• 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.

My PSN account was permanently banned for no apparent reason (100+ Games/DLC lost)

Quote

Member
Fear enough.
However my post doesn't suggest that.
The OP is not in a position of strength here. He/she needs to understand that there may have been activities associated with his account that are fraudulent.

And
As true as the sun is bright, the OP (in his position) will get far more accomplished from being a persistent, yet cooperative customers than a butt hole.
His alternative is litigation and I'm not sure he is in a position to go that route, expecially if he is culpable.
In his first paragraph he's already stated he's called and they can't do anything, tell him why, or transfer him somewhere else. Oh well, at least he wasn't a butt hole. Great customer service, A++, will call again.

On another note, I always cringe a little when people say tweet at @_________. Not because that won't work but it blows my mind that some companies have these social media customer service reps, teams of less than 10, and they seem to be the only competent ones with any power to actually resolve issues. @ComcastBill is my perfect example. That dude and his team always resolve issues that every call center rep is unwilling to even attempt to fix. I bet they think I walk away happy after they resolve my issues, but in truth i'm furious that I need to know the secret handshake to get support. This is exactly like that.
 

Tangerinediesel

Neo Member
Submit complaints to corporate, bbb, and any other similar site you can find. It's bound to be escalated to a resolution specialist who will help. If you've already tried customer service multiple times and got no where their hands are tied although I am surprised they have no escalation process for such an incident.
 

DC1

Member
In his first paragraph he's already stated he's called and they can't do anything, tell him why, or transfer him somewhere else. Oh well, at least he wasn't a butt hole. Great customer service, A++, will call again.

On another note, I always cringe a little when people say tweet at @_________. Not because that won't work but it blows my mind that some companies have these social media customer service reps, teams of less than 10, and they seem to be the only competent ones with any power to actually resolve issues. @ComcastBill is my perfect example. That dude and his team always resolve issues that every call center rep is unwilling to even attempt to fix. I bet they think I walk away happy after they resolve my issues, but in truth i'm furious that I need to know the secret handshake to get support. This is exactly like that.

True. But I would also add that we don't know the complete story. If the OP is completely aloof, then he needs to follow the paths in front of him.

In this case, I wouldn't call once, twice or three times, it would be as many time as it takes. I would ask for confirmation of previous call history during each call as well as escalation request records and activities. He can make request from CR. The CR team can and will pursue them for deeper clarification.

This process doesn't save Sony or any other Electronic vendors money.
Sony clearly identified and applied the ultimate penalty to a alleged bad apple.

Unfortunately for the OP, the remediation process does not appear to be as spelled out as it should be.
 
Well, the first motherfucker that answers the phone is not in any position to help him, so... yes. Asking for escalation given unusual circumstances does not equate to being an asshole.

<---- 15 years in call centers.

This is true.

Not nearly the amount of time spent in a call centre, but enough to know.
 
This.

Yes we all know the BBB is technically a powerless toothless organization. The thing is, it still matters to companies like Sony and MS. If you try calling again, threaten them about taking it to the BBB. If they don't help after that. *Actually* take it to the BBB. I had to do that after MS refused to refund me money after my account got hacked a few years back and what do you know, they fixed that real quickly.

Yes, if he can't resolve it via direct contact with Sony and/or Paypal, the BBB is a great solution. I've used them on 3 occasions in my life, and in each instance I've gotten swift action in my favor.
 

hesido

Member
OK, the frightening thing is not that the OP did nothing to violate the TOS and got banned. The frightening things is that violating the TOS will lead to a banned acount and lost purchases.

Heck, I lied to Sony about where I lived when I opened a US account, because there was actually NO PSN store in Turkey for about 4 years into PS3's life cycle (give or take half a year). Basically you couldn't even download a demo with that. That's probably a violation of TOS (because I lied about where I lived) and I have at least 300 usd worth of purchases there.

Again, your account may get hacked and the hacker may violate the TOS. Then you'll lose all your purchases??
 

Tevious

Member
I'm up now. I got a PM from Jason Schreier about someone who emailed him who had a similar (but $300 worth of purchases) problem resolved. This "Accounting" department is called Consumer Services and I have their direct number. Unfortunately, I just called and they are only open from Monday-Friday, so I'll have to wait to contact them. This seems to be the department that I need to talk to and the one the Supervisor wouldn't give me a number too.

In the meantime, should I go ahead and file a complaint on the BBB now for Sony Network Entertainment of America or wait until after I attempt to talk with them on Monday?
 
I'm up now. I got a PM from Jason Schreier about someone who emailed him who had a similar (but $300 worth of purchases) problem resolved. This "Accounting" department is called Consumer Services and I have their direct number. Unfortunately, I just called and they are only open from Monday-Friday, so I'll have to wait to contact them. This seems to be the department that I need to talk to and the one the Supervisor wouldn't give me a number too.

In the meantime, should I go ahead and file a complaint on the BBB now for Sony Network Entertainment of America or wait until after I attempt to talk with them on Monday?

Better to wait I think.
 
Other than never to use paypal for digital games the other main thing I've taken away from this and similar Xbox threads in the past is how either of them don't inform users of why they've been banned (not in any detail atleast).

I find it way out of order that users have to chase up these companies for answers. It's not a Neogaf ban but a service with hundreds or thousands of pounds spent on it so I'd expect a full explanation if I was in the OP's shoes..

OK, the frightening thing is not that the OP did nothing to violate the TOS and got banned. The frightening things is that violating the TOS will lead to a banned acount and lost purchases.

Heck, I lied to Sony about where I lived when I opened a US account, because there was actually NO PSN store in Turkey for about 4 years into PS3's life cycle (give or take half a year). Basically you couldn't even download a demo with that. That's probably a violation of TOS (because I lied about where I lived) and I have at least 300 usd worth of purchases there.

Again, your account may get hacked and the hacker may violate the TOS. Then you'll lose all your purchases??

While I only have one game on it, I have a US PSN account too despite been from the UK. I opened it a couple of years ago because UK PSN is complete shite for Japanese PSP games.

From what I understand it's common practice amongst niche gamers, But I hate having to break the TOS which means my games can be taken away from me at any point, luckily in the past we have had a choice between physical and boxed but publishers are starting to move towards digital only for niche games which sucks.
 
OK, the frightening thing is not that the OP did nothing to violate the TOS and got banned. The frightening things is that violating the TOS will lead to a banned acount and lost purchases.

Heck, I lied to Sony about where I lived when I opened a US account, because there was actually NO PSN store in Turkey for about 4 years into PS3's life cycle (give or take half a year). Basically you couldn't even download a demo with that. That's probably a violation of TOS (because I lied about where I lived) and I have at least 300 usd worth of purchases there.

Again, your account may get hacked and the hacker may violate the TOS. Then you'll lose all your purchases??



I had the same issue 3-4 years ago 'till the store was oppened. They sell the console but don't give support and we will the guilty one when we are trying to download some demos. They really have to fix this
 
Aynen ya ne i&#351;ler yapm&#305;&#351;t&#305;k ne sahte adresler vermi&#351;tik olsun diye cidden s&#305;k&#305;nt&#305;l&#305; bir durum:

I had the same issue 3-4 years ago 'till the store was oppened. They sell the console but don't give support and we will the guilty one when we are trying to download some demos. They really have to fix this

It's pretty obvious to me that SONY expect gamers to use an US PSN account even though it breaks the TOS.

EDIT gg Jason Schreier
 
I'm up now. I got a PM from Jason Schreier about someone who emailed him who had a similar (but $300 worth of purchases) problem resolved. This "Accounting" department is called Consumer Services and I have their direct number. Unfortunately, I just called and they are only open from Monday-Friday, so I'll have to wait to contact them. This seems to be the department that I need to talk to and the one the Supervisor wouldn't give me a number too.

In the meantime, should I go ahead and file a complaint on the BBB now for Sony Network Entertainment of America or wait until after I attempt to talk with them on Monday?

Well that was cool of Jason. I hope it works for you OP, but if it does work it's terrible that you had to dig this deep to find the secret consumer services accounting department to resolve it.
 

Loakum

Banned
I think the first poster nailed it, don't buy digital if you can possibly avoid it.


Yeah, that too. I mainly buy physical, because I love collecting Collector's Editions, and I just like the way a bunch of game covers looks. I only buy digital when it's DLC releases, and Playstation Plus renewal....and with those I use my CC.
 

Fdkn

Member
My account was previously banned a few weeks ago during a PSN sale when I tried to purchase the Mass Effect trilogy and DLC. The PSN checkout doesn't always work for me and gives me random errors, so sometimes I have to buy a PSN card. I used the PayPal option to buy a $50 card, but PayPal thought it was an unusual purchase from me, suspected it was fraud, and reversed the charge. I was unable to contact anyone at PayPal to resolve the issue and stop them from reversing the charge (their support center consists of automatic messages that looks for key words and just quotes the FAQ page). PlayStation customer support had me purchase another $50 card (which I got off amazon this time) and they applied the code to my account balance and unbanned my account. So I don't know if this is related and maybe they didn't inform someone of something that led to my account getting re-banned or what.

This happened to me with steam a few years ago and after more than a month of being banned and dozens of mails trying to make steam support and paypal support understand each other I finally had to beg for my account just telling steam I would pay full price for all the games that got chargeback by paypal.

After reading all the ip stuff you are into, I really think both things combined got you the issue. So don't give up and be as patient as you can becasue these things can take a lot of time, but if you did nothing wrong I think you'll manage at the end.

The one thing I learned reading this thread is to stay the hell away from Paypal, when it comes to PSN (SEN) purchases.

I use that rule for every store since my incident. Paypal only for shops.
 

Big_Al

Unconfirmed Member
I think the first poster nailed it, don't buy digital if you can possibly avoid it.

Or if you do, don't use paypal. I use either my credit card or vouchers and am generally quite careful about how I buy things. I must admit I'm looking to buy mostly PC stuff this gen though with console exclusives I really want being bought digitally. Rental for everything else.
 

Fonz72

Member
Fuck Paypal, OP! They screwed me over with several Ebay sellers when I was overseas.

I would definitely hold off on the BBB until you have exhausted all options to correct this.
 

Shingro

Member
I'm.... not entirely sure what to think. I've never seen a thread of this kind where the OP was the whole story.

Still, this totally sounds plausible. Interested to see how it turns out, but really more of a black eye for paypal then for Sony in my mind here. If you buy a flag for your account for money, then take your money back (in this case, not that he wanted to do that) something bad is probably going to happen to your account.

The automatic bans and inability to access problems in it's application is bad for Sony sure, but random charge backs without authorization of the account holder? That's horrifying for a financial institution.
 
I don't know if you guys heard, but a ban wave for people using customer firmware is going on. Any system with custom firmware and suspicious content can get your account locked.
 

i-Jest

Member
How is it that a Sony ban involves cutting you off from all your games?

Is it the same on the other consoles?

Sony should really answer for this policy. I can see banning people from interacting online but to take away usage of games you paid for should be called out....loudly.

What say you GAF, shall we collectively call out Sony on this issue? Do we start with twitter or facebook first?
 

the_champ

Banned
As an Xbox live user, this is something that really scares me, since Im from Argentina, but all my games are from US Store. So, technically speaking, what im doing (using my credit card with a false US address to accomplish the payment) is illegal.
Hundred of thousands of users do the same thing, never happened anything, but... the possibility is there.
 

C.Dark.DN

Banned
Eventually I was going to support digital gaming but never again after this. I'm going to buy all of my games as physical copies.
I don't trust it myself. Sure as hell not going 90-100% digital.

But really cheap deals, certain DLC, and digital only games are hard to pass up. But that's only 10% of my purchases.
 

Tevious

Member
I don't know if you guys heard, but a ban wave for people using customer firmware is going on. Any system with custom firmware and suspicious content can get your account locked.

I don't have custom firmware, though. When I upgraded my hard drive, I did need to download the latest firmware off of Sony's site. I don't know if its possible that Sony accidentally flagged their own firmware or uploaded a bad file that got flagged.
 
What say you GAF, shall we collectively call out Sony on this issue? Do we start with twitter or facebook first?

Slow your role there cowboy.

The OP broke the ToS and Sony is exacting the consequences I'm sure it outlines. If you want to fix your crosshairs somewhere the focus should be on Paypal as they are the ones who acted on the OP's behalf without his/her consent.

This shouldn't be taken as a deterrent to going digital it should be taken as a cautionary tale about how to navigate the digital space. The users posting about "Sony should expect that I'm going to setup a foreign PSN ID" and assume it's kosher as "everyone does it" would be wise to remind themselves that while it's likely it won't be an issue it's at sony's discretion to call you on it.

I've gone all digital on all three platforms and I sympathize with the OP but it's Paypal he/she should be hounding as they are the ones who have acted in error.
 

Ocaso

Member
As an Xbox live user, this is something that really scares me, since Im from Argentina, but all my games are from US Store. So, technically speaking, what im doing (using my credit card with a false US address to accomplish the payment) is illegal.
Hundred of thousands of users do the same thing, never happened anything, but... the possibility is there.

Last year, when a region glitch that gave people Injustice 360 for free was making the rounds, Microsoft banned some people providing the following as a potential cause:
The specific conduct that caused this ban may include, but is not limited to:

- Promotion or distribution of fraudulent methods in order to obtain marketplace content

- Utilizing fraudulent methods in order to obtain region-specific marketplace content or circumvent regional pricing

- Illegitimate acquisition of marketplace content

- Illegitimate acquisition of redemption codes

Now, they never give a specific reason for the ban so whether that ban wave was actually tied to the region exploit was never 100% clear, but what is clear is that MS considers such actions very much bannable.
 

Tevious

Member
Slow your role there cowboy.

The OP broke the ToS and Sony is exacting the consequences I'm sure it outlines. If you want to fix your crosshairs somewhere the focus should be on Paypal as they are the ones who acted on the OP's behalf without his/her consent.

This shouldn't be taken as a deterrent to going digital it should be taken as a cautionary tale about how to navigate the digital space. The users posting about "Sony should expect that I'm going to setup a foreign PSN ID" and assume it's kosher as "everyone does it" would be wise to remind themselves that while it's likely it won't be an issue it's at sony's discretion to call you on it.

I've gone all digital on all three platforms and I sympathize with the OP but it's Paypal he/she should be hounding as they are the ones who have acted in error.

The thing is, I already settled the PayPal problem with Playstation Customer Support, paid them back, and was unbanned. I got banned AGAIN a few weeks later and they won't even tell me why. It's possible its some kind of miscommunication amongst the different departments involved at customer service and somehow they banned my account again for the same reason, I don't know. But Sony is at fault the 2nd time, unless there is some obscure thing I am responsible for that is breaking the TOS, but I have no idea what that might be.
 

Yagharek

Member
Slow your role there cowboy.

The OP broke the ToS and Sony is exacting the consequences I'm sure it outlines. If you want to fix your crosshairs somewhere the focus should be on Paypal as they are the ones who acted on the OP's behalf without his/her consent.

This shouldn't be taken as a deterrent to going digital it should be taken as a cautionary tale about how to navigate the digital space. The users posting about "Sony should expect that I'm going to setup a foreign PSN ID" and assume it's kosher as "everyone does it" would be wise to remind themselves that while it's likely it won't be an issue it's at sony's discretion to call you on it.

I've gone all digital on all three platforms and I sympathize with the OP but it's Paypal he/she should be hounding as they are the ones who have acted in error.

Pray tell, how will paypal resolve this matter and unban his PSN account?

This is 100% Sony's fault. They let you use paypal, and seem to be unfamiliar with the idiosyncracies of paypal. Ball is in Sony's court.
 
The thing is, I already settled the PayPal problem with Playstation Customer Support, paid them back, and was unbanned. I got banned AGAIN a few weeks later and they won't even tell me why. It's possible its some kind of miscommunication amongst the different departments involved at customer service and somehow they banned my account again for the same reason, I don't know. But Sony is at fault the 2nd time, unless there is some obscure thing I am responsible for that is breaking the TOS, but I have no idea what that might be.

My apologies, misunderstood that the incidents were independent of one another. If they're unable to elaborate on why you've been banned than that is disconcerting.

That said, I do think there is a little hyperbole in those who are swearing off digital purchases and hoarding discs in their caves. This is obviously an unusual case and while it seems customer service is dropping the ball here I'm sure just as many fraudulent or unwarranted actions take place in brick and mortar stores occur on an annual basis.

You're entitled to an explanation OP and I hope you get it.
 

the_champ

Banned
Last year, when a region glitch that gave people Injustice 360 for free was making the rounds, Microsoft banned some people providing the following as a potential cause:


Now, they never give a specific reason for the ban so whether that ban wave was actually tied to the region exploit was never 100% clear, but what is clear is that MS considers such actions very much bannable.

Its a dangerous grey area. Probably MS is targeting people that switch between markets to get specific discounts.
Now, since im always on same market, and my payments are ok, i dont even know if MS has a way to know that im from Argentina, or whatever other place. In its billing system, I should look like as any other regular american user.
 
Reading the list of things that can get you banned, I'm surprised I'm not :(
By the looks of things playing online.... that's a banning!

Verbal/Text Abuse
Offender was verbally abusive in some way, often including use of profanity, verbal threats or insults, or otherwise offensive or inappropriate language. This can be either via verbal or text comments.

So all of XBL is banned on PSN. hehehe
 
I don't have custom firmware, though. When I upgraded my hard drive, I did need to download the latest firmware off of Sony's site. I don't know if its possible that Sony accidentally flagged their own firmware or uploaded a bad file that got flagged.

I'm not saying you did, just warning people that it's that time happening. Consider this a warning for other members that connect their customer firmware system to the internet. :)

Also your PS4 might be legit, but a PS3/PSV/PSP with custom firmware connected to the internet can flag your account. It doesn't have to be on the PS4 for the account to get banned. I am not saying that you have done this, just letting people know it's happening.

How is it that a Sony ban involves cutting you off from all your games?

Is it the same on the other consoles?

Sony should really answer for this policy. I can see banning people from interacting online but to take away usage of games you paid for should be called out....loudly.

It's the same for Microsoft. It's not the same for Nintendo, but Nintendo won't even help with theft.... Someone steals your kids 3DS you are SOL as I learned.
 
Scary, man.
Stick w/ the physical product. It's often just as cheap or cheaper and what you do w/ it is entirely up to you.

Love the old consoles.
 
Pray tell, how will paypal resolve this matter and unban his PSN account?

This is 100% Sony's fault. They let you use paypal, and seem to be unfamiliar with the idiosyncracies of paypal. Ball is in Sony's court.

This makes no sense. Sony isn't in charge of PayPal and shouldn't have to dig deep into their TOS to add that method of payment on their system. That's a ridiculous claim.

However seeing as a bank can deem your account as fraud and lock you from your entire information until they get clearance, this is not an unfamiliar situation. They technically are protecting his account by banning it, however the customer service reps are pretending as if they don't have procedures to fix this when they can. They want concrete reasonable doubt to do this. Luckily for this guy, GAF has voices to help him out.

So this is not 100% Sony's fault. His account wouldn't have been banned if the charge back didn't happen that reported to Sony as fraud.
 

Aces&Eights

Member
This OP spooked me so much I literally just went over and canceled my paypal account. I never really use it anymore, anyway and I can see something like this happening to me. Using it to buy a game on a whim and then trying to log in later and seeing I've been banned. Fuck that.

OP, I truly hope you get this sorted out. What a nightmare.
 
The thing is, I already settled the PayPal problem with Playstation Customer Support, paid them back, and was unbanned. I got banned AGAIN a few weeks later and they won't even tell me why. It's possible its some kind of miscommunication amongst the different departments involved at customer service and somehow they banned my account again for the same reason, I don't know. But Sony is at fault the 2nd time, unless there is some obscure thing I am responsible for that is breaking the TOS, but I have no idea what that might be.

Not unusual for the left hand not to know what the right hand is doing.

The first unbanning seems to be a workaround in that the chargeback didn't get reversed. Then it's possible that a few weeks after, they go and run a mass check of all accounts with unreversed chargebacks.

The first rep who unbanned the account probably didn't clear all the necessary flags for your account
 

gblues

Banned
Being in Korea undoubtedly is a big part of the issue.

I used to work for Apple's Tier 2 iOS support. Servicemembers would try to buy from the US iTunes/App Store and their iOS account would get flagged and block purchase transactions. It was easy enough to fix, but I suspect the Korean IP address set off a red flag that marked the account as fraudulent.

The reason you get the "we can't tell you why the account was banned" run-around is because when the account is locked due to fraud, the CSR is barred by policy from even speculating as to the reason. They're kept in the dark for their own protection, and for yours--if your account was hacked and got caught, you wouldn't want the hacker to just be able to call in and reactivate the account.

There's a possibility you can get somewhere like others ITT have discussed, but most likely you will want to contact Customer Service in writing--either via snail mail (certified letter) or fax.

If that doesn't work, there's small claims court.
 
This makes no sense. Sony isn't in charge of PayPal and shouldn't have to dig deep into their TOS to add that method of payment on their system. That's a ridiculous claim.

However seeing as a bank can deem your account as fraud and lock you from your entire information until they get clearance, this is not an unfamiliar situation. They technically are protecting his account by banning it, however the customer service reps are pretending as if they don't have procedures to fix this when they can. They want concrete reasonable doubt to do this. Luckily for this guy, GAF has voices to help him out.

So this is not 100% Sony's fault. His account wouldn't have been banned if the charge back didn't happen that reported to Sony as fraud.

Of course it is up to Sony to accommodate PayPal and how it works into their tos. As you say a bank reversing charges, even by mistake, is not uncommon so Sony should be aware of this. Obviously it's not all Sony's fault and yes they should of put a temporary restriction on the account untill it was sorted out. But the issue is they have just permanently banned the account without allowing any way of knowing why or helping the customer rectify whatever has gone wrong. This issue is 100% Sony's fault, and the story of them being stupidly unhelpful in these situations has been noted quite a few times on gaf. There is no defense for this and consumer law urgently needs updating to in this area to protect us.
 

Lothars

Member
Of course it is up to Sony to accommodate PayPal and how it works into their tos. As you say a bank reversing charges, even by mistake, is not uncommon so Sony should be aware of this. Obviously it's not all Sony's fault and yes they should of put a temporary restriction on the account untill it was sorted out. But the issue is they have just permanently banned the account without allowing any way of knowing why or helping the customer rectify whatever has gone wrong. This issue is 100% Sony's fault, and the story of them being stupidly unhelpful in these situations has been noted quite a few times on gaf. There is no defense for this and consumer law urgently needs updating to in this area to protect us.
I disagree It's not 100% Sony's Fault, it's 33% Sony's, 33% paypal's and 33% TC fault.

He's certainly not innocent in this that being said he should have access to all his games and his account. It also doesn't help that paypal reversed his charges and he's not in the region that the account was created in.

I hope he gets this all fixed up.
 

Yagharek

Member
I disagree It's not 100% Sony's Fault, it's 33% Sony's, 33% paypal's and 33% TC fault.

He's certainly not innocent in this that being said he should have access to all his games and his account. It also doesn't help that paypal reversed his charges and he's not in the region that the account was created in.

I hope he gets this all fixed up.

What you neglect to acknowledge is that whomever is at fault to whatever degree, the only party that ever suffers consequences is the customer.

Sony are the ones who nuked the account. Therefore it is entirely their fault.
 

1337

Member
Try contacting some higher ups and community managers at Sony on Twitter, with a link to this thread. It should be sorted out pretty quick I assume.
 

Lothars

Member
What you neglect to acknowledge is that whomever is at fault to whatever degree, the only party that ever suffers consequences is the customer.

Sony are the ones who nuked the account. Therefore it is entirely their fault.
He's not innocent and Sony is not fully at fault because it's the reverse of charges on his account by paypal. It also doesn't help he's not in the country of his account and buying digital currency using paypal from an Korea IP. I've already said that he should get his account back but considering the circumstance he's not innocent in this and Sony should restore his account to at least get his games back.
 

Yagharek

Member
He's not innocent and Sony is not fully at fault because it's the reverse of charges on his account by paypal. It also doesn't help he's not in the country of his account and buying digital currency using paypal from an Korea IP. I've already said that he should get his account back but considering the circumstance he's not innocent in this and Sony should restore his account to at least get his games back.

Read his post: the paypal issue was resolved prior.

And if he is a US citizen with a US account it doesn't matter if he currently resides in Korea because Sony dont migrate accounts.

It is 100% Sony at fault here.
 

DrM

Redmond's Baby
Sony don't even allow me to add my VISA debit card to my account, so I'm stuck to getting PSN cards, have not tried to add my VISA through the webpages though.

Debit VISA cards like Visa Electron and such should be working fine. You just have to select it as 'VISA' when you enter your card.
 
Top Bottom