Buyer Beware on the PSN!!!

Hi everyone. As many of you know, about 7 months ago started my PS3 troubles that led to three months of system exchanges. First a YLoD, then a bad disc reader, then a YLoD again, then finally the system I am playing on now. Until last night, I thought everything was fine.

As you know, I have two PS3's, both contain all my accounts. Well, I decided to share my account info with my brother so he could download the same games I have so that we could play my games together online. He called me to tell me the PSn wouldn't let him, something about a prompt saying there are already five PS3's attached to the account. That's impossible, I only have two. So I called Sony today to get the situation resolved.

The long and short of it is, Sony maintains that the two systems that I sent back that were exchanged for YLoD are still attached to the account, and will remain so because I didn't deactivate the machines prior to sending them in. I asked them how they expected me to deactivate a machine that won't even boot up. They repeatedly avoided answering my questions in favor of reciting to me that they are protected by the almighty ToS (Terms os Service). I explained all I wanted was those two machines that are no longer in my possession to be off my account. They refused. I asked for an explanation why, and once again they tried to tell me they were allowed to do so in accordance with their ToS. They then told me that sharing games with others was against ToS, which is a flat out lie, as you are allowed to download your purchases on up to five machines. When I brought this to their attention, you guessed it, ToS.

When I asked why machines that are probably in someone else's possession are attached to my account, they tried once again shifting the blame on me for not deactivating dead machines, and were completely uninterested in the fact that people I don't know have these machines that are allocated to me apparently.

The long and short of it is, if you get a YLoD, Sony is knowingly not clearing those machines from your accounts and then redistributing them to others. They could easily deactivate those machines on their end, but they refuse, which ends up putting people in the situation of not being able to download the games they purchased in good faith. Buyer beware, and pray you don't have the exchange problems I did, or Sony will spit on you and send you packing.

I contacted Clark Howard's consumer advocacy team, who were flabbergasted by the way, and they recommended I contact Jack Trenton via letter to explain the situation. Not only am I trying this, but I've contacted IGN.com already, and going to contact as many gaming sites as possible. I'm also thinking about contact the local news and the Federal Trade Commission (on Clark Howard's advice).

Go get em Zero

Expose the basterds and remind them that just because they work for a company like SONY, they aren't GODS!!!!! I thought it was suppose to be customer service, not customer torcher. Fuck the ToS!!!!! No wonder people love the 360. They may suck in many issues, but they take good care of their customers. Now there's an idea. Treat customers with respect and honor their wishes and oh look you have a customer for life.

VIVA LA RESITANCE - I'll hook you up with some vids, hook me us with some images!