Sony Service

Five years back I purchased a Sony HI-FI music system, HCR-GN88D. It did cost me 42k. Similar system from other manufacturer was available almost half of this price. But my friends convinced me that SONY sound quality is far better compare to others, and the brand image assures the reliability. I was not regretting my purchase until today. I enjoyed the music played on it for five years. Then it started to show the signs of fatigue which should not happen with such high-end expensive system.

I had take it to a SONY service center at Kothrud, Pune. I explained the problem as follows.
1. The surround sound system is not working. I get all music and background sounds but there is no sounds from human as if only the artists in the video or song are muted.
The immediate response was like this, "That's not possible sir". I then put a DVD inside and demonstrated the problem. They did some more testing before accepting it for repair.

Day 3; I got a phone call from the service center stating that they could not detect any problem with the surround sounds and the system was working fine. I had to explain the problem to the person again.

There were no update in the next 3 / 4 days. I then called them to inquire about the repair. The mechanic came online and assured me that he detected the problem with a sound splitter and needed my approval for replacement cost. I immediately gave the approval. He assured me that he would call me when the system is ready.

A week had passed; yet I received no update. So, I called the service center again on Thursday. The lady put me on hold while she inquired with the mechanic. After 5 minutes, she came back and told me that the system was ready and I could collect it at any time. I went to collect the system on Friday evening, a day after they said it was ready.

When I got there, they asked me to wait. About 10 minutes latter, a person came out with my music system and started to give me a demo. Alas! the system won't even power on. He called for help from his colleagues who also failed to power it on.

They again disappear beyond the restricted line in the repair shop. I was asked to wait. The wait was more than 20 minutes before they reappear with the system.
This time, it did power on. They gave me a little demo but no surround sound. I put a Harry Potter DVD inside, the system failed to read the DVD. I put Madonna's confession tour music video DVD, there were no sound output at all.

I felt like punching the guy on his face. He was lucky as my daughter was with me and I did not wanted to create a scene in her presence. Have they repaired it or damaged it further? If the repair was not complete, why did they call me at the first place? Worst, they were not even apologetic.

Frustrated, I returned home empty handed, wondering how the service could be any worse. One can't really expect this kind of treatment from SONY. For the moment, I will have to forget about my music system for long.

Will I buy a SONY again. I'm sure I won't even though it may work fine for five year. One of my friend has a Kenwood music system which still performs like new after 10 years. Alas, I bought a Sony. It's a SONY and it sucks.