One button on an otherwise descent cassette/radio/CD Player is broken (first it wouldn't stay "down" to Play cassette, now it's jammed down).
Called Sony with what I thought was a simple question: give me a local (South Jersey) Sony authorized repair place.
No such thing according to Sony--either ship it to them in Texas for repair or refurbish (either way at a cost of close to $100 including shipping) or buy the new model.
I hope this is the right group to ask: is the (mechanical?) repair of one button on a cassette player feasible? Approx cost? And how the heck do I find a local facility where I can walk in with the box, show them the broken play button problem problem, get a price and then get it repaired at a reasonable cost?
Or must I buy the "new" model?
The rest of the device and its other functions work fine. This happened after only 2 1/2 years of average/moderate use.
No empathy I'm afraid, these things are disposable.
3 questions:
How much do you think it's worth, as a used item, if it was working?
What is the most you would pay to have it repaired?
If you were in the business of repairing these things, how much would you need to charge for (at least) the hours labour it would take and still make a little profit? Bearing in mind you have to pay for premises, insurance, staff if you have any, tax, phone bills, internet fees, bad debts, punters who don't bother collecting their Sony Cassette Boomboxes after you have just spent an hour on the phone sourcing parts and an hour fixing the thing, because it wasn't worth fixing in the first place ........
Why not try to fix it yourself. Anyone who is even slightly mechanically inclined should be able to take the thing apart and see how the other buttons work and unjam the jammed one. What do you have to lose??
unfortunately I am not even slightly mechanically inclined.
I guess part of this post was to express surprise (1) that an important component (the Play button) of a Sony product not abused didn't last more than 2 1/2 years; and (2) that Sony gives consumers extremely limited options for repairing these things, a repair that Mr. Hoffman indicated would be simple for even a moderately skilled repair person (let alone a Sony factory trained facility that I could drive to).
Ha ! Would that we still had 'factory' training from *any* manufacturer ... Most manufacturer training is now at best, a one day seminar in a hotel, and in some cases, even just a 'virtual' classroom that you log into online. Many manufacturers don't even offer this rudimentary level of support to the people who have to mend their kit. Hell, many manufacturers won't even supply service information, and there's even some who hide their identity behind badge names, so that there's not even a 'company' you can get in touch with at all for *any* purpose !
That said, Sony usually have local service agents who are often independants that take on all-comers, and regional Service Centres that are part financed by Sony. I am actually really surprised that Sony themselves could not put you in touch with a service agent within a reasonable distance. In terms of their service network, they are one of the better companies, although not what they were even 10 years ago.
There is some validity in what was said in one of the other replies about whether the cost of a repair is 'worth it', but I readily accept that that is down to you to decide, as it depends on what the item is worth to you. I see equipment every single week, that I would consider to be beyond economic repair, but which the owner goes ahead with, either because they are 'comfortable' with that equipment, or that a similar replacement is no longer available.
FWIW, problems with Sony buttons failing to latch, or jamming latched, used to be quite common. Often, it's just down to wear on the profile of the 'shoulder' on the button lever, causing it to fail to engage properly with the latch bar. This later develops until the latch bar jams, often as a result of harder and harder presses by the owner, until the button bar gets bent and the button won't then release. It's a simple fix that just involves a touch here and there with a rat-tail file to reprofile the latching surfaces, and a bit of grease. Even if the button itself was damaged, it should still be available through third party spares agents, so if I were you, I would just take it in to any repair shop, who should at least be able to quote you on the repair - they will probably have seen the problem many times before as I have. You do not have to take it to an 'official' Sony dealer. Sony spares are, for the most part, available to any repair outfit.
The main criterion now for producing these sort of goods is a low retail price. These things are actually really cheap now. I can go into Tesco on my way home and pick up a DVD player or Sattelite box with a years warranty for £20. But with the cheap price comes the drawback of little or no service. If you want your goods to last longer or to come with good service backup, you will have to pay a lot more for them. Service is a very expensive thing for a company to provide and generally makes no income, so generally you won't find much of it. Instead, they will have the stuff made in China for a very low price, and then you can go and buy your stuff for a very low price, and it will last for a while. If you took it to China to have it repaired you may be able to get it done for a reasonable percentage of its value, but not in the Western world where wages and the cost of running a business is a magnitude higher.
Unfortunately you cannot have your cake and eat it. You do have a choice of buying much better quality goods at much higher prices though, with the possibility of having it repaired should it go wrong outside of warranty, if you are prepared to pay what it actually costs to repair it.
Having said that, Sony does or did have a network of Sony Service Centres, but the prices were very high, probably in line with what they actually cost to provide. I don't remember seeing any other maufacturer doing anything similar.
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