What can be done when the Customer Relations Department fails to call? Disgusted and appalled.

Question

I have had a sony KDL-W590B (same as the W600B but from Costco) for less than one year.  The original television had a dark spot in the upper left hand quadrant.  I contacted Sony and was instructed to do a factory reset on the television and exchange it at Costco if that did not fix the issue.  It was not fixed so I exchanged it per their instructions.  The replacement KDL-W590B worked adequately for 10 months and then developed a dark, dead spot in the upper left hand quadrant.  I contacted Sony and was advised that I could receive a new downgrade as a replacement (the new 48R510C which has 2 HDMI ports compared to the 4 on the W590B and horrible input lag) or I could request a facory recertified W590B.  I chose the latter and received the replacement the next week.  The replacement was broken.  The image on the screen was barely discernible through the black spots and circles all over the screen.  I called Sony and explained the situation and was told on Wednesday 5/27/15 that I would receive a call from the Customer Relations Department no later than 1p.m. on 5/28/15.  I called back at 3p.m. on 5/28/15 and was told that there are no supervisors available at Sony and that I would have to await a call from the Customer Relations department no more than 24 hours later and he claimed to escalate the issue.  I called back at 4p.m. on 5/29/15 and was told that I would have to await a call back from the Customer Relations Department no more than 24 hours later.  I called back at 4p.m. today, 5/30/15, and was told that the Customer Relations Department is closed on weekends and I should receive a call from them on either Monday 6/1/15 or Tuesday 6/2/15.  My Playstation Plus membership expires tomorrow and will not be renewed.  My PS4 and PS3 will be traded in this week.  My Sony HTC-150 sound bar will be sold.  At this point I just want my money back so that I can buy a decent product from a decent company.  Done with Sony after 20 years of supporting them because I get no support in return.  Seriously, all I wanted was for them to call me and help.

Answer 1

Alright! I got a response from Charlie by phone after posting today and she was very helpful.  She explained what happened when I had my issue escalated on 5/27 because after receiving my third defective KDL-48W590B (this one a factory refurbished unit with a 90 day warranty period to replace a defective set that was purchased with a 1 year warranty) I requested either a refund or a working television with a 1 year warranty.  Apparently the expectations for the reply from the Customer Relations Department were set incorrectly.  What I should have been told was that a reply after an escalation should take 24-48 business HOURS.  This is quite different indeed.  The Customer Relations Department is open from 9-6, 5 days per week, so that means that 48 business hours is actually 5.33 business days.  That's over a week. So while I expected a reply within one business day as I was explicitly promised on 3 separate occasions by 3 separate Sony employees on 3 consecutive days, it was really over a week.  The fourth day, today, 5/30, I was told that I should receive a reply either Monday 6/1 or Tuesday 6/2, which is when I took to the internet to post the complaint at the beginning of this conversation.  That was all wrong though.  Charlie explained that I should have been told to expect a reply, once my issue was escalated, within 5.33 business days.  That's if you are available to answer the one phone call that could come any time on any business day.  After she explained this she offered to replace my defective television with a new in box unit of the same model with a 90 day warranty.  This would have been perfectly acceptable if there had not been 3 prior defective units and repeated issues even getting a reply from the Customer Relations Department.  At this point I would expect at the very least a television with its original warranty period (I don't care if it's new or refurbished as long as it's guaranteed to work for longer than 3 months, especially if I have to go through this process again) or a refund.  Maybe even an upgrade?  Not from Sony.  She indicated that maybe I can get a refund if I submit another copy of my receipt and wait for her to process it and call me back.   Unfortunately I am travelling for work and will not have access to it again until Monday, 6/1 and then I can await her reply within 5.33 business days.  Hopefully I don't miss her call and can get either a working, guaranteed product or a refund so that I can purchase a Samsung television (complete with 3 year warranty).  I made it clear that I will be very upset if I do not receive a response by Tuesday, 6/9 as she promised.  The follow-up e-mail that she sent is posted below:  "Thank you for contacting Sony Electronics Inc regarding your KDL48W590B. This is to document that I contacted you over the phone to discuss options to resolve your issue today. As agreed, kindly reply to this message with attached copy of your Proof of Purchase. Once valid receipt is received, please allow 24-48 business hours for me to review your file."