Sony has allegedly settled for an out-of-court settlement in a legal dispute over false promotion of the waterproof feature on select Xperia devices in the US. Affected Xperia device owners have been offered a flat 50 percent refund on the handset cost after the case was ruled against the company by a federal court in New York.
The plaintiffs have accused Sony of misrepresenting the facts and falsely claiming water resistance capability on some Xperia devices, which seem unsuitable for even normal underwater use. The company has been blamed for misusing international water resistance ratings to deceptively promote the device in its marketing campaigns.
Sony has agreed to offer an extended one year warranty on all affected devices which are currently in warranty, while out of warranty devices will be eligible for six months of renewed warranty.
Here is the complete list of devices that are eligible for additional warranty:
- Xperia M2 Aqua
- Xperia M4 Aqua
- Xperia ZR
- Xperia Z Ultra
- Xperia Z1
- Xperia Z1 Compact
- Xperia Z1s (T-Mobile)
- Xperia Z2
- Xperia Z2 Tablet (Wi-Fi)
- Xperia Z2 Tablet (LTE)
- Xperia Z2 Tablet (Verizon LTE)
- Xperia Z3
- Xperia Z3 Compact
- Xperia Z3 (T-Mobile)
- Xperia Z3v (Verizon)
- Xperia Z3 Dual
- Xperia Z3+ Dual
- Xperia Z3+
- Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact (Wi-Fi)
- Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact (LTE)
- Xperia Z4 Tablet (Wi-Fi)
- Xperia Z4 Tablet (LTE)
- Xperia Z5
- Xperia Z5 Compact
Affected users are required to submit in warranty service bills or proof for out-of-warranty service requests made to Sony to avail the refund along with extended warranty on the handsets.
Sony has also made it clear that those users who aren't satisfied with the offer may continue their case in the court. On the contrary, all eligible users in the US are expected to make the claim for the refund by January 30, 2018. The next hearing of this court case is scheduled for December 1.
All eligible Xperia device owners will be receiving an intimation email regarding the claim while those who missed the notification from Sony can manually register for the refund via the official website 'www.xperiawaterproofsettlement.com'.
