Sony has used the tagline “Play Has No Limits” ever since the launch of the PlayStation 5, but has that always been the case? Numerous times over the history of Sony’s endeavor into the gaming world, their network has been hacked numerous times and accounts have been compromised. You read about it all the time on gaming news outlets and even major media websites. After all, when a tech giant like Sony cannot even protect its own users, it’s bound to draw certain ire from the public eye and it makes for a great story.
All the while, you have the mindset that they are a big company with security measures in place that should user information get leaked, they will do everything that they can to protect their consumers. After all, even if they don’t have the consumer in mind, offering good faith and assistance to those affected will certainly please their stockholders, right?
Then, it happens to you and you discover that’s just not the case at all.
It was one week ago on September 13. I was at work helping a member of our video crew take inventory in our studio. That’s when I received an email from Sony that my sign-in ID for my PSN account had been changed. These days, I’m getting tons of emails from “Walmart” or other big, notable retailers or companies saying “Your new expensive purchase has shipped!” and then with one look at the sender’s email, you realize it’s just some kind of phishing scam. So, you send it into the digital wormhole known as the spam filter and you go on with your day but this time, it was a little different. When I checked the sender’s email, it was a legit email from Sony.
My account had been compromised.
I tested this by trying to log into my PSN account on my phone and, sure enough, it told me my credentials were incorrect. So, the natural reaction was to call Sony, speak to a representative, do some proving that I am the account holder, and resecure my account.
First off, since I was at work, I thought about firing off an email to get the ball rolling; however, I quickly discovered that Sony doesn’t even have an email provided for consumers to contact them. So, on my lunch break, I went to their support site and was pointed toward their live chat. Well, at least I could speak to SOMEONE. A bot, as expected, told me I needed an actual person and had me wait for over 30 minutes. When I finally got someone, I explained my situation, answered their questions, and was met with “sorry, due to security reasons, we cannot proceed,” which was promptly followed by the chat ending.
So, I connected again and another 30 minutes later, I get the same treatment. Even with the information given was 100% correct, they just ended the chat without even putting forth any extra effort to dig deeper. Now, I’ve worked in a call center before I know about target times as well as dropping the call/chat queue as quickly as possible but I felt like none of these reps so far were even trying.
After being burned twice, I decided to call them. Well, apparently, they don’t like to have their customers wait because an automated response flat out told me that the call queue was too large and that I would not be put through to a rep. It flat out told me to call back some other time and hung up on me. So, I waited until around 8 PM and called again only to get the same treatment.
With my only available time to call them being after work, I decided to brave the chat option. Four more attempts later, I was still refused assistance. By this time, it was Friday… four days beyond when my account had been compromised. One of the reps just flat out told me to make a new account but I wasn’t having that at all. At this point, I was seething. How could a hacker easily get into my account and yet, I, the account holder, couldn’t even get anyone to help me recover it?
So, I did the only thing I could think of to get their attention. I filed a formal complaint with the Better Business Bureau.
Fast-forward to Monday, September 19… now 6 days removed from my account being compromised, I finally get a call from one of their reps. In all fairness, the complaint was registered after business hours on Friday, and some of these case handlers don’t work weekends. While it didn’t do them any favors to wait an extra three days to contact me, it’s not like I’m completely lacking in the understanding department.
After providing this rep with the same exact information that I gave to the reps in the chat… six different times… he magically realized that I was, indeed, the account holder and within 30 minutes, recovered my account and even was able to see that the hacker attempted to make a new account with my old sign-in ID in an attempt to block my recovery.
I’m no stranger to having an account hacked. My World of Warcraft account was hacked back in 2008. It was the launch day for Wrath of the Lich King and I logged into Hellfire Penninsula completely naked (I had last logged out in Stormwind City, by the way. Yes… FOR THE ALLIANCE!). Even when faced with that, one ticket and a quick 10-minute wait later, a Blizzard rep messaged me and nearly bent over backward to help me get all of my stuff back. They turned a very sour launch-day experience into a pleasant memory. It’s how customer service SHOULD be when you have a situation such as this.
Sony didn’t even come close to even pretending to care about their consumers.
I know, I know… it’s a much bigger corporation with so many branches and sub-divisions that everything is probably automated just so that they can say that they offer support and that’s something to be expected from big corporations like them. But even though it’s expected, is it what we truly deserve? In a situation such as this, one would expect that ANY company would have a little more compassion to take care of their customers. It’s really embarrassing that I had to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau just to have someone pay attention to me and help me with my case.
I am convinced that if I hadn’t done that, I’d still be battling with trying to get anyone to help me. I don’t consider myself to be a tribalist. I don’t like to take sides and wave a single banner but I will say this… after this experience, Sony did absolutely zero favors to retain whatever you consider loyalty that I have for them. It may not go to the extreme where I’m going to swear off buying another console from them again but you can believe that this experience can and will influence any future decisions I make regarding their products.
Of course, the standard snarky response people would give to an article such as this would be “Come on, it’s Sony! What did you expect?”
It’s not about what did I expect… it’s about what I SHOULD have expected. It’s what any of us SHOULD expect. While that expectation differs for all, for me… I expected at least a little bit of effort to at least give off a pretense, false or not, that they actually cared. It’s obvious that they don’t… and yet, there are those who will stand up and defend them no matter what.
A shame, really.
Just wanted to share a pretty miserable experience that was made even worse by a company that clearly doesn’t care about its consumers. In the end… if you’re a business. Don’t be Sony. Be better than this. We’ll thank you for it.
While you’re at it, enable your Two-factor authentication for your PSN accounts. So you don’t end up like I did.
