Sony A7Siii System Failure

[JasonWain]

Hi there,

I'm a professional photographer and videographer, full time. I recently switched from Nikon to Sony. I bought my A7Siii on 1st Feb 2023. In September just gone, I was shooting as normal when suddenly a 'system error' message occurred and that was that - I was no longer able to use the camera. I sent it off to Park Camera's (whom I purchased it from) and they said it needed to be sent to Sony to be repaired and I would have to pay the bill as it was outside of Sony's warranty. I expressed my disappointment but had it repaired nonetheless as I need the camera for my work and can't hang around waiting for it to be fixed whilst I debate with Sony. I can't help but feel terribly let down by this experience - I spent £3.5k on a camera just over 18 months ago and now I'm having to pay a further £500 for the inconvenience on having Sony's 'professional' piece of equipment fail on me on the job. Prior to this I have been a Nikon shooter for 15 years and never once did I have a problem like this, and that was with cameras of lower value. I'm half minded to switch back as this is not really acceptable, and of course to create some content about this story for YouTube and other social channels as I feel this is something people considering switching to Sony Mirrorless need to know about before parting with their hard earned cash and going through the process of switching systems if they already have camera gear of some kind.

I'm posting this here as it seems impossible to get hold of a human at Sony through the website, so I'm hoping someone here might be able to point me in the right direction, or perhaps a human from Sony will see this and get in touch. 

Many thanks for your time in reading this, not meant as a rant but rather a complaint and a flag to be raised as I don't want this happening to others (and would also really like my £500 back please, not to mention some compensation for the inconvenience!).

Kind regards,

Jason

[danardeng]

At the beginning of the story I was participating in your disappointment.

Then I realized that you just wanted to use this community to ask for money back by threatening to speak badly of Sony. This is not the right way, here no one threatens anyone.

You are a professional, use the form dedicated to you to get in touch with someone from Sony.

https://campaign.odw.sony-europe.com/dynamic/support/imaging-pro/index.jsp?country=gb&language=en

[JasonWain]

Hi danardreng,

Many thanks for your reply. This was not intended as a threat, just a logical course of action following the frustration of not being able to speak to a human. At least on a forum I get to talk to people like yourself who can help point me in the right direction! I am happy to remove my suggested course of actions if that softens my message a little, however, experience tells me the big corporations do need a little nudging sometimes in order not to ignore the small businesses that rely on them, like myself.

The professional support looks great - thanks for the link to this - however I do not meet the eligibility requirements despite the fact that I am a full time professional and have spent at least £8,000 on Sony products in less than 2 years (I don't have 3 Sony lenses from their list) - again this feels like a good opportunity missed.

Thanks again for your time and help.

[danardeng]

In that case you can contact standard customer service https://services.sony.co.uk/supportmvc/en/Contact/Email?cat=cameras-camcorders1&tab=Tips&act=cls

[JasonWain]

Thank you, I have done this now but sadly they are unable to offer any compensation or help. Disappointing.