It's finally here. The moment I have been waiting for eagerly for the past month has finally arrived. It feels almost surreal, yet wonderfully pleasant. I was going to rip the box apart the moment I grabbed it from the Fedex delivery guy, but I somehow managed to squeeze a bit of patience out of myself and waited until I setup all the video equipment to do a proper unboxing video.
Enough said. Now feast your eyes on the new Sony VAIO FW490!
Monday, August 31, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
The Tale of Two Orders
Sony is an international technology conglomerate; therefore, doing business with Sony means one has to deal with its frustrating customer service department as one does with all other mega-corporations.
I ordered my Sony VAIO FW490, plus two accessories and extended service plan as part of the campus bundle discount program, on SonyStyle.com in early August. Everything went through smoothly; the sales agent even offered me free upgrade to express shipping. I received the two accessories two days later and I was rather pleased with the order, so far. For the following week, I would anxiously check the order status 5 times a day until I finally got tired of seeing the word "Processing".
Then one night, I received an email from Sony stating that my laptop order is canceled! Canceled?!? I immediately called customer service and a guy with thick Indian accent informed me that they have trouble charging my credit card. I assured him that I have sufficient funds on my card and that all my other online purchases went through just fine, but he insisted that I contact my credit card company to next morning. So I did, thinking that I would be receiving my laptop soon after I sorted out this little misunderstanding. When I contacted Sony again the next day, after confirming with the credit card company that my account was fine, I was shocked to find out that I could not simply reopen the laptop order. My original order is gone, removed from the system as if it has never existed. Now, I have to place a new order for the laptop.
In order to receive the campus bundle discount, one must order the laptop, the accessories and the service plan at the same time. Since I have already received the two accessories, I wasn't going to order two more. To make the long story short, I had to spend over 4 hours talking to three customer service agents and two sales agent over the phone to sort this mess out. And those Indian customer service representatives are not helpful at all. No matter what I said to them, they would simply recite the same scripted answer. Luckily I convinced an American sales agent to do a tele-conference with the customer service agent and myself; at one point, even the sales agent was getting frustrated by the lame response from the Indian customer service guy.
In the end, they agreed to let me place a new laptop order at the campus bundle discounted price, but I would have to pay the full retail price first and wait for a refund later. In addition, I would have to wait an extra week before they could ship the laptop.
If you read the return and cancellation policy on SonyStyle.com, you would appreciate the insanity of this incidence.
Apparently, a customer cannot cancel an order once it has been placed, but it is perfectly okay for Sony to cancel an order hastily without even attempting to resolve any problem with the customer. What is the point of requiring customers to provide phone numbers and emails if you are not going to use it? So many sales agents have put in so much effort to close a deal, shouldn't the company work with the customer to complete the order instead of canceling it for no good reason?
Ordering online should be a quick and simple experience; why would Sony turn it into hours of phone call and two complicated orders/refunds.
I ordered my Sony VAIO FW490, plus two accessories and extended service plan as part of the campus bundle discount program, on SonyStyle.com in early August. Everything went through smoothly; the sales agent even offered me free upgrade to express shipping. I received the two accessories two days later and I was rather pleased with the order, so far. For the following week, I would anxiously check the order status 5 times a day until I finally got tired of seeing the word "Processing".
Then one night, I received an email from Sony stating that my laptop order is canceled! Canceled?!? I immediately called customer service and a guy with thick Indian accent informed me that they have trouble charging my credit card. I assured him that I have sufficient funds on my card and that all my other online purchases went through just fine, but he insisted that I contact my credit card company to next morning. So I did, thinking that I would be receiving my laptop soon after I sorted out this little misunderstanding. When I contacted Sony again the next day, after confirming with the credit card company that my account was fine, I was shocked to find out that I could not simply reopen the laptop order. My original order is gone, removed from the system as if it has never existed. Now, I have to place a new order for the laptop.
In order to receive the campus bundle discount, one must order the laptop, the accessories and the service plan at the same time. Since I have already received the two accessories, I wasn't going to order two more. To make the long story short, I had to spend over 4 hours talking to three customer service agents and two sales agent over the phone to sort this mess out. And those Indian customer service representatives are not helpful at all. No matter what I said to them, they would simply recite the same scripted answer. Luckily I convinced an American sales agent to do a tele-conference with the customer service agent and myself; at one point, even the sales agent was getting frustrated by the lame response from the Indian customer service guy.
In the end, they agreed to let me place a new laptop order at the campus bundle discounted price, but I would have to pay the full retail price first and wait for a refund later. In addition, I would have to wait an extra week before they could ship the laptop.
If you read the return and cancellation policy on SonyStyle.com, you would appreciate the insanity of this incidence.
Sony Style is unable to cancel most orders after it is placed. Please see the following to better understand what situation applies to your order.
In-Stock Items: Sony Style endeavors to ship our customer’s orders as quickly as possible. This means that we do not ‘hold’ an order for an In-Stock product for 24-hours as is the practice of some online shopping sites. For In-Stock products, it is not possible to modify or cancel an order once an order has been placed*.
*Please note that engraved products are considered In-Stock items and therefore cannot be cancelled.
Apparently, a customer cannot cancel an order once it has been placed, but it is perfectly okay for Sony to cancel an order hastily without even attempting to resolve any problem with the customer. What is the point of requiring customers to provide phone numbers and emails if you are not going to use it? So many sales agents have put in so much effort to close a deal, shouldn't the company work with the customer to complete the order instead of canceling it for no good reason?
Ordering online should be a quick and simple experience; why would Sony turn it into hours of phone call and two complicated orders/refunds.
Monday, August 24, 2009
My Sony VAIO FW490 - the prequel
I am in the market for a new laptop, again. Having gone through over a dozen entry-level laptops from HP, Toshiba, Sony, IBM, Compaq and Dell, I decided it was time to get a proper performance-level machine.
My requirement is rather straightforward, or so I thought - Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, discrete GPU capable of light gaming, and a 15"+ 1600x1080 screen in a sleek looking chassis. It turns out, very few manufacturers make laptops with 1600x1080 LCD screen. After months of research, I shortlisted my choices to the HP HDX16t, the Dell Studio XPS 16, and of course the Sony VAIO FW490. The Lenovo Y650 was one of my favorites as well, it's a shame Lenovo doesn't offer any 1080 pixel screen.
My experience with HP laptops has been quite pleasant. Most of their machines, even the sub-$USD500 ones, are very well-built, and the HP HDX16t is a very, very sturdy-looking and substantial machine. It offers all the standard features in addition to a backlit keyboard. The Dell Studio XPS 16 is a very impressive laptop; it clearly stands out from all the other cheap and flimsy Dell notebooks. I am sure the 16" RGB-LED backlit LCD screen alone is enough to make my friends envious. Topping that off with a powerful ATi Mobility 4670 GPU, a backlit keyboard, DDR3 RAM, and optional 256GB SSD, it was definitely the most powerful laptop in the market that the time.
I was ready to pound the gavel and order the Dell, until I visited a nearby Best Buy, where they displayed the Studio XPS 16, alongside the Sony VAIO FW490. I must say, Dell's built-quality still has plenty of room for improvement; compared to HP and Sony, the Dell, despite its impressive specs, still looks like a piece of cheap plastic. Most importantly, the Studio XPS 16 runs hot! I have read on forums plenty of discussions on whether this machine overheats or not as well as proposed solutions to deal with the heat, like cooling pads, thermal compounds, and undervolting. The bottom line is, the Studio XPS 16 runs hot.
I normally wouldn't give Sony a second thought; I believe most Sony products are overpriced gadgets for the over-privileged kids. Nevertheless, the VAIO FW490 really does look very attractive. It offers all the features that I want in a slim and sleek package. It doesn't look as gigantic as the HP HDX16t but it feels just as well built. It has a powerful ATi Mobility 4650 GPU (essentially a lower-clocked version of 4670), yet it still runs at a very comfortable temperature. To my biggest surprise, it is not expensive at all! Sony was running a campus bundle sale, a special upgrade discount, and an educational discount program. In the end, the Sony is actually the most inexpensive laptop on my list.
And so, I ordered the Sony VAIO FW490 online, and this is where the story begins...
My requirement is rather straightforward, or so I thought - Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, discrete GPU capable of light gaming, and a 15"+ 1600x1080 screen in a sleek looking chassis. It turns out, very few manufacturers make laptops with 1600x1080 LCD screen. After months of research, I shortlisted my choices to the HP HDX16t, the Dell Studio XPS 16, and of course the Sony VAIO FW490. The Lenovo Y650 was one of my favorites as well, it's a shame Lenovo doesn't offer any 1080 pixel screen.
My experience with HP laptops has been quite pleasant. Most of their machines, even the sub-$USD500 ones, are very well-built, and the HP HDX16t is a very, very sturdy-looking and substantial machine. It offers all the standard features in addition to a backlit keyboard. The Dell Studio XPS 16 is a very impressive laptop; it clearly stands out from all the other cheap and flimsy Dell notebooks. I am sure the 16" RGB-LED backlit LCD screen alone is enough to make my friends envious. Topping that off with a powerful ATi Mobility 4670 GPU, a backlit keyboard, DDR3 RAM, and optional 256GB SSD, it was definitely the most powerful laptop in the market that the time.
I was ready to pound the gavel and order the Dell, until I visited a nearby Best Buy, where they displayed the Studio XPS 16, alongside the Sony VAIO FW490. I must say, Dell's built-quality still has plenty of room for improvement; compared to HP and Sony, the Dell, despite its impressive specs, still looks like a piece of cheap plastic. Most importantly, the Studio XPS 16 runs hot! I have read on forums plenty of discussions on whether this machine overheats or not as well as proposed solutions to deal with the heat, like cooling pads, thermal compounds, and undervolting. The bottom line is, the Studio XPS 16 runs hot.
I normally wouldn't give Sony a second thought; I believe most Sony products are overpriced gadgets for the over-privileged kids. Nevertheless, the VAIO FW490 really does look very attractive. It offers all the features that I want in a slim and sleek package. It doesn't look as gigantic as the HP HDX16t but it feels just as well built. It has a powerful ATi Mobility 4650 GPU (essentially a lower-clocked version of 4670), yet it still runs at a very comfortable temperature. To my biggest surprise, it is not expensive at all! Sony was running a campus bundle sale, a special upgrade discount, and an educational discount program. In the end, the Sony is actually the most inexpensive laptop on my list.
And so, I ordered the Sony VAIO FW490 online, and this is where the story begins...
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