Suing Sony
Trying to get your warranty honored on a laptop with a cracked LCD display is generally as easy as running through a brick wall. The presumption by the manufacturer is always that the damage is due to customer abuse. But one reader recently succeeded in getting compensation on a Sony laptop, although only after going to the lengths of filing a lawsuit against the company. The reader's story started out pretty mu
Follow @infoworldTrying to get your warranty honored on a laptop with a cracked LCD display is generally as easy as running through a brick wall. The presumption by the manufacturer is always that the damage is due to customer abuse. But one reader recently succeeded in getting compensation on a Sony laptop, although only after going to the lengths of filing a lawsuit against the company.
The reader's story started out pretty much the same as many we've heard. The display on his Sony Vaio SZ Series laptop failed shortly before his one-year warranty was to expire. Sony initially promised to service the computer under warranty, but then the Sony Customer Satisfaction Center informed him the screen was "physically damaged" and was therefore not covered. After months of wrangling, Sony returned the useless system to him unrepaired.
Certain that he had not done anything that should have damaged the screen, the reader refused to leave it at that. He also had a very strong suspicion about what had actually caused the LCD to crack. "A slight warping in a bottom plastic vent piece on our laptop is located below the palm rest area where at least some of the notorious Sony battery fires occurred," the reader wrote. "When the laptop is closed the area of the LCD screen that nearly contacts that hot palm rest area is where the internal but obvious LCD crack appears. Long story short, I suspect the batteries that DON'T cause a fire but DO cause cracked LCD screens are still out there. Desperate to halt its widening $250 million recall, Sony decided it had to draw the line somewhere. One of the recalled batteries is number VGP-BPS2B -- my battery is number VGP-BPS2C."
The reader ultimately decided to file an action in small claims court against Sony for $1,800, the original price he'd paid for the computer two years ago. In his complaint, the reader noted that Sony had advertised his Vaio model as having "a durable contemporary styled carbon fiber casing" and "razor-thin LCD panel" that made it "ideal for life on the road" - a representation he had relied on in making his purchase decision. With no external signs that the laptop had suffered any abuse beyond normal wear and tear, the reader argued that, in denying his warranty claim, Sony had ignored its responsibility under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act and the Uniform Commercial Code.
