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You guys probably haven't heard about Sony's bad CCDs (image sensor) which were used to produce many cameras of theirs and the other manufacturers?

All concerned camera manufacturers had issued Service Advisories to the public what they would do with those possible defective cameras. For Sony, instead of recall, they give a free service to replace the problem CCD if indentified being one on the camera list they posted on the service advisories relating bad CCDs. They will pay for both way shipping too if camera needs to be shipped in. You may also bring to one of their Authorized Service Centre personally. Go to Sony web site and find the list for their authorized service centres, pick the one nearest you. Phone them to confirm the free service for your model, I was told here in Canada that Sony lifted the time limit for free repair. Therefore, either mail/ship in the camera to them (phone Sony first to get instructions) or bring camera to service centre.

For your confidence, I, myself had 6 Sony cameras with the bad CCDs replaced without paying a dime. Some of them hadn't even with the symptom yet. Service centre don't mind, because they get paid to fix them.

Finally, click here to read a third party comment/information regarding these bad CCDs before you take further actions on what to do. Bear in mind, the black screen is actually a very dimmed screen which is not mentioned on the third party comment page, stated above, as a fault symptom of the bad CCDs.

What you can legally do is jump up and down and generally be a thorn in Sony's side. Demand your camera be fixed. Tell them you bought it in good faith and had no idea you wouldn't be covered by a manufacturers guarantee. Especially as it was from such a well respected and large company such as theirs. Tell them you has considered a Canon camera but your friends and your own experience with well built and reliable Sony products made you decide to get the Sony camera. Tell them what a dissappointment and let down the whole experience has been you never bought a fake Sony it was a genuine unit and you fully expected a genuine warranty to go with it. Tell them you are a committee member of a large online camera club and if nothing is done to ensure your satisfaction in this matter you will ensure that every member knows about it by sending personal emails to each of them. You don't particularly want to do so but you feel wronged by Sony and you will use every opportunity to make sure people know that Sony can't be trusted. Be extremely firm and tell them you intend to write to every camera magazine to spread the word. Lay it on thick with references to an expensive piece of technology lasting less than a month which shows how bad their quality control must be. You are not in a position to be able to throw your hard earned money away on something which is completely unusable after only 4 weeks. Ask them straight out if they will honour their warranty if only for goodwill's sake. You'd much rather be telling your members and readers of camera magazines what a great company Sony is than saying what a mean and uncaring organization they are. Use parts of this you feel comfortable with, add some of your own and as us Aussies say, "stick it up 'em" And good luck.

You can't really blame Sony because you don't have a receipt. It wouldn't do you any good anyway. Warranties are non transferable. Meaning only the original purchaser can claim warranty. Bu the way, It sounds like the old Sony CCD blues or greens or mauves. Meaning the whole CCD assmbly will have to be replaced. Hey, you can't blame the Ebay seller either. The camera worked for a month. He had no idea it would die after 4 weeks. You got a bad camera and that's all there is to it. Don't go blaming everyone. As for asking someone to illegally supply you with a false document, the mind boggles.