Unprofessional Sony service

I purchased a Sony home theater DAV-S800 from a Sony dealer in Kelapa Gading for more than US$1,000 a little more that a year back.

Recently, I started having problems with system and so I contacted the dealer who, in turn, asked me to contact a Sony Service Center in Harco, Mangga Dua in order to get it repaired. Initially, I asked the service center to send over a technician to my place to repair the system, which they refused to do, instead, they asked me to send the amplifier+DVD unit to them.

I sent the unit to them and told them that the problem with the system was that the left and the center speakers were not working. After a couple of days I received a call from them saying that the cost of repairing the unit would be around Rp 1 million. When asked why the charges were so high, they said that there was a problem with the optic lens on the unit.

I refused to accept this since my original complaint had nothing to do with the optic lens and the problem that was being faced was with the left and the center speakers not working. I instructed them not to do anything with the optic lens and just repair the problems with the speaker channels.

However, to my great disappointment, when I received the unit back, not only were the left and center channel speakers not working but also the main power would just switch itself off after a few minutes. I was really surprised since I expected the service center to repair the problems that I had stated to them and not return back the unit with added problems.

I just feel that I have been cheated as punishment for not going along with their suggestion of changing the optic lens on the unit and paying the amount of Rp 1 million for it.

I had previously thought Sony was supposed to be a good brand with an excellent service guarantee. However, I do not feel that now and wish to ask if any company like this can just play around with their customers without any actual service being provided.

PRADEEP LALA Jakarta