Xperia Z - micro USB port weak point

[Becky]

The micro USB port on my z has stopped receiving charge and won't even allow the charger to be plugged into it any more.

The port is uniform in shape which doesn't allow you to know which way round to plug the charger, so you have to guess. Guessing places stress on the pins inside the port. In my case, they seem to have suffered because of this (imho) design fault. USBs can only be inserted one way round, so the user needs to know which way to insert it.

I am wondering if this will be a common weak spot on these phones once they have been in circulation a while?

[Savvy856]

Worst phone ever and the customer service at Sony and Tmobile are horrible as well. Had the phone a few months and the connector for the charger came out because the weld holding it in were not good. The store could clearly see that this was not the fault of the customer but they said that I would be at fault. Called and was told that it's nothing they could do and that I would have to pay a large amount for the insurance claim to get a new one. For what the phone cost, why wouldn't either company review it and fix the problem. This phone was just horrible.

[P-Doff]

I have been reading this blog with great interest as my Xperia Z has the same fault. If you want to be shocked, read on....

I first sent the phone back to Sony via my provider - EE (who use the same repair center as Sony) - as the phone was constantly resetting itself. It was returned un-repaired and with an intermittent ear speaker fault which it didn't have before.

I sent it back, direct to Sony this time, for the resetting fault and ear speaker fault to be repaired.

It was returned as repaired but this time it had an almost constant ear speaker fault and was still resetting itself.

I rang and complained. I sent it back a THIRD time.

Now the shocking part..... Despite having had NO issues with USB port for either charging or syncing the phone they have told me that the USB is broken and is beyond economic repair.

It was fine when it left me yet when they inspect it and it's broken? How can that happen?? Someone somewhere is lying, and it sure as heck isn't me.

All I know is that when it left me it was fine, and when they touch it it's broken.

When I complained they said they would return it to me gratis as a goodwill gesture (Whoopy-do! What should I do with it? Use it as a coaster??) but they utterly refused to andmit that they hadn't received it with a damaged USB.

SONY YOU NEED TO DO THE FOLLOWING:

1) "MAN UP" AND ADMIT YOU HAVE  DESIGNED A FLAWED DEVICE.

2) REPAIR MINE AND ALL THE OTHER XPERIA Z's THAT HAVE THIS FAULT FOR FREE!!

3) APPLOGISE TO ME FOR THE DAMGE YOU HAVE CAUSED TO MY PHONE.

4) APPLOGISE TO ALL THE CUSTOMERS YOU HAVE LET DOWN.

No wonder Sony are on the slide. Maybe just maybe when it all goes belly up, as it surely will, you will finally realise that it would have been easier to admitted your error and to have looked after your customers.

Maybe Samsung will look after me better when I replace my phone in few months time, but then again they couldn't look after me worse than any have and maybe a Samsung will last more than 14 months

PS Does anyone have any info about how to go about seeking legal redress?

[Steno]

Hi there,

Here another xperia Z that is not charging after 12 months, this one from Switzerland. I didn´t even try to contact Sony, I know what the answer will be. I just bought the charging dock because I will not give up the telephone so early, but I swear to God that this is the last Sony thing I will ever buy on my life. I hate Samsung also, so HTC seems to be the new best option.

This is really sad, the xperia Z will be the last of my long list of Sony mobiles, t200, t300, t310, z600, W, Xperia Arc, Xperia Mini etc.

Sorry Sony, you´ve lost a good customer here for selling this mobile with such a desing fault, and I know you need customers soooo bad.

Bye bye Sony

[ElizabethH]

I have had my Sony T-Mobile Xperia for less than a year, replaced it once due to the port issue, bought a charging port and only plug in once in a while to charge and the port on the new one broke today.  I was told by T-Mobile it could not be fixed and it wws not covered under the waranty or thier jump program.  Honestly this is rediculous.  

[ME2]

I have almost the samw issuew with my  Xperia V. first o all I had to send it back ater a couple of onths because of charging problems and the battery dying.

now I can't charge the phone, the USB connection hasn't broken but it might as well have as the phone won't charge . as it doesn't seem to connect onto the pin in there. I have tried to use a sewing  pin to centre it inthe port but even that doesn't work any more.

thank god i still have the cheap $25 Nokia I bought when I sent it off for repairs last time

[sassafras]

Also having the same port issue and only had the phone for a few months. 

[CassieB]

I've also had the same problem with my phone.

For the Australians who are with Telstra they will deem your phone as physical damage and it won't be repaired.

I called up the complaints department and spoke with a Telstra consultant who was helpful and contacted the repair centre. The outcome was it is Sony who refuse to aknowledge this problem, will not pay to repair and claims it as physical damage. The repair centre is very aware of the problem with these phones, I guess they get so many.

But what Telstra did agree to do was waive the $49.50 assessment fee to get my phone back as I explained it would cost that much to purchase a charging dock so I can still use my phone. So give that a go.

When my contract runs out in another 9 months I will be purchasing a different phone and never buy anything Sony again.

In the past I've bought a Sony TV, I have 2 Sony cameras and now this phone which has needed repairs two times since I've had it. If they won't stand by their own products I'm not buying them. There's enough companies out there who give good after sales service so I'm not wasting my money on the ones who won't!

I refused to purchase the charging dock from Sony and ordered it from mobicity.com.au which was cheaper anyway.

Sony you are no more!

[aura_ryry1]

SONY XPERIA Z ...The phone that I waited for so long to get and finally got it last year ,on a bill pay from Vodafone ,turned out to be a bad experience after the metal pin inside the USB connector broke off a week ago Got on to Sony Mobile Customer Support ,they provided me with an address of the repair center that they deal with,advised me to send my phone over to them FREE OF CHARGE by post in my own bag over to Dublin ,went over to the post office and they told me I have to pay € 7.5 to send my phone registered,and that I have to pay extra €4 to insure my phone in case it gets lost or damaged...as I was rushing to get my phone repaired as soon as possible I paid all together 11.5 euro to send my phone in the best way I could(even with the original box, proof of purchase and a letter describing the issue) ..they recieved the phone next day ,on wednesday ,I rang the customer support again on thursday they told me the phone has been recieved and there is no mention of a cost for the repair and that they believe it was under the warranty wich is due to expire next year on february( 2 years from the date of purchase),I was also told that I will get an email of confirmation with the date when the phone will be despatched back to me. Waited untill monday morning ,no email no phone call ,I rang them back it took me minutes to get through to them,PREMIUM NUMBER extra cost added to what I had paied so far , I was on the phone with them for nearly one hour trying to finde out what happened to my phone ,finally they were able to tell me that the repair is not cover by the warranty and that there is a cost applied for the repair but they don't know what that cost will be and if I want to find out it will take 3 to 7 working days for them to get back to me with an answer, after I have waited 5 working days without and answer and without a phone, or at my request they can provide me with the phone number of the repair center and I can ring them myself and finde out the information that they could not provide me with, in a matter of minutes .I took the number of the repair center rang them and found out that the repair of my phone was not covered by the warranty and it was considered to be a PHYSICAL DAMAGE done by me to the phone just for using it as normal, getting it charged every time it was uncharged,and that it will cost me 44 euros to get it fixed and sent back to me,or if not I will have to get it sent unrepaired with a charge applied of 15 euros, or the last option if I do not reply to their answer within 90 days may phone will be DESTROYED!!!! Only after I contacted the repair center and gave them my email address they emaild me the quotation for the repair and they apologised for not doing this earlier even tho they had all my particulars.As I was shocked and angry to find out that they are blaming me and others like me for using my phone in a normal way and for a fault that after checking on the Sony Support Forum I found that there are numerous people that had the same problem because of a poorly designed device and they were dealt with this issue in the same unjust and unprofessional manner by Sony Mobile I have taken my time to write this words describing my situation the best I could so that I would make everyone out there AWARE OF THIS PROBLEM that they may find themselves having to deal with in the future after having purchased their Sony Xperia Mobile.As to end I am not over with Sony yet I was on the phone with the customer support for approximately 4 hours in total, I asked for a manager a few times today and I was told there was no manager available that could answer my questions but they will ring me back tomorrow morning from the escalation team and I will be also able to get one of the managers to talk to me.I will not accept to be treated the way they think they are currently treating me and I will not STOP until I get what is fair and that is for my phone to be repaired within the agreed warranty.I will put un update as things progress until then BE AWARE OF SONY MOBILE !!!!

[Golgy]

Hello all,

this morning, my Xperia Z refuses to charge with any cable...

What?

After checking the micro USB port, this one seems to have been twisted by inserting in a wrong way the charging cable...

Hopefully I have still have a charging dock...

[12tolley]

same here ,phone stop charging ,looks like the dock is mark't .wish i knew about the PHONE FAULT before i got it.