The audio player says, "Error connecting to server." Did Sony get to this already??

Aha! So that's Ron's trick? Making it say Error! Ingenious!

That didn't take long.

So the CSR's say that dust doesn't void the warranty, but the tech says it does? So does he get it fixed or not?

whoa guys,
hopefully that guy with the dusty ps3 will finally
have justice, but now what I wonder is:
Everyone with warranty issues will mail kotaku now?

The warranty drama will never cease D:

Kotaku, helping the common(PS3 owning)man!

The Ron Burley Phone Recording Scam (heretofore known as RBPRS) does not work, people. If you ever find yourself in court over recording a phone conversation (and granted, you probably won't) you need to be able to prove that the CSR knowingly consented to the phone call being recorded. By saying "I sound just like you guys 'This call may be recorded', ha-ha", you're scamming the CSR, who may be reasonably expected to construe your little joke as a joke, and not as actual notification that you'll be recording the call. Same thing if your "notification" is said incomprehensible fast, or soft, et cetera. The person needs to know that they're consenting, and what they're consenting to.

I've been making it a habit of recording all my costumer service calls, and always tell the CSR I'm doing it. So far I haven't been hung up on, and if they did, just keep calling back until you get a CSR who won't.

@ALK
wow, I had no idea you would need to consent. So any taped confession has to be consented? or justt over the phone?

wow...so...you need your receipt?

@Kemosabet2: Just over the phone. I believe taped confessions depend on whether or not you have a reasonable expectation of privacy (much like it applies for security cameras, paparazzi, et cetera).

This guide is aimed at journalists wanting to record conversations, but it explains things fairly well:

[www.rcfp.org]

I'm never buying a PS3!

Omfg

Ive is right, and Sony is wrong.

And they cannot stop being such stubborn FUCKWITS.

More bad luck guy ... your conversation is not covered under warranty because it is illegal in your state to record conversations over the phone :)

This is what upsetted me when people were panning Microsoft when they had they're console crashing troubles. Microsoft admitts there is a problem, and does everything in their power to make it right, and they get ridiculed for it.

Sony's PS2 scratches discs and burns out, and they pretend it never happened and refuse to take responsibility, so everyone says "yeah you'd never get three rings of death on a sony product". Heck even the PS1 has issues with the eye that reads the cd going bad. How many of you had to turn your PS1 upside down to get it to work? I know I did.

You should never pan a company for admitting they have a flawed product and doing the right thing. It's companies like Sony that choose to deny everything and screw the consumer that we should be upset with.

What's the problem? The company always gives me permission before I even ask: "this call may be recorded for training purposes". Well, thank you - I think I will.

Sony should get into politics. They seem to have the whole lying through their teeth thing down.

I was going to buy a PS3 sometime before the end of the year but this completely changes everything.

Nice going Sony.

I already have a ps3 btw, so if i ever need to get it replaced, i will fucking take this piece of shit sony service to court, and publicly humiliate them till i get my ps3 fixed.

:D

Man, I feel like Kotaku should start a "500 People Donate $1 So Ive Can Get A New PS3" campaign. But then... I'm guessing he probably won't want a new one after this.

So, are they replacing the PS3, or not?
People at Sony need to get their heads out of their asses.

I refuse to buy a PS3, or a PSP, now. I thought about making the plunge, however, in light of this escapade, I'll spend my money with Microsoft and Nintendo.

When my camcorder dies, I'll find another manufacturer to go with. I will teach my children about the horrors of Sony electronics. They will boycott Sony forever. Not only did Sony lose my dollar, but they will probably never see my children's money either.

@CareyCondor: But he could buy a 360 Elite system.

Damn, that is not good. Not good at all. I was gonna buy a PS3, now I'm not really sure. Why can't Sony own up like Microsoft did with the RROD issue? I can only imagine how many other people will have to go through this because they placed their PS3 where it's SUPPOSE to go. Well, I guess I can get one of those replacement plan from BB or CC if I still really want a PS3 that badly.

I've been there. I love the CSR's constant, long pauses as he's trying to wrap his mind around this. Torn between towing the corporate line and the absurdity of it all, repeating the same couple of lines over and over again because he's been told to and has no real choice in the matter, because it's indefensible and he's being forced to defend it.

Rock on, Ive. Fight the power.

@HamboneWilson: Ya cause Microsoft was super helpful right off the bat. /sarcasm

It took them what 2 1/2 years to own up to it and extend the warranty? And this isn't even a matter of a sony defect. I'm not saying who's in the right or in the wrong, cause honestly I haven't seen the ps3 in question and it really could look like 1 big dust bunny, or it could be pristine. I don't know. The only ones that know are Ive and Sony at this point.

@vileyaser: No you won't. Their legal team makes OJ's Dream Team look like country bumpkins. You also won't humiliate them because, based on your post, your concept of the english language would only cause you embarassment.
I have a Master's Degree in English, and I would not be foolish enough to do that. The fact I do not have a law degree also adds to that, considering any lawyer you do hire will bankrupt you in the process of fighting Sony.

You cannot win a legal battle against this company on your own. You do not have the power, financially to take on the giants. You can, however, refuse to give them any more business. Don't buy Blu-Ray, don't buy Cybershots, or Vaios, or PS2's, 3's or PSPs. Buy nothing from them.

As an aside, they really do sound like Apple's service centres.

....And of course I'm sure there is no possible way for him to contact the service center about it. How ridiculous.

and.....

there's goes my urge to buy a PS3.

oh, well.

i guess i can live without R&C.

but it's a shame that now i'll have to buy Across the Universe on reg. DVD and watch it upscaled on my HD DVD player.

*sigh* i'll live.

SONY screwed me over when I found out that the PS2 Holiday demo disk they sent me erased all of my gaming accomplishments.

They kept on saying that they couldn't do anything about it. After that I never buying a SONY hardware again, this just reinforces my point that SONY sucks.

Sorry about the gramatical errors in my previous post.

I think he should just keep calling back a few or more times a day for ten days. I assume those CSRs get about $10+ an hour. Shoot the breeze, talk about the weather. Get your monies worth in phone support. But always be polite so they can't flag you him as an obscene caller etc.

All you fan boys can stop now.
It's like I said before, this is Sony policy not a jerk rep.

Should someone else try sending it in when he gets it back?

When he gets it back, he should clean it and then have another person send it in.
Maybe in a different country.

I wish I had something more substantial to say than..."unbelievable" but I can't figure anything else out. For your sake man, I hope this blows up and news stations hear about it, then at least you'll get your PS3 back and probably a meaningless apology from someone high-ish in the company.

@ry81984: I'm not a fan boy.

I own a PS1, PS2, and was planning on purchasing more SONY products until they decided to send me a demo disk that erased about 1000 hrs. of combined playing time from my memory card. It has been a long time since it happened, and now I was leaning to buying a PS3 along with my current Nintendo Wii, but this is not making the purchase any more appealing.

heh.

*hugs is tightly*

was considering a ps3 with all the price drops but now...more money to spend on wii and PC games now.

:)

Modificated.

@Dual45s: I agree, this guy should call his local news stations, and explain what is going on in a kind manner, and include all of these pages to support and prove your incident.

I am going to put off purchasing my ps3 and the psp until I see this resolved the RIGHT way! FIX THE MANS SYSTEM!

@HamboneWilson: That is an out right lie. I've called 1800345 Sony and walked through trouble shooting a couple of times now for my launch day PS2 and I've never been told that I was out of warranty for disc read error. The most recent service was completed in 2004 and the system is still going strong.

The pricedrop was making the system more appealing to me, but ater Ive read this story, Ive gotten a bad taste in my mouth.

we're thinking of a ps2 only for Guitar Hero 1, 2 and best of 80's. No other reason. This entire fiasco has really pushed us away from a PS3. Why spend 400-600$ when you're just gonna get screwed?

If the phone call crosses state lines, you're under federal jurisdiction which means only one party needs to consent to the taping.

first off, he shouldn't have ambushed the agent, or yelled at him... speaking as someone who actually is on the receiving end of these calls all day every day, he'd probably get actual empathy and an agent fighting for him, had he not, regardless of how many calls he'd placed... I have fought supervisors many times of behalf of customers because I felt they were being shafted (I don't work for sony, but I've been a CSR for other companies for several years) and also if he gets it back and opens it up, if it's to the point where they won't touch it, he'll probably find it's caked in dust to the point where it needs to be scraped off... I also remember seeing something in the console manual when I set mine up that stated that it needs to be put in a place that will be relatively free of dust....

As far as the recording, it really depends on what state the caller is in. For example, my home state, New York, is a 50% state with regard to recording. That is, at least 50% of the parties must be aware of the recording. If the guy was in NY, he's clear, even without getting any consent. I don't know the laws in the other 49 states.

Some of you people are morons,
apparently when the 360 has a fail rate of 33% no one cares,
but when one person has some crazy trouble with his warranty that no one else seems to be having, you boycott.
How the hell does that make sense?

@SAIFDS:
What did you expect, you wanted them to replay all of the games for you?

@DallasDMD: Not true at all... Either state can still choose to enforce their own law. Check it:

[www.rcfp.org]

Man, if somebody with this much patience and resolve to get their system fixed is still denied, there isn't much hope for the lesser man (or woman) to get their PS3 fixed in a similar dispute. I don't like how their system seems to let technician opinion overrule their stated warranty. The CSR goes and says, "Well, if the technicians decided so and so, then that's the end of it." That isn't right. In my opinion, this guy has a pretty solid case against these guys, and the only reason why they're not relenting is that legal action against Sony would be too expensive to be feasible. All I'm seeing from a consumer standpoint is that Sony would rather save a couple bucks and break their warranty than help this customer because they're protected by their lawyers and the inherent cost of legal action. Poor showing, Sony.

@SAIFDS:
Why bother with the local news? The world-wide internet is far more effective and far reaching.

Also, you can add me as another strike to the "was on the fence between the 360 and the PS3 until this fiasco" list. You could hear that CSR clearly admit that the consumer has no power whatsoever regarding the enforcement of the so-called "warranty" since the hired technicians can wield absolute power in determining whatever cause they like to substantiate the term "neglect" (apparently, leaving the unit on as they suggest in the manual is a new form of neglect).

At least Microsoft is making SOME kind of effort to fix their broken product.

Oh, Sony; what in the world has happened to you? :(

@tehFluffzComeback: You must be a fanboy.

The problem with Sony is that they DENY everything. The Xbox360 might have a high rate of failure, but at least Microsoft acknowledges that they do, in fact, have a problem and is good about replacing your broken systems.

With that said, I'm still looking to pick up a PS3 sometime this week. I'll just make sure to dust it out every couple of months so this bullshit doesn't happen to me.

@wonder6oy:
See what I mean?, just one person has trouble and all hell breaks loose,
my friends could tell you some real horror stories about the Microsoft support line.