V-shape and put it on the defroster vent.
We then returned to the office and vacuumed the unit from every possible orifice and heated it with a hair dryer. At his point the Clie started booting up on it's own making a continuous beaping and giving a unrecognizable screen image.
After continuing to use the hair dryer the unit slowly started to act more normal and boot to the startup screen (original ROM startup). At this point I stopped with the hair dryer and put it in the oven and baked it out at approx 120-150 degree's.
To make this long story short, hee hee, the unit is now working like new after baking it on & off last night and this morning. ( the screen still had signs of moisture behind it for a while). I did a re-sync and am back in business.
If any of you have similar horror stories, please post them. In a lot of ways the Sony Clie can be one tuff customer..:D

[Monte]

My horror story started a year ago, when I walked into Best Buy..and said to the salesperson, "I'll take the Clie"...nothing has been the same since!

[bjorn]

I just pre-ordered an NX70V, based on my previous experience with a sony product.

I bought a refurbished Sony Vaio PC from u-Bid last spring, and in September the hard drive crashed. I had backed everything up (fortunately), but was worried about getting it fixed.

I called Sony, gave them my serial number and date of purchase, and they said "no problem". They FEDEX'ed a box to me (arrived the next day) with the foam inside to pack it in, and even included a pre-paid FEDEX label to return it with.

They received it a day later, and it was with a technician for the next week, who replaced the hard drive, and FEDEX'ed the unit back to me overnight. All in all, just under two weeks from the phone call to having the machine back and running again.

Compare this to the Toshiba laptop I purchased last year from Best Buy (with the protection plan). I brought it back with power supply problems, and they resisted accepting it for repair since they couldn't replicate the problem (since when does any problem rear it's head when you need it to), but they grudgingly accepted it for repair at my insistence.

It was with them for over a month, after which time I decided enough was enough and called their support line. I was told that it had been shipped to Toshiba for repair, and that it was on it's way back to their location, and would be shipped back up to the store I dropped it off at right away.

The next week I called the store, and they confirmed it had been shipped but it hadn't arrived yet. That was two weeks ago, and it "is still being shipped". It should only take 3 days max to ship from SoCal to Seattle, and after calling every day for the past week and a half, was told that "it got left in San Francisco", but it was going to be shipped soon, and should be here in a week.

I needed that laptop for a business trip (that was earlier this week), and am extremely unhappy with the service Best Buy has given me.

Personally, if you think there will be any need for service on your purchase, DON'T BUY FROM BEST BUY!

Bjorn

[danslaterre]

That is truly a horrifying story, Caveman. Glad to hear you were able to salvage the unit!

I'd have to say that most of the problems I've encountered with my Clie is due to "user experimentation." I like pushing it to the limit and seeing what it can really do, so I sometimes get burned. That's a risk that I've always been willing to take though, in the spirit of trying to make my handheld as useful as possible! So far, the benefits have far outweighed the drawbacks.

And I definitely do agree about *never* buying anything from Best Buy . . . handheld or PC . . . that's just setting yourself up for a lot of frustration, and who needs that?! :)

[Monte]

I think you are missing the 'joke'. I did not have a problem with Best Buy, rather it was the purchase of the Clie that I regretted.

get it?...yuk, yuk

<sheesh>:confused:

[danslaterre]

Well, regardless of what your intent was, it's strictly my opinion that it's not a good idea to buy a PC or handheld from Best Buy in any situation. That's all I was trying to say. Sorry to hear purchasing a Clie was such a negative experience for you. I will count myself among the fortunate since I have not had the same.

[YKZ_Pilot]

Sounds like a good reason never to buy refurbished anything. Especially a PC! YO never know what was the reason for the refurbishing ... or what had to be replaced.

You take your chances ... you gambled to save a few dollars and you lost.

Buy new, buy quality.

[mzchiz]

I stripped the sheets off my bed this morning, and chucked them in the wash.

To my horror, on taking my sheets out of the machine I found my Clie at the bottom.

I'm off to try the oven!!!!