Reader Martin sent his PS3 in to Sony because a game was stuck in the drive. When he got it back, the game was missing. Where did it go? Sony says there was nothing the drive when they received the unit. Martin is wondering why he would have sent his console in to Sony in the first place if it didn’t have a game stuck in it. It is a mystery.

Martin writes:

I sent my Playstation 3 in for service for the a second time in 6 months, and this time they stole my Assassin’s Creed game. Their compromise: they offered what is basically a trade for another game of their choosing- as long as I showed them a receipt!

My PS3’s Blu-ray drive failed within 4 months of my receiving it as a gift from my wife in December 2008. I sent it in for repair in April, and received it back in fairly short order. In June, my Blu-ray drive had a problem ejecting a disc completely. The next disc that went in, my Assassin’s Creed game, stuck for good. Unfortunately, there was no way to get my game out of the drive, and there was no emergency disc eject procedure to be found in the manual or online.
I created a support ticket with Sony for this issue, clearly stating that my game was stuck in the drive, and that despite my efforts of using the button to eject and the system’s software, it would not come out at all. The result was I had to send the unit to Sony again for another drive issue. I was having flashbacks of the “disc read error” days of the Sony Playstation 2.

The coffin/shipping box for the PS3 arrived once again, and on the form I clearly marked that a disc was stuck in the drive (it has a checkbox for it), and that was why I was sending it in for repair. I shipped it out, it arrived at Sony’s repair center, and it was shipped back. When I received it, the disc drive worked, but Assassin’s Creed was nowhere to be found.

I contacted Sony support number listed on Service Receipt (1-800-345-7669) and spoke with a support person named Michael. Within 5 minutes, he checked the technician’s notes and stated there was no disc in the drive when received. I asked:

If the system’s problem is that it doesn’t eject discs, and the symptom is a disc doesn’t come out, then how can there not be a disc in the system? And if there’s no disc, that means there’s no disc ejecting problem- which means there was nothing to repair in the first place!

Logic didn’t get me very far.

After running into what amounted to a dead end, I asked for Michael’s supervisor, who connected me to Rachel after a 10 minute or so wait. Rachel contacted the technician’s supervisor Carl, who told Rachel that the technician’s notes were correct and there was no disc in the system. I then asked for Rachel’s supervisor, who stated there wasn’t any more that could be done. I mentioned I would be happy to post this on the Consumerist and file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, and she said she could connect me to Carl.

I explained the illogical scenario I was in to Carl. Carl said he would start a full investigation to see if there was any foul play involved, and would call me the next week on Tuesday. Carl contacted me Tuesday, August 11th, 2009, and told me that while there is no evidence that there was a disc in the drive, but he offered that if I sent him the receipt for Assassin’s Creed, he would send me a “First title game”. Needless to say I did not jump at the offer.

I don’t want to trade out games with Sony, I want the disc that was stuck in their broken drive back. If there was no disc in the drive, then what was the problem with the system that needed repair at all? This is my fulfilling my promise to Sony last week and submitting this to Consumerist, and a BBB complaint will follow as well. Carl said I could post about this and submit it to where ever I want, so here we are.

What you mean you don’t save all your game receipts in case the disc gets stuck in the drive and Sony loses it?

Filing a BBB complaint isn’t a terrible idea, although at this point it’s really a case of “he said, she said.” The friendly thing to do would have been to just replace your game. Sony, particularly their warranty repair department, isn’t really known for being friendly. Good luck.

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