SONY Xperia 5 II – Fingerprint Sensor

[danielewen.me]

I doubt SONY will read this, but here goes… and I am paraphrasing what follows, as there have been a lot of emails to customersupport.en@eu.sony.com. Some of my communications to SONY Customer Support have either taken 7 days for them to reply or just outright ignored. Even when they do reply, they do not always answer the question and instead say, “With reference to your enquiry regarding your Sony XPERIA 5 II, kindly note that we’ve raised the case for investigation, it will take 2 working days.”

Let us begin. As a long-standing SONY Xperia customer, I ordered the brand-new SONY Xperia 5 II from Xperia Official Partner: https://www.estorepartner.com/en-GB/dr_product/sony-xperia-5-ii/ on the 15th October 2020. This is my third SONY Xperia phone in recent times. My previous phone was the SONY Xperia XA1 Ultra G3226 and the one before that was the SONY Xperia XA F3111. I have had no complaints with either of the previous phones.

When the SONY Xperia 5 II unit arrived on the 19th of October 2020 the fingerprint sensor did not work. I immediately contacted SONY Customer Support (customersupport.en@eu.sony.com) to raise a support ticket.

There was the usual back and forth as they asked me to update the device, reset the device and use the Xperia Companion app to perform a Software Repair to reinstall the device, all of which did not resolve the issue.

On the 30th of October 2020 SONY Customer Support advised me to send the unit away for repair.

As this is a brand-new phone, I asked them to send me a replacement unit. They advised me to contact the point of sale, saying: “With reference to your enquiry regarding a replacement, we recommend that you get in touch with the point of sale for further assistance.”

Enter sony.gb.cs@digitalriver.com, which is the email address for Xperia Official Partner: www.estorepartner.com, the online store whom I purchased the phone from.

Xperia Official Partner said, “We're able to assist you with any issues related to purchase from our store, however technical issues are outside our area of expertise.” They then pointed me back in the direction of SONY Customer Support, even though I had already explained to them that I had an open support ticket with customersupport.en@eu.sony.com.

After more back and forth with SONY Customer Support regarding the fact that the SONY Xperia 5 II is not a listed device within their Repair Centre website: https://sony.sbe-ltd.co.uk/callcenter/booking, I eventually logged the unit with SBE Ltd on the 4th November 2020. I posted the unit that day and SBE Ltd acknowledge receipt on the 6th of November 2020.

On Monday the 9th of November SBE Ltd confirmed that there is a physical hardware fault with the fingerprint sensor.

Since the 10th of November 2020, the status on the SBE Ltd tracking website: https://sony.sbe-ltd.co.uk/tracking has said “Awaiting Component”. I have been informed by SBE Ltd, that SBE Ltd are waiting for SONY to ship the replacement part, but neither SBE Ltd nor SONY Customer Support can tell me when the replacement part is going to arrive.

I am now into the 4th week without a phone and my concern at present is that I am going to end up with a refurbished Xperia 5 II, when I ordered is a brand-new, fully functional unit back in October 2020. To top it all off, the price has since dropped from £799 to £599, during which time I have either had a faulty phone or no phone at all.

To say that I am absolutely appalled by SONY Customer Support is an understatement.

To summarise:

Xperia Official Partner have stated: “We have received your request but unfortunately we don't have an option to replace the order.” Therefore, I must return the unit for a full refund and then reorder it again, in order to get a fully functional unit from them.

SBE Ltd have stated that: “We can advise we are currently waiting for parts to arrive to complete the repair, unfortunately we do not have an ETA at this time” and “we are not authorised to issue replacements unless instructed to do so by Sony directly.”

SONY Customer Support continue to ignore my request for a replacement unit, stating that: “We can confirm that the repair centre is still waiting for parts to arrive to complete the repair.”

Side note: Given the fact that I ordered something on Amazon on Monday last week, to arrive that Wednesday, and it was subsequently delayed in transit, Amazon contacted me to let me know. They then told me I could claim a refund that Saturday, which I did, and the refund was processed within a matter of hours. I reordered the product on Sunday, and it arrive the following day, 1 week after I placed the initial order. Not bad, all things considered.
Ironically the product was a replacement strap for a Samsung Fit2 Pro, which broke after over 2 years of wear and tear. So not only did Amazon display amazing customer service, but Samsung, knowing that watch straps have a limited lifespan, built the ability to change straps into their product, allowing me to continue to utilise the Fit2 Pro, rather than replace the entire unit. I hear Samsung also make phones…
SONY the above Amazon example is how you provide customer support. You put the customer experience FIRST and you resolve ANY and ALL issues that you have created in a timely manner, whilst keeping the customer informed at all times.

[RottenFoxBreath]

Ok, just a couple of things...

1. It's not Sony'sresponsiblity to sort this mess out, it's the retailer, the official" partner, so it's in their court, and they most likely know it, but try to pass the buck.

If their only avenue is to return, refund then re-order, what a *****ty system that is.

2. 4 weeks is well over the limit of being away for repair, I would be seeking a refund now.

3. Neither of both of these entities are "Sony", both are third parties acting on behalf of, and under contract to...Sony, so Sony themselves need pointed towards your issues, so they can give them a boot up the backside.

4. Samsung knows the pan european warranty is 2 years, nothing about quality.

As for knowing a strap will fail within 2 years isn't a great advert either.

I've got watch straps from 10 - 15 years ago that are still pristine.

5. 9 times out of 10, Amazon CS are hopeless too.

[CosmicTomato]

Any point of sale have a return policy of at least 14 days from the date of buying any product, if not satisfied with the product for any reason, you can return/refund or replace.

If you contacted the retailer being the Sony partner, after that period, it's true then that they wouldn't be able to provide a return option, cause according to terms this means you're satisfied, and you mentioned the technical reason as to why you'd like to return, so without batting an eye, they redeemed your issue as technical and go there.

You still get a chance after receiving your device from the service center, to file a complaint through the technical support that you'd like a new handset as this one is repaired from the get go, and you're not happy, you could also argue that the maximum ETA for any repair service, has already passed and no other ETA has been provided, you've paid for a device that was sent to be repaired right afterwards and you haven't used ever since, I believe this makes any complaint eligible for a decent solution.

As for Amazon, they are an entity that sells their own products yes, however have a bazillion seller posting their products on their website, with their own support and to each, their own policies, so a comparison between services is not always applicable, especially since it's different issues and products *costs of service on corp* read all terms and conditions before any online purchase, so you'd know your exact rights.