For the record, the tv's listed in the title AREN'T the only ones with problems. Sony just can't seem to do anything right.
I'm sure most people by now have also heard of the
overheating problems with Sony's original "FAT" style PS3.
Anyways, back to the topic...
I've owned Sony products for most of my life (way back to the Walkman tape players) and I had always been happy with their other products (like my old PS1 that was played on for years and years).
So in 2007 I had no problems picking up a nice new 60" Sony television set (why would I, it was one of the best rear-projection tv's on the market and had an amazing picture)! The lamp in the tv ended up dying within a year of purchasing it (2008) with less than 1000 hours on it, but that didn't bother me much at the time, my tv was great, it was giant and it worked!
Now, a couple months ago I noticed a weird black spot on my Sony tv while turning it on or off, it didn't seem to be affecting the picture quality so I ignored it for the time being. Then one day while I had my laptop hooked up to the tv to browse and play Minecraft on (out of sheer boredom) I noticed that the edge of my tv screen was yellow!
I had heard of all the people having optical block problems with their Sony tv's but I always thought that it would never happen to me! (It couldn't happen to me, I was already having problems with my PS3, the Sony gods wouldn't drop a second bomb on me!). Well, I was wrong, after checking the tv closer I realized that that black spot on my tv was in fact a giant yellow blob covering more than half of the screen!
This sucks, now I have a PS3 I can barely use for fear of it dying again with another YLOD and my tv is giving up the ghost as well due to more manufacturing problems. I of course tried to ignore the yellow blob, but it's always there, just sitting on the screen waiting for me to notice it and piss me off, like a dent on the drivers door of a new car (but this dent came from the factory, and has been a problem since 2003).
I decided to do some research online to see what my options might be to get Sony to fix my tv, and I stumbled upon hundreds of websites all about the lawsuits against Sony for the optical block issues and the deals Sony was making with people to get replacement tv's and an email address to send my information to so that I could hopefully get some sort of repair offer or at least another tv to replace my $2800 paper weight (I call it a paper weight because it's supposed to be a "Full HD 1080p top of line television", but now it's just a television that displays yellow and blue movies). All of this after the tv is only 4 years old!
So I send an email out to
sonylistens@am.sony.com explaining my problems and contact info. I get a response email from Amanda Maffei at Sony the next day with a phone number to call so they can offer me a replacement tv at what they consider a "significant discount" (it better be pretty significant since my $2800 tv isn't even at 1/4 of it's advertised life span).
I call the number and speak with Henry, who offers me a near bottom of the line 55EX500 for $300 + tax or a mid level 60EX720 for $1175 + tax (both are full hd sets but with much lower picture quality compared to a projection tv). I'm thinking this is a semi-nice deal, but I'm already weary about picking up another Sony product, and I chose my original tv specifically because it was a rear projection tv, now I'm being offered a lower quality LCD tv in it's place for more money (and come to find out, not even much off from the retail price of the tv's).
Unsatisfied with the offers presented to me, I went online to see if I had other options to pursue and found a Facebook page titled "
I have a defective Sony TV" I posted my problems there and was bombarded with replies from people who seem to love Sony and turn a blind eye to their treatment of the situation (it also seems that Sony now moderates the page and will delete any negative information posted there).
Despite the lack of help from the Facebook page, I contacted
Scott Fuentes of the "Sony Listens" group and was basically told that I was out of luck, the discounts Sony would offer were non-negotiable, and that I should be happy Sony is offering me a deal since my tv is out of warranty (while this is true, it is an unacceptable business practice to advertise a tv as having such a long life span and then have it only last 4 years tops).
Now here I am, at wits end and writing this blog in hopes that Sony will do the right thing and make better offers to people with tv's with optical block issues. I will be forwarding this blog all across the internet hoping that it will gain momentum and show people that they shouldn't be putting up with this kind of treatment from a company that has taken so much of their money, and if the treatment is continued that we should all stop purchasing Sony products.
One website that has given me a lot of information about the entire ordeal is:
https://sites.google.com/site/sonylcdrptvproblems/#TOC-Sony-Customer-Service-Relations
I hope you're listening Sony, the ball is in your court.
Here are some other useful websites describing peoples problems with other Sony products and information about the optical block problems:
http://readyandreach.wordpress.com/2009/12/22/i-will-never-buy-a-sony-product-again-i-hope-you-do-the-same/
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=812631
Hundreds of other pages can be found online simply by searching for: sony defects, sony problems, sony lawsuit, sony optical block, or any combination you can think of.
