On Mar 19, 7:02*am, "William Sommerwerck"
wrote:
"Mark" wrote in message

...
On Mar 19, 5:36 am, "William Sommerwerck"
wrote:

How old is the unit? If it's less than 10 years old, Sony is legally
obliged to provide parts. Do you have a lawyer? Have him call
Sony and threaten them.
Thanks. *Unit is about 6 years old. *Don't have a lawyer, not one
myself and I don't even play a lawyer on TV but can you tell me from
what part of the law this legal obligation comes? Some kind of
implicit warranty of merchantability or something? Sony says they ran
out of DW-U15A drives and have no more in the warehouse. Not sure
they ever stocked internal parts for the drive.

I'm not sure the warranty of implied merchantability applies. But there are
laws in the US about parts. Manufacturers are required to provide cosmetic
parts for 3 years, mechanical for 6, electrical for 10.

Because people refuse to stand up for their legal rights, companies get away
with this sort of thing. "Running out" is not an excuse. This suggests Sony
either didn't stock many spare parts -- or that the drive is unusually
unreliable. In the latter case, you have the warranty of implied
merchantability on your side, as well.

I will certainly bring this matter to Sony's attention, but
realistically, I can't afford a civil lawsuit, and unless there is a
government agency that regulates this activity (which I will look
into) I can only complain to Sony. I will do this. Pragmatically,
however, this is unlikely to get me closer to solving my problem.

Do you (or anyone else) have any suggestions for sources of parts
(again, I think the optical deck alias, burner sled might be
replaceable as a part -- Sam's notes seem to suggest this) or if not a
part, sources for a full replacement of the DW-U15A? I sort of hate
the idea of buying a 'used' unit since the problem is that these
drives appear to burn out, almost reliably, within a few years and a
used drive would be on its way to the grave already. By the same
token, I hope to find new parts or replacements at an affordable price
since I will probably have to do this again later. (I'll probably
stock up on the part or replacement drive and buy enough for a couple
of replacements).

Also, I find some indication that the Sony DRU510A may be a
replacement for te DW-U15A, but I can not verify this yet. If you
know of direct replacements I would try that approach (I'd start with
one to make sure it worked). Thanks.