SONY customer service: PERNICIOUS CRITTERS!!

Oh my God, what a hassle. I had heard and seen rumors of how bad the Sony Customer Service was, but this really happened:

I bought the new 40" HD LED TV on November 20, 2010. By December 17, the damn thing wouldn't turn on. I had registered the TV so I could activate the warranty. I went online and went through the troubleshooting steps. No good. I got an online agent, went through the online steps again with him, again no good. He gave me a number to a repair service to call and said that Sony would cover the expense since the TV was under warranty.

I called the service and they asked me for the event number. The damn Sony agent didn't give me an event number. She asked for my phone number, so I gave it to her, she said there was no corresponding event attached to that phone number. Not her fault, so I thanked for her time and turned around and called the Sony number. Of course, they're only open Monday through Friday 8am to 8pm eastern standard time, so I have to call the after hours support number. I go through the troubleshooting steps for a third time and get an event number. Halle-flippin-lujah! I call the service back, get the same agent and give her the event number. No record of it in their system. She says that sometimes it takes up to 4 hours for those to transmit. I realize this isn't getting scheduled tonight so I thank her again and hang up the phone for the last time that night.

Fast forward three weeks. Due to mandatory overtime at work and then my sleeve surgery, I haven't had time to get the TV taken care of. I pick up the phone and call the service company. Still no match on the event number or my phone number. AAARGH!!!! Again, not her fault, it's Sony's. I thank her for the last time and I call Sony AGAIN.

I get a very pleasant woman who bent over backward to help me when I told her what was going on. She found the record of my previous call so she doesn't make me go through the troubleshooting again. She gets a good event number and tells me that if I fax the receipt over with the event number, they will send me a replacement unit in 5 to 7 days. Unfortunately, the only receipt I have is a return receipt I was able to print out from the Walmart website showing that I bought it from Walmart Ship to Store. I tell her exactly what it has and she says that will be fine, to fax it with the event number on the top center. I get it faxed over and I think it's all over. How wrong I was...

The next day I get a call from Sony, a different agent this time, who informs me that the receipt I faxed over is not acceptable for warranty work. I could actually hear the blood pounding in my ears and my pulse started skyrocketing. I was able to argue with this guy for about two minutes before my body started sending urgent signals to stop. I said, "Your agent told me yesterday that what I sent would be fine. I work in a customer care situation and in my company, if an agent says something that is against the company's policy, the company still holds up what the agent said and then deal with the agent later to satisfy the customer's needs. I have told you I don't have what you want and your agent told me yesterday that what I sent would be fine." He refused to budge. I finally hung up because I seriously felt like I was going to collapse.

Dad and I went to Walmart yesterday and they said to bring in the TV with the paperwork and the remote and they would be glad to refund my money. We took everything in today and got my money refunded in about 10 minutes.

I'm going back later next week to buy a Vizio 42" HD LED TV. It costs a little less than the Sony.

I've had my eyes opened after that. Won't buy another Sony product after that unless I have no choice, and I'm going to make sure that my friends and anybody else that wants to listen hears about their horrible customer service. Of course, its only my opinion, but on my blog, I am GOD!

SONY customer service: DEFINITELY PERNICIOUS CRITTERS!

The Journey of a thousand miles part 17: The end of the journey

No, I'm not going to stop my blog about my weight loss journey. I'm going to give it it's own home.

Head over to http://joa1000m.blogspot.com/ for the new start of the Journey. First post will be 1/10/11, the day of my surgery.

The Journey of a thousand miles part 16: Current weight and surgery around the corner

Wow. I went in for my preop class/consultation today and I'm currently at 393 lbs. 2 months ago I was at 412 lbs. That's amazing to me. Some people tell me, "you don't look like you weigh that much" or my other favorite, "Why are you doing this surgery? Can't you just diet and exercise?"

A little perspective: Over the last 20 years I've tried diet, exercise, pills, shots. You name it, I've tried it. This surgery is a tool to be used in conjunction with a change in diet, exercise and mindset. The mindset is the biggest facet to deal with. I've heard stories of people getting the surgery but not changing their mindset/habits and they short circuit the surgery. I know one of my supervisors at work had the lap band done more then a year ago and he only lost 10 lbs because he didn't change his ways. I refuse to let that happen. In addition to wanting to lose the weight, I know people are going to be looking to me to see how I do on this and that will influence their decisions. While I'm doing this for primarily selfish reasons, I know that others are being impacted by what I'm doing and I don't want to go to them later and say, "It didn't work because I didn't change."

So everything is scheduled, I'm registered at the hospital for the surgery, and I go in Monday morning for the event. I'm excited and a little nervous. But it's all right. My surgeon is one the top men in the country and the weight loss center I'm using is one of the best.

So my next posting will probably be giving you my impressions immediately after the surgery. And it's probably going to be along the lines of "owowowowow! hurt! bad! no good! owowowowow!" Provided I'm coherent enough to get those thoughts together.

Asta!

Chris de Burgh - The Head And The Heart ~With lyrics~

Chris de Burgh - Where peaceful waters flow

The Angel

I remember seeing her pictures for the first time

An angel in a cowboy hat

A babe in a bikers vest

Her blue eyes dancing as she smiled.

I wanted her then

Her beauty and sexuality enthralled me

But something wasn't ready

I wasn't ready

I saw her again some time later

I saw her in another place, another time

I asked her to talk to me.

She did.

We talked several times

I found myself liking her

I knew I was attracted to her

I knew I wanted to meet her

I asked her out

I remember waiting for the the date to begin

I remember my heart pounding as I waited for the door to open

My angel was waiting on the other side

She asked me to tell her a story

She was shy and nervous

She wanted me to talk so she could listen to me

She wanted to hear my voice

I talked more and she listened as we waited for dinner

She talked some more and I listened

We joked and had fun

We went to our next place

We drank and joked

I sang a song for her and I asked her to dance

I took her home and walked inside with her

We kissed

The passion was firey, explosive

We could have done so much more that night

But we didn't

We waited

We saw each other 5 more times

Over the next few days

We saw something in each other

We wanted in our lives

We saw each other when I returned from my hometown

We were together then

We wanted to be with each other

We fell in love

I said it first

I knew it would take a long time for her to say it

But she did

And I felt my heart racing as she said it

We brought our families together

And started to build a life

I asked her to marry me, in a most unlikely place

She said yes

But we would have to wait

Things had to slow down

We lived together

I was willing to wait

But I made mistakes

I let That One back into my life when I should have known better

I saw That One with out telling my Angel

The first most awful mistake - the lie

Nothing happened, but I violated her trust

She was heartbroken and I lost her trust

That was the first loss

But not the last

She gave me another chance

and I sent That One away forever

Never to darken my life again

And I wanted to start over with my Angel

I made a second mistake

I helped a friend

Not that it was a bad thing

But I didn't tell her about it

She felt that I put someone else's needs ahead of hers

I should have just told her about it

But I thought that it didn't matter

But it showed that I didn't share everything with her

Again she was hurt

Again I apologized but I should have known better

Again she gave me another chance

Again I wanted to rebuild

My final, fatal mistake

Was not listening to her

I knew she wanted us to share this particular event

If I had been thinking as a best friend...

But I didn't

I put my childish games ahead of her

I didn't go with her

I should have gone...

Someone else went

He showed her the attention I should have

She felt a spark

I lost my Angel...

Now I'm alone

Relegated to "a friend"

And all I want

is my Angel back.

I know now that I love her

Deeper than I ever realized

If I ever get another chance

I won't waste it.

But I will be there

whenever she needs me

and if she says "Come home", she needs to know

My heart never left...

Missing my second chance tonight...

God, I can't believe how much I miss her tonight. I call her my second chance, or 2C, from the movie "Nights in Rodanthe". It's one of the movies we shared together. We were both crying at the end of the whole thing. Richard Gere told Diane Lane that she was his "Second chance at love." That's always the way I felt about her after we saw that movie. She was my second chance at love, my dream come true, my true love. And now she's gone.

I'd give up almost anything to have her back. I'm hurting tonight and the only thing that can relieve the pain I'm feeling is her. Her touch, her laughter, the blue of her eyes, her sweet scent.

But all I can do tonight is climb into bed, roll over and go to sleep and try to not think about it. But that's like asking water to not be so wet.

Asta...