I got Mrs. Z a Sony discman for xmas and now it is on the fritz. We didn’t register it for warranty protection of course.
Now when you put a disk in it will not play. It does seem to ‘know’ there is a disk and the skip button will change the track number but the tracks never start. So if you have any idea what is the breakdown is please fill me in.
So would it be more cost effective to get it repaired or to buy a new one? ($75)
First of all, warranty registration has nothing to do with warranty coverage. If you have your sales receipt, that’s good enough. I have never “registered” a product and have had several consumer electronics items replaced for cost of shipping (if that).
For some basic info, see theCD repair section at RepairFAQ.org.
Repair is always a waste of time. If you can’t get a replacement or refund, get a new one. If you pay for repair, you will kick yourself a month later when it hasn’t come back yet. And again 2 months later.
In 1993, I bought a high-end Sony portable stereo (about $275). It failed after its warranty period so I had to pay $60 for repair service. I probably shipped it back and forth to the service center half a dozen times before they admitted they couldn’t fix it. Since the model was discontinued, they offered me a comparable new unit in exchange. Sony upgraded me to a boom box with a six-disc CD changer, better than the one I originally bought.
It’s 2003, ten years after my original purchase and I still have that system. I’ve misplaced the remote over the years, but otherwise it still looks and works as good as new. Yes, the service was a hassle. Yes, every time they claimed to have finally fixed the problem it turned out they hadn’t. Yes, it took them six months to finally resolve the problem.
But I would never hesitate to buy Sony again.
uhh KoalaBear
your remote is in your old sofa, tucked inside the creases on the right side…
ftg is right. You don’t have to register a product to get it repaired under warranty. In all the years I worked in repair, I don’t know that I ever filed a claim on something that was registered. I recommend taking it to an authorized service center (if there’s one in your area) rather than shipping it anywhere–you generally get faster service that way. You can locate the nearest service center by calling Sony customer service.
That said, if it turns out you have to pay for the repair, I would advise against it. It sounds like it’s not reading TOC (the table of contents section), which suggests a pickup failure; the pickup is the most expensive part in the unit. It’s not worth it for a discman.
I bought a 200-disc changer for my husband four years ago. We never loaded it up because it was such a pain to set the whole thing up. Well, we decided to do it and it didn’t work. This was about 2 months before the warranty ran out. We didn’t register it either. Guess what! They took it back and we traded up for a 400-disc changer with programming! WooHOO!
I would try to get an even exchange. Three months just isn’t long enough!
I got a guarantee card, it says clearly on it in tiny print, card does not need to be returned for warrentee to be effective, or something.
Maybe you just need to clean the lens with some alcohol & a qtip?
While it’s true that you don’t need to send in the registration card in order to “validate” the warranty (by Federal law, they can’t require you to do so), you will need some proof of when you purchased the player. A receipt, a canceled check, or perhaps your credit card statement, would do the trick. The store might also have a record of the purchase.
Thanks for the responses.
Great, I may still have the receipt. It was a Christmas gift as I said and I hid the player in it’s bag for a while. Later when I wrapped it I removed it from it’s plastic cocoon and I think I let that and the bag with the receipt in the hiding place. I’ll have to check that out.
Well,
Mrs. Z dropped by the Sony store and they told her that all she needed was the reciept. The player had a 90 day warranty. Now it was a Xmas gift so the warranty is just about up. The guy wanted a reciept but Mrs. Z did the wide eyed innocent look that she does so well. So the guy put in the purchase date as Christmas and is doing the warranty repair. (free) We should have it back in two weeks.