Why I will never buy Sony products again
Jun 14
I have had it with Sony equipment. Not only do I hate how this multinational juggernaut is taking over the music industry and sticking their products into the film clips made by their artists, but they’re products are crap.
Why the rant? I own two expensive Sony cameras— the DCR-TRV20 digital Handycam and the DSC-F707 digital still camera. They are four and three years old, respectively. Apparently, despite the amount of money they cost me ($2,000 for the Handycam and over $1500 for the still camera), they are now long past their Planned Obsolescence date, because I am starting to have continual problems with both of them. Of course, past the warranty, Sony don’t want to know you, so you are forced to go to one of the very few registered repair shops with your problem; people who also could not care less, since they have a steady revenue stream from schmucks like me. So far I’ve spent $330 having the still camera repaired and over $330 on the video camera. I’ve also had to wait weeks and be treated like an inconvenience during the process. Plus the still camera apparently has one of those ‘intermittent problems’ that crop up magically when I’m using the camera and not when it is being checked for repairs.
I don’t think I’m being out of line in asking for two cameras costing a total of over $3,500 to last more than a few years, though I’m sure Sony considers me part of the throwaway generation that should have long since upgraded to the latest, grooviest Sony product. I mean, some annoying American rap star has it, so I should too, right?
Jun 15, 2005 @ 19:29:44
So I guess you won’t be first in line to buy one of these then Pete:
http://www.desperatetimes.org/?p=130
Sorry sir, we don’t seem to have that part in stock. Sorry for the inconvenience of your reality temporarily shutting down…
Jun 19, 2005 @ 15:36:18
I’m with you on this. I’ve got a Sony DCR-TRV10 handicam that I’ve had back at the repair shop three times with C31 32 errors. Each time it’s been ‘repaired’ something different has been diagnosed as the problem. Problem is, are there any other brands that are more reliable ?
Jun 19, 2005 @ 22:46:35
Ahh, so I’m not alone—no doubt I have many repair bills ahead, damn it. Of course, all this technology is so ‘new’ that we have yet to really suffer the fallout of such short product lifetimes. Or do consumers not really care? Are we so sold on the ‘next big thing’ marketing crap that we happily cast off the once-expensive piece of equipment while reaching for the new, feature-laden, just-released product? For example, people still treasure old Hasselblad cameras, and they are still things of beauty that can work perfectly. Simple, and well-made. I just can’t imagine today’s digital lifestyle products lasting 50 years and becoming objects to treasure.
Jul 06, 2005 @ 19:25:36
I too have had problems with my Sony TRV110E. It kept chewing up my tapes. After a year of putting up with this, I took it to the Sony repair store and although they estimated up to NZ$240.00 to repair it, all it needed was a good clean and they did this for free! Now I have just bought a new iMac G5 and thought I’d try out iChat AV only to find that the TRV110E is too old to be supported by iChat! But I guess that is Apple’s fault this time around.
Jul 07, 2005 @ 16:01:14
The awful question is, will any other brand be any more reliable?
Jul 07, 2005 @ 16:06:35
Good point – so does anyone have any positive reports about particular brands?
As for iChat et al – as a graphic designer who spends all day on a computer, I can relate to the frustration of having to stay on the cutting edge of technology. I recently finally chucked out thousands of dollars worth of old computer equipment because it was now obsolete. The good news is, the Macs I’ve owned have always been reliable and hard working – I’ve never had to put a Mac in for repair, even after years of solid use.