PS+ is not free..
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
All Playstation devices mysteriously deactivated. Sony support cannot help. Help GAF
- Thread starter geordiemp
- Start date
PS+ is not free..
RichiRamjag
Member
Lol, come on man. While this is a terrible situation, we don't know the whole story or who may or may not be right. In any case, a bad support tale can be told by most of us for any number of companies.
OT: as I said before, if you can, try to get US support. They'll actually try to help.
GreatestHits
Member
My apologies if this is legit, but did anyone call bullshit on the OP yet?
You either got served by a very unique/apathetic/pissed off/employee (sorry I'm doing tech support for disney at the moment), or there's something more to the story/policy that we don't know.
However, in my own experience, when my spiteful ex-GF ran up a bill to the tune of $300 on my account after we broke up, I tried to have sony take care of it and they wouldn't. I opened fraud with my bank because it was all credit charges. I got my money back via bank, PSN banned me, then one day I was unbanned with hundreds of free PSN dollars
I don't think their service is very competent I guess is what I'm saying
You either got served by a very unique/apathetic/pissed off/employee (sorry I'm doing tech support for disney at the moment), or there's something more to the story/policy that we don't know.
However, in my own experience, when my spiteful ex-GF ran up a bill to the tune of $300 on my account after we broke up, I tried to have sony take care of it and they wouldn't. I opened fraud with my bank because it was all credit charges. I got my money back via bank, PSN banned me, then one day I was unbanned with hundreds of free PSN dollars
I don't think their service is very competent I guess is what I'm saying
My apologies if this is legit, but did anyone call bullshit on the OP yet?
You either got served by a very unique employee, or there's something more to the story/policy that we don't know.
However, in my own experience, when my spiteful ex-GF ran up a bill to the tune of $300 on my account after we broke up, I tried to have sony take care of it and they wouldn't. I opened fraud with my bank because it was all credit charges. I got my money back via bank, PSN banned me, then one day I was unbanned with hundreds of free PSN dollars
I don't think their service is very competent I guess is what I'm saying
Its been done. Just look back a couple of pages, the guy was out of order, called the OP a bitch.
kamineko
Does his best thinking in the flying car
My apologies if this is legit, but did anyone call bullshit on the OP yet?
You either got served by a very unique/apathetic/pissed off/employee (sorry I'm doing tech support for disney at the moment), or there's something more to the story/policy that we don't know.
However, in my own experience, when my spiteful ex-GF ran up a bill to the tune of $300 on my account after we broke up, I tried to have sony take care of it and they wouldn't. I opened fraud with my bank because it was all credit charges. I got my money back via bank, PSN banned me, then one day I was unbanned with hundreds of free PSN dollars
I don't think their service is very competent I guess is what I'm saying
Yes, yes. There was strange and pointless account suicide over the past several pages. But how is you having a difficult service experience that worked out eventually different from the OP's problem, let alone being at a "call bullshit" level? Six month lockout stories aren't new. They are all over the internet.
Account support for PSN just isn't very good. At least, they haven't been fast to fix problems for me. Not sure how long your problem took but getting banned along the way doesn't sound ideal
Stallion Dan
Member
So OP worked out who did the inside job yet, because nobody goes to the effort of obtaining someones details through hacking just to not change the password and download a few PS+ games.
Can't believe how quickly everyone jumped on the OP just because the person didn't buy any games with their account and they have a kid. As I said on here before, I am having the same issue. My card WAS on file, and nothing was charged to it and I have not account shared.
I paid for a year of PS+ in march and I was under the impression that they are using my account to allow their account to play online. They were hoping that I wouldn't notice because most people usually do only play on their plus account and would never notice a difference.
If any of you think someone wouldn't hack an account just to get free PS+, you are wrong.
EDIT: And if PS+ was their only goal, changing the password would only serve to make me aware of the situation and would not help them go undetected.
I paid for a year of PS+ in march and I was under the impression that they are using my account to allow their account to play online. They were hoping that I wouldn't notice because most people usually do only play on their plus account and would never notice a difference.
If any of you think someone wouldn't hack an account just to get free PS+, you are wrong.
EDIT: And if PS+ was their only goal, changing the password would only serve to make me aware of the situation and would not help them go undetected.
SilentTristero
Member
Sony has some of the worst customer experience I've ever encountered. You're out of luck if your problem doesn't apply to some pre-made script they read off of, and I've been hung up on by them multiple times.
Exactly, it's a lot of trouble for a hacker to goto to download a few games, it doesn't make sense. I'm not calling out the OP as a liar as he's obviously had his consoles deactivated but I think it could be an inside job also and he's being duped by his 12 year old, at that age they're more tech savvy than your average adult so getting hold of dad's details would be no.problem for him. The OP has still to check grandma's console and compare the serial numbers with the one on the Sony website so until he does that I'm still blaming the kid.
I really hope it is his kid and he gets it sorted soon and let's us all know the outcome.
I may have asked this but can't he just sign in and reactivate them again as he's not actually locked out of his account?
So how did you know your account had been compromised? Was your console deactivated? Why would a hacker who wants free games deactivate the consoles he's getting the games from, locking him out of getting future games?
It's not hard to see what games someone has, just type in their PSN name in any trophytracker site and you can see them (unless, like you, you have set the profile to private.) On top of that, the "hacker" didn't download a free game, but a game that was free due to OP having PS+, like I stated earlier and OP states in his post:
That most account hacks are to get FIFA points doesn't matter, for all I know the person who has taken over the account doesn't even like FIFA. Apparantly that person wants just free games, that OP paid for.
I know what you mean, but it still doesn't make sense for a "hacker" to deactivate all consoles, this was flagged pretty much immediately by the OP. It's defeating the purpose of the actual hack as the "hacker" will be completely locked out now as the OP has changed his password.
It certainly not the way that a company should be treating a customer however you look at it but I'm still not understanding the "hacked" part that the OP keeps mentioning? Is there a suggestion that PSN has been hacked in some way or is he saying that somebody has found out/been given the log in details?
If the service has been hacked then clearly should be open about it but the way I'm understanding it is that somebody has his details and logged into his account. If people log into their account online they can actually check the details of the last PlayStation to access that account in the Dashboard and also see the details of every console that the account is active so there shouldn't really be any mysteries about this stuff.
If this isn't a hack but rather a misuse of the owner's details then Sony are correct to be very cautious about deactivating/reactivating things over the phone for the very reasons that the OP has mentioned.
If I was to use the log in details for here that I did on one of my PSN accounts and this place was to be hacked, then I wouldn't want somebody with the details from here to be able to do what the OP is asking by phoning them up.
There's never any reason to hang up on a customer, unless they've been aggressive and they've been warned in advance, and I do hope that the OP sorts everything out but I'm genuinely not quite understanding the original issue because of the words that are used. It's not nice but if somebody has ben careless with their log in details and that's the reason for the loss of their account then they really have to take some responsibility for that.
I'm not in any way suggesting that the OP has done anything as I have no idea what's and I do hope that it is sorted for them quickly.
If don't have any luck with customer services when I've given them the means to deal with something for me then I simply check the corporate website, find all the directors I can, find the corporate email format and politely email them all in one go. I've done this a few times and on Friday I had to do the same with Santander after trying with customer services for a couple of weeks and I got a response and resolution by Saturday evening.
For anybody who needs it, their corporate email format is ....@santander.co.uk. Just chuck a couple of dozen board members in front of it and people will take notice of you.
If the service has been hacked then clearly should be open about it but the way I'm understanding it is that somebody has his details and logged into his account. If people log into their account online they can actually check the details of the last PlayStation to access that account in the Dashboard and also see the details of every console that the account is active so there shouldn't really be any mysteries about this stuff.
If this isn't a hack but rather a misuse of the owner's details then Sony are correct to be very cautious about deactivating/reactivating things over the phone for the very reasons that the OP has mentioned.
If I was to use the log in details for here that I did on one of my PSN accounts and this place was to be hacked, then I wouldn't want somebody with the details from here to be able to do what the OP is asking by phoning them up.
There's never any reason to hang up on a customer, unless they've been aggressive and they've been warned in advance, and I do hope that the OP sorts everything out but I'm genuinely not quite understanding the original issue because of the words that are used. It's not nice but if somebody has ben careless with their log in details and that's the reason for the loss of their account then they really have to take some responsibility for that.
I'm not in any way suggesting that the OP has done anything as I have no idea what's and I do hope that it is sorted for them quickly.
If don't have any luck with customer services when I've given them the means to deal with something for me then I simply check the corporate website, find all the directors I can, find the corporate email format and politely email them all in one go. I've done this a few times and on Friday I had to do the same with Santander after trying with customer services for a couple of weeks and I got a response and resolution by Saturday evening.
For anybody who needs it, their corporate email format is ....@santander.co.uk. Just chuck a couple of dozen board members in front of it and people will take notice of you.
Yes OP has changes his PW. Meanwhile the "hacker" still has the OP's account on his PS4, which is set to primary. He still has access to all games downloaded from OP's account.
On a side note: I think we all want OP to be able and to play his games right? I don't see how saying he's lying is in anyway helpful in that. Now I'm not saying there is a hacker, but trying to explain there is certainly a possible reason for someone to employ this "hack".
Yeh he will still have the details but it will be useless to him now as the OP has changed the password, so the hacker won't be able to log back into the OPs account any more surely
As for the bold, Oh definitely, I'd rather it be an inside job rather than a hacker.
RichiRamjag
Member
There's no point for it, but there is also no point to go on a grand crusade without knowing all the facts which we don't. This is why at best I tried to give some advice rather than start hating on Sony.
Something has to be done. These stories are becoming all too common and make me question my habit of buying all digital.
Like most say.. A two step verification would have prevented all this drama.. save headaches for customers and support alike. But I guess they probably see any additional step as a hurdle to get people to begin spending, ironically lack of this means big spenders are exposed and they will be spending much less if any at all.
I hope someone hacks Shu's account just for show. Probably impossible to social engineer that one, tho.
I hope someone hacks Shu's account just for show. Probably impossible to social engineer that one, tho.
MillionStabs
Banned
For a company that gets hacked almost on a yearly basis, they sure have some shitty CS.
That person doesn't need OP's details any longer... All the things he has downloaded are his to play, until the console is no longer set to primary.
Is see why sony support is hesitant to do a deactivation by phone, yet there has to be a better solution than just having to wait six months (even it is was an inside job) don't you think?
It does make sense. You can only activate one PS4 as your primary PS4 which means if the hacker wanted to use OP's content he would HAVE to deactivate OP's PS4.
Well we don't know if he has been hacked, people are just surmising. Like I said above I hope it is his kid who's maybe wanted something dad had and he didn't. Dad says his kid gets every game he wants, but what if it was an 18 rated game, something like GTA5 for instance. Would dad allow him to play that? Surely not. Maybe the kids friends have all been talking about this great 18 rated game and because dad won't allow it on his kids console the kid takes it upon himself to get it from dad's account. But to play it he needs his console to be his dad's primary console. So, he finds out how to deactivate dad's console via the Sony entertainment website but the only option is to "deactivate all" so he does that not knowing that he's messed up dad's main account.
I'd prefer it to turn out this way rather than a hacker deactivating everything for no apparent reason.
geordiemp
Member
Your right, there is no motive here at all, it would be crazy to make a fuss if I had the Ps4 which was the primary console I can switch it back in minutes. Why would I spend best part of 2 hours phoning...got better things to do.
I dont want any money, I am not asking for refunds....I just want the Ps4 thats been my primary console since the day we bought it in 2014 back to what it was before, as its the console with family accounts on and everybody can play the games.
I can only rectify this by quoting my serial numbers to Sony. I have put it in writing...that should clear up any mis-understandings about previous downloads.
It could be a primary console bug...maybe Sony think my 2 nd ps4 is primary but the Ps4 says not...this is the ps4 that sony think has previous downloads on it. Guess what, its infront of me....I maybe just need to identify the hardware to sony...This would be an even crazier outcome...Ps4 saying its not primary but sony servers thinks it is....
I doubt this is the case as why are all 4 consoles (ps4 and ps3) deleted from my account ? I still have all 4, I dont sell any consoles or sell any played games, we keep everything. And I am too bloody old to be sharing games or something silly like that.
I hope you get it sorted mate. The whole thing is fucked up. Like others have said a two step verification should be implemented into PSN.
First part, no. You can only activate provided there are no other actived ps4's associated with the account and the only way to deactivate is with the console itself or with the online tool that deactivates all systems.
You can still use your account without the system being the activated one but the main problem(for me anyways) is that when your ps4 is the activated one, any other accounts on that ps4 can use the online service and games associated with that account without actually having ps+.
We found out because our other accounts could no longer play online or play our playstation plus games. This is because another ps4 is now the active one. They are not doing this for free games. They are doing this so they don't have to pay to play online. Even if they did it for games, they would of had to deactivate mine to play those games on their account.
Does that make sense?
geordiemp
Member
My son has Platinumed GTA5 and completed all the heists, has every car in the game... He gets every game he wants. He gets sex education in school, its just a damn game. I draw the line at continuous explicit sexualisation.
He is better at COD zombies than me, but I whip him at Multiplayer...He has a backlog of maybe 15 games we have not even started...like bloodborne and havenet even started Batman yet.....Sony could easily look at my purchases and its pretty clear we have a massive gaming budget and dont really care for the cost. Even if it was my son, I could still just make my Ps4 primary again.....would not be here posting this.
Nearly every kid in his school play it as well. How do you think GTA5 sold a billion zillion copies...kids today play these games probably more than adults.
You said your kid pretty much gets every game he asks for and so on, does that mean you have put in the password in front of his friends some time when they wanted to play DLC or a game together? Or maybe in front of your kid who one day said "let's get game X from dad's account!" when at a friends house? Then that friend kept the info and borked it all for you? The way it all was done sounds more like a 12 year old trying to get access to your game library (without knowing the consequences) than a hacker.
That said, 2-step verification should ofc exist.
That said, 2-step verification should ofc exist.
geordiemp
Member
Thats how I found out...a mate came over and we loaded up zombie trilogy and he could not access PSN as a guest on the primary console.
Luckily it was only 1 day after the hijack and so I could quickly reset all passwords and report it. If my mate had not come over might not of known for a few more days...
geordiemp
Member
No, we have 2 Ps4 and 2 TV's on the wall. 1 Ps4 is primary and 1 is the guest one where myslef OR my son with our PS+ accounts can play.
So anybody coming over plays on the primary and we can play on the 2nd guest ps4. They have exactly the same library of games.
Its the reason I buy digital for coop games and disk for single player games. That is going to change !
Nobody has every come round with a visitor Ps4. Also log in is automatic, my son does not see my password when iI turn on the ps4 and he cannot see it without knowing it.
The fact that you (want to believe someone with good judgement) let's his kid play something like GTAV it's kind of funny.
Yeah mate iit makes sense
Well I hope you get a positive outcome mate and it's nothing sinister that's occurred.
It seems that Sony's UK CS isn't cleaning up their act after getting egg on their face by the Watchdog program a month ago. Given that Sony will be losing money both from bad PR and from disgruntled customers like the OP (an avid customer of theirs) I'd have thought Sony would be more proactive. I'd love for a ex Sony CS to come forward and shed some light on the inner workings.
It's a shitty situation and hopefully you get this resolved next week, pls keep us posted.
Wow
It's a shitty situation and hopefully you get this resolved next week, pls keep us posted.
Wow
drotahorror
Member
TC said that some free games were 'purchased'. Probably meaning TC had not 'purchased' the free PS+ games yet and this person did. TC also said they purchased most things digitally. The person who hacked it probably wouldn't have any history of just downloading games that were attached to the account since they were already purchased.
- The hackers did get free shit. They purchased free ps+ games that TC had not done yet. They also got TC's library of purchased digital games.
Nah I'm still not buying the hack theory. Going to all that trouble just to hack a random guys account so they could play his downloaded games for free, then deactivate all his consoles knowing this would be noticed by the OP. It just sounds to ridiculous. If it's a hacker he's the worst hacker in the world.
binarymelon
Member
Why? Based on Sonys policies there's nothing you can do about it for 6 months. Hit the account, download everything you can and its free gaming. You don't even need to go online ever again.
Firelord Chargrilled
Banned
this sounds like gameharing gone wrong
geordiemp
Member
No, they can download any of my 30-40 bought digital games like destiny, COD, Batman etc - well they could up to the point I changed my password yesterday...they had 1 day to get stuff....
Whats not clear is the ps4 identification and it was hard to talk to the sony guy...I now have the serial numbers so it will be a factual discussion when they next open...tomorrow. I will have both Ps4's on running Destiny (my PSN and my sons) to prove we have both Ps4's, the MAC and IP's and that they belong to me (and neither are primary)
I will know then if it is a hacker and an unknown Ps4, or if one of my ps4 is being shown as primary at sony's end but not on my console.
Either way...all will become clear. If Sony say the current primary has downloaded some games...I will ask if its one of mine and give the serial numbers. If it is, then my Ps4 should be primary and its a Sony PSN error / bug and bloody shame on them.
If its not one of mine, then its piracy but again why would they not download Destiny instead of free PS+ add ons for driveclub ? I just dont know what is going on. Either way...it will also be clear that any hacker can no longer access the PSN with my account so they would have to keep the PS4 offline.
So this primary Ps4 if its a hacker cannot go online anymore...
The truth will come out and I will enjoy updating GAF
Whats disappointing is the Sony support guy should of asked for my serial numbers...We could have cleared up there and then but he did not ask or mention it.
I only got that idea form a GAF poster a few pages back to clarify with serial numbers.
It just seems like a lot of trouble to goto to play games for free. And why deactivate every console which brought the situation to the attention of the OP.
In my experience, with anywhere, wether CS is good or not solely depends on the person you get stuck with. Best you can do is keep trying and pray you get that one CS rep that is actually good at there job.
Recently had an issue with an ISP company, first lady was fairly crap but the second guy seemed to know what he was on about. Wish I got him two weeks ago.. lol
Recently had an issue with an ISP company, first lady was fairly crap but the second guy seemed to know what he was on about. Wish I got him two weeks ago.. lol
geordiemp
Member
Does not make sense...at all at FIRST. Sony could only tell me recent purchases on that primary console...
They did not tell me what bought games were 'downloaded' from my games library...This is the important bit
They could of downloaded 40 full price digital games - I have allot...and can now play them for free offline for 6 months...That is the motive I can see.
They had to deactivate all consoles to make the hackers ps4 primary (as they cannot physically access my Ps4) , download my bought games (does not show up on purchases as they are 'already owned', and they get a free 40 game library to play ...but I have stopped them accessing PSN by changing my password.
If they changed my password it would of alerted me quicker and I would of contacted sony earlier. I can also rest my password online....so leaving password unchanged is pretty smart as it allows them time to download stuff before I AM ALERTED.
Were they able to tell you when the first time that the hacker downloaded to their PS4, i.e. was it yesterday or a few weeks ago?
Also you've mentioned that your PSN password was the same as your email password, have you checked your email account for any suspicious activity?
Fair enough man. I hope you get it sorted and will pop in here tomorrow to find out how you got on with CS. Would be a good idea to write down the mac address of each console also and cross reference them with Sony CS. Good luck bud.
It's been mentioned several times already, you need to deactivate the primary PS4 to play the content offline. That means the hacker deactivated OP's PS4 so he could access his games. If he didn't, he wouldn't be able to do anything with OP's account. Don't just shrug it off as "huh, who would go through that trouble for free games?" many people. Many people would.
But surely any hacker making the effort to hack a PSN account, on the off-chance that they get access to some free games, would know that it would be shut down pretty quickly once the account owner complains to Sony.
Sadly, If someone has your PSN or email password they would probably do a lot more damage than de-activating your stuff.
I hate to be cynical geordiemp, and I'm casting no aspersions, but your game-sharing with your 12-year-old son is setting off a lot of alarms, and probably is with Sony support as well.
KratosEnergyDrink
Member
As said before. Sony has very low security standards and several databases of Sony had been hacked in the last few years. And some of these datafiles are available on the internet.
Would be no surprise if some kids use this to play games of other accounts for free or make some prank.
Would be no surprise if some kids use this to play games of other accounts for free or make some prank.
Why would they get shut down?
It has to be the primary console to play games offline, the idea is they would hack this stuff and then play them all offline forever. By deactivating all the consoles (the only way to remotely do it) and then setting theirs as primary, and then not logging in with that console again (or possibly logging in knowing Sony won't do shit most of the time for 6 months), they've effectively stolen all of your games.
It's an awful system.
That is not possible. PSN was compromised a singe time, in 2011. Sony forced every user to update their passwords soon after. The security firm that Sony hired to investigate the breach found no evidence that the intruder(s) accessed customer credit card information. And even if they had, the data was encrypted.
He's talking about Sony in general, not PSN specifically. I'm not familiar with how many times Sony's servers have been breached overall, but the Sony Pictures breach is the most obvious addition to the list.