Tannin said:
[*] Poor reliability and compatibility record (i.e., we see a higher proportion of Sony drives faulty than we do of many other brands). I suspect that this has more to do with the electronics or firmware than it does with the mechanicals. It may well be the Sony firmware "improvements" that make their drives so problematic.
Well, I've never been one for badge engineering. In my experience its always been best to buy the original no matter what the product is. So if the product is a turd to begin with you might be able to polish the turd but it will still be a turd that stinks.
Tannin said:
[*] High prices without a corresponding higher average quality. I don't mind paying more if the product is actually better, but it isn't. In fact, it's often worse.
That's not unique to Sony as most companies trade value on their reputation. Sony's reputation goes well beyond domestic products and is long established and respected in the professional field. Unfortunately they've succumb to what other companies have done and that is to put their name to shit that others make (badge engineering)
Tannin said:
[*] Very poor service department. Getting spare parts out of Sony (my audio/video servicing friends tell me) is like pulling teeth. And getting schematics is worse. (Haven't seen this for myself, but I have every reason to believe it.) Not to mention absurd spare parts prices. (Again, according to what I'm told by people in a position to know.)
Well here I can tackle you with some first hand experience.
Most electronics companies today in aus have a very small service department, if one at all. I can remember at one point a few years ago Philips actually closed theirs altogether and farmed out their service department to contract but I don't know whether this is the case today.
Sony same as some other companies today do not have the manpower or resources to help every tech that happens to ring them looking for answers to supplement their own lack of diagnostic skills. They confine themselves to providing support to those that are authorised to repair their products. If you're not in the authorised loop then you get little to no official technical help. This attitude is also becoming common in the motor trade today as well with authorised dealerships closing ranks and not helping independents.
Getting spare parts from Sony is no particular drama if you know where to get them from:
For the most part Sony in aus distribute spare parts through an authorised second party. When I was last servicing TV's etc a few years ago it was Speedy Spares in Melbourne. The secret is in knowing what actual part you want and the appropriate part number. If you ring up without the full and correct information it is hardly surprising that you will get an arrogant and terse reply for consuming someones valued time.
There's always a dilemma those that are not authorised techs face.
If you're an authorised technician/firm that represents a particular company as far as repairs goes then the parts catalogues and schematics are either provided free or at small charge along with access to service department help etc.
If you're not an authorised repairer and you get in a particular brand set or model that you are not likely to get a lot of in for repair then you have to ask yourself whether it is economical to buy a manual that you might never use again. In such cases 'smart' techs would at least try and get a photo copy of the particular circuit that they think the problem lies in.
You can generally get such photo copies or indeed the whole manual from whoever represents the company. In the case of Sony products in aus it was and may still be Speedy Spares.
There is also another source for manuals for 'all' brands and they can either be bought or hired. The companies name is High Country Service Data.
So it is no great drama to source schematics for Sony products if you're willing to go to a little trouble and expense. Unfortunately a great many techs out there rely all too often on trying to fault find without the aid of a schematic for various reasons many of which are of their own choosing. If they get it wrong flying blind then the customer and ultimately the brands reputation suffers. It is very easy to label something as shit when you dont understand it or find something a little different. Too easy to pass the buck and move on to the bread and butter models.
Parts prices can at times be a little high I'll grant you that, but in some cases there's typical reason for it.
Sony TV's and VCR's etc were until recent years considered a little bit more upmarket and sold in much lower volume compared to other brands in aus. Whether that reputation was deserved or not I'll no further debate. But where you have low volume but expensive initial sales and a reputation (upmarket) then spare parts are always appropriately priced. This propensity to greed is not confined to electronics. One of the reasons I drive a Holden though I could afford to buy something 'considered' better.
The other problem with Sony spares is that almost always with major components you have to buy original. With more popular brands and models it is almost always possible to buy a generic or aftermarket part or use an alternative. As an example it was relatively easy and quick to buy a non genuine EHT transformer for more popular sets months after the set was released. With most Sony TV's it took 2-3 years for an alternatice part to be made available, if at all. Economy of scale again dictates availability and price.
I can remember a few times when I had to service Sharp products. Sharp predominantly make their own IC's and some diodes that don't have corresponding aftermarket alternatives. You're forced to pay through the nose for a part which shits the consumer big time considering how cheap the whole product was initially.
Hitachi are another brand that use their own unique and overpriced IC's. High parts prices are not confined to Sony and some Sony parts are priced quite fairly IMO, though the asking price of $400 and 8 weeks wait for another transformer to ship from Japan for my 5.1 receiver was a friggin joke :evil:
Tannin said:
[*] Sony arrogance. Reminds me of ASUS.
[*] Sony conceit. Reminds me of ASUS.
I'll agree with your comments on Asus having been on the receiving end myself.
Actually one of the best service departments I had dealings with was Samsung aus. If Samsung made a shit electronic design that caused failure then they came up with a fix promptly. Often made parts kits available to techs for nothing to correct/mod such design flaws, and if all attempts to repair damage was unsuccesful or too severe they provided the latest alternative product to the consumer free of charge through the tech. And the service department was always available to those other than in the direct loop. Pretty well the way all service departments should be and was once run many moons ago.
