[Resolved]  Sony Ericsson W830i — Horrible experience turned good

My SE W830i went white. I switch it on and all i get is a white screen. I tried removing batteries, recharging and then tried to update the phones software using SEUS(Sony Ericsson Update Service). Nothing worked. Took it to a authorized service center Vimas Intek, Near Ayyappan Temple, Annanagar, Chennai. As usual the service center is crowded and i was in queue. After some 20 minutes i was called and i showed my phone to the technical person there. I said how my phone suddenly went to a white screen and i also said that my phone is still in warranty. He immediately opened my phone and said that the screen got corrupted due to a water abuse and it would cost me Rs.4000+ and it would take a week to fix it. I was shocked. Water? Where? I have not used the phone for the past 2 months, due to restrictions in my office and there is no way my phone was abused with water and it was working fine till yesterday. When i argued he opened and showed me inside the phone cover. It had a small strip in the inside and he said its basically yellow until it comes in contact with water. If there is any contact, it turns red. And the strip was red. He also said this strip is to find if a phone is really abused with water.

Again i argued it was working fine for the past 2 months and i have never even taken it out of my shelf. My phones color strip could have turned red because of sweat or water contact long back. But i was sure this white screen problem is definitely not due to water and suspected it to be a software problem.

I requested him to replace my screen free of cost. i mean its still in warranty period, but he refused to replace it because according to him, fault is on my side. He also said that he has purchased all the spares out of his own investment and can't expect sony ericsson to approve of replacing a damaged screen for customers error. What the hell? Why should a service center buy spares out of its own damn pocket? This is very wrong. There are chances that these service centers can push some spares in to customers phones just for the heck of it. I'm not sure how many are already cheated and paid for nothing. I didn't believe what the service guy said. I argued again and then he gave me a slip stating my mobile model number, serial number and he also mentioned water problem. And told me that if i'm not satisfied, i can take this mobile and this slip to the head office, Salora International at Nungambakkam, Chennai. And i decided to go there.

At Salora International, I had a whole different experience. Again i had to wait in queue, but only 5 minutes. I was suspicious about giving the slip to these guys, the Vimas Intek guy gave me. Because if they see the slip stating that my mobile had water abuse, they won't really try to find what the problem is. So i didn't say a word about my previous encounter with another Service Center. I said that the phone is still under warranty. Again this guy opened my phone immediately. Oooops!!! I was expecting a response similar to the previous one, telling that my phone was abused with water and blah blah blah. But no!!! This guy suspected it could be a software problem and took it in to a room. I was puzzled whether it would work out. Because, i have already tried the Update Service, myself with my PC. After some fifteen minutes, the guy came out and said, ... Its working! Thank god! They were really awesome and up to the point. They must be having some advanced method to correct corrupted phone softwares. They asked me for a xerox copy of the purchase bill and i provided them. And they did this free of cost, because i was in warranty period. In no time i was using my phone as usual.

Vimas Intek guy blew this silly software problem to a huge screen replacement problem. Sony Ericsson must do something about this. He is ruining Sony Ericsson's name. He is trying to sell his spares to customers. Also he is refusing to replace it under warranty and trying to push it just for his profit. I hope Sony Ericsson can see the point. I really pity the SE customers who goes to the wrong guys like these and get suffered. Sony Ericsson, do something, cancel this guys contract. Or he is going to pose a threat for SE customers like myself.