serial number on NEX5N? - warranty!

[globalpic]

My NEX5N has started to behave strangely. Some photos show a horizontal line right across the full photo. I am still traveling but intend to bring it to an authorized service station as soon as I am back in Europe. I bought it less than a year ago, the repair should be covered by warranty.

However there is one thing that has me worried: I can't find the serial number anywhere on the camera!

I remember there was a sticker at the bottom of the camera, but that fell off a few weeks ago.

Was the serial number on that sticker? If so I assume that it can be found elsewhere too, right? Or may I run into problems getting my camera repaired under warranty because the sticker got lost??? Note that I have the original box and the invoice dated Nov.4th 2011

thank you for any clarification,

andy

edit: link to the photos showing the "line": http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuuan/sets/72157631541105806/

Message was edited by: globalpic

[globalpic]

hm..asking differently, can please anyone tell me how I can prove, with the sticker gone, that my camera is the one that came with the box I have and that I registered on purchase?

As mentioned I am traveling, right now I am in Vietnam where I may be able to get it fixed for relatively little money. However having it serviced by an unauthorized shop would void my warranty, and I rather would have it fixed by an authorized service under warranty once back in Europe.

hope to get some feedback,

thank you, andy

[blaireau_photo]

Hello globalpic - Welcome to the Sony Forums

Having looked at your photos - I would definitely recommend a repair as it does appear to be an internal fault.

Regarding proof of the serial number, I wouldn't worry too much as I am pretty sure that this has happened to other users in the past. The best thing to do is to contact Sony Customer Services who will be able to advise you further about the repair process under warranty - their contact details are in this forum thread;

http://www.sony.co.uk/discussions/message/651957#651957

If you explain the situation to them about the serial number sticker, they should have some other way to electronically verify the identity of the camera along with the documentation that you still possess i.e. the receipt.

Thanks,

Simon

[globalpic]

Hi Simon,

thank you very much for your reply.

I hope so much that the service really will be able to verify the serial number of my camera, or accept it for warranty service anyway. I read somehwere that other manufacturers have the serial number in the EXIF of photos taken, Sony should really look into this and offer the same, must also be very useful in case of photo right disputes.

I had contacted sony Customer Service already, but the only reply I got was that I have to bring my camera to an authorized Service station.

I wonder if reinstalling resp. upgrading the firmware good do the job? I am still on ver. 1.00 and there is an improved ver. 1.01. However at the Sony download site it says; 64bit version not supported. My OP is WIN7 64bit, so that means I cannot use my computer for the upgrade, right?

thank you again,

andy

[blaireau_photo]

Hello again

As far as I am aware, the serial number is not contained within the EXIF data on Sony cameras but you are right to suggest that it would be a handy feature for this sort of situation.

For the firmware update (this probably would not fix the horizontal line issue as it looks like a hardware problem), you are correct that it is not supported on 64 bit systems and for this reason, I would advise you to try and do it on a 32 bit computer instead if you can temporarily get access to one. You can try doing it on your own system and run the file itself in '32 bit compatibility mode' but this can be a little hit and miss - I have seen other posters try this and just end up doing it on a 32 bit system.

You may have been advised to take it to an authorised repair centre as you are currently abroad. Once you return to the UK, if you contact Customer Services using the information I gave you above you should be able to organise returning it under warranty as long as you can give a UK based address for the shipping. Let me know here if you have any difficulties doing this.

Thanks,

Simon

[globalpic]

Hi Simon, thank you very much for coming back again

I just tried to upgrade the firmware, using another comuter running on XP 32 bit.

But halfway through there was a problem, and it said I should start all over again.

After disconnecting and pressing OK on saying "reset the camera" on the LCD for a moment I though the camera wouldn't turn on again at all..phuu..but I guess it was simply the camera being busy resetting?

It's still on ver.1.0 but this made me scared, better I just wait until I get back to Europe and hand it in the an Authorized Service anyway..

Actually I am Austrian  - when I had logged in here for the first time the redirection to Austrian site took so long or did not work, anyway there was some issue, and then I simply asked my question here instead, I hope that's no problem!

Let me tell you my "history": Before coming here I had contacted the Customer Service for Austria, not yet mentioning that I was overseas. The one sentence reply said that they cannot tell anything about the fault over the internet ( though I had included the link to the set of the "faulty" photos ) and that I should contact one of the Authorized Service Stations instead. A link for finding those was included. No other help offered of e.g organizing shipping to a Service Station as you mention..didn't make me very happy really, but well..

I had answered that I was in Vietnam and asked if I could bring it to an authorized service station here in Vietnam. Answer was that they don't know, that I should ask Sony Vietnam, That I did, and was told that they would only service camera bought in Vietnam..

By now I feel a bit akward bothering so many people / you, I better simply trust that bringing my camera to an authorized Service in Austria will result in my camera being repaired under warranty. Just that I can't do that yet, wanted to find out how to proceed and peace of mind because of the fallen off sticker.

Thank you so much again for your kind help, even offering that I could refer to you!?

thank you again,

andy

Message was edited by: globalpic