Having purchased a two year extended warranty, I was glad to get service the first two times I had to ship the SONY VAIO Laptop computer during the first year and a half. Then, as the warranty was running out (June) I received a bill for an extension to the warranty. After mailing off the first payment, the laptop stopped just freezing, which was a situation that it had from the beginning, and I attributed to the Windows OS.
At that time, I went through the system test to see if I could get the system to boot, but failed (involved removing power and discharging capacitors, etc for the technically minded). I brought the system in to the local Circuit City for shipping to be repaired - this was before the previous warranty had expired, and was told by the 'technician' (salesman) at the repair desk I might just be getting a replacement, since the warranty stated that three major failures would allow me to choose a replacement unit. I allowed the system to be submitted to GEZWM, and in several weeks (AFTER The Warranty shifted to the new one) recieved the unit back. It booted, but would not allow any connections beyond USB (the PCMCIA slow was non-functional, none of the other external systems such as CRT and TV outputs worked). I used the system for a day or so, pulling non-replacable files, etc until it died again.
Back to CC, for the fourth round of repairs, and a long wait for the GEZWM to allow the warranty to run out? Recieved the unit back after a run across town to FedEx, opened the box and immediately watched the laptop do a wonderful job as paperweight.
It did not light the LCD, the BIOS never started, the HD never started, the CD/DVD unit did not start (tried booting to Knoppix on CD - failed). When I returned the latest time, I was informed, in spite of the fact it was the third time on this same repair, they insisted that my system was out of warranty for replacement.
The power supply and motherboard are both destroyed... The power supply is why they had to replace two motherboards in the first repairs. The technicians are unable to determine that much, which can be checked by trying to book TWO times... Which they have, according to the paperwork that came with the unrepaired unit, never done.
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