The Sony Wega Rear Projection large screen televisions were the toast of the town when first introduced in late 2002. People who purchased them were swayed in their buying decision by the Sony name and a belief that their televisions would be serviceable for a minimum of 12 – 20 years. Now many people who purchased these expensive sets are finding them to be simply “toast”.
In November of 2004, we purchased a 60” rear projection Sony Grand Wega LCD Projection HDTV (Model KDF-60XS955) at Best Buy in Framingham for $4187 (which included sales tax, delivery and a 4-year service contract.) In the spring of 2007 (2 ½ years after purchase), a blue haze with blue dots began to appear on the screen, causing significant deterioration of the picture quality. I called Best Buy about the problem, and they sent an authorized Sony repair serviceman who arrived with a new Optical Block (which is the equivalent of the picture tube of CRT—the “guts” of the television). Upon testing the set and observing the screen, the repair person called Sony but was told not to install the new part. We were puzzled by this, but he assured us they would return in about a week and repair the television. When he came back, the serviceman told us they would be replacing our defective optical block with a rebuilt part at no cost to us. The new optical block had a very loud fan, but the picture appeared to be beautiful again, so we were satisfied…until the blue blobs and streaks once and began to mar the screen beginning in October of 2009.
I decided to search the internet to see if others might be having this same problem and was amazed to discover numerous websites with hundreds of consumers complaining of blue blobs, red squiggles, yellow and green haze and other defects on the screens of their expensive Sony Wega Rear Projection LCD TVs. All of these sets were less than 5 years old. I learned that every Sony rear-projection model has been the subject of a warranty extension, a class-action lawsuit, or both. The first Sony customer service representative I contacted told me there was nothing they could do as my television was now out of warranty. My case was escalated from one Sony representative to the next, with my best offer being a $300 credit toward the $1200 optical block repair or the opportunity to purchase a significantly smaller television from their website at a price that was higher than I could purchase it at Amazon or other retail locations. My final contact from Sony came from Sony VP Tim Brison:
Dear Barb,
Thank you for sharing your service experience with us. I oversee Sony Electronics’ service operations, engineering, product compliance/safety and quality, and the Customer Information Services Center in the United States, and I have to tell you that we all take a lot of pride in customer satisfaction and your input is always much appreciated. Our customer service representative, Tony, looked further into your case and has confirmed that your TV is out of the extended limited warranty period that was designed to accommodate both parts and labor.
As a Sony Grand Wega customer that is out of the extended limited warranty, you are being offered two options:
- A discount on the repair cost of the TV’s optical block, or
- A new replacement TV for a significantly discounted price.
If you have not been offered either of these accommodations please let me know, so that Tony can follow up with you personally.
Customer satisfaction and product quality and reliability are very important to Sony and we stand behind the quality of our products and services. The various accommodations offered to Grand Wega customers who are outside the current limited warranty period are just an example of our commitment to customer satisfaction.
We continually post service updates on our customer support web site at http://esupport. sony.com and our community forums at http://sonyelectronicscommunity.com/forum so check back regularly for new information.
Sincerely,
Tim Brison
Senior Vice President
Sony Electronics Service Platform
On its face, it appears that Sony is making a good faith offer. However, it turns out that this was simply a form letter emailed to many unhappy Wega owners who had written to “Tony@Sony” as advised by the moderator of the Sony Fan Facebook site. Dozens of Wega owners who had been posting at this site found themselves and their comments stripped from the site almost simultaneously with the receipt of the above email. In addition, their ability to post on the site was blocked. It should be noted that even if a person decided to pay out of pocket for the expensive repair, Sony will warranty the optical block for only 90 days—although all reports indicate that the part will fail again one to three years from the repair (as in our experience). When questioned, no one from Sony will state whether these failing parts have been re-engineered, so it is highly likely they will fail once again far short of the TVs expected normal lifespan. Because of this, virtually no one has taken Sony’s offer.
Meanwhile, our Sony TV keeps getting bluer by the day.
For a detailed explanation of the problem and its history, please visit this website: http://sites. google.com/site/sonylcdrpTVproblems/
After the Wega owners were banned from the Sony Fan site, they coalesced at: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/pages/I-Have-a-Defective-Sony-TV/182875766612?ref=mf This site is currently very active and has gone from 20 to 120 subscribers in just two days.
Here are over two thousand posts from Wega owners, beginning when the TVs were first released, when the problem was just surfacing, to the present day: http://forum. ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/2/137540.html
The consolidated California Class Action Suit pending for certain Wega models (All Wega models have the same problem, the facts are virtually identical for the entire class): http://www.sonya20TVclassaction.com/main/Smart1.pdf
Recently, network affiliated television stations have been picking up the story:
http://www.nbcactionnews.com/content/cfa/story/Blue-Blobs-Block-Out-TV/DZ-ffjxNekab5cSOUMxNzw. cspx?articleID=551809
and
http://www.local12.com/news/local/story/Oxford-Woman-Frustrated-By-TV-Problems/0zkQ3vDwZEujD0rmmohLGg. cspx
It appears that when confronted with media scrutiny, Sony will offer a free optical block repair to the subject of the story. This offer was also extended to an individual who filed a small claims suit on the day of his hearing. (He refused and received a generous monetary settlement.) Unfortunately, this “repair” is not permanent, as the optical block of these sets is of an inherently defective design. Unless Sony can provide a solid guaranty that the optical block repair will last for the expected life of a normal television, offering a replacement TV at a TRUE significant price discount would be more equitable.
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