OK seriously, who the heck would vote yes on this?!

Did I miss something...how does that much dust accumulate in less than a year?

I say he gets a can of compressed air, blow it out, then send it back to them and tell them to damn well fix it and stop being a bunch of whiny little twits.

that's not dust...that's serious dirt...and im guessing sony's tech guys threw a pound of dirt on it first!

It is pretty dusty. Dustier than I pictured from his original story. But that being said, I don't see anything physically threatening to a technician here.

Hell mine gets just as dusty ever week or so. The finger prints are there too. MAKE THE THING MATT IF YOU DONT WANT PRINTS AND DUST!

Christ, imagine what the rest of his house looks like.

That thing is filthy. I stand by my comments in the original post that Sony is under no obligation to repair that unit. It has CLEARLY not been properly taken care of. Hell, it doesn't even look like it has been wiped off. Further, the vote is unfair. I don't think it constitutes a threat to the tech's health, but I also don't think Sony should repair it.

That is a lot of dust for one year of use. Still, I vote no. If the tech is allergic to dust (as I am), he/she could wear a cheap dust mask. It is that simple.

I'm not going to vote yes or no on this one. A technician with serious asthma or allergies could be affected by this. The solution, don't let that technician repair the unit. But this doesn't desrve to be repaired. In all honesty, if you're going to let your $600 machine go to shit in a year, you shouldn't be allowed to have one.

Ok...this guy said he took care of it? Basic care would mean basic dusting and you can tell he didnt do jack. I have NEVER had a console get that bad even ones that suck in dust like crazy.

Look at the USB ports, dusting every couple months would keep that from happening. This console died of neglect and an incredibly dusty house. Just look at the outer case! There is no way he took care of it. No way. As an electronics freak i am appalled at seeing these images and im not being sarcastic

Looks like he put it in a room that someone was sanding sheetrock joint compound in.

I guess the way I see it is if the dust caused the damage then it shouldn't be covered under warranty. If you don't take care of something you purchase why should someone else.

Now if the dust has no bearing on the damage/defect then the warranty should cover it.

As an electronic technician I can say that definitely would not be hazardous to the technician, however it is an execessive amount of dust from what I can see in the pictures. Having that much dust in the unit is signs of lack of preventative maintenance by the customer. By having that much dust in there it can cause components to overheat that wouldnt normally overheat if they werent dirty which is probably the reason Sony wont fix it.

Holy crap, run away! That thing looks like it could bite someone's hand off!

Forget about the repair, how'd all that dirt get on it? That's not how you should send a unit in for repair or is it Sony's doing?

that's probably the most ill taken care of thing I've ever seen in my life!! Look like they dropped it in a construction zone and ran over it with a pickup truck.

What a fucking slob, Sony should not repair that unit, not because of a health hazard to the technician, but for the owner being such a fucking filthy idiot.

I agree that there is a lot of dust ON the console and probably means that there is a fair amount of it also in the console, but this would not, to me, be a cause to refuse repair. I've had computer cases with just as much dust in them still work well.
On a side note why wouldn't you take care of your consoles, especially when you paid $400 or more on it?

This isn't "alot of dust".

This is almost to the point that this PS3 seemed to be thrown into a sand pit or just mud. To me this is personal damage to the console, not the consoles problem, therefore Sony has no obligation to fix it. This is ridiculous.

I'm sorry, but that's just too dang dirty for an extremely expensive electronic device. If you have to clean it once or twice a week, then do so. You paid a substantial amount for that thing, now you need to keep it clean. I believe that the PS3 getting that filthy constitutes a lack of care on the customers part, to be honest.

What is the consumer actually getting for 150 dollars, is that a replacement fee or a cleaning fee?

Where can I read the warranty info about the additional costs due to dust?

Also as others have said, why is it that 150 all of a sudden negates the health risk to the technicians who probably face more serious health risks then a dusty PS3?

yeah... I don't understand why the guy at least didn't clean it before he sent it off. I mean.. that's a lot of dust. I never dust, and nothing in my house is that dusty.

I don't know if it could be called a "health hazard" but I totally side with Sony in refusing to repair that console under warranty. That level of dirtiness goes way beyond "normal wear and tear" and into "neglect".

Seriously, what the hell does this guy's house look like if his PS3 looks like that?

Gross.. did that come out of a chain smoker's dirt hut or something??

I'm suspicious that those are the photos of the PS3 in question. The guy said he cleaned off the exterior before sending it in. Why would someone lie about cleaning their PS3 when it has no bearing on whether or not they would repair it? In any case, they should be used to dealing with dusty electronics. Put on a dust mask and use some canned air.

I fully supported the original owner by his stories until I saw these pictures. This isn't just dust. This is careless negligence to clean a personal piece of media in order to have a properly running PS3. It's just common sense to clean your goods and your belongings.

Man, I'd hate to see what his underwear looks like.

So would it void the warranty to open the case in order to blow it out with Ye Olde Can o' Air?

As a former computer technician, I have worked on FAR more dusty items than this. While it is indeed quite dusty, unless that is asbestos covering it, there is ZERO danger to a technician working on it.

Rejecting it for other reasons seems reasonable but their safety issue is groundless.

the dust presented a threat to their technician's health

Health threat? Was it asbestos? It's the pretty much same damn dust that would be in the technician's home. Take some Claritin and get to work!

@ObtuseGoose:
He lied about cleaning it because he didn't think the pictures would surface. Now they did, and he loses.

This is clearly neglect. Pure filth. Now we know the truth. Why isn't anyone questioning the fact that the guy said he wiped it off and such? If he lied about that (which it appears he has), then what else is he lying about? Those pictures are disgusting to me. To know that someone who can abuse such a high-end product and then bitch to the world, all the while making Sony look bad, is beyond me.

While it's not a "health hazard", I wouldn't touch that thing with a 10-foot pole. Honestly, what the hell.

That is horribly filthy, and it's no wonder this morons unit broke down. He might as well have thrown it in a bathtub of human excrement. That being said, it's dust. Yes it was probably his fault the system broke, but that is total crap about it being a threat to the tech health. Sony should either have repaired it, or told the idiot he voided his warranty. This extra fee, and health concern stuff is total BS.

Yeah... that looks a lot more serious than dust. Dust isn't brown, at least dust that I know. I know things get dusty over time, but there are limits.

I was completely against sony until I saw the pics. I get where they're coming from now. I do IT work, but I wouldn't want to work on that console.

I've seen worse, when you start to see cockroaches scuttering out from the PSU, then you know you have an "unsafe" system. Spiders qualify too,

Had a notebook sent back from service in Biohazard wrap because some idiot puked on the computer, cleaned the outside, and neglected to tell us that he puked on his computer. I didn't even bother to open it, but since then I use the "nose" test before I send out the system.

Is that a special Motorstorm edition PS3?

Seriously that thing is disgusting. How do you let anything get that dirty? Does this guy live in a mud hut or something in a swamp?

I think that's pretty gross, but I mean, I don't think they shouldn't fix it because of that. That being said... you'd think you'd clean your stuff up a little before sending it in, I'd be a little ashamed.

This is just a cheap tactic from sony so they dont have to make valid their warranty, dust in electronic devices is not harmfull, most of my PCs are
"Dust Dreamland" and ive never had any issue with any of them...

Heavens what did he do to the poor PS3? I don't think anything should get that dusty in a year. Obviously he did SOMETHING to it or the room its in. Did he even CLEAN it before he sent it? I mean, the least he could do is wipe the, what looks like, mud off the bottom.

Poll is totally broken - won't show results.

But someone should seriously tell the owner of that thing that they're made for INDOOR use.

looks like someone was using the PS3 as a air purifier

* Spoiled kid's PS3 dies and kid sends it off for repair.
* Sony says, "No way..that thing is a disaster. We took pictures to document what a slob you are."
* Kid tries to get pictures, gets told NO and proceeds to cry around the internet about how evil Sony is, downplaying to true extent of his slovenly nature.
* Internet cry gets picked up and Sony gets fed up with all of the attention they are now receiving. Attention that makes them look like the bad guy when they know they aren't. To quash the negative PR, even though they know they are in the right, Sony eats the cost of fixing Pig Pen's PS3.
* Sony decides that the kid needs to be taught a lesson, changes their mind on the pictures, gives them to the kid, and simultaneously releases them to the internet to call the kid's bluff.
* Kid gets royally (and deservedly) bitchslapped by Sony.

Well played, Sony, well played.

That is too much dust. No wonder the PS3 is broken. I call this an Act of God.

If I live there am I still under warranty : [www.rrdc.com]

I'm sorry but I have seen computers that have been on and in the same place for ten years that don't look that nasty.

And that doesn't just look like dust, that's that grimy dust only a hardcore piece of hardware can produce. The kind that actually makes someone as apathetically hygienic as myself actually wash their hands after touching every time.

This is just judging from pictures, and I'm always willing to give a user the benefit of the doubt over a company, but those are convincing pictures. Originally I called BS on Sony, but maybe not because that thing looks like it's spent the year in a Texas attic (funny story, I knew someone dumb enough to put their server in their Texas attic and still wonder why stuff broke so often).

I build/repair computers for a living.

Dust can cause many issues varying from overheating to failing components such as optical drives and fans.

While the health effects from exposure to dust is questionable and still under study, what I get from these pictures is that there is more than a reasonable doubt that dust is associated with the failure of this console which would fall under neglect thus voiding the warranty.

And I would have no problem trying to prove this in a court of law.

Where does he put this thing to make it this dusty? Is he playing out in his barn? If I where SONY i wouldnt fix it either.

As a computer technician I am often upset at the fact that not only I have to fix office computers but most of the time I end up having to deal with a whole lot of cleaning. Computers are neglected, put in desolate places and accumulate a lot of dust and dirt that technically I should not have to deal with.
The problem here is this PS3 was actually sent to Sony for a Warranty claim. It is VERY hard for me to think of a polite way to describe a person that would ship a device in that condition and EXPECT warranty repair done. Its Like getting into a car accident and then sending the crashed car back to the dealership for warranty repair because the engine sounds funny. It's not going to happen!
I dont think there is a health hazard involved but I sure as hell think the technician would have to clean up YOUR mess in order to fix that console and he should not do it for free. Its also easy to assume the console is broken due to user neglect. You gave Sony the leverage to make such a call because you did not want to spend one minute of your life wiping off the evidence of what probably borke your console. Now deal with it.

hum..after a second look this guy is a PIG! My Dreamcast is in better shape than that! Dude vacuum your room!