In Nov 2012 we purchased a Sony Bravia KDL-55HX853 from Currys.

Have been very impressed with the TV, the clarity of the picture is excellent.  That was up until last Sunday (28 Aug 13) when it turned it self off and the power LED staerted flasing in bursts of four flashes. 

Since then it has been a nightmare trying to get somehting done about it.

Obviosuly, as this happened on a Sunday, I could not contact either Currys or Sony for support.  So I eMailed Currys and phoned Sony on the Monday (29th).

Sony Support :

Sony support showed little concern and was only interested in 'following their process'.  I was told that the TV would have to be replaced and that I would receive a call within the next 48 hours to advise me of the next step.

I later received an eMail advising the details of teh company that would be replacing the TV and that they would contact me.  The next day, as I had heard nothing, I decided to all the company advised by Sony in an effort to get some idea of when the exchange may take place.  The person that I spoke to claimed to know nothing about it and advised that I should contact Sony again.  [Not wishing to sound miserly but by now this is begining to annoy as I am being charged 4p/min for the privilidge of reporting a faulty product].

I called Sony support again and was told that they would have to send out an engineer to inspect the TV before a replacement could be arranged.  I informed the person that this was contrary to previous advise as I had already been told that the TV could not be repaired.  The response was 'this is our process and it has to be followed' but she will speak to her supervisor and call me back in a few minutes.  One and a half hours later I received a call back advising that an exchange would be arranged (I don't know what happened to 'the process'), and that it could take up to 10 days to effect the exchange.  To say I was surprised would be an understatement!

I have now received an eMail from Sony advising "the TV needs to be sent to our service centre for repair" and to provide them with lots of information (that they have already been givien at leat three times already).

I have suplied the information at 12:20 on 02 Aug and have heard nothing more since.

CURRYS

Phone call to Currys advised that I should contant Sony

eMail to Currys got the response :

As a company, we do understand our obligation to provide a remedy for products that fault following the expiry of the guarantee in certain situations.  I do appreciate that manufacturing defects may not manifest themselves until after the initial warranty period has expired.
In view of this and in order that we may consider your request, we would like to inspect your product to diagnose the cause of the fault.  With this in mind, we will require a payment of £95.00 for us to pick up the product and assess the unit at our repair centre.  Should our workshop discover a manufacturing fault with the product, your assessment charge will be refunded and your product repaired at no cost

Firstly, the TV is only 8 months old so I do not understand how it can be out of warranty and secondly, as I read it, they will not consider doing anything about it unless I give them money first.  I have asked these questions to Currys on 01 Aug. but yet to receive a response.

We are (were) very happy with the TV and fully accept that, every now and then, some may develope a fault.  The disappointing bit is that Currys appear to have washed their hands of it unless I give them more money and Sony Support do not seem to have a clue what they are doing as I have not had two consistent responses or seem to have any sense of urgency at all.

I have explained to Sony that I do not want to be a difficult customer and I would much prefer not to have the need to contact them at all.  All I actually want is a working TV (what I paid for).

If anyone reading this is considering buying a Sony TV (or any other Sony product for that matter) from Currys I STRONGLY urge them to check what happens in the event of a fault/breakdown and how long it would take to get it repaired or replaced.  I did not consider asking these questions when I purchased the TV as I thought I would be safe buying reputble brand such as Sony from a reputable company such as Currys.  Wrong!

 Caveat emptor

Rob P

Update 11 Aug 13

Two week now since TV stopped working.  Still getting conflicting stories from Sony support and don't think that I am nay closer to resolving the mater.

Currys only respond to my eMails with 'form' answers clearly not having read the eMail that I sent them.

Saw Panasonic TX-L50B6B 50-inch Full HD LED TV with Freeview HD for £499 in Tesco yesterday.  Okay, no 3D but at least it works.

I wish Sony would just come and take it away and give me a refund so that I could move on.