Any luck sending Xperia Z5 Compact to China for Warranty Repair?

[KurtMann75]

Has anyone successfully sent their Z5 Compact to a Sony Repair Center in China for warranty work? If so, can you list the steps that you followed and what Service Center you worked with?

I have an International version of the Xperia Z5 Compact that needs to be repaired (see my other post for details). Xperia Support US has directed me to work with Xperia Support China, who has pointed me to a service center search page to locate a service center "nearest me". Since I am in the US, none of these centers are close and I am unable to find one that has a webpage. Before I start calling service centers in China (and hope that I can find someone that speaks English) I thought I'd post this question here to see if anyone has any advice.

Thanks for the help!

[MarlonUk1]

did they refer you to call on a service center first on china? Local support

if the hassle and the money to transport the device to another country is cumbersome, I would rather have the device repaired at your area, would they accept the device even if you waived the warranty and pay for the cost?

[KurtMann75]

Thanks for your suggestion.

Yes, I contacted the Sony Xperia Contact Center in China (per the direction of Xperia US). Here is the response from the contact center in China:

Thank you for your email, we are sorry for the inconvenience brought to you when using the phone. Since we are not repair department and we cannot check your phone’s problem via email, we suggest you send your phone to local repair center to have a check and repair. There are three ways to check the information about the location of repair centers.
1. Please visit our website http://servicenetwork.sonymobile.com/search/index to check network location information.
2. Please use the app “Xperia care” to find the address of our repair network center.
3. Please follow ”索尼移动客户服务” on Wechat and enter the city name to search the network address in your city.

Best Regards，

Sony Xperia Contact Center

That is as far as I have gotten thus far. The link in their email directs me to a service center search page. Next to picking a random repair center and calling them, I'm not sure what to do next.

I am hoping someone in this forum has experience working with one of these repair centers and can point me in the right direction.

I'd like to at least be able have an idea how much the repair work would cost under warranty (shipping to china, misc fees, etc) before having it repaired myself here in the US. That way I can compare the two options equally.

[Bhonder]

Does it mean that in the whole US there is no repair center and you have to pay by yourself to send a phone in China?

Here in Europe it would never happen.There are rules about warranty.

[KurtMann75]

This process only applies to phones that were bought internationally and are not sold/supported in the US. When I purchased my Z5 Compact it was not offered in the US, so I had to buy it online from "international" stock. As a result, Sony's policy is that any warranty issues have to go through the country that the phone was originally intended. In my case it is China.

Sony now sells the Z5 Compact in the US however they are slightly different (ie, no fingerprint reader). Those US-based phones can be repaired here in the US under warranty.

Buyer beware I guess. When I purchased this phone I assumed that even if I had to go through China for a warranty issue there would be a clear process to do so. However I am finding out that that is not the case.

[MarlonUk1]

I suggest to go to the nearest US sony service center personally, and then just have your device check and see if they would be able to repair it. if they charge because it isn't under warranty then that would be up to you. but if they accept it regardless of warranty, much better.

as far as I know there isn't much difference between the devices other than the software that disables the fingerprint feature.

[KurtMann75 · Accepted solution]

Just to follow up on my own post.... FWIW.

I spoke to a representative at Xperia Support China and also received and email from them to this effect. Because I purchased my phone online (private seller on Amazon.com), and I purchased for use in the US rather than China, my phone is considered to be a "grey market" device. As such, Sony does not provide warranty support for grey market phones. Regardless if I send it back to the original market location or not.

When I purchased the phone I had assumed that the warranty would still be valid even if I sent back to China. Good learning experience for me, if I decide to buy a device in the future. I was so enamored with the small size of the Z5 Compact, and it wasn't available in the US at the time, that I took the gamble and purchased it online.

So I will try to find someone locally who can repair the device without using the warranty.

Thanks for everyone's time.

[Asm13389]

Hello guys.
Am having the same issue here with my z5 premium, my device is from Taiwan and they told me that they dont have repair center for outsider devices but that i can send it to repair center here in USA, US told me that is not posibble . Well after i try to speak again with Taiwan and try to send it, i cant send it because i have to pay for send it and receive the device. I call costumer service here in US and explained the situation but no help from them because they said that the phone is totally different from the one that they sell here in US, i know that is not true. If they dont help me with my device i will selling all my sony device that i have, im so disappointed with Sony.