SONY has Awful Customer Service. Camera stopped working properly too soon

At this point I will never buy another Sony product ever again. After only 4 months my camera(Sony A350) stopped focusing properly.

I took the camera to the nearest Sony store to see if their proclaimed "camera-guru" would be able to ascertain if it was human or machine error. When I saw he was taking shots in the store at 1/800 @f8 with no flash, I was horrified. This guy had NO CLUE WHAT HE WAS DOING! I was further irritated when he asked why the image playback was flashing the blackouts and blowouts. Why should I have to explain to a Sony employee how their product works?

When I called customer service, I was informed that I had to ship it to their repair center (at MY cost even though the camera is in warranty and the problem in question was "something common"). When I informed them that I professional photographer who needs the camera by a certain date, I was told they could not guarantee that I would have my camera back by said date (understandable). When I asked if there was a possibility I could get a loaner, he said "I'll talk to my boss and do all that I can to see if that's possible." only to come back with, "I'm sorry, there really is no loaner program for consumer-level product. Not unless you want to buy our pro-sumer equipment. Yeah you know you spend the bazillion dollars and then you get it..." Then I was then kept on the phone for 2 HOURS while the CSO waited for the screen to come up that would get me a work-order number. Instead of offering to call me back, he just left me hanging there saying every few minutes "I just don't know why it's so slow." After he did get me a work-order number, there was no added courtesy for the wait such as, "I understand your urgency and need for the camera so I will do all that I can to see that this issue is expedited." or "Let me check on that loaner again, perhaps there is something I can do."

I shipped my camera out - which would not be arriving overnight thanks to the 2 hour service call.

I ended up calling back the next morning still furious at how the initial call was handled. I spoke about how poor the support was in-store and during the previous service call. The gentleman told me that when the repair center receives my camera, they will look at it and determine what needs to be repaired, in which instance I may be able to have Sony provide a loaner.

I called back the day after that and was informed that the camera had been received at the service facility, but not yet assigned to a technician. The camera would be assigned around 3:30. I called back later wanting to know the status and was then told that it takes 24-48 business hours to assign the camera to a technician. The CSO then said she would expedite my issue to the best of her ability but that there is no guarantee I will have it back in time.

I do not want to worry about having my camera back in time. If they check it and it needs repair fine. But, while it is being repaired I would really appreciate if Sony would get over themselves and provide me with a loaner. I doubt that a customer would call back everyday if they weren't passionate about their equipment or the function it serves. You would think Sony would have common sense to realize this.

To top it off, their service number is not an 800 number. It is a 239 number. Meaning that not only were my minutes eaten up by the first CSO's incapability to perform customer service, but I don't just get to be upset about their poor customer service and incapacity to provide great customer support, but I also get to be angry about the minutes that are eaten up on my phone-plan and the very real possibility that I will have to pay for a phone-call that lasted much longer than it needed to.

I have Never Ever experienced such poor service. It is clear that Sony does not trust its customers and has no interest in fostering lasting relationships with their customers. I look forward to calling Sony back every day until I get my camera, and asking Nikon and Canon what they would do for a customer in a position like this.