Sony has withdrawn the products from the Chinese market and apologized publicly to consumers in a television programme. The products failed quality testing only in Zhejiang.
Beijing (AsiaNews/SCMP) The electronics company Sony has apologized to Chinese consumers for the substandard quality of six digital camera models discovered in Zhejiang during a quality control check.
Zhejiang's Industry and Commerce Administration said some of the cameras' features did not meet minimum standards requested by China and it had communicated these defects to Sony. Ye Yuanchun , deputy secretary general of the Zhejiang Consumer Rights Protection Association, said: "Any company, especially a big enterprise, should respond to consumers quickly and come up with responsible proposals to deal with the fallout." Dissatisfied customers may return the equipment.
Sony spokeswoman, Shoko Yanagisawa, said the company had suspended sales of the six models to the entire Chinese market from December 16 until it could satisfy the provincial inspection standard, with whom it is seeking an "amicable solution". Sony then apologized on a Sunday programme for consumers on national television. "We've caused customers a lot of inconvenience, so we are apologising," said Li Xi, director of public relations. In 2005, Sony sold around 19,000 of these digital cameras in Zhejiang.
The electronics giant cannot explain how these models failed quality control checks in only one province. Yanagisawa said the products were sold across the world and there had been no other complaints. Nonetheless "we are checking and confirming as to why there is this difference in the results."