I am writting this thread because of my pathetic experience with Sony Ericsson (SE) service centre and a major technical problem in the handset. I bought new SE Xperia neo V on 1st of Jan'12 from Priya Communications in sector-14 Gurgaon (India). I was using xperia X8 prior to this. Just within a week time i started facing problem in GPRS as i was not able to browse internet. I contacted my service provider to check the GPRS settings as i felt the problem may be from their side since the phone was brand new. They checked the phone GPRS settings and confirmed that the GPRS settings were OK and I should contact Sony Ericsson. I went to the store from where i bought the phone. There was one sales executive from SE who was positioned there from the company, checked my phone and said that there was no problem in the handset and I should again contact service provider and get the SIM replaced.

I also felt that the phone was just few days old, it cannot have problems such as GPRS not working. So i took up the case with my service provider. After almost a week time, i could convince them to get my SIM replaced. The SIM was replaced with a new one, but unfortunately the problem did not resolve.

Then I contacted sony ericsson customer care centre and they noted by complaint. The executive listened to my problem patiently and guided me to visit the service centre in Gurgaon. On 25th Jan'12 i visited the service centre in Shiv Narayan Complex near City Court in Gurgaon. In the whole process it took 25 days time for me to confirm that the problem was in handset. I had to take half day leave from my regular office schedule to get this phone problem resolved. There was only one person available in the service centre and that too he came from another centre to look after this centre as there was no staff available on that day.

Anyhow, he did listen to my problem and told me that the phone Firmware was corrupted and needs to be installed/updated again. He took the phone for necessary update while i was waiting there. It took 2 Hrs just to update the software. After doing the same, i checked the working of GPRS. But the browser did not respond as usual. The executive also checked the same and said again that the problem in not with the handset but with GPRS settings provided by service provider. I lost it, as i felt i got stuck between the two companies (SE and Service Provider).

Since he was not getting convinced, so i had to use my SIM card in his phone (Xperia Ray - which he was using)to show him that the service provider settings are OK. The GPRS was working fine on his phone.

After he was convinced, he opened the Job Order and told me that the phone will be repaired in 4-5 days time because the PCB/Motherboard was faulty. Now, its 12 days over, i haven't received the phone. To my surprise, i got a call from SE centre on 30.1.12 asking about the feedback of my phone after repairs. I had to tell him, the phone was still with them.

I had requested SE to get the handset replaced as it was a major technical hardware problem in the phone. Following are the series of interractions made with SE customer care.
Call made to customer care on 27.1.12 and lodged a complaint for replacement of my phone
Escalated the complaint to Sr. Executive Abhinav on 27.1.12
Spoke to Mr. Dheeraj (Sr. Executive) on 29.1.12 to check the status but no confirmation
Mail forwarded to following email id (questions.in@supoort.sonyericsson.com) on 29.1.12
Spoketo Ronik (Sr. Executive) on 30.1.12 but no confirmation

Then got a call from Ronik on 31.1.12 and told me that phone could not be replaced but will only be repaired because i did not submit the phone to service centre within 7 days from purchase as per the policy to get it replaced. I asked him, why did it take them one week time to inform me that this was not within the policy. He had no answer and said that they were waiting for the response from their Chennai office and hence the delay. I was struggling with the problem before 7 days of purchase but unfortunately SE executives are not acknowledging the fact. I asked Ronik to give contact details of seniors at SE so that i can speak to them but he refused to give any info.

With last ray of hope, i am posting this thread so that atleast somebody at SE should see the pain customers are experiencing with their after sales service support.

Till 8th Feb'12, i am without the handset which was bought for Rs. 18,000/-.

Sachin Hada