EVF dies, Sony says buy another

[steamer]

The Electronic view finder for my NEX -5r has begun to split off at the to of the eye cup and the camera no longer reads it. Bought it a little over a year ago so warranty is toast.

Called Sony customer service to see if I could pay to get it repaired and they said just buy a new one it will cost you more to get it repaired.

So I guess I need to buy a new view finder every year, or learn to work with the outside display. I'm still quite happy with the camera. Am I wrong to hate Sony?

 

[robbeiflex]

Planned obsolescence. That's a shame.

 

[tycho]

I take it the camera is out of warranty. If you bought the camera with CC check with them, Amex has an automatic extended warranty, and depending on the card there are some that go out to 3 years. It's worth a shot.

 

[rjschell]

Sony is out to sell, not service. They refused to honor the warranty of a friend's RX1. The lens focus failed and they pointed to a small ding and claimed "customer misuse". The ding occurred months before the failure. It cost him $800 on a $2400 camera. Shameful!

 

[btgc]

I still remember RFF's story with a compact Sony and how Sony handled that...tempting camera, not so with service....

 

[semilog]

I had a similar experience with a Canon G9 at month 12.5.

 

[jpfisher]

Probably best to look for someone offloading one used. The new Alpha 5000 drops the accessory port; so it's a dead-end product as far as future bodies go. Sony is squeezing out features of the lower-end mirrorless cameras, presumably pushing more advanced shooters (ie, those in want of an EVF and hybrid phase + contrast AF) to the NEX-6/whatever replaces it in the future.

 

[hellomikmik]

EVF is dead? Make a funeral, burry it, put lot of flowers on the grave, take a picture of people crying and let it go viral.

OK, I mean, sorry to hear it - never pleasant to have something gone, sentence above was a joke.

Just don't hate, hate is a useless luggage you have to carry with you around, drop it.

 

[SolaresLarrave]

Before buying, check with your card and find out whether they offer something like repair warranty. I had a faulty M6TTL and my card financed the CLA (they sent me a check in exchange for an estimate, once they found out that the vendor was no longer in business and wouldn't do an exchange or anything else).

 

[Addy101]

Maybe Sony US has a poor reputation, I am quite satisfied with the service I got from Sony in The Netherlands.
And yes, we live in a throw away society 🙁

 

[Paul T.]

In the EU you'd be almost certain to get a replacement or repair within two years.

 

[steamer]

Guess I need to check on my credit card to see if there is some kind of warranty. I don't look forward to shooting at arms length and focusing without the EVF, but as a problem, it's not exactly as dire as being eaten by a pack of wild dogs, is it.

 

[Chris101]

The Electronic view finder for my NEX -5r has begun to split off at the to of the eye cup and the camera no longer reads it. Bought it a little over a year ago so warranty is toast.

Called Sony customer service to see if I could pay to get it repaired and they said just buy a new one it will cost you more to get it repaired.

So I guess I need to buy a new view finder every year, or learn to work with the outside display. I'm still quite happy with the camera. Am I wrong to hate Sony?

It's never wrong to hate Sony. I have a c2006 60" plasma tv that Sony says they no longer will provide parts for.

 

[Addy101]

It's never wrong to hate Sony. I have a c2006 60" plasma tv that Sony says they no longer will provide parts for.

It is a TV that is over seven years old - what did you expect? It even is outdated technology 😱

We live in a throw away society: Canon introduced the Canon EOS 1Ds in late 2002, but didn't bother with a driver for Windows Vista that was introduced in 2006 - only two years after the 1Ds was discontinued.....

 

[Vince Lupo]

WWLD? (What would Leica do?)

 

[dogbunny]

More evidence that the Sony timer myth may be true.

The Sony Kill Switch

Haha.

 

[froyd]

I'm no Sony fan boy, as a matter of fact, they are on a tie with Apple in my book for evil companies that love closed systems...However, having landed a free RX100 I could not turn it away just on principle, and the darned thing turns out some great pictures... still, a month after warranty a huge dust spot started to appear. Sony CS at first tried the same " time to buy a new one, or pay $400 for a cleaning" that they gave the OP, but upon some gentle pressuring, they agreed to carry out the repair for $65 including shipping.

If I were you I'd try again and ask for a courtesy fee given your warranty expired recently.

 

[noisycheese]

Thanks to all who have weighed in on this thread.

As for steamer, I am sorry to hear of your problems with your camera and of Sony's "it's not our problem" customer service attitude. No surprises there, though. Thinking back, I have read of more than a few instances of that from Sony. Their lack of customer friendly service after the sale seems to be in the process of becoming legendary.

I am considering buying a digital camera that I can use my M lenses on. Before reading this thread, it was down to a choice between the Fuji X Pro 1 and the Sony NEX 7. Guess which of these two cameras I will NOT be buying?? I am glad to have read this thread before I spent money on the NEX 7.

Sony, you are not doing yourself any favors. 🙄

 

[Phil_F_NM]

Back when I was managing a camera shop in Philly in 2007-08, we had numerous Sony customers who couldn't get their cameras repaired. The issue was that Sony simply refused to do it, not that it was impossible. One camera, under an extended warranty, was refused by Sony and the only resolution to the issue was that we refunded the cost of the warranty and gave the customer a discount on a new camera (Canon, if I recall correctly) just to keep them shopping with us.
Sony may make a great product off-the-shelf but since my run-ins with their customer service a few years ago, I've written them off as a company I would patronize.

Phil Forrest

 

[btgc]

One camera, under an extended warranty, was refused by Sony and the only resolution to the issue was that we refunded the cost of the warranty and gave the customer a discount on a new camera (Canon, if I recall correctly) just to keep them shopping with us.

Refunded warranty, haha. It's like throwing binding contract out of window and saying they will pay for gasoline you burned to drive down five blocks and give you a free coffee.

Only way to cancel warranty I see is to refund full purchase - price of new camera plus warranty.