Why Sony Bravia LCD TV warranty not covered in India when purchased in Saudi Arabia?

Question

I purchased 32" LCD- S - Bravia TV from Saudi Arabia and used 3 weeks and taken to my home town at Kolkata, India. On 26th June 08 it was installed and working fine till 27th evening. suddenly I find horizontal bars on screen even menu window not stable. I complined to Sony service at Kolkata and next day service Engineer came and suspected problem at signal in/ out panel/PCB. They took the set to service center and advisecd me that this set does not have warantee coverage in India as it was purchased at KSA. Service charges including spares decleared as Rs.13,146/-. With no option left I agreed to pay and got the set repaired. This set was manufactured at Sony-Malaysia. Sony Kolkata service center informed that they brought the spare (In/Out signal PCB) from Malaysia. We have huge population of Indian expart at KSA and many of them used to buy the set and then take home town in India. I request SONY to reimburse the expenses incurred at actual on presentation of invoices and documents

Answer 1

This is a common problem for customers of Sony and other electronics manufacturers. The problem is that you bought your TV from one company Sony Saudi Arabia, they collected the $ for the sale. Then, you askled Sony India to repair the set, they had not collected any $ and so had no means or responsibility to fulfill the warranty.  Each Sony subsidiary operates as a sort of franchise and so $ does not change hands between them.

I am certain that the warranty documents you received with the set (probably written in Arabic) explained that the warranty would only be honored in Saudi Arabia, but you probably could not read it.

This problem often occurs when American's such as myself purchase exectronic goods overseas and then attempt to have them repaired here in the US. It never works.

Your only hope is to do as you have and attempt to secure some response from Sony Corporate in Japan. Frankly, I think this is going to be difficult, but I wish you the best of luck.

Astrobuf

Answer 2

I can't speak for India, but in the UK it has been sucessfully argued that international companies such as Sony, have to honour the warranties irrespective of where the goods were bought. The reason the service centres demand payment was adequetly explained by the first answer.

Speak to Sony direct and /or a consumer advice centre.