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, 27 November 2015

Every step of the way, Sony's representatives promise me my $500 back, yet I only ever see $230 of it

 A post on Reddit, where a hacked account led to $500 of charges.  There was no 2FA available yet Sony claims their network security is top-notch.

For the past three months, I have been embroiled in a struggle with Sony customer support trying to resolve an issue with an attacker who gained access to my PSN account and used it, along with the stored card information associated therewith, to purchase $499.91 in PlayStation 3 games and PlayStation services. I have attempted to resolve this issue with Sony for several months, but it has reached the point where I feel that public airing is my only recourse.

This example has it all.  A hacked account, "no refunds, idiot", recommendation to make a chargeback, chargeback leading to a banned account ...

    • An unknown attacker gains access to my PSN account and makes approximately $500 in charges to my debit card. Sony has a history of security breaches.
    • Because of Sony's policy of banning accounts from which chargebacks arise, I try to get my money back from Sony without resorting to a chargeback, a process where a bank officially files fraudulent charges against a merchant.
    • Every step of the way, Sony's representatives promise me my $500 back, yet I only ever see $230 of it.
    • Eventually, Sony tells me that the remaining money cannot be refunded due to a ridiculous technicality. (They apparently cannot process refunds for banned accounts, and the attacker created a sub-account that they suggested I request be banned.)
    • Sony's representative tells me that "literally" the only way to get my money back is a chargeback. I tell my bank to issue the chargeback.
    • Sony disputes the chargeback using extremely questionable logic that doesn't even address the fraudulent nature of the original charges, and somehow wins.
    • Currently, I am in the process of re-filing the claim, this time trying to make it very clear that it is a case of fraud, not whatever Sony claims it is.

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