Sony 85X9500G Bravia TV has a fault - so much for service!

[mjs]

We bought a Sony Bravia 85X9500G four years ago, it was expensive, but it’s been a great TV. It recently developed a series of thin scrolling black lines which has been extremely annoying. TV still works ok, it just has an annoying number of thin lines scrolling down the screen. So, off to Sony on-line customer care with a description of the fault.

 

I am staggered to find that Sony believe it can’t be repaired and that the only course of action is to replace it. This is a TV that cost $7500 just four years ago or a bit less that $2k/year! This tells me they are either just interested in shifting boxes, or they don’t give a rat’s about sustainability. Maybe it’s a feature of the market these days, there’s a latest and greatest new set out each year, with new features, which is so much better than last year’s model, which you just absolutely need to own. The gratuitous obsolescence is mind boggling!

 

OK, Sony can give me a reasonable deal on a new 85X95K or 85X90L, but that’s not the point. I shouldn’t be throwing away $2k a year just to own a TV!

 

By the way, anyone interested in a slightly defective 85X9500G in Adelaide for a few hundred bucks? You’d have to pick it up!

Edited November 2, 2023 by mjs

[ray4410]

26 minutes ago, mjs said:

We bought a Sony Bravia 85X9500G four years ago, it was expensive, but it’s been a great TV. It recently developed a series of thin scrolling black lines which has been extremely annoying. TV still works ok, it just has an annoying number of thin lines scrolling down the screen. So, off to Sony on-line customer care with a description of the fault.

 

I am staggered to find that Sony believe it can’t be repaired and that the only course of action is to replace it. This is a TV that cost $7500 just four years ago or a bit less that $2k/year! This tells me they are either just interested in shifting boxes, or they don’t give a rat’s about sustainability. Maybe it’s a feature of the market these days, there’s a latest and greatest new set out each year, with new features, which is so much better than last year’s model, which you just absolutely need to own. The gratuitous obsolescence is mind boggling!

 

OK, Sony can give me a reasonable deal on a new 85X95K or 85X90L, but that’s not the point. I shouldn’t be throwing away $2k a year just to own a TV!

 

By the way, anyone interested in a slightly defective 85X9500G in Adelaide for a few hundred bucks? You’d have to pick it up!

you could have a go at this to see if it fixes the problem

press and hold the up arrow button on the remote control
while holding the up arrow button press and release the power button on the tv then release the up arrow button on the remote
wait a minute or so and turn the tv back on from the tv it self
worth a try
good luck. 

[Guest]

3 hours ago, mjs said:

I am staggered to find that Sony believe it can’t be repaired and that the only course of action is to replace it.  This is a TV that cost $7500 just four years ago or a bit less that $2k/year! 

So sorry to hear that.  Suggest contacting SA  consumer affairs to see whether you have any recourse for repair.

 

According to their website

"Products must have spare parts and repair facilities available for a reasonable time after purchase (unless you were told otherwise)."

https://www.sa.gov.au/topics/rights-and-law/consumer-rights/consumer-guarantees-and-warranties

[todagt]

1 hour ago, Snoopy8 said:

So sorry to hear that.  Suggest contacting SA  consumer affairs to see whether you have any recourse for repair.

 

According to their website

"Products must have spare parts and repair facilities available for a reasonable time after purchase (unless you were told otherwise)."

https://www.sa.gov.au/topics/rights-and-law/consumer-rights/consumer-guarantees-and-warranties

Secondly, I don't think this passes the durability test in consumer law either...

[Guest]

42 minutes ago, todagt said:

Secondly, I don't think this passes the durability test in consumer law either...

 

Unfortunately, from ACCC guide, page 9

Quote

A reasonable consumer would expect to get more than two years' use from a $1800 television. Under the consumer guarantees, the consumer therefore has a statutory right to a remedy on the basis that the television is not of acceptable quality. The supplier must provide a remedy free of charge.

 

https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Electrical %26 whitegoods - an industry guide to the Australian Consumer Law.pdf

 

There is no clear guidelines under consumer law for OP's TV.  Yes, our expectations are that an expensive TV will last more than 4 years, but not explicit in our consumer laws.  Best OP can hope for is a repair.

[todagt]

This to me appears to fail the acceptable quality test.

I think a reasonable person would expect a $7500 Television to last in excess of 5 years. Personally I would expect 10 years.

 

The only way to know is lodge a complaint with the relevant body, (sorry, I'm not from SA) and honestly with what's at stake, what does he or she have to loose.

 

For example, I do know of an instance in regards to a 65 inch LG OLED that was around 5 years old having its panel replaced for a slight burn in issue. LG came to the party in this case without having to head into VCAT.

 

Edited November 2, 2023 by todagt

[mjs]

8 hours ago, ray4410 said:

you could have a go at this to see if it fixes the problem

press and hold the up arrow button on the remote control
while holding the up arrow button press and release the power button on the tv then release the up arrow button on the remote
wait a minute or so and turn the tv back on from the tv it self
worth a try
good luck. 

No luck with this

[mjs]

I've gone back strongly expressing that their response does not meet Australian consumer law, which I believe it does not. We'll see what the response is

[Nevyn72]

I recently had an issue with the development of a horizontal line of dead pixels on my slightly over 3 year old Panasonic OLED.

 

I approached Panasonic directly (even though they don't sell TVs in Australia anymore) and after a few checks they declared the TV unrepairable.

They said the reasonable expected life would be 10 years and after supplying a copy of my purchase receipt they refunded 67% of the purchase price (excluding GST).

 

Can't complain about that! 

 

 

[PositivelyMusicallyGeared]

My Panasonic plasma TV is approaching its 10th year in life in less than two months, and it is still going strong! Wonderful picture quality.

[mjs]

31 minutes ago, PositivelyMusicallyGeared said:

My Panasonic plasma TV is approaching its 10th year in life in less than two months, and it is still going strong! Wonderful picture quality.

I swapped a 65” Pana plasma for the Sony!

 

Reminds me that I bought a top of the range Sony 32” CRT TV in 1992 for about $2k which was a shed load of money at the time. That TV was great and still going strong 12 years later when I bought my first Pio plasma.

[aussievintage]

Typical of Sony as a company to treat customers like this.  I swore off them many years ago and will never buy another of their products.

 

I agree with the general opinion above that consumer law should be invoked.  Goods  not serviceable inside a reasonable expected product lifetime.  Don't let them get away with it.

[mjs]

I have gone back to Sony with the following, we will see what the response is

 

I think you are missing my point. I will try to make it clearer and if you can’t progress this matter, I would like to speak with someone further up the chain rather than you just pass my email to “Sony Management”

 

Under Australian Consumer Law, there are nine Consumer guarantees, which are different to product warranties or extended warranties, including the following:

 

1. Manufacturers guarantee that goods are of acceptable quality and are fit for purpose

2. Manufacturers guarantee they will take reasonable steps to provide spare parts and facilities for a reasonable time after purchase

 

Among other tests, Acceptable Quality means durable and that the product will function for a reasonable time without breaking down. This test takes into account the price paid, for example a $50 toaster is not expected to last as long as a $7.500 television. A reasonable consumer would expect a $7,500 television to provide much more than four year’s use before it was unable to be repaired.

 

When a product fails to meet a Consumer guarantee, the remedy available depends on whether the failure is major or minor. A major failure includes:

• When a reasonable consumer would not have bought the product if they had known about the problem, for example if the consumer knew an expensive television was going to be unusable after four years
• If the product is substantially unfit for its purpose and cannot be made fit within a reasonable time, for example, if no parts are available for a faulty television

 

It is clear that the situation with my television is a major failure and that the television is not of acceptable quality. Under Consumer law, Sony must provide a remedy free of charge.

 

I would be pleased if you could get the right people to carefully consider this and get back to me with your suggested remedy.

[mjs]

Bit of an update ..

 

After pushing the last post up the chain to more senior staff, Sony seems to have changed from "we don't really have the parts, it might take four to five months to fix, you're better off replacing the set and we can offer you a special price" to "ok, we do seem to have spare parts and will fix it free of charge". 

 

I'm ok with that, but it took some time to get there. We will see how the repair goes!

Edited November 6, 2023 by mjs

[metal beat]

Good result there.

 

However, it should not take a customer to threaten the manufacturer before they do the right thing that they should have done in the first place.

 

Personally, I would still your issue to the ACC/Consumer affairs after they have fixed the issue.

 

then hopefully the next sucker won't be shafted by Sony.

[mjs]

Let’s see how the repair goes. To some extent they have accepted the remedy for free requirement. It will be interesting their response if they actually can’t fix it

[Tweaky]

The reset procedure has changed on some Sony TV's, I only know this because I had looked on the Sony website to find out if I could get a picture up on my 9 week old A95K when the panel took a hit back in Oct 2022 [Nothing happened when I did it], only to find when ringing the Sony service center that the reset procedure was different for my TV than the one on their own website [once the new input procedure was tried at least something happened, but the panel was stuffed]

 

From what I have read, your problem can be caused by the cables between the main board and the TV's panel partially loosing contact.

They are the very thin and flat ribbon like cables, usually held down with a black plastic holding clamp on Sony TV's.

 

The cable ends can be easily un-clipped and cleaned, then put back in place as a DIY attempted fix.

 

If the lines are moving that means the panel is OK as far as I understand, the problem is with the signal getting to the panel, and that could be several things.

 

The worse result is you would have to swap out a board, I can't see any reason why this TV cant be fixed.

That's the problem with TV's over 65", as they are not of the size that you can rest against the back seats of your car to take to a service centre.

 

I have read above Sony is sending in a repair person, so you should be OK .

Depends who they send, it will be somebody from the nearest recommended Sony TV service center near you [sub contractor], I suggest ringing Sony to find out exactly who that is.

 

Hopefully the Sony licensed repair centre is a good one, not all are as I found out many years ago.

I once had a Sony repair centre near me that was extremely dodgy, and had taken perfectly working parts out of a new projector I had sent in for a free service with ones from another projector...I could tell from the look of the projected image.

 

The idiots didn't know that I had a girlfriend working there at the time, I told her about what I thought had happened, and she wasn't surprised, telling all about what went on there.

I rang Sony about it, they got back to me for further info, result was they lost all the business from Sony and had to close.

Edited November 9, 2023 by Tweaky

[purpleninja]

Glad you got a resolution - sadly it seems unless you threaten manufacturers most just tell you to accept the choices they give you. I've heard a few horror stories about Sony.

 

When we were building our first home in 2010 it was a chance to get a large TV (for the first time). Missus said 63" was too big so we went for a 58" Samsung 1080p plasma and extended warranty from Myer for about $3k. I couldn't get her to accept the need for a Pioneer Kuro

 

3 years on the TV picture goes and I ring the extended warranty people and they say we will give you $1500. I said to them this won't get me a new equivalent TV and they said it is what it is. So I took the money.

 

Then someone on Whirlpool told me about ACL so I contacted Samsung who sent a tech and then said they couldn't repair it but as an act of goodwill they would replace it with a 64" 1080p plasma. They even threw in a bunch of new 3D glasses as the old ones would not work on the replacement TV.

 

2 years on the replacement picture goes - so this time I go straight back to Samsung and they send another tech and say that the TV is toast and they will as an act of goodwill replace it. But they no longer do plasma so they will replace with a 65" LCD 4K. This happened in 2015 and the TV is still going strong.

 

The Samsung customer service also told me that every time they gave me a replacement TV the 5 years for ACL on TVs started again - which I thought was nice of them to tell me.

 

Suffice to say I never bought another extended warranty for pretty much anything.

Edited December 27, 2023 by purpleninja

[mjs]

The repair drama continues.

 

Sony had to get a couple of replacement boards, then a service call in late Dec to replace them. Didn’t fix the problem, apparently it’s the panel itself. New panel was duly ordered, took another month, the service guy has both panels on tables to access the back of the panels. Turns out the replacement panel is not the same part number and the old circuit boards can’t be mounted on the new panel. Bummer

 

At this stage, after a bit more to-ing and fro-ing, Sony to their credit have offered a complete replacement 85X90L model for free, which is a current model, perhaps not quite at the 95 series model level, but a good set. Currently considering this or whether there's an option to upgrade further.

Edited January 26, 2024 by mjs

[mikizee]

Is there an option to chuck in a bit of extra money and get the 85X95L?

[Tweaky]

1 hour ago, mjs said:

The repair drama continues.

 

Sony had to get a couple of replacement boards, then a service call in late Dec to replace them. Didn’t fix the problem, apparently it’s the panel itself. New panel was duly ordered, took another month, the service guy has both panels on tables to access the back of the panels. Turns out the replacement panel is not the same part number and the old circuit boards can’t be mounted on the new panel. Bummer

 

At this stage, after a bit more to-ing and fro-ing, Sony to their credit have offered a complete replacement 85X90L model for free, which is a current model, perhaps not quite at the 95 series model level, but a good set. Currently considering this or whether there's an option to upgrade further.

 

Sony will try to help, but I've found they will get to a Take it or leave it stage [I've been there when my A95K went belly up ], which I think is where you might find yourself now.

Looking at the prices of both the X90L and X95L there is currently a $3000 difference [The 85X90L is currently be offered at $1000 off], and from what I'm seeing only the specialist stores are stocking the 85X95L, if that is because Sony is making more of this model for other markets first [That's been happening a lot of the last few years], or just lack of demand for a Mini LED at that price point in Australia, I don't know.

 

Have a look at the video below that compares the two sets, it might help in making a decision on what you want to do.

I suppose you could say to Sony, how about I pay the difference between a 85X90L and 85X95, if they agree make sure it's at the RRP, not the discounted one.

 

 

[mikizee]

16 minutes ago, Tweaky said:

 

Sony will try to help, but I've found they will get to a Take it or leave it stage [I've been there when my A95K went belly up ], which I think is where you might find yourself now.

Looking at the prices of both the X90L and X95L there is currently a $3000 difference [The 85X90L is currently be offered at $1000 off], and from what I'm seeing only the specialist stores are stocking the 85X95L, if that is because Sony is making more of this model for other markets first [That's been happening a lot of the last few years], or just lack of demand for a Mini LED at that price point in Australia, I don't know.

 

Have a look at the video below that compares the two sets, it might help in making a decision on what you want to do.

I suppose you could say to Sony, how about I pay the difference between a 85X90L and 85X95, if they agree make sure it's at the RRP, not the discounted one.

 

 

 

Currently a 2k difference between the X90L and X95L, the X95L's dropped by a grand this week.

[mjs]

I don't see the 85X95L anywhere in captivity in Oz at present. Tips on sourcing it? I'm actually thinking of an 83A80L OLED instead

[mikizee]

11 minutes ago, mjs said:

I don't see the 85X95L anywhere in captivity in Oz at present. Tips on sourcing it? I'm actually thinking of an 83A80L OLED instead

 

It is exclusive to Sony Pro dealers, of which VAF Research is one. All Sony TV's sold through Sony Pro dealers have a 3 year warranty instead of 1 year. The way to tell if it is a Sony Pro model is that the model code has a prefix of 'FWD' instead of 'XR'. So for example with the 83A80L, our model is the FWD83A80L, instead of XR83A80L. Otherwise, same specs, same price.

 

 

[mjs]

1 hour ago, mikizee said:

 

It is exclusive to Sony Pro dealers, of which VAF Research is one. All Sony TV's sold through Sony Pro dealers have a 3 year warranty instead of 1 year. The way to tell if it is a Sony Pro model is that the model code has a prefix of 'FWD' instead of 'XR'. So for example with the 83A80L, our model is the FWD83A80L, instead of XR83A80L. Otherwise, same specs, same price.

 

 

So, does this show up on line, or is it a visit to North Terrace?