Potential consumer complaint against Sony India

[sanro]

Hi all ,

I am planning to file a consumer complaint against sony india regarding their unethical sales and marketing practices in Inida. Can someone who has knowledge about consumer courts and its procedures guide me on this matter ?

here's my issue :

I bought their high end home theater product called DAV-DZ810 which as per sales guy , dealer and their website is a wireless ready product. Customer would need to buy so called S-Air kit in order to make rear speaker wireless. From consumer point of view ,although its not complete wireless still removes wires from front to back . So keeping all things in mind , I purchased this product and decided to buy s-air kit later as it was not available with the dealer.

After setting this home theater and playing with it for some time , I called up customer care and asked for exact name and number and went on hunting dealer to dealer and even online but never found any with anyone . that took some time as well.

I then opened a case with Sony India via email and asked them to help me in making DAV-DZ810 wireless as you are marketting and selling it to us. Again , sales guy took like one month to deal with my issue and tried to find s-air kit came back to me ( after my contineous follow ups ) and said that this product is high end and definitly wireless ready but we cannot make that kit available as a result this product cannot be made wireless and I will have to use it with wires. Plain and blunt statment.

Its like someone is selling "diamond ring" but with no diamond in it. but not failing to mention at the time of sell that it definitely is a diamond ring,,there is even a slot to fix diamond..but we cant make that diamond available to fix in there. But since its "diamond ring" you must pay the premium accordingly.


I dont know whether that anology fits here or not but I feel like being cheated .

Sony India cannot take indian customers for granted.

Presales guy has asked me to wait for 48 hours while he speak with their counterparts in sales and marketting and review this matter again .

So for now , I am waiting and hope they will listen to their customers.

In the meantime , I would appriciate if you can shed some light on the proper escalations and on the consumer complaint procedures.

Thanks

 

[S.P.KRISHNA]

Our courts cannot nail even a small Industrialist? How can you expect it to face a gaint like sony.

Regards

 

[haisaikat]

Although am not a lawyer I think if Sony fails to give you the wireless device you can file case in consumer court and demand compensation for sony misguiding buyers. Please get everything in writing as that is the proof that sony has officially responded saying that it is not available.

 

[theironhorse]

every one gets it some day... talk to a laywer and ask him to only send a notice initially and wait for few days to see if they respond...

if they dont respond.. file a case for the same. i would be able to tell you the section as the laywer itself would know under what all section will he be filing the case for. and yeah do add mental torture... this will get you loads of benefits.. and prepare to be an actor and that you saved all ur life to buy this and they cheated you.



you can ask compensations towards misleading info and unavailabilty of service, parts and support while the product is not EOL..
also for wasting precious time and towards your hassles ....

record phone calls.. make prolong conversation stating that you guys said that wireless kit is available and let them say it is not..

send emails .. send multiple emails.. if they respond.. save them... if they dont respond... file another section of poor after sales support.. and again mental torture for you calling them up multiple times and you were unable to work..

 

[Deadlycoolguy]

Sanro,

I happen to be a seller[of some other products] and of course an everyday shopper.

Looking at how things work here, in my hometown[ I live in a small town in South India called Coimbatore], and generally in India, this is my take on the whole issue.

If I were in your place, this is how I would handle it. I paid cash in full and bought the stuff. Did not work as per claims. I will go back to the place where I bought it from and dump the stuff at his place, and ask him for A REFUND. If he wants me to take it u with the company directly, I will disagree. I paid money to you, so deliver what you promised, or refund my money, and take back your stuff. PERIOD.

I will keep repeating this a million times, and will frequent his shop a million times. See, people at Sony will at least respond to him, as he is a dealer. And he will have access to someone who is bigger in Sony, whereas you will only get to talk to a call center agent.

Thats me, and I have succeeded in many places in getting my moneys worth.

Its just the feeling that you are being cheated that makes you feel really lousy.

Anyways, keep us posted.

 

[Deadlycoolguy]

Are you sure this product is available anywhere?

EZ-WT100 | S-AIR

 

[spirovious]

Consumer court may not need a lawer,but you need to file complaint with solid statement.
Ideally even if we send a postcard with complaint,consumer court replies back.
Preparing and Filing Consumer Complaint in Consumer Complaints Forum in India
Consumer Court Forum

 

[gobble]

Sony will pull a fast one on you after the notice, by agreeing to provide the wireless kit at an exorbitant price that makes it senseless to buy.

What will you do when they make this counter move?

--G0bble

 

[theironhorse]

Sony will pull a fast one on you after the notice, by agreeing to provide the wireless kit at an exorbitant price that makes it senseless to buy.

What will you do when they make this counter move?

--G0bble

.


naah.. you can always deny to the fact that u dont want a produnt now n ask for a complete refund for it along with compensation for the hassle they gave you...

 

[freshseasons]

As a laywer (Part time not Full time as not practicing) I suggest you to sort the matter out locally with the PERSON/SHOP who sold you the set,making it look like this was wireless ready and the setup would be easy.

Going to consumer court with Sony will cost lot of time since there is a bit of ambiguity there.And trust me as a lawyer with computer background i know and understand how unsavy and computer illiterate these court judges are.(On average and more often than not..not all )

You as a petitioner will be left banging your head why the wireless thing is so necessary so as the sole reason for your purchase i.e. if you go past fact of making them understand the wireless speaker stuff.

I have seen one combo drive RW case going on for months and months here in Nagpur because of ambiguity in its true meaning.

However if you have time here lies the rub. Why ? Because Sony is advertising this set as wireless ready system all over and if they are not able to wirelessly connect the speakers its their responsibility. Ofcourse sony will fight it and i have a strong intuition they will also make this work somehow ,in fear of retaliation of being sued all over the world.

The DAV-HDX576WF model includes one S-AIR Air Station receiver/speaker (AIR-SA10) and a wireless rear speaker kit (WAHT-SA10).

Did you get the above things with the model..?

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

On another forum, (which many here will know too) there is a long-running story of a man's fight with Skoda. Long-running in, as in three years, during which time the "customer" has not even had access to his car.

There are three parties involved, and the strategy seems to be to draw out the case infinitely by the defendants taking it in turn not to appear, or to claim not to have had enough time to prepare something (three years?). In some other countries, if the defendant doesn't turn up, they loose the case. Automatically. It does not matter that they might be Apple or Microsoft or Ford or Skoda or Sony: they are just a defendant in the eyes of the court, and if they do not defend, they loose.

Not so here.

 

[sanro]

Our courts cannot nail even a small Industrialist? How can you expect it to face a gaint like sony.

Regards

Reminds of a quote "Try and fail, but don't fail to try ".

 

[deba]

Few years back I had the same problem with Sony India , just horrible customer service. I wrote to Sony Singapore about the problem and they almost forced Sony India to solve my problem. I think Sony India is still guided by Sony Singapore, give it a try and email to Singapore , it may work.

Going to consumer Courts in India is a waste of time and money, very few get any remedy from the Courts these days if you dont have good hold......you know what I mean ) the only person to make money are the lawyers.....

 

[sanro]

Thanks Deba , do you have their Singapore email address ?

 

[deba]

Thanks Deba , do you have their Singapore email address ?

Try the following link for the Contact Form, it sometimes work:

https://www.sony.com.sg/section/contactus

 

[sanro]

Ok..so , the end result after countless followups and discussions is that Sony India has taken the home theater back and refunded my money . Although it wasn't smooth sailing , I happy with Sony's response.

Thanks to the members who commented and offered suggestions.

 

[TheCoolestOne]

Theta great Sanro.. and this should be an eye opener for all of us.