Have you ever missed a payment on your phone bill, or your internet? I certainly have, and though it's embarrassing the process to rectify is usually pain free and almost automatic. The company contacts you informing you of your debt and that they will give you a week to put money in your account whereupon they will try to charge you again. No break in service and in all probability no-one on their end is even made aware of any problem as it's all automated. This is how big-business keeps customers happy and everything moving smoothly.
Apparently Sony don't think this works too well. Over the past week I've been subjected to their own system and I find it deeply lacking. I wrote an article on my PSN account being banned, which you can read here (It's very funny, trust me, I wrote it) but the short version is that Paypal reversed a payment of £40 to Sony over a week after said payment was supposed to have been made and Sony banned me.
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| Source: http://demotivational.in/disbelief/ |
Since then I have been on the phone to Sony 4 times, and have developed an understanding of how their debt management system works. Here's how it goes;
1.Sony attempts to charge you. That charge is refused or reversed or for some other reason not paid.
2.Sony immediately ban you from all accounts. This means no online services, no multiplayer, nothing. You can't even watch Netflix on your console even though that has nothing to do with Sony. They basically turn off the ethernet and wireless on any console you own.
3. Sony make absolutely no attempt to contact you or inform you of the problem. Not an e-mail, phone call, text or fax. It's up to you to get in touch with them.
4. If and when you call them, rather than simply try and charge you again, they send the issue to their head office, who will take at least 4 days to decide whether or not to reverse the ban and re-charge you. After this, they will take another couple of days to call you about this.
5. Sony will then instruct you to go out to a store and buy PSN gift cards equal to the amount you owe them, then call them up and read the codes to them.
6.
I almost dropped the issue when I called for the third time when the rep told me there may have been an identity theft flag when paypal reversed the payment. I accepted this at the time, but very soon after realised that it made no sense and wouldn't matter since I was obviously who I said I was and had to verify that every time I called them. I was informed tonight that there was actually no such issue, this is just Sony's policy.
I attempted to talk to a manager about this but I was refused. Below is a recording of the call. The first half is just my voice, when I became concerned I put speaker-phone on, at about the 7:00 mark.
Needless to say I am not a happy bunny. I fully intend on paying the debt tomorrow, once I have been able to get to the shops, but not before I've called Sony's head office and talked to them about this. It's an unacceptable policy for any company operating today, especially one as big as Sony who really should be trying to stay on the good side of consumers considering the many troubles the Playstation Network has faced over the years.
I'll update this post whenever anything new happens. Stay tuned.
Update: 7:21pm
Not 5 minutes after posting this I checked my inbox and found an e-mail from sony regarding this issue requesting proof of purchase. They want an image of my reciept before they go ahead with anything. I don't get this at all.
Update: 14/01/14
Got the codes and called up support again. Read them out and asked for an ETA on when I might be unbanned. The guy put me on hold then told me that the codes have to be sent back to head office to be okayed even though he had just redeemed them and knew they worked, then head office would probably unban me by the end of the working week. I thanked him and went on my way. I updated the procedure above to include this step.
On the advice of some friends I'm going to wait until my account is finally unbaned before I call up Sony head office. It may sound paranoid but I really don't want to risk getting someone vindictive on the line who further delays my account being restored. This is the level of trust Sony have instilled, well done kids.
Update: 15/01/14
Guess what, still banned.
Update: 17/01/14, 4:30pm
Guess what, still banned. I called up the support line at 4pm, even though I knew they couldn't do anything. The guy who I spoke to was very surprised that I had been given even the vaguest ETA on when my account would be restored, apparently that's not standard policy. He told me that since it hadn't been restored yet there was very little chance of it being sorted out by the end of the day and therefore it wouldn't be back over the weekend.
I asked the guy, in the nicest way, if anyone in their office had any actual technical powers or could put me in touch with anyone who could and he admitted there wasn't; the support line is made of two departments, the initial support line who can help with the most basic questions like where to go to put in codes and such and if they cant then they get in touch with the "Product Specialists" who have more in depth knowledge. I'm guessing they just have a guy with extreme aspergers locked in a room with nothing but the PS4 technical specs book.
I decided enough was enough and called the Sony head office but that was a short adventure. I called them, told the lady on the phone my problem and she told me she couldn't put me through to anyone on the phone. All she could do was take my details and reference number and someone would send me an e-mail. I gave her everything then told her I was writing up an "Article" about my experience with the Sony support system and if she could put me through to anyone who could talk to me. Not no way, not no how!
So here I sit, keyboard no longer vibrating with rage but slick with tears.
I wish I'd bought an Xbone.
Update: 20/01/14
Monday had come and gone and I'm still banned. I'm not even surprised at this point. I was very disheartened after Friday and haven't even received the e-mail from head office I was promised when I reached out to them.
I had also hopped to find others who had the same problems who might help make this a bigger issue but sadly the response has basically been "Yeah, what do you expect from Sony" which is a viewpoint I now hold.
The final piece of action I've decided to take on this is contacting the local Trading Standards office and telling them my story. I'm well aware that Sony's system is completely legal and they are acting within their rights, but in doing so I feel they are definitely being unfair to, and may even be breaching consumers rights.
I have to admit though, I'm doing this not out of a belief that it'll have any effect on the company, but because I'd feel rather pathetic to go through all this and give up.
Update: 21/01/14
A week after paying, 2 weeks after the issue being raised and guess what...
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| That, Kids, is Michael Jackson. He was a big deal in the 80's and 90's. |
I've started writing up my complaint to the Trading Standards Authority and gathering all the correspondence and bank statements I need. It's basically this post but without the swearing or photos. I might put a link to the doc when it's finished, just for the fuck of it.
Update
Update: 22/01/14
Two weeks on, still banned. I think my friends have started a sweeps on if/when I'll get back online.
Printed off my complaint letter and all the e-mails and bank statements to back it up. Hopefully will get an appointment at the Trading Standards Office for Friday as it's coincidentally right around the corner from my counselor's office. Fun double trip!
Update: 23/01/14
I just got off the phone with Trading Services. They only deal with people over the phone so I explained the whole thing to them. They were baffled. The short version of the advice they gave, was to send a letter to Sony with an ultimatum, and if my account is not restored within an acceptable time I should take them to civil court and seek a refund on my Console and the cost of all digital content and services.
I don't want to do that, I just want to play Battlefield!!!
Microsoft, I am so sorry. I wish I hadn't jumped ship like the rat I am.
Update: 27/01/14
Still banned, letter of complaint written with an ultimatum of Feb 11th, one month from the date when I paid them back.
I have nothing funny to say, this situation is ridiculous.
Update: 28/01/14
I posted the letter today by recorded post. You can read it below.
I was sure that as soon as I posted it, sods law would kick in and I would be unbaned. Looks like Sony is immune to this. Also I had to call the head office to make sure I got the right address. The lady on the phone game me a wrong post code. Just putting that out there.
Update: 29/01/14
It's over, finally. Go read my beak down of the breakdown here: Sony Ban Post-Mortem
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