Sony anti-customer

Fenian

I found this interesting article about Sony.Parts of the article do concern the PS3. Pretty scary stuff.

http://www.boingboing.net/2005/11/14/sony_anticustomer_te.html

projectmayhem

the ps3 part has already been said to be a load of sh1te now

Fenian

By whom? It was only speculation in the first place. Their anti-consumer practices are well documented though.

Take the lawsuit against Lik-Sang for selling the PSP to Europe before it's release date.

Laguna

Just look at the state the PSP was (and is still being) released in, complete with screens populated with dead pixels. I swear, after the **** experience I had with Sony 'customer service' regarding the two faulty PSP's (and their disinterest at my year old faulty PS2) that passed through my hands, I will never buy another Sony product again, it's seemingly their new company motto, "You've bought the goods, now go **** yourself". On the weblink you supplied, if you scroll down to the bottom it states how the president of Sony BMG (music division) states that most people don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care. If that doesn't say it all...

Hobbes

Apprantly people are using the sony rootkit in WoW to run exploits as the software can't detect them.

Fenian

Can't believe I got replies this late at night!
LOL Laguna at Sony's new motto. They do make good sterio receivers though...

steviec

The only bit related to games was shown to be untrue. Oh and the bit about Blizzard.

"Defeat WoW spyware using Sony's rootkit
Warden, a program used by Blizzard to scour World of Warcraft players' system and report on the contents to the company..."

Anyone who plays WoW and is familiar with the problems Blizzard had in their previous games with cheating will know that this is just to stop people using other software to cheat in the game.

That's got to be one of the worst, most over the top articles I've ever read. I particularly liked their breakdown of the EULA, which did it's absolute best to make standard EULA fare sound like some sort of evil conspiracy.

exzantia

Laguna wrote:

Just look at the state the PSP was (and is still being) released in, complete with screens populated with dead pixels. I swear, after the **** experience I had with Sony 'customer service' regarding the two faulty PSP's (and their disinterest at my year old faulty PS2) that passed through my hands, I will never buy another Sony product again, it's seemingly their new company motto, "You've bought the goods, now go **** yourself". On the weblink you supplied, if you scroll down to the bottom it states how the president of Sony BMG (music division) states that most people don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care. If that doesn't say it all...

I'm sure that’s exactly what Sony said to you...

Lots of screens come with dead pixels, my PSP has two and I only know that they are there because I used full screen full color images to check for them. Dead pixels on the PSP in no way impair the games or any of the machines functionality.

Tom's Hardware did a recent article on dead pixels. Here is what they had to say:

"Sony is one of the few exceptions: they follow the ISO standard, they understand it and they apply it."

For the full article: http://graphics.tomshardware.com/display/20030319/index.html

Also, if you’re PS2 was faulty and under warranty then Sony should have replaced it. If it was no longer covered by the warranty then they were no longer required to replace the unit.

rainbow kirby

IIRC Laguna's PSP had about 15 dead pixels in a cluster, which is definitely enough to impair functionality.
Sony's tolerance for replacement is 7 dead pixels.

exzantia

Did they replace it? Or refund his money? If they didn't then I can see a problem...

Laguna

Sony didn't want to know when I told them my PSP was covered in dead pixels, they hadn't the slightest interest, they told me it didn't impair gamesplaying... What kind of a response was that?, so by that rationale, spending €200,000 on a new Ferrari to find the paintjob has been ruined by someone scraping their keys all over the bodywork who works in the dealership, only to be told by the guy who sold it to you "Ah sure, you can still drive it around".

I got my money back alright, not from Sony, but from Xtravision after a momentous row (3 rows actually), even then it wasn't refunded by the store, I had to be refunded by Xtravision head office, which took a month for them to pay me. Sony REFUSE to acknowledge the shoddy workmanship in their goods, there's even a paragraph in the PSP manual that states that dead pixels are not a fault.... WTF?, We could all play that game, couldn't we?, you could run a person over on purpose in the street, get arrested and brought to court, when defending yourself, you don't see running people over on purpose as a crime..

exzantia wrote:

Lots of screens come with dead pixels, my PSP has two and I only know that they are there because I used full screen full color images to check for them. Dead pixels on the PSP in no way impair the games or any of the machines functionality.

Picture this, you've just bought a new Sony Bravia 50" HDTV... you rush home, all excited... you unpack it carefully, set it up, turn it on to find.... several clusters of dead pixels... I assume from the quote above you wouldn't mind, despite shelling out the best part of €3,000 for it. I guess my consumer standards are just too high....

projectmayhem

in fairness laguna, you could have been a total ass to them.

mine was replaced on the spot no bother with a few dead pixels (not clustered mind you) because it was just plain annoying

Laguna

projectmayhem wrote:

in fairness laguna, you could have been a total ass to them.

What the ****?

I'm being an ass because I am unhappy with inferior goods. How dare I.

I then suppose you see the Sony customer service department as quite the gentleman when the politely declined to answer my emails, return my phonecalls, give me a resolution to my problem, talk to me in a manner that illustrated they cared for my custom, no, it was me, Mr Difficult.

steviec

There's also a line in the DS manual that stated dead pixels are not a problem. I know because Nintendo sent back an email highlighting it when I tried to get mine replaced, so in the end I just put up with it, it was only 2 pixels anyway, I knew I couldn't return it to a shop but thought I could return it to Nintendo since they had all that publicity about how great they are that they'd replace even one dead pixel.

If it is more than a small number it's up to the shop(not the manufacturer) to replace it, so the main problem is that Xtravision weren't budging. Which they did, eventually. As a customer your dealings with faulty goods should always be with who you bought them from, the manufacturer has nothing to do with it.