by Craig

Sony - My own little data privacy battle

Hi there. Long time no write! Well actually that’s not true, it’s more like long no publish as there are quite a few things in draft so let’s hope this one goes out ;)

A while ago I bought a Sony VAIO S-series laptop and when I say a while I mean 4 weeks ago. I bought the laptop because I needed something that was:

  • A good specification and made from decent components
  • Has a reputation for going on forever
  • Reasonable price
  • A brand I knew and trusted.
  • Appropriate for business use

 Sony fitted most of those criteria and, having worked with them in the past, I knew that they did indeed go on for some considerable time! :)

All was well for the first 10(ish) days of my purchase until I started to get a black screen with a white cursor after booting into Windows. I tried everything I knew, and a few things I didn’t, to try and fix it but to no avail. So I decided I was no longer going to spend any more time on this and I would pass it back to where I bought it (Sony Centre Basingstoke) for them to sort it out.

I went in and was told that they would send it away and it would take 5 days. OK I thought that’s fair enough. I was also asked if there was any data on the laptop as it could be lost. No, that’s OK, I replied thinking that what they meant was that if the hard disk had gone they would not retrieve it off the platter.

<– Wait 5 days –>

I get a call back on the 13/6/2013 to retrieve the laptop after it had been fixed. On arriving at the shop it has had a new HDD fitted but there is no sign of the old one. I query this with the store and they say that they will ask for it. I am slightly surprised at this point as the old hard drive was clearly semi-serviceable as it booted to a certain point and then failed which means that the data on it should be easily retrievable. I go away thinking that this is an oversight and they will get back to me, but actually this is just the start of my woes. To cut this story very short I will now condense everything to today (20/6/2013) into a timeline

(Sony Centre Basingstoke): The repair guys wont give us the hard drive back
*I contact Sony Repair Centre and have a lovely time*
(Sony Repair Centre): As we have replaced the hard drive the old one is now our property as was agreed to  when you took the laptop in for repair, the store told you this.
*Not really. What are you going to do with the hard drive?*
(Sony Repair Centre): We will try and fix the hard drive and then sell it to someone else
*With my data on it???*
(Sony Repair Centre): We will delete everything off it of course
*How can I be sure? Do I get a certificate of destruction if you destroy it? I did not agree to this*
(Sony Repair Centre): We don’t know what a “certificate of destruction” is; Your problem is not with us it is with the Sony Centre Basingstoke; No-one has asked for this before
(Sony Centre Basingstoke): No-one has asked for this before

I find this totally ridiculous. They have my hard drive with my data on it and are refusing to give it back or tell me how they will wipe/dispose of it. Further to this no-one is actually taking ownership of this and saying “yeah we made a mistake”. They are both the same company yet doing nothing about it.

I am still arguing with them but they do not understand that the data on the disk might actually be confidential and I want to make sure it is destroyed. It’s not that there are passwords on the device but there is all the documentation for the company I have created and I would rather that I had control of it and not the other way round.

I put it to them that if this were the other way round then I would be getting letters from Lawyers by now as I have not given them permission to have or to withhold my data either verbally or in written agreement. In fact this whole thing just stinks and makes me question why I ever bought a “quality” product like Sony in the first place.

I suspect this will be continued….