Sony is So Sorry it's Pathetic

A blog has many functions. For some, it is a diary that they can write in from anywhere. For some, it gives a voice to their inner critic, be that entertainment, political, or just general. For some, it is a place to exercise all those wacky and ridiculous thoughts. My blog fills all those needs for me and today it will fill a new one: recording of my spat with Sony.

I sent my Playstation 3 into Sony for repairs two weeks ago as many of you know. It was freezing every time I tried to watch a Bluray movie and, since it was still under warranty, I decided to let Sony fix it for me. Well, yesterday I got it back and I was happier than any kid has ever been on any Christmas morning ever and was literally giddy on my drive home from work, eager to try my baby out. Well, five minutes into the Simpson's movie found me staring once again at a frozen PS3. Sony did nothing! I compared the serial number of my new one with the number of my old broken one and found the numbers were the same. I looked on the invoice for what exact repairs were done to my PS3 and it was blank. WHAT THE FUCK?

Quickly, I called Sony’s customer service and was just as quickly transferred to technical support and was just as quickly placed on hold for half an hour. Finally I got someone and began to tell her my story. She was sympathetic and suggested I send it back to them (again) for them to fix. I told her I was not comfortable with that because they already “fixed” it once and obviously could not find the problem, so I asked for a new one. She said they would not send me a new one, but would send me a refurbished one. This means one they had sent in and repaired. I said to her that was not totally acceptable either because, as I had pointed out, they had sent me back this one as repaired so I had little reason to believe they would get it right. I asked her again if I could have a replacement. She said no.

Now, at this point I must pause. I know she is limited in what she can say to me by the “policies and procedures” manual they use, so I asked her to speak to a supervisor, but she said there was no one with the power to give me a new PS3. After ten minutes of circular conversation I finally got someone on the phone with authority, but it was the authority to be an asshole. He said it was not Sony’s policy to replace defective equipment with a new replacement and that it said so clearly on the warranty. Attitude was just dripping off his words. The problem is that the warranty clearly states that Sony will “repair or replace with a new or refurbished unit at Sony’s option” so the option is there. Also, Florida has a lemon law and I did send in my product for repairs and they obviously could not find the problem. That makes my PS3 a lemon. I told the guy he just lost a customer to Xbox and he said “great, have a good day” and hung up.

Long story short- my PS3 still doesn’t play Blu Rays and I am going to try and deal with Sony again tomorrow when I get home and pray I don’t get an asshole. I am too tired today and it will probably devolve into a fight again. I just need to have the person read the warranty along with me and see that there is an option to give me a new one. If they don’t have the same model, I will take a step down. I just want one that works.