Sony a7iii (ILCE-7M3) FAILED Mainboard (Motherboard) - SONY not covering costs.

[askeega]

My Sony a7iii (ILCE-7M3) stopped working altogether recently (nov 2019). I had put it on charge and when it looked like it had finished charging, the unit was completely dead. It would not turn on or charge. 

I got in contact with Sony Support, through the main website. It turned out to be a FAILED MAINBOARD (MOTHERBOARD). 

It appears that this happens a lot to Sony a7iii and other marks of a7. A quick google search returns threads on SONY US community and other forums of the same problem.

Camera was purchased on the 6th Oct 2018, so was 1 year at 5 weeks old. Never dropped, damaged or misused in anyway. To put into context, I am an amateur hobby user. I think I may have only charged the camera 5 times in the year! In addition, it was my favourite, cherished 'toy' and I looked after it extremely well. 

SONY UK refused to cover it under warranty as it was technically over a year and the standard UK warranty was 12months. The repair costs £290. Furthermore, I was instructed to post 'free post' to Sony's UK repair centre in Wales, keeping 'proof of postage'. The Post Office had no idea about the 'free post' but more importantly, there is NO POSTAGE INSURANCE with free post. I send Special Delivery (£12), to ensure the insurance was sufficient.

I received a letter a few days later, that set out the Sony Central Service Information, which stated T&C's of the service. If I 'refuse' the service, there is a £54 fee. This should have been sent to me prior to me sending the camera to the service centre. I assumed, given that the support email suggested a free postage to the service centre that Sony would be better are taking ownership and rectifying the problem.

I am absolutely appalled. It is clearly a manufacturing or quality standard and not something I have caused through misuse. For such a big company to wash their hands of it like this, is immoral and in my opinion poor business practice. It seems that they are making money through the repair of faulty equipment when they technically can do so. 

It is worth noting, that Sony are now offering 3 years free warranty on new a7iii (ILCE-7M3) cameras as standard. I am also sure, without having been quoted, that had I have been offered an extension to the warranty within the first year, that it would have been cheaper than the repair costs now quoted.

Not impressed at all. 

[EdwinaU]

Hi there,

Welcome to the community.

Thanks for sharing your feedback about this experience, we're sorry to hear that you were unhappy with the service.

Best wishes,

Ed

[Win_88]

Hi askeega,

I know this must be frustrating but when it comes to warranty, everyone does this. The logic is that the agreement on which you agreed by buying the camera states that Sony will guarantee the functionality for 12 months as that's what's deemed to be a good indicator that the product doesn't suffer from manufacturing faults (in the UK at least), therefore, issues that appear after the initial warranty aren't covered. The reasoning here is that if the issue was actually a manufacturing fault, it would have manifested withing the first year of using the camera.

Win_88

[askeega]

@Win_88 I'm not really sure I see your point.

I have been told repeatedly by Sony that legally, their warranty is 12 months.

So I think you and Sony, are suggesting I should be satisfied that my £2250 camera body worked for that magical 12 months and the 6 extra weeks was a bonus. 

I fundamentally disagree, that a camera of that value and 'quality' should fail in such a way, after the length of time that it did. 

[The_Black_Rose]

Hi Askeega,

I totally agree with Win_88 to be honest. I mean it's not really possible to know when does a product become defective as this is mainly related to the nature of electrical components.

Cheers,
The_Black_Rose

[askeega]

Hi @The_Black_Rose ,

I am guessing both you and @Win_88 are employees of Sony. 

I fail to see your point still. Are you suggesting I should be happy that my camera failed 13 months after it was purchased brand new?

[Win_88]

Hi again,

No one is suggesting that you should be happy with the situation. Obviously a faulty expensive camera is bad, but the topic of discussion here is whether the manufacturer is to be held responsible keeping in mind the warranty agreement. I'd be saying the same thing about any product from any other brand.

One more point I'd like to make is that misuse isn't the only reason a device may encounter a fault. And it's a matter of fact that the law only obligates manufacturers to guarantee products only for 12 months in the UK, meaning that it's generally acceptable to consider a product compliant to the quality standards and free of manufacturing errors if it functions as advertised for a full year.

In a perfect world, things would live forever and the concept of a warranty will be obsolete, but we don't live in a perfect world unfortunately.

P.S. I'm just a user like yourself, not a Sony employee as you suggested, although I'd welcome the idea if an offer is on the table @Sony 😉 😉

Win_88

[askeega]

Respectfully @Win_88, you are missing the point altogether. 

I am really unhappy still with @Sony 's lack of concern and the point to this thread is to share my experience, for others that may be unfortunate enough to experience the same issue. It that respect, this is about sharing and documenting. 

For anyone else reading this thread, make sure you take out an extended warranty to cover at least 3-5 years, if possible.

@Win_88, have a quick search for 'latent manufacturing errors'. Thank you for taking the time to discuss with me all the same. 

[Slartybartfast42]

FYI, I was never given three years warranty as standard for my A7III (purchased in December). I had one year, extended to two years if I registered my camera (which I have done). I believe this is standard.