A short while back I wrote a review of the Sony TOUGH series SD cards. I actually froze one into a block of ice to see how tough it really was, and came away very impressed. In fact, I was so impressed that I went on to purchase quite a few of these cards for my own business.
I recently found out through one of the stores I purchased the cards from, that Sony has issued a product advisory for these cards, and is initiating a replacement service for many of the ones that are currently on the market. Apparently, some versions of these cards can cause file corruption during the recording of videos. Replacement of affected cards is free of charge, and the window for replacement runs to March 31st 2022.
I have 8 Sony TOUGH series SD cards, and 7 or mine were affected by this recall, requiring replacement by Sony. To find out whether your specific cards are part of the recall, read on.
Regarding SD memory cards of SF-M series, SF-M series TOUGH specification, and SF-G series TOUGH specification, recorded data on the card may be damaged or data may not be recorded correctly when shooting video on a camera* in video speed class mode.
* The camera compatible with video speed class V60/V90 etc. as recommended recording media.We are offering free replacements for affected SD memory cards from June 11, 2020, through Mar. 31, 2022, subject to the limited warranty that accompanied the SD memory card. Please see below to determine if you have an affected SD memory card and call us at 239-768-7669 to arrange for your card replacement.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
SONY USA
Affected Models
The affected products are specific batches of the SF-M cards, SF-M TOUGH cards, the SF-G TOUGH cards.
Is your specific card affected?
The following information was taken from Sony’s product advisory page about this recall.
SF-M Series
Applicable cards can be identified by the presence of V60, R:277MB/s, and W:150MB/s on the card front side. To check whether your card is affected, look for a star mark on the lower-left corner on the back of the card. If your card has NO star mark, your card is affected by this issue
SF-M Series TOUGH Specification
To check whether your card is affected, look for a star mark on the lower-left corner on the back of the card. If your card has NO star mark, your card is affected by this issue.
SF-G Series TOUGH Specification
To check whether your card is affected, look for a star mark and an alphanumeric on the lower corner on the back of the card.
If your card has NO star mark and has an alphanumeric beginning with TV, your card is affected by this issue. (If your card has an alphanumeric beginning with TR, your card is not affected by this issue.)
How to get your cards replaced
The following information is not on the Sony website but is my own personal experience in dealing with the replacement of my cards that are part of this recall.
Sony is asking owners of affected cards to contact them directly, and not to try and initiate a return at the store where the card was purchased. You should contact Sony using their online chat support.
In order to start the chat, you will be asked to search for a product number. The product number is in small writing on the front of the card, for example, SFG32T, SFM64T etc.
Once connected to a chat agent, be prepared with the following information:
- SD card model number
- SD card serial numbers
- Date of purchase
- Place of purchase
- Your shipping and contact details
Once they have these details from you, a case will be created and a pre-paid shipping label will be emailed to you. Once they receive your returned cards, replacements will be mailed to you. The timeframe is uncertain at the moment.
I have already been through this process myself so currently, I can confirm that this is the process you will go through. If you experience something different, please leave a comment below. I have only just done this before creating this post, so I can’t yet confirm how long my new replacement cards took to arrive.
Dan,
Thanks for your info. I have a card that has a bad serial no. so I called the 239 number for a replacement. I got kicked out multiple times so then after some searching found Sony Chat but it took me a long time to convince the Sony agent to start the replacement since he said that only currently defective cards will be replaced! That was not in the recall notice so after some time and arguing he agreed to start the replacement process. I am awaiting the email with shipping label and instructions now.
Regards, Fred
Thanks for letting me know your experience, Fred. It’s certainly not the experience I had! I was told right away that all my cards could be replaced as soon as I told them the serial numbers on the cards.
Where is the online chat support? Can’t find it and your link seems to be dead.
Tim, I used the site below, hopefully you get a response like Dan got:
https://us.esupport.sony.com/support/s/chat-gateway?language=en_US&category=ce
Fred
Thanks for sharing that link Fred!
I was able to use the link to Chat with Sony. The initiating Chat form requires the Model Number. Finding the model number was especially difficult as you have to enter it exactly as they expect it to start the chat session. After 15 minutes of trying different ways to enter the Model number for my 32GB Tough card, here is the format it finally accepted: SFG32T. The Model number is found within the yellow portion of the TOUGH label on the front of the SD card.
Great additional info. Thanks Randy!
Like others, I had a hard time finding a link for the support chat. I used Fred’s link (thanks!) and was able to start the chat. I chose the option for “All other products” because memory cards didn’t seem to fit the other choices. Once the chat started, the rep told me I had reached support for audio products. They gave me the link to the contact page for memory cards which has a phone number, but a message at the top of the page says it’s unavailable due to COVID, but I can use chat or email. But there are no links for chat or email on the page. So the rep in chat said they would enter my feedback about that.
I’ll try to get the cards replaced later. We have until 2022, after all. I have plenty of cards to use, but I am down two cards now. These were the first Sony SD cards I have bought, and due to the recall and the support experience, I won’t be buying anymore.
It’s weird that so many people are having a hard time getting to the chat. I can only guess that when clicking these various links, the result is different based on what country you are in, and also what time of day. ie perhaps there are times of day when chat it unavailable.
My experience in Canada was great. I reached them quickly and they have been nothing but helpful, even sorting out some odd shipping issues to my rural location in the Yukon.
Martin,
I used the product category: All other camera’s, camcorders and accessories and it worked although as I already mentioned above I had to plead my case to get the replacement process started. I got Sony’s email with shipping label today after two days instead of 20 min as promised and I was surprised I also had to include written proof of purchase of the card since Sony considers this Warranty instead of a recall (so quoted on the email), weird! I sent the card out today and see what and when I get a return.
Fred
Martin, I understand that there is no issue if the cards are used in Sony cameras. The issue occurs with other cameras.. Maybe a card controller issue. In any event, not giving Sony an excuse, but this is not the first time SD cards are not compatible across all camera lines. Caveat emptor… and due diligence – check the camera vendor’s recommended cards. All my [M] cards work well, the 64GB [G] card had issues at high frame rates and sequential bursts, 18fps in an Oly M1X.
It is an issue if you are trying to use the cards in th Sony A1. The same cards worked fine in the a92 but epwere unreadable in the new A1. I called and the agent opened a ticket for each card. I’m sending them in batches…
And what happens when I have no way to backtrack which card was purchased from which vendor? Some came from Amazon, some Adorama, some B&H etc. And there’s obviously a lot of these TV*** cards in circulation. I just received two new cards from Amazon last week, and both have the TV suffix and need to be returned.
This is nuts! Most of my cards are Tough Cards. I need to be able to keep working!
Yes it’s frustrating. 7 out of my 8 cards need replacing. I was able to figure out which cards came from where after some careful sleauthing, but initially I did ask them this question, saying if you have multiple of the same cards bought from different places there would be no way to say which one came from which store. They told me a “best guess” would be ok.
After having 3 Sony v90 128gb cards replaced, i had the same failure issue. Contacted Sony Australia and they refuse to admit theres anything wrong with the card. Never purchasing a Sony product again in my life and suggest you guys at minimum never buy Sony Tough SD cards
Yikes. Did you check the serial numbers of the cards that were given to you as a replacement? Perhaps you were given the old cards again?
I had same issue with v90 64gb middle of recording card was format itself i lost 45 mints video.I used a7siii
I bought my first Sony Tough 128 card and when I look for the serial number on the back of the card there is nothing there. I even used my magnifying glass and nothing there and also tried feeling the back to see if something was there but it was very smooth. How do I find the serial number?
It can certainly be hard to see. You really need to hold it up to a light and tilt the card just right.
If you still can’t see anything… you might have been sold a fake card. You would then want to take that up with the store you bought it from.
Unfortunately I bought two of these cards and have had every 8-10th shot corrupted or lost. I ignored it at first, thinking it was just an error on my software or something, plus the shots weren’t important.
Then it kept happening… took me months to work out it was the cards, not my new camera like I thought it was, going back and forward with that company…
SONY have been so absolutely useless and infuriating in their responses, they will not listen or understand I have a business to run, and so far have not given me any solution apart from “we’ll send you new ones – but you’ll have to send them back first, wait for us to verify them and we won’t give you anything to shoot on in the meantime”. No other solution, no time frame of how long in between.
Six emails, three phone calls later, I am now demanding a refund.
It’s been a week and I have seen no courier, new cards or a refund.
I get that you can’t just trust people, but they have all my information, my invoice, my home address, bank details! I would happily send them my passport, licence etc… unbelievable. Worst experience.
I will NEVER again deal with SONY. Big tech sucks.
I agree with you – SONY has lost all credibility with their customer service which is frankly useless – no answers and Sony USA cannot even get through to the company in Canada that is dealing with this issue.
SBE (Canada) Limited
2300 Hogan Drive
Mississauga, ON L5N 0C8
I’m sorry to hear about this. I didn’t have any real trouble with them when they handled my requests. But that was a long time ago and it sounds like things have gotten worse 🙁
I bough a SF-M64T, although it has a star at the back, but still creates corrupted files. With a closer inspection, the bottom serial starts with TV, which suggests it might be from the problem batch.
This can mean that the card with a “fix” mark could still be problematic.
I will still buy SONY products, but maybe not their SD cards for the moment.
Hi Dan,
Thanks for sharing this experience. Did you get your card back? How long it actually takes for the replacement?
It was so long ago…. I think it took about three weeks. But it might be faster now as the rush will have died down.
Dan,
Thanks for this information. Like you I had the Tough series SD that was part of the recall. I went through the same process providing all information in chat. It was smooth. This is what they provided at end of chat.
After the chat, you will receive an email with a prepaid shipping label and detailed shipping information.
L
Please print the work order and include a copy of the receipt together with the unit.
…
L
Please allow 7-10 days for the replacement card to arrive.
I have now sent my two Tough M cards back to sony under this recall. TWICE. The same cards. Yes, the same cards. They have sent me the same cards I sent them, with all the paperwork and everything they asked. This has happened twice. They simply repackaged them and sent them back in little plastic boxes. The cards cause my cameras to malfunction. This is insane.
Dan, I had my Sony 128GB tough G card replaced about 5 months ago, and it just started failing again. Once in a while I would see one of my photos imported with permanent purple band through the image. This does not happen with my second card at all. Just contacted Sony and they are replacing the card again. And for the record I always format my cards in camera before each use. Hopefully the next card is better
Thanks for this article. I had three 64GB Sony Tough cards ($100+ each) that fit the description outlined in the recall, so I contacted Sony and spoke with a woman who walked me through the recall process, asking for the serial numbers on all three cards and having me confirm the missing star in the back corner. She agreed that the cards were all affected by the recall. Sony sent me a paid return shipping label and I mailed the cards to them along with the proof of purchase (which she said wasn’t required, but the written instructions said WAS required).
Fast forward about 6 weeks and I get a package in the mail from Sony. It was my original 3 cards. I have no idea what changed between my conversation with the Sony representative and the recall center, but I didn’t get replacements. There was no explaination, written or otherwise, why replacement cards weren’t sent to me even though they met all the criteria outlined in the recall notice.
I guess I’m going back to SanDisk.
Are you sure they are the original cards? This seems very odd. Just so you know, when I got replacement cards they did not arrive in shiny new retail store packages. They were just cards in the same plastic cases I sent them back in. Are you sure the same thing doesn’t apply to yours?
Hi Dan,
I had 4 Sony Sd cards (2 x 32GB, 2 x 64GB) affected by the recall. I sent them in and received 4 new ones identical to what I sent in. The entire process took six business days. Sony deserves full marks for promptness and issuing new cards. I did not send in the original invoice as I could not find it. The customer service agent said all they need is the name of the place the cards were bought. It is for reference only. Hope this info helps your readers.
Regards,
Ian
Thanks for sharing your good experience! I’m glad it was quick and painless for you.
sony is still honoring the replacement of defective cards. i called them today(june 23rd 2022) and they have set up a replacement order. thank you for making this information available. i do not record video, so i have not had any issues with my memory card(so far).
Great to hear that. Thanks for sharing.
My SF-M256T purchased in Fedburary 2020 has a star but starts with TV is still problematic. Chatted with Sony, they said it is out of warranty and refused any further actions. Fun thing is in the manuals that come with the card, it says 5 years warranty. Wow sony
That sounds very shady. If you bought it on a credit card, I would call your CC company and report this. What did Sony say when you told them the warranty said five years? I’ll bring attention to this via my site if we can get some cold, hard facts. For example, the warranty is listed as a limited 5-year warranty. What was limited about it? What does it say in the warranty info about the limitations?