Welcome!

This site collects stories from people with experience of Sony's customer services. It was inspired by the continuing tales in this thread on RLLMUK, from which some stories are taken.

If you have a similar story, please get in touch! We hope that collecting these stories will help Sony to realise that their awful approach to digital accounts, customer service and denial of standard rights is hurting their business. None of the major video games news sites seem to be interested for some reason!

Note that we will not take anonymous submissions, and submitters remain responsible for the factual accuracy of their stories.

Friday 14 March 2014

I bought a PS4 game while playing on my PS3

OK, most of you will find this funny (I know I would), I'm fuming.

Playing Dark Souls 2 on the PS3 with my PS4 controller, I leave my PS4 on as it's downloading updates.  Turns out the controller can control both at the same time.  So my inputs on Dark Souls buy me FIFA on PS4 (a game I already own) and British Cop skin pack (I don't even know what this is). Get an email on my tablet telling me so.

Ring PSN and straight away the guy is just saying "terms of use", "no refunds" and so on. £56.68 has been charged to my card.  Ask to speak to his superior and they won't come on the phone. He then tells me support staff have said it's not possible to control two devices at once. He doesn't seem to believe me.

Half of me wants to trade this in for an Xbox with Titanfall right now.

16/3/2104

Having spoken to a manager of a support team, as well as sending an email that only got a stock response, I was offered the following info by a helpful forum member:
Well Mr Andy Barker is the current Director of Sony PlayStation Customer Services. His e-mail, which will in all likelihood just go to his pa, but its worth a shot is andy_barker@scee.net.
You have my sympathies, Timmo, dealing with Sony customer support. It took me over a month to get them to replace my Dualshock 4 because it just refused to charge any way I tried. I was at the point of emailing this chap when I finally got one through the post from them. So yeah, you will probably need to keep at them a while.
So I wrote to Andy Barker yesterday:
Hi Andy,
I'm writing to you directly hoping you can help me here. I've used Sony for many years and as an early adopter of PS4 I have generally found your service outstanding.  However in the last couple of days I have become very disappointed and even angered with the treatment I've received. It has left me disillusioned with Sony.

Last night I set my PS4 to download some updates, before plugging the new controller into my PS3 to play Dark Souls 2 on it.  Twenty minutes later I receive an email on my tablet thanking me for paying £56.68 for two items. One some DLC for a game I don't own, the other FIFA 14, a game I already own on disc!  Shocked, I switched my TV over to my PS4 to discover the controller had been active on both consoles simultaneously, and my inputs had caused it to make the purchases without my knowing!

I instantly called your support line but frankly, although I wasn't called a liar directly, I was told that what had just happened is impossible and the controller cannot control both devices. This was obviously very upsetting for me as I do not appreciate the implication attached to this.  Furthermore I was told that I would not be getting a refund!

This morning I had a call from another member of your support staff (I had requested an escalation) and he also told me a refund wouldn't be coming. He went on to say that such refunds are in fact impossible for digital content. I asked for it to be escalated again but my request was dismissed.

Following the call I looked online to easily find examples of refunds Sony had given for online purchases, showing that either the support manager was misinformed or not being truthful with me.  This is why I write to you now, as I feel Sony have let me down hugely here. Considering the years of loyalty I have had with your company I find the way I have been treated extremely disappointing and disrespectful.
17/3/2014

Reply to my Andy Barker email - can't tell if automated or not, we'll see what happens anyway.

Hi Tim,

Thanks for your e-mail regarding your Sony Entertainment Network account which has been received in our Head Office.

I can advise that the transactions in question are being looked into by the appropriate team and we will provide you with any updates as soon as we can. Thanks for your patience in this matter.

Should you have any further queries, please contact PlayStation Support on 0844 736 0595 quoting reference NNNNNNNNNN where a member of our team will be happy to help.
20/3/2014

Official response:

Tim,

Thanks for you e-mail regarding purchases made on your PlayStation 4 (PS4).

The Dualshock 4 controller will work with Dark Souls 2 for the PlayStation 3 but officially it is designed for use with PS4 so it does remain remotely connected to the PS4 if the device is switched on.

In accordance with our Terms of Service customers have no right to cancel or to a cooling off period for purchases of Sony Entertainment Network wallet funds or Services. Digital services cannot be returned to us (and, in some cases, can be accessed even if the purchase is refunded) and therefore we are unable to offer refunds for PlayStation Store or other SEN commerce interfaces transactions unless the content is faulty or incorrectly advertised.

For your reference, our Terms of Service can be found here.

Therefore I regret that we are unable to provide you with a refund for the content that has been purchased. Should you have any further queries, please call PlayStation Support on 0844 736 0595, quoting reference *********, where one of our team will be happy to help you. Youll find our opening times below, however you might find it easier to speak to our team during our quieter period between 11:00 and 15:00. Calls to PlayStation Support cost 4p per minute from a BT land line however calls from other providers and mobile operators may vary.
So this is their official response. Which I think is terrible. What next?

Thing is, I'm starting to lose the will now. I've already spent hours of energy on this, more than it's worth. I'll probably write one great big email containing everything and send it to all the major gaming sites, and if any run with it, great. If they don't I can't be bothered anymore, life's too short. You win, Sony. You've made my decision on whether to get a 3DS or a Vita a lot easier, anyway. Enjoy your £56.