On 5th December I had a friend round and we were playing Mario Kart on the Wii U, a fantastic and underrated console. In between races I checked my email and found a message from Sony thanking me for my purchase of Shadow of Mordor on the PS3. That’s strange, I thought, I don’t own a PS3, and I hate Lord of the Rings. After a 30 minute wait I eventually spoke to someone at Sony who told me that they’d look into it. Okay, I said, what about this PS3 that’s connected to my account, should I worry about that? No, no, I was told, I needed to leave that there so they could investigate it. I was asked for my PS4’s serial number and was told that IP addresses would be checked. The illicit purchase was made with funds I had in my account from prepaid cards rather than through my bank so I wasn’t too worried and felt confident it would all be resolved soon.
A week later I’d heard nothing so called Sony to ask how things were going. I was told they were looking into it and I should hear back soon. Not the most dynamic response to fraud, I thought, but never mind, no bank cards were involved and there was no more stored credit to steal so I wasn’t too concerned. A few days after this I received an email about my enquiry. It all started off fairly well, confirming the transactions had taken place on a different console and that appropriate action had been taken, but then it went on to say that unfortunately they can only offer refunds for faulty software. That can’t be right, I thought, that would mean that as long as the game the hacker bought worked okay, Sony were fine with it.
I called again and spoke to a helpful representative who seemed to agree with me that it was all a little odd and put me on hold, sounding confident it was a simple mistake that he’d put right. A few moments later he returned with a defeated tone to his voice and pointed out to me, in a roundabout way, that Sony will not refund me because I might be lying. He explained that I could have provided my log in details to a friend so that they could buy the game and then I’d call to get the money back resulting in a free game. It’s true, that’s certainly possible, but why do that when the offending console gets banned? It seems a little pointless. I pointed out now that the PS3 was actually showing as still active on my account but was assured it’s not. All its privileges had been revoked, apparently and access to any downloaded games would be denied. As I write, I can still see it as active on my account.
Okay, I said, I can understand your point. The scenario Sony describe is certainly a possibility but it’s not the case here. What can I do to prove it? I provided my serial number and they said they’d check IPs, neither of which prove my innocence but if they were always going to assume I was lying why bother with the charade of an investigation and ask for those details anyway? What more can I do I asked? Well, nothing came the reply. This is a problem with Sony’s set-up, not any fault of mine. If their system is open to such abuse that’s their problem, not one that we as customers should have to pay for, let alone be effectively accused of fraud over when we are in fact the victims. If you’re finding any of this hard to believe, I recorded the call. You can listen here
https://soundcloud.com/john-lappin/sony-fraud-call
The guy on the phone clearly couldn’t believe what he was being made to say to me so I let him go, there was nothing he could do. The only route open to me now was an official complaint, which I made. I got this back, I’m sure you’ll agree, it fully explains the reasons behind their actions.
A week later I’d heard nothing so called Sony to ask how things were going. I was told they were looking into it and I should hear back soon. Not the most dynamic response to fraud, I thought, but never mind, no bank cards were involved and there was no more stored credit to steal so I wasn’t too concerned. A few days after this I received an email about my enquiry. It all started off fairly well, confirming the transactions had taken place on a different console and that appropriate action had been taken, but then it went on to say that unfortunately they can only offer refunds for faulty software. That can’t be right, I thought, that would mean that as long as the game the hacker bought worked okay, Sony were fine with it.
I called again and spoke to a helpful representative who seemed to agree with me that it was all a little odd and put me on hold, sounding confident it was a simple mistake that he’d put right. A few moments later he returned with a defeated tone to his voice and pointed out to me, in a roundabout way, that Sony will not refund me because I might be lying. He explained that I could have provided my log in details to a friend so that they could buy the game and then I’d call to get the money back resulting in a free game. It’s true, that’s certainly possible, but why do that when the offending console gets banned? It seems a little pointless. I pointed out now that the PS3 was actually showing as still active on my account but was assured it’s not. All its privileges had been revoked, apparently and access to any downloaded games would be denied. As I write, I can still see it as active on my account.
Okay, I said, I can understand your point. The scenario Sony describe is certainly a possibility but it’s not the case here. What can I do to prove it? I provided my serial number and they said they’d check IPs, neither of which prove my innocence but if they were always going to assume I was lying why bother with the charade of an investigation and ask for those details anyway? What more can I do I asked? Well, nothing came the reply. This is a problem with Sony’s set-up, not any fault of mine. If their system is open to such abuse that’s their problem, not one that we as customers should have to pay for, let alone be effectively accused of fraud over when we are in fact the victims. If you’re finding any of this hard to believe, I recorded the call. You can listen here
https://soundcloud.com/john-lappin/sony-fraud-call
The guy on the phone clearly couldn’t believe what he was being made to say to me so I let him go, there was nothing he could do. The only route open to me now was an official complaint, which I made. I got this back, I’m sure you’ll agree, it fully explains the reasons behind their actions.
Thanks for your recent email regarding your PlayStaition (sic) Network Account.No, thank you Tyree, you’ve been most helpful. What’s important to understand here is that Sony say they have banned the offending console and revoked access to the game. It was a digital download, no physical product was involved so they have not lost anything. What has happened to the £40? The fraudster no longer has the game, I no longer have my money. Sony are still £40 up on the deal and they refuse to give it back. The saga continues. Be aware.
Whilst I understand that this is not the outcome you had sought, I can confirm that this is our final position on this matter.
Thank you,
Tyree
Playstation Support”
