First, the phone call to the support center landed the caller in the middle of a very long and confusing phone tree. When a support person did answer the call, an MPSG staffer patiently explained the problem. The technician, who was in Florida, then forwarded the call to the Sony repair center in Fremont, and the information had to be repeated. Subsequent calls resulted in MPSG staff being put on hold for anywhere from an hour to more than two hours.

Berkeley Lab's Desktop Support Manager Charlie Verboom continues the story:
"After making our initial contact we were instructed to send the laptop to the center. A week later we got an invoice with the instruction that the machine would not be repaired until the Lab paid for the work in advance. After another series of calls, Procurement was able to get them to accept a purchase order and came away with the understanding that they would bill us after the work was completed. Two weeks later (after the holiday break), we were wondering where the laptop was. After another painful series of calls, our hero in Procurement (Suzanne Nolan) found out that Sony essentially disavowed any agreement to fix before payment was received, stating they had sent a revised invoice (which hasn't arrived). They then said they would fax the invoice, which we needed to start the process of authorizing payment. Two days later and several calls to the Florida center later, we were promised that faxing the invoice was on the Fremont Center's 'to do list.' When the invoice came, Sony also declared they had fixed the laptop. This avoided the requirement that we get a division signature to authorize payment in advance of the work being done. A month has come and gone and the status of the laptop, which is still in Fremont, is unknown."

Verboom said the lesson learned in this case is that employees should consider maintenance and repair issues when buying a new computer. According to Procurement, buying a Vaio through an intermediary, such as CDW systems, may allow you to return the system through them for repair, which apparently is a much smoother process.

The Lab has a BOA (see related article) for Dell laptops and getting those machines repaired is more straightforward.