RX10mk4 Camera Repair

[Deepgreen2010]

I tried to insert my normal memory card into my RX10m4 camera the other day and it would not go all the way in.  The card is intact and no plastic parts have detached.  I had a gentle poke around in the slot for any debris and could find nothing.  I imagine a spring has become dislodged, or similar - i.e. a mechanical problem.  As I'm not a technician I can't be sure, but it's certainly not an electronic issue.  Having returned the camera for repair (out of warranty), I've received an estimate for £215, which apparently entails replacing the entire main board, because the slot is, as they put it, "attached".  I had to make several enquiries before I could get them to tell me the problem and even then they said they could not determine why the fault had occurred or what actually was damaged.

I'm aghast that a simple mechanical issue like this requires such a hugely expensive process and strongly suspect they take the easy option to replace everything rather than bother to do more detailed part replacements.  

I had a previous identical camera which suffered minor and short-lived liquid ingress but which Sony claimed had rendered the camera completely useless, despite there being power and several functions working.

I think Sony makes excellent products but their after-sales and repair service is very poor.  They are also very poor at providing helpful information in their repair estimates - they quoted "carriage", "labour" and "SY-1082_COMPL(SERVICE)" as the three components of the estimate - the latter being completely useless as information to a layman!

Does anyone share my feelings here?

[sony.e.62.10]

Hi,

Yes you are definitely right. This is a shame but when out of warranty, indeed repairing SONY camera's usually cost nowadays a big portion of the initial purchasing cost. Something new buyers should have in mind.

The best example of this is the very well known example of the E:62:10 error message appearing on the HX300 and HX400 few weeks after expiration of the warranty period. Root cause is the flexible connector of the stabilizer that breaks. It costs only a few euro's to purchase a new flex connector...but after warranty, they just propose to replace the full optical block. And it then costs approximately the same cost as a new device.

Look for E:62:10 on Google or on Youtube. Read the specialized site http://sony-e-62-10.atspace.cc/ about this.

[Deepgreen2010]

That's quite spooky because my back-up camera is an old HX300 and it has had this error message for years!  I work round it.  However, I do think it points to a particularly cynical and very unhelpful customer/repair policy, and adds yet more perfectly serviceable kit to the mountain of discarded stuff.  If I were of a mind (and had the spare equipment not to be inconvenienced!) I would consider causing failures myself before warranty expiration in order to get them to have to pay for repeated repairs themselves.  It should not be a company policy that makes customers feel this way!

[Deepgreen2010]

Hello - 
Sony clearly don't like criticism, as my post has immediately been removed, being claimed to be spam!  This pretty much what I have come to suspect about the company's attitude - buy the product and then f*** off!