seremify007
Junior Member
Since I am waiting for Sony to lift the ban from my PSN account so that I can login to my PS4 and play the numerous downloaded games or Battlefront online (oh and I'm PS+), I may as well tell my story of pain and frustration dealing with Sony Computer Entertainment Australia and PlayStation Network support in Australia.
The story begins with my PS+ subscription expiring in mid December so I thought I would just buy my next year's subscription for PS+ now (not even on discount/promo either) so I don't forget when I am travelling. I bought it using PayPal on my PS4 but it did not ask me for payment method and incorrectly debited my mortgage account (!!!) so I complained and complained until they reversed the transaction so that it could debit from my credit card instead. In doing this, it created a chargeback which apparently under Sony policy means they will suspend/ban my account immediately even though I have perfectly good credit otherwise and an active PS+ subscription which is not yet expired.
I thought ok, this should be easily resolved so I called Sony Australia (after numerous email exchanges) and asked them to either debit PayPal again (which I have since confirmed with PayPal that it would debit my credit card) or to debit my credit card directly which is on file with PSN.
But then that's when I found out it's not possible to top up an account which has been suspended/banned, and it is not possible to reinstate or unban an account whilst it has a debt.
The only solution? Buy Sony PlayStation Network credit from a retail store AND then email photos of the cards showing the unique keys to the Support email and then they will forward it to PlayStation UK "Head office" to apply to my account and unban it. And it has to be from same region/currency as your PSN account.
(Forgot to mention Raquel was the lady I spoke with but she wasn't able to be helpful as the systems apparently stop them from doing anything other than telling users the only way to resolve it is to buy the cards in stores - and her supervisor/manager declined to speak to me both times I requested this given the practical challenges I faced with actually accessing this and my willingness to pay)
Given I live in Singapore now, this is not exactly an easy thing to accomplish since they won't accept codes - it HAS to be the physical original retail bought card in the photo.
Fortunately I have friends in Sydney who were able to walk to the shops and buy it for me, and 7eleven happens to have a sale on PSN money, and now I am just waiting for Sony to read my emails and do something about it - so I can play the Battle of Jakku as a preorder bonus on my Battlefront.
Anyway, I just thought I'd post my rant given how stupid the whole situation was. I'm a loyal PlayStation customer who has subscribed to PlayStation Plus for years, I own every PlayStation console other than the PS TV (which I have no need for given I have a Vita and PS3 too), yet they made it so damn difficult for me just to play. Even when the account went into deficit, they have my active credit card on file which they could have charged instead.
Lessons learnt:-
1. Don't use PayPal unless you are sure it will debit correct funding source
2. Avoid buying credit online - use retail purchased funds which are cheaper
3. It's not readily available to buy Australian PSN cards online
4. A lot of games will not work if you do not have PSN signed in (such as if your account is temporarily suspended/banned like mine was) - e.g. Need for Speed, Battlefront, and any PSN bought or PS+ games (which was quite a few of mine)
5. Don't let your account go into deficit - it's a pain
6. Don't buy PS+ subscriptions in advance as there is no benefit - and if your account gets suspended, you lose access to PS+ during that time with no compensation (well none has been offered)
... Only upside to this is I'm glad I had my Xbox One and Forza Horizon 2 & GTA V which I purchased on sale during Black Friday to keep me entertained.
The story begins with my PS+ subscription expiring in mid December so I thought I would just buy my next year's subscription for PS+ now (not even on discount/promo either) so I don't forget when I am travelling. I bought it using PayPal on my PS4 but it did not ask me for payment method and incorrectly debited my mortgage account (!!!) so I complained and complained until they reversed the transaction so that it could debit from my credit card instead. In doing this, it created a chargeback which apparently under Sony policy means they will suspend/ban my account immediately even though I have perfectly good credit otherwise and an active PS+ subscription which is not yet expired.
I thought ok, this should be easily resolved so I called Sony Australia (after numerous email exchanges) and asked them to either debit PayPal again (which I have since confirmed with PayPal that it would debit my credit card) or to debit my credit card directly which is on file with PSN.
But then that's when I found out it's not possible to top up an account which has been suspended/banned, and it is not possible to reinstate or unban an account whilst it has a debt.
The only solution? Buy Sony PlayStation Network credit from a retail store AND then email photos of the cards showing the unique keys to the Support email and then they will forward it to PlayStation UK "Head office" to apply to my account and unban it. And it has to be from same region/currency as your PSN account.
(Forgot to mention Raquel was the lady I spoke with but she wasn't able to be helpful as the systems apparently stop them from doing anything other than telling users the only way to resolve it is to buy the cards in stores - and her supervisor/manager declined to speak to me both times I requested this given the practical challenges I faced with actually accessing this and my willingness to pay)
Given I live in Singapore now, this is not exactly an easy thing to accomplish since they won't accept codes - it HAS to be the physical original retail bought card in the photo.
Fortunately I have friends in Sydney who were able to walk to the shops and buy it for me, and 7eleven happens to have a sale on PSN money, and now I am just waiting for Sony to read my emails and do something about it - so I can play the Battle of Jakku as a preorder bonus on my Battlefront.
Anyway, I just thought I'd post my rant given how stupid the whole situation was. I'm a loyal PlayStation customer who has subscribed to PlayStation Plus for years, I own every PlayStation console other than the PS TV (which I have no need for given I have a Vita and PS3 too), yet they made it so damn difficult for me just to play. Even when the account went into deficit, they have my active credit card on file which they could have charged instead.
Lessons learnt:-
1. Don't use PayPal unless you are sure it will debit correct funding source
2. Avoid buying credit online - use retail purchased funds which are cheaper
3. It's not readily available to buy Australian PSN cards online
4. A lot of games will not work if you do not have PSN signed in (such as if your account is temporarily suspended/banned like mine was) - e.g. Need for Speed, Battlefront, and any PSN bought or PS+ games (which was quite a few of mine)
5. Don't let your account go into deficit - it's a pain
6. Don't buy PS+ subscriptions in advance as there is no benefit - and if your account gets suspended, you lose access to PS+ during that time with no compensation (well none has been offered)
... Only upside to this is I'm glad I had my Xbox One and Forza Horizon 2 & GTA V which I purchased on sale during Black Friday to keep me entertained.
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, was a fun experience seeing it all happen on a daily basis