Sony budget smartphone somehow less smart

Cape Town - Sony makes a range of smartphones for multiple markets, and Fin24 user Louis Ash had an issue with the Xperia V.

Ash reached out Fin24 after reading about Ricardo Harvey's experience with the Xperia Z Compact.

In January I bought a cellphone (Sony Xperia V) from Cell u City with Vodacom as my service provider. When I opened the device at home I found a chip out of the Gorilla Glass which to my knowledge is supposed to be extremely difficult.

I took the phone back five days after purchase - I opened the device three days after purchase, removed the factory fitted screen protector the following day and returned the phone the following morning.

At the store I was told that it needed to go in for a check to see if it was a factory fault to which I agreed, even though there is a seven day replacement clause in the purchase agreement.

After a few days I got a response saying they would not replace the phone due to the fact that the device was not opened in store. Not that I had broken the device but due to it not being open in store they would not replace it.

After contacting the store again I was told they would replace the screen. After two and a half months of to and fro I was informed that nothing had been or would be done.

At this time I decided to contact the NCC (National Consumer Commission) to take the matter further and after months of following up at my own expense the phone's screen was replaced. I received the phone back mid-May.

During this time I had been paying a contract for which I had no device as my previous cell had been stolen in December.

For three of the nearly five and a half months I had no cellular device. The rest of the time I got by borrowing old devices from friends - never a smartphone so half the features of my contract were left unused and expired.

Due to the absolutely poor service I have decided to end my contract once it has reached term. I believe service providers should be held responsible for these times that they have wasted their clients' time and money.

In an economy like ours where every rand counts, loosing R1 500 for services not rendered is unacceptable.

Disclaimer: All articles and letters published on MyFin24 have been independently written by members of the Fin24 community. The views of users published on Fin24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent those of Fin24.