Just want to share a little lesson I learned the hard way:
When you purchase titles from the PlayStation online store, especially PlayStation Plus Free Games (ie, the "Instant Game Collection"), try to keep each game as a separate transaction. That is, don't go to "Continue Shopping" and then get another game. Actually go through the "Checkout" first, and then get whatever else you want. It's less convenient, but it's worthwhile because if you ever unlucky enough to have to deal with Sony's customer support, it will make it harder for them to screw up even more and cause more problems which they will refuse to fix. This can and does happen. You should be protected from it.
Case in point:
The PlayStation Plus subscription includes a seemingly nifty little benefit called an "Instant Game Collection". This is like Netflix for PS3 and Vita games: At any given time, there are a bunch of full, non-demo, non-limited, games available for free download, free to play. Over time, some titles will rotate out of availability, and others will rotate in. However, according to Sony's own statements, as long as you're a PlayStation Plus subscriber (even if your subscription ended and was then reinstated) you are entitled to re-download, for free, at any time, any "Instant Game Collection" game that you've already downloaded and deleted even after it's rotated out of availability.
However, if you don't protect yourself, Sony will screw you over by failing to honor their own obligation to you. They have already done so to me.
What happened:
After subscribing to PlayStation Plus, I downloaded a few of the free Instant Game Collection games, including Bioshock 2, as well as a Timed Trial of Splinter Cell: Double Agent (The Timed Trial games entitle you to 60 minutes of the full game. Naturally, these are games that are not available as part of the Instant Game Collection.) I obtained these as part of the same transaction, by using "Continue Shopping" instead of doing a "Checkout" after every individual game (which, in retrospect, I should have done instead).
Then, the 60 minute Timed Trial expired after only allowing me about five, maybe ten, minutes of running the game (including cutscenes, loading screens, company logos, etc.) So naturally I called Sony support.
Sony's support informed me that that was indeed something that incorrectly went wrong, and they also informed me that the 60 minutes do NOT need to be consecutive. They promised to fix it and email me within a few weeks.
About a week later, I got an email claiming that the problem was fixed. Not only was it NOT fixed, it gets worse: Sony's trained chimps had attempted to fix the problem by canceling the transaction that included the Timed Trial game. They had canceled the ENTIRE transaction - including the free Instant Game Collection games...including Bioshock 2 which, by then, had already rotated out of availability.
This means that Bioshock 2 is no longer in my download list as it is supposed to be, and therefore, if I need to delete it from my hard drive (it takes up a whopping 10 GB), then I will not be able to redownload it as I'm entitled to do.
After another call to Sony's support chimps, a referral a different phone number with a different set of Sony support chimps, and a bunch of hold time with intolerable elevator music (naturally), I was told that they could not fix the issues with either of the games. They provided no remedy other than to say "Sorry".
Fortunately, I'm not a big fan of Bioshock, and the PS3 version of Splinter Cell: Double Agent has been said to run very poorly (not that I would know). But a major multinational corporation failing to honor their own obligations to their own customers is inexcusable.
Naturally, I will continue calling them about the matter, but in the meantime, I'll be damned if I'm going to keep the matter private.
And again, if you download things from the PlayStation store, help protect yourself and keep every game separate.
5 comments for "Sony Scams PSN Users: Don't Get Multiple Games In The Same Transaction"
Ah yes, the good ole customer support horror story. It seems that every time a corporation gets large enough, inevitably incompetence sets in. Customer support goes out the window^W^W^W^W I mean, gets replaced by the highschool dropout department, who through no fault of their own were put to a task beyond their abilities without adequate training. I've had the dubious pleasure of having to deal with customer support in various large companies, and I have to say, they were all bad. You inevitably end up getting transferred in a cycle between departments who don't talk to each other, who might as well be different companies, and whatever problem they try to fix more often than not only makes things worse.
IME, the best customer support always comes from small companies that haven't become overgrown monolithic dinosaurs paralysed by their own fat.
Actually, one of the smartest people I know was a high school dropout, and I usually find those with better academic records to be less likely to have real-world talent or strong critical reasoning skills (GPAs are very good measurements of obedience - and not much else).
But I do get what you're saying, and I agree :)
YEAH SONYS GOT THERE PANTIES ALL UP IN A BUNCH OVER THIER "FREE" INSTANT GAME COLLECTION OR WHATEVER IT IS THEY WANNA CALL IT... it fukkin sucks how major conglomorates can get over on u with doubble standards,all makeing a lie outa the word free.... WHATS OUR WORLD OF GAMEING REALLY COMEING TO?
YUPP WELL WHATEVER ITLL BE WHAT IT IS I PAID 50$ ONE TIME ONLY MEMBERSHIP TO BE ABLE TO DOWNLOAD ALL THE GAMES I WANT NO STRINGS ATTACHED ACTUALLY A SAFE N SECURE SITE TOO BELIEVE IT OR NOT... SO FUCK PSN'S MISSINFORANT WAYS OF SAYING FREE BITCHES!!! NOT QUITE THE FULL COLLECTION AS PSN BUT A GOOD ONE NONE THE LESS AND THERE CONSTANTLY STRIVEING TO KEEP UP THE LATEST.. SO I GOTTA GIVE IT TO EM BREAH...
YUPP Fu@k todays economical enforstructure of bamboozlement all there doin iz preyin on ower constructive fun and hobby time and 4 what? u figger it out..