Sony Xperia Z1 Water Resistivity false advertising and poor service from service center

[Narayanan]

I have bought Sony Xperia Z1 from eBay on 31 October 2013. I have been using this phone for nearly a year. The phone was good in performance but comes to water resistivity it will resist water for a few months but after few months even though the card slot and all flops are closed, the water gets in.I have faced this on 7th September when i was about to take a photo in pool, the water gets in and the phone was dead. And i took it to the service center ( Repair and Return Technology (I) Pvt Ltd) Egmore, chennai, on 9th September 2014. On 15th September i got a call that i have to pay nearly 20000 to rectify the phone. Then i called the service center and also sent mail to servicehead@ap.sony.com and said that i was not satisfied with the reply. Then few days i again got mail like below

We understand your concern towards the service of your Sony XPERIA Z1.
We had received your Sony XPERIA Z1 at our Authorized Service Centre – M/S Repair and Return Technology, Egmore, vide Work Order No.W114090906449 with the nature of complaint “Cannot Power On”.
Upon physical inspection of the product by our engineers, the phone was found to be damaged due to external cause of liquid regression. As we mentioned in our Warranty Terms and Conditions, this service is not covered under Warranty. The Main Board needs to be replaced for satisfactory working of the product. The estimate for this service is Rs 12,488/- and Service charge is Rs.350/-.
This matter has been discussed with our management.
We regret that we are unable to comply with your request for free of cost service. We would once again request you to kindly approve the estimate so that we can proceed for service.
We solicit your kind understanding in this regard.
Thanking you and assuring you of our best services always.
Warm Regards,
Sony India Pvt. Ltd.

They just mention the flags turn red and so the water has got in. They were unable to explain how the water got in. I have seen several forums that many users facing this kind of issues even all the flaps are closed. I was completely stressed and depressed to hear this. I halfheartedly asked the service center to do the service on 1 October 2014. Today's date is 11 October 2014 but still now i haven't heard any update from SONY. When i asked SONY customer care or service center, they dont even know the status of the product, they saying that the phone has been given for service to next level, I have to wait for few days, But i have been waiting for 1 month. I was completely fed up with Sony Service as they are not even called me once regarding this. I have to call each and every time and not even get proper reply. Its very irritating.

If SONY is viewing this do necessary action or else you'll lose a premium customer and more customers in future.

Even though i got the phone how can i use this phone in water ? I completely lost trust in SONY and never buy any SONY product again. I'll go for Micromax next time.


Order No.W114090906449
Sony XPERIA Z1, Model No. C6902,
IMEI No. 

I see many users here are suffering the same problem,
Beware of buying Xperia Water resistant products as it may not guarantee waterproof and they don't even give warranty if your phone got water.


Regards,
Narayanan

[Narayanan · Accepted solution]

Finally they have replaced the mother board and charged my Rs.5321 after long consideration. But i still fear to use it in water. And even if it fails again i hope i have to buy a new phone as they will charge the cost of a new phone.

Regards,

Narayanan

[Vándor]

How much it will cost if i have to replace the motherboard?

[Andys8055]

I have had the same problem I have wrote to customer services and I keeping the same reply, that the phone has to be less than 1.5 meters, less than half an hour....... blah blah blah.

My phone failed in water and I had met all the conditions but they keep fobbing me off I have asked why they advertise the phone as waterproof when obviously its not.  The last reply I got was well it might not be waterproof.

Absolute rubbish the phone and the customer service.  and dont get me started on the smartwatch that failed in water as well it never worked I threw it in the bin.

Aviod sony products absolute junk I say.

[Narayanan]

They charged me 4304 + taxes for Motherboard and its required parts. Not sure about the original price.

If you checked the price with your local service center update us.

Regards,

Narayanan

[Narayanan]

As far as from my experience, you can not purposely use it under water. If it was mistakenly drown in water. It may save your phone. If it fails it may depends upon the service center and the sony management to help you get with the phone.

But don't buy it only to use it in water, It may disappoint you.

[Narayanan]

When you bought the phone ?

[lpantunes]

The exact same problem here.

They are instructed to tell always the same story I see... I asked for a detailed technical report on the vaccum test with photos and all that they say is that they made it, they don't tell if it failed or not or how it was done.

Thank you for sharing! I've shared too so that everyone can see how Sony does with these kinds of situations... client is always wrong for them...

[a6i]

Sony Xperia Z1, stop operated. i have bought at 27 th Nov 2013, my phone drop in the water, 

Please give me, solution for this case...

[Narayanan]

Contact your nearest Sony service center.