Sony has been known for their good will toward users, and this is another case where one such user gets his account banned automatically due to an error, which leads to Sony issuing a personal apology to the user and reimbursing him with $300 store credit, and even mails him a free game with a hand written apology.
User Fizjig decided to use Sony’s “Boku” program to purchase a PSN game using his smartphone. According to him, his account was banned shortly after purchasing and downloading the game. This led to him calling Sony to ask for the reason of his account ban, and he was told that he was auto banned by the system because no payment was made for the game he purchased. As it turned out, the phone company didn’t pay for the game because it apparently got detected as fraud in their system due to machine error, resulting in them not making any payment. The user was stuck without any help, and after two months of arguing with Sony over his account ban, he was told that the original account would not be available even if it got unbanned, which resorted him to sell his PS3 and move on.
In December, once the PS4 was released, a Sony rep contacted him saying he was “looking into” his case. He was asked to show them the payment proof again, which he did before as well. Since he already had that email, he just sent it again. Finally in January, he was told “Good news! We are going to fix your account!”
A Sony PR rep later contacted him offering an apology over the issues he faced and wanted to make up for that error. After these events, he decided to purchase a PS4 and make a new account on it, since he wouldn’t be able to get his old one back anyways. While he might have lost his old account, and his PSN purchases, he received about $300 in store credit along with a Assassin’s Creed IV for free on the PS4.
People might be thinking that account ban was bad but it is good for Sony to at least contact the affected user and offer him an apology, even gift a free game.
What do you think of this move made by Sony? Let us know in the comments below.
