Ripped Off By The Sony Shop... Is There Anything Like A Consumer Affairs Body In Thailand?

[Apothecary]

Five months ago I went into the Sony shop in xxxx and bought a small music system (14,690 baht) that would connect to my iPhone with what Sony call a 'media dock station'. I bought the thing basically to listen to my tunes in the home. Whilst in the shop they demoed my iPhone working with the product.

After purchase, the system worked perfectly for about 4 months until one day it would stop functioning with my phone. I took the dock station back to the the shop and we tested my phone on another one there which worked fine so they agreed to send my faulty dock station to Sony for repair.

4 weeks later they told me they could not repair it as the spare part would cost more than a new one. They agreed to give me a new one under warranty. 2nd visit to the shop, I go in and instead of a new on they gave me another old one. I didn't test it in the shop but when i got home it was also faulty.

3rd visit I took the faulty one back (that they gave me on the 2nd visit) and they re-tested my phone with another dock (which was a higher model) and it worked fine. The shop assistant was going to give it to me but then the shop assistant manager refused on the basis that my iPhone was not compatible with the original model that they had sold me.

He said sorrry sir but the specification of my model not support the iPhone. i said how can this be as I had it working fine for 4 months and they had sold it to me after demo my iPhone in the shop. This shop assistant manager would not take responsibility at all in my siutation. I became enraged and told him clearly he was wasting my time and why bother to tell me on an email i could pick up a new one when this was not their intention.

I am noW left without any dock and felt insulted by this Assistant Manager at the Sony shop. I did later email the manager and he never apologised and just said I should wait. Even he did not know how to resolve this.

I am left very dissapointed and even at the time I told them they would lose my future business which would exceed the price of this dock station ... the bottom line is they did not care or care to resolve themselves. Left me feeling like they cheated me.

My question is.. has anyone else had an experience like this and is there any channel (consumer affairs body or legal channel) that is worth taking this up through. The cost of a new dock is about 2,000 - 4,000 baht depending on the model. The cost is a not the issue here, so much as my self-respect and principle to have them take responsibility for them selling me something not compatible with my equipment.

[ces]

I am sorry to hear about what happened to you but this sadly, is the usual state of affairs in some parts of Asia. I would be interested to know though if there is such a thing as a Consumer Affairs Body here. I'm terrified of purchasing anything major.

[ozzieman05]

Your wasting your time with this shop my friend

First thing is Contact the Sony importer in Thailand, they are the ones you have the 12 months warranty with

also send an Email to Sony 's head office

Sony is very protective of its Name and reputation

[BEENTHEREDONETHAT]

Why not send a email to Sony's S.E.Asia headquarters in Singapore and tell them what has happened and ask for their assistance in getting you a new one. Can't hurt and may solve the problem.

[Enjibenji]

contact the big boys sony

[balo]

contact the big boys sony

I agree , it's the only way to do this . After all the product is still under a world wide warranty and the manager is not doing his job here.

[Ta22]

i was thinking 7 days was the standard for exchange .

- and within the 12 month warranty there are able liable to fix it .. not replace it for you .

so in this case the offer was beyond the agreement .

--

better look into the fine print .

i don;t thing the 12 month warranty cover a 1 -1 replacment .

so sometime . is confusing when helpful thai try to offer what is best and a standard working store manager with farang way of doing . come in to set the warranty on standard ,

- is best you bring your problem to SONY . customer service and later up to the higher level .

[dominique355]

Why not send a email to Sony's S.E.Asia headquarters in Singapore and tell them what has happened and ask for their assistance in getting you a new one. Can't hurt and may solve the problem.

Just make sure you have the name of the manager and sales clerk in the Sony shop and a copy of your sales slip and also send a copy of your e-mail to the Sony shop which gave you the problems.

BTW there is a Consumer Protection Act in Thailand. It has just recently been enacted. It allows you to file a complaint with the court, I believe.

[sanook2me]

Contact Sony direct and keep going to the shop complaining - eventually sense does prevail but sometimes you need to crack the nut with a sledgehammer

my example with a phone about the same price

I bought a mobile from a shop and within 6 months the phone was switching itself off so i took it back and the sales person who served me said I needed to buy a new battery! After much complaing/conversation from me about warranty and not buying a new battery because the phone would still turn off they sent the phone to Samsung to be repaired ! it came back wtih the same battery and worked like a dream for another 2 years between charges.

For some reason it appears alot of Thai shop staff don't like to recognize the fact things go wrong and are normally covered by a warranty.

Contact Sony direct and keep complaining at the shop....

[Apothecary]

Funny. They called me today. Came to my home and picked the whole system up and gave me a letter to say they would refund my Visa Card. Looks like I'll be shopping for a new one.... Christmas has come early.. well for some shops they never take the decorations down so it wouldn't matter when it was

[Jimjim]

Just get one of those iphone speaker systems made by Apple itself.

[dave111223]

How did the cost of the docking station go from 14,690 baht to 2,000-4,000 baht i just 4 months?

(so i guess with the refund you can buy 4-7 new ones?)

Edited May 4, 2009 by dave111223

[BEENTHEREDONETHAT]

Funny. They called me today. Came to my home and picked the whole system up and gave me a letter to say they would refund my Visa Card. Looks like I'll be shopping for a new one.... Christmas has come early.. well for some shops they never take the decorations down so it wouldn't matter when it was

Thats great, nice to hear of something turning out well.

[surayu]

Just as a quick note, everytime you update the software of your Iphone, that update might eventually lead to your phone becoming all of a sudden incompatible with previously used items that didn't had any issues before that particular update, as a sad additional note it seems not possible to reverse that step by going back to the previous version for some of the updates, so be carefull there...

[Sakeopete]

Funny. They called me today. Came to my home and picked the whole system up and gave me a letter to say they would refund my Visa Card. Looks like I'll be shopping for a new one.... Christmas has come early.. well for some shops they never take the decorations down so it wouldn't matter when it was

[/quote

You use a credit card in Thailand? Your a braver man then me.

[Soutpeel]

Funny. They called me today. Came to my home and picked the whole system up and gave me a letter to say they would refund my Visa Card. Looks like I'll be shopping for a new one.... Christmas has come early.. well for some shops they never take the decorations down so it wouldn't matter when it was

So are you going to withdraw your remark "Ripped Off By The Sony Shop"...??

[Soutpeel]

You use a credit card in Thailand? Your a braver man then me.

Why....I use a Thai credit card all the time, never had a problem in fact, the service is far better than many other overseas banks....If they spot what they think is strange activity, I get a phone call within a couple of minutes of the card being swiped...

[DP25]

You use a credit card in Thailand? Your a braver man then me.

I use credit cards all the time, in all kinds of places, in Thailand. The only 'problem' I've ever had is some shops, especially smaller ones, charge a small fee, which technically they're not allowed to do, but do so anyway.

[simcity]

You use a credit card in Thailand? Your a braver man then me.

i have been using credit card - visa / amex in Thailand for over 11 year without any problem.

Mainly stop the last 3 years due to increase of fees for purchases & withdraw

Sony will be a secure lace to use it

[pagallim]

I have quite a lot of Apple equipment, including 2 iPhones, and 3 iPods, plus a range of music system speakers and connection accessories. My advice is always to use an Apple dock to connect to equipment. With the iPhone, you'll probably get the error message that 'this accessory is not meant to be used with the iPhone' and ask if you want to turn on the 'aircraft' function on the phone (the reason it's not meant to be used).

You also have to be careful about the charging of iPods/iPhones whilst in a dock. Last year I bought a Harman Kardon unit with a built in dock (from an Apple shop), which has excellent sound quality. Downside is that it was designed for charging to take place through the firewire pin of the dock socket, not the USB pin that all recent iPods use. Not really a problem, just need to charge it separately every few days.

[Apothecary]

How did the cost of the docking station go from 14,690 baht to 2,000-4,000 baht i just 4 months?

(so i guess with the refund you can buy 4-7 new ones?)

The system is : http://www.sony.lv/product/hdd-audio/nas-e35hd

It used the DMPort with the docking station.

The problem was they sold it to me after demo with my iPhone on the docking station and then later after the problems started, they told me the docking station they sold me did not support the iPhone.

The dockingstation by itself cost 2-4k depending on the model.

[Apothecary]

I have quite a lot of Apple equipment, including 2 iPhones, and 3 iPods, plus a range of music system speakers and connection accessories. My advice is always to use an Apple dock to connect to equipment. With the iPhone, you'll probably get the error message that 'this accessory is not meant to be used with the iPhone' and ask if you want to turn on the 'aircraft' function on the phone (the reason it's not meant to be used).

Yep.. Generally the iPhone gives out more radio-interference from the GSM / Cell connectivity so would need to have a shielded device in some cases.

[Apothecary]

Funny. They called me today. Came to my home and picked the whole system up and gave me a letter to say they would refund my Visa Card. Looks like I'll be shopping for a new one.... Christmas has come early.. well for some shops they never take the decorations down so it wouldn't matter when it was

So are you going to withdraw your remark "Ripped Off By The Sony Shop"...??

Nah.. they took my energy and time.. even if i did get a refund at the end!

[TonySoprano]

Wow, that is good service in my eyes.

[DragonQuest]

b4 u even buy anything its YOUR responsibilty to make sure it can work with what u got......, I also bought a phone and the shop girl told me its 4gb to upgrade, when i investigatged further I could have gotten 8gb. The shop peolpe make 7k as month, do you think they really care about you? lol

[Apothecary]

b4 u even buy anything its YOUR responsibilty to make sure it can work with what u got......,

Well it did work in the shop and for 5 months after.. then when it broke, they told me later it was not compatible..

can't see i could be responsible for that.

[beano2274]

There is an office for Consumer protection in Thailand

Check out their site www.ocpb.go.th

[ubonjoe]

Funny. They called me today. Came to my home and picked the whole system up and gave me a letter to say they would refund my Visa Card. Looks like I'll be shopping for a new one.... Christmas has come early.. well for some shops they never take the decorations down so it wouldn't matter when it was

Since the problem has been solved there is no need for additional posts.

Topic