After 25 years, I'm done with Playstation (customer service related)

carlos · Apr 25, 2022

Hey peeps,

A couple of months ago I posted a thread about my 2 factor being turned off and someone stealing my PSN account ( https://www.resetera.com/threads/my-psn-account-was-stolen-with-2-factor-turned-on-how.544583/ ) .

After talking on the phone with Sony reps, they managed to return my account, and suggested to change the email associated with the account, which I did, creating a new gmail email for it.

In the short time the thief had it, he got me banned for a week for racism. After the week passed, the account was working fine (mid february).

I was using an xbox gamepass trial, so I didn't go back to PSN until early April, finding out that I couldn't log in again because the account was banned (again). I never got an email from sony about it, yet got every other psn and sony promotional email sent.

I contacted psn support chat, and here's pretty much how it went:
Me: "Hi, my account was banned and I would like to know why"
Sony: "your account was permanently banned, we sent an email explaining why"
Me: "No, I never got an email regarding the ban, may I please know what happened?"
Sony: "You are going to have to wait until the ban is over" (instantly disconnects).

I tried contacting them via askplaystation on twitter; it was been nearly two weeks with no answer to multiple requests.

I tried contacting them via phone, but they require some sort of support id number that I have to get from text chat for me to be able to talk to a live rep on the phone.

I have had my account since day one of PSN existence when ps3 launched, about level 500 trophy wise, so I had been spending on retail and digital for a long while. Heck, i was with the OG Warhawk clan from the other site.

Am I wrong for expecting more from Sony? I can't even get an answer as to why the account was banned, I haven't even been asking to be unbanned (yet). I appreciate if someone here can help out, but at the very least I needed to vent and warn that apparently Sony is undependable.

TL;DR My PSN was banned (for no reason I know of) and Sony wont even tell me what happened.

Biosnake · Apr 25, 2022

Damn sorry to hear you had to go through that.

PlanetSmasher · Apr 25, 2022

That's awful. What region are you in? I don't have a ton of experience with Sony customer service beyond them giving me a free PS3 Slim when my BC launch PS3 got bricked by FFXIII and they weren't able to fix it. But the fact they're giving you the cold shoulder like that despite you just asking to know what happened is really, really scummy.

Lashley · Apr 25, 2022

That sucks, OP. I've only had to contact their support twice and both times it was pretty bad tbh.

Only thing I could recommend if you haven't already is adding 2FA to your account, but yeah, it's pretty shitty they won't explain the ban.

FrostweaveBandage · Apr 25, 2022

Hammer their social media with complaints. Get it trending.

The Lord of Cereal · Apr 25, 2022

Goddamn, that's really frustrating, I'm so sorry. I really don't have anything to say other than I hope that you can still access your game library even if buying games there is pointless

Remark · Apr 25, 2022

Sony customer service has always been awful especially when it comes to account bans.

I would say see if you have anything related to the support chats regarding you getting your account back and try to contact support about it again to let them know that your account was originally stolen providing receipts to build your case. See if you can get it escalated to someone higher up in support. It will be very difficult though because their customer service is incredibly stubborn and refuse to escalate a lot of the time.

You just have to stay persistent I guess but I'm hoping for the best. Really messed up something like this can happen.

SunshinePuppies · Apr 25, 2022

What the fuck that's horrible. I'm so sorry OP. Like when you feel like you're doing everything right, you have 2fa on and you're following the instructions you were given as much as you reasonably can and things still aren't working out for you, what more can you do? That must be frustrating to no end.

carlos · Apr 25, 2022

No, my game library is gone, and the ones I have already downloaded on ps3 won't let me play until I log into psn, so no go there either.

I had put 2FA again after the first incident, it wasn't turned off again at any point afterwards.

inner-G · Apr 25, 2022

Sonys account stuff is terrible

Fularu · Apr 25, 2022

Lashley said:
That sucks, OP. I've only had to contact their support twice and both times it was pretty bad tbh.

Only thing I could recommend if you haven't already is adding 2FA to your account, but yeah, it's pretty shitty they won't explain the ban.

He has 2FA, it's in the first paragraph

It can be circumvented with social engenering

Dineren · Apr 25, 2022

I really don't understand the secrecy behind bans. If a company is going to permanently ban you from their services they should be required to show what policy you violated as well as exactly what you did to violate that policy upon request.

brjuntinaar · Apr 25, 2022

Is it possible that the hacker changed the email associated with your account, and that is why you didn't get the email? My guess is that you got perma banned due to the hacker's racism ban earlier, just a guess. So if I were you, I'd first make sure that they have the correct email associated with your account, and then I would get in touch and tell them that your email was hacked before, and that the ban is because of that, and that you'd like to be unbanned.

Hero Prinny · Apr 25, 2022

FrostweaveBandage said:
Hammer their social media with complaints. Get it trending.

Thats easier said than done

carlos · Apr 25, 2022

Fularu said:
He has 2FA, it's in the first paragraph

It can be circumvented with social engenering

As far as I know, some customer rep deactivated it when the thief called them. That shouldn't have been done, ever.

When I logged in february, I remember seeing that the thief put my account on his PS5, and remember thinking that the guy probably has $$ to be able to have a PS5 while I don't, yet he ends up stealing from me. Lol? :(

Diarrhea Day-Lewis · Apr 25, 2022

I had my ps3 mysteriously banned for a while despite not using it for years. It eventually ended so hopefully that does for you. Sorry you've got to go thru this. Good luck

AndyD · Apr 25, 2022

brjuntinaar said:
Is it possible that the hacker changed the email associated with your account, and that is why you didn't get the email? My guess is that you got perma banned due to the hacker's racism ban earlier, just a guess. So if I were you, I'd first make sure that they have the correct email associated with your account, and then I would get in touch and tell them that your email was hacked before, and that the ban is because of that, and that you'd like to be unbanned.

It's weird that no emails at all went out to the old email address. Because even changing email address I think sends one to the old address.

carlos · Apr 25, 2022

brjuntinaar said:
Is it possible that the hacker changed the email associated with your account, and that is why you didn't get the email? My guess is that you got perma banned due to the hacker's racism ban earlier, just a guess. So if I were you, I'd first make sure that they have the correct email associated with your account, and then I would get in touch and tell them that your email was hacked before, and that the ban is because of that, and that you'd like to be unbanned.

Pretty sure it wasn't, since I never got a message saying that 2FA was turned off, and I am still able to change the password on the account, I just can't log in.

I am still in control of the original email that the account was made with in 2006. Said email is my first and last name, so you would think it would be easy to prove to sony that I am the rightful owner of that email/psn account

Oh, and the first ban shouldn't have anything to do with this perma ban, since the account worked fine in february. The guy might've called sony again to try to steal it, and who knows if he went on an expletive filled tirade when he wasn't able to and got it banned.

I'm in the USA region, btw.

Fularu · Apr 25, 2022

carlos said:
As far as I know, some customer rep deactivated it when the thief called them. That shouldn't have been done, ever.

When I logged in february, I remember seeing that the thief put my account on his PS5, and remember thinking that the guy probably has $$ to be able to have a PS5 while I don't, yet he ends up stealing from me. Lol? :(

Sony is notoriously terrible with MFA management

VanWinkle · Apr 25, 2022

Dineren said:
I really don't understand the secrecy behind bans. If a company is going to permanently ban you from their services they should be required to show what policy you violated as well as exactly what you did to violate that policy upon request.

Yeah, that's always seemed weird to me. Like, what's the harm is saying the reason? I don't get it.

LiS Matt · Apr 25, 2022

Yeah it can be really frustrating to get through to them sometimes. Anyone I had a back and forth with that lasted more than 2 comments each was actually pretty nice, but sometimes - especially with the live chat - you get a "yeah, not my problem, can't help, instant disconnect" , and their go-to move seems to be "contact these people instead"

Thera · Apr 25, 2022

The only explanation I can see is the thing that makes your account banned happened before you reclaimed it but wasn't "judged" yet.
And I wandered if, in that case, e-mail isn't tied to the event too, meaning the one that stole it from you got the e-mail.

pswii60 · Apr 25, 2022

carlos said:
No, my game library is gone, and the ones I have already downloaded on ps3 won't let me play until I log into psn, so no go there either.

I had put 2FA again after the first incident, it wasn't turned off again at any point afterwards.

Pretty sure it would be illegal, at least under EU law, for them to stop you accessing your purchased digital games.

It's one thing banning you from online play etc. But to take away your library? Stories like this make my nervous given I have thousands £ spent digitally across PS/Xbox/Switch/Steam.

Kromis · Apr 25, 2022

bonesawisready5 said:
I had my ps3 mysteriously banned for a while despite not using it for years. It eventually ended so hopefully that does for you. Sorry you've got to go thru this. Good luck

Your PS3 hardware got banned even though you haven't used it? If you didn't mean your PSN account, then that's pretty crazy (although I do understand they can just look up a serial number and ban that way for whatever reason).

m23 · Apr 25, 2022

That sounds extremely frustrating.

Jawmuncher · Apr 25, 2022

Sounds like you're gonna have to stick with making phone calls and I totally understand how draining that can be after you've already had to deal with it for 2 months.

The control platform holders have over your account/system is one of the scariest things in a situation like this where you're unfairly impacted due to vulnerabilities.

Yonafunu · Apr 25, 2022

That sounds absolutely maddening OP, I hope this gets some more attention and you get some answers.

Jaded Alyx · Apr 25, 2022

So you're going to have to wait until your permanent ban is over... 🤔

Kyrios · Apr 25, 2022

I'd keep phoning them and constantly try to escalate it and not stop until I get a solution.

Diarrhea Day-Lewis · Apr 25, 2022

Kromis said:
Your PS3 hardware got banned even though you haven't used it? If you didn't mean your PSN account, then that's pretty crazy (although I do understand they can just look up a serial number and ban that way for whatever reason).

Yeah for real just the system. It had no end date but like 3 months later it was good.

jsnepo · Apr 25, 2022

That sucks! Like someone said here, get it trending.

Problem is it doesn't have to be trending for something like it to be resolved. The quality of support from Sony really is different from one region to another. So far SEA region support sucks!

Brando · Apr 25, 2022

File a report with BBB. You will have some contact you directly to resolve.

Lakeside · Apr 25, 2022

It's pretty ridiculous that 2FA doesn't even really matter. Sure, it minimizes risk to a degree.. but Sony's own customer service is a huge weakness for both attack and remediation.

I hate that I've been doing digital when I read these things, but I have so so much stuff. Physical just isn't sustainable for me.

Kyrios · Apr 25, 2022

Lakeside said:
It's pretty ridiculous that 2FA doesn't even really matter. Sure, it minimizes risk to a degree.. but Sony's own customer service is a huge weakness for both attack and remediation.

I hate that I've been doing digital when I read these things, but I have so so much stuff. Physical just isn't sustainable for me.

2FA's biggest weakness is social engineering and it's even more dangerous with untrained/not properly equipped support staff. Really scary stuff.

Ouroboros · Apr 25, 2022

Hero Prinny said:
Thats easier said than done

Are you saying not everyone has 1.2 million followers?

carlos · Apr 25, 2022

I'm on mobile and it's being a pain to reply to each of you, but:
Thanks for your support/understanding
I will keep trying via phone, the problem is actually getting to talk to a real person.
Huh, didn't think about the BBB, thnaks for the advice.
And yeah, waiting for a permaban to end, ain't that a kick in the head.

ramenline · Apr 25, 2022

don't use the support chat, it's worthless. always better to get on the phone with them.

i forget how i got around the support id thing tho, but it's doable

carlos · Apr 25, 2022

Ouroboros said:
Are you saying not everyone has 1.2 million followers?

Haha, i basically created a twitter account a year ago precisely to ask askplaystation on another technical issue. I don't have a single follower.

wrowa · Apr 25, 2022

I'm saying this every time a thread like this comes up, but bans locking you out of your purchased games library is completely unacceptable. Locking you out of online play, online features, future purchases? Sure, fair game. But you always should be able to still play and download the games you bought.

Necromanti · Apr 25, 2022

It's still wild to me that 2FA can be bypassed via social engineering of an employee (and not a customer)...without any apology, accountability, or compensation to the account holder.

Ouroboros · Apr 25, 2022

carlos said:
Haha, i basically created a twitter account a year ago precisely to ask askplaystation on another technical issue. I don't have a single follower.

I'm sure it is against the rules, but if you did going down that route, I'm sure everyone on here who has a twitter account would retweet and like.

Lakeside · Apr 25, 2022

carlos said:
I'm on mobile and it's being a pain to reply to each of you, but:
Thanks for your support/understanding
I will keep trying via phone, the problem is actually getting to talk to a real person.
Huh, didn't think about the BBB, thnaks for the advice.
And yeah, waiting for a permaban to end, ain't that a kick in the head.

Depending on your location, you can also utilize resources like state attorney general's office (USA)... and there are federal resources if in the USA. With ISPs I've had success with the FCC jumping in. Perhaps the FTC?

I had an issue where I pre-paid for 3 months of DirecTV's streaming service. When I removed my credit card so I wouldn't accidentally be billed again, they terminated my service and made me forfeit the months I'd paid for. I opened a complaint with the FCC and got an executive response from DirecTV that fixed my issue. I was surprised how well it worked.

Golbez · Apr 25, 2022

Ah yes, let me wait until my perma ban is over. 10/10 best support ever

Sony's customer support for PSN accounts was always a joke. It's the one thing they never bothered to improve.

degauss · Apr 25, 2022

I've always found customer support from all the big three (Nintendo/MS/Sony) to be excellent.

I would bet this can be resolved by stating your case better on the phone. Don't start with "i've been banned"... you technically have not been banned, someone else who stole your account was banned. Change up the wording. I can only assume they have a lot of people who are legitimately banned phoning up to moan about it every day, you have to separate yourself from that pack.

Oghuz · Apr 25, 2022

wrowa said:
I'm saying this every time a thread like this comes up, but bans locking you out of your purchased games library is completely unacceptable. Locking you out of online play, online features, future purchases? Sure, fair game. But you always should be able to still play and download the games you bought.

Yeah that is what I've been wondering as well. Surely you can sue the platform holder in this case?

Jazar · Apr 25, 2022

Sony support is by far their weakest link and has been since day one. It's maddening to have so much $$$$ tied behind games on an account that could be gone in an instant and get NO help from support.

ResetEraIsTheBestEra · Apr 25, 2022

aye, their support sucks balls. and it has barely changed since the PS3 era. good luck op, i hope at least you get your games back

NinjaScooter · Apr 25, 2022

Oghuz said:
Yeah that is what I've been wondering as well. Surely you can sue the platform holder in this case?

Anybody can sue anyone. The issue is how far you'll get when the platform holders can just point back to their TOS. Its going to require a much larger effort to challenge those.

5taquitos · Apr 25, 2022

Losing access to your library sounds like it's a chargeback ban, have you pursued that aspect yet? Could be the thief did a chargeback or you accidentally did while you were locked out.

DontHateTheBacon · Apr 25, 2022

I'm sorry this happened to you. Every PlayStation support story I see seems to be right along this vein. It's ridiculous.

After 25 years, I'm done with Playstation (customer service related)

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