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Sony PlayStation 2

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A class-action lawsuit in California charges that the Sony has misrepresented the PlayStation 2 by claiming that it also plays DVDs. The suit charges that many units stop reading DVDs after only a few months of use. Gee, that sounds just like what our readers have been saying. By the way, the problems with Playstation 2 aren't all that new. Playstation 1 wasn't exactly perfect either.

Robert of Santa Maria, CA October 3, 2009

The PlayStation 2 version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up states that it has online capabilities (possibly because they merely copied everything from the Wii box) while there is no way for PS2 users to get online with it. It also claims the game supports up to 8 players with multitap (which it does not).

Carletta of Remsen, NY October 2, 2009

I bought a PS3-80GB in November of 2007. It broke...like everyone else called Sony and fortunately at this time it was covered under warranty. And then again like so many people it broke AGAIN! Sent it in for repair and again covered under warranty. Hmmm guess what happens next? In about just over 3 months of the last repair it breaks again!! One of these times it was some defect from a download. The other two times it was the some diod eye?? Well here I sit for time number 4!!!! Now it is the YOLD. This is insane! I spent 600.00 dollars on this product! It has been in the mail more than in my home and I am fed up! Someone has to do something please!!! Calling the customer service is a joke. The same questions over and over with the same response until you want to speak with a higher up then you get lied to! They can't give out the name of a manager or they are in a meeting, then call back 5 min later and all the managers went home. We have been lied to, heckled and just down right disrespected by this company. There are too many people complaining of the same exact thing! I can tell you this...I never want to deal with Sony again!! Ever!!!!

David of conroe, TX October 1, 2009

Sony came out with a new update for its playstation 3. 3.0 had many problems and caused peoples games to freeze. 3.01 was the update that fixed the problem. But it did not fix the problem 100 percent. many peoples playstations worked fine untill the update and now there game consoles will freeze in the credits of there games, blue ray games and blue ray movies can not be seen. But they same lense that reads in playstation reads regular dvds and ps2 games.

Sony's software disabled our blue ray players ability to work properly. Sony says its a malfunction with the system and what us to pat 150 to have it repaired. There software is the problem and there techs say its a soft ware problem, but when your out of warranty they want you to pay. Sony has basicly broke into my house and broke my playstation and then they want me to pay to have them repair it, that's just crazy.

harold of saint petersburg, FL September 29, 2009

play station 3 died after sony sent a update 3.01. they say it has to be repaired and send in what a scam. now I have to either get another or pay them to fix a mistake they made.

Germane of Valrico, FL September 25, 2009

Recently I have been having problem with my Playstation 3. I have had it for approximately 2 years. Just recently, within the past few days my PS3 has been shutting off by it self and, I found the it has the infamous yellow light of death. It will not turn and, I currently have a game inside the console that will not eject because the console wont turn on.

I spoke with a Sony rep any they informed me that I would need to pay 150 for it to be repaired. This would be my second time sending my console to Sony for repair, but not for the same reason. I beleive this is not right. This YLOD is a wide spread problem that many PS3 console owners are experiencing. Chariging the consumers money to get it fixed is down right wrong. Can someone please give us a helping hand on dealing with Sony.

William of Pleasanton, TX September 19, 2009

I purchased a Sony Playstation 3 on or about Dec. 20th, 2007. The unit did not work when taken out of the box, but reading the troubleshooting portion of the PS3 manual, I got the unit working by re-setting it via the master power button and holding it down until it's reset. I had virtually no trouble with the unit, except for the same thing twice more, but it was very rare. (the unit would not power on). Each time I had to re-set all the settings. 2 times I've had to totally re-format the unit (via the PS3 menu system in the unit), due to errors causing the unit to not work properly.

Now, after just over 2 years with same unit, the screen went black, and when re-setting again, unit works only in standard definition, but very dim display. Burnt smell coming from rear of unit as well. I paid 499.00 dollars for the unit. I have sent a notice to Sony, USA customer service, and they replied telling me I need to send it in for service, which costs 150.00 plus tax. I don't think it lasted long enough to justify the cost of the unit. Price has dropped 3 times since my purchase, and I feel like I was taken advantage of due to the numerous people who have had the same or worse problem with their PS3. Some receive new units that don't work. I think mine was just bad enough to have the problem from the beginning, but not show the symptoms enough for them to locate the problem, thus I didn't send it in while it was within the one year warranty.

LEVENT of CANKAYA ANKARA, United States September 8, 2009

The Brand New PS3 that was Sold with YLOD (Yellow Light of Death) Defect. During my recent trip to US, I purchased a brand new PS3 from AMAZON.COM (Order #102-9219028-2895431). It was delivered to one of my friend's address, who was in US at that time, on the 15th of June. I picked the unopened package on the 20th of June and returned to my country, TURKEY. I setup the unit as detailed in the User's Manual on the 23rd of June and plugged it to a 400W transformer (that converts 220 VAC to 110 VAC).

My brand new PS3 did not start at all; the red light turned green for three seconds then went yellow for one second then beeped three times and went blinking red. After search in internet I found out that this was a very common manufacturing defect on this product, called YLOD. There were lots of people suffering from this defect, but I was the only one who had this defect on a brand new unit.

On the 24th of June I sent an e-mail to SONY explaining the problem. They replied on the 25th of June with the following information: There are no authorized repair facilities outside of North America. I can have Playstation(R) products repaired (only in the United States or Canada and only if you purchased a North American Playstation(R) product). They advised me to find a friend/family member in the United States, to whom I can ship the unit (so that he/she could send the unit to SONY for repair). Later I would be able to pick up the unit from them. They also said that I may ship my PS3 internationally to SONY, provided that I found a valid U.S. (or Canadian) mailing address in order to ship the system back to me; since they do not ship internationally.

Since I hadn't been able to find any acquaintance in US, I sent another e-mail to SONY-EU (which is the responsible SONY dealer in my country) to ask for their help on the repair of the brand new PS3 that I hadn't been able to start at all. They directed me to an Authorized SONY Service.

I called this service for an out of warranty repair (since they said the warranty is only valid in US); this Authorized Service said that they could not even accept the unit to the service since it was not purchased in Turkey. I informed SONY-EU that the Authorized SONY Service they recommended refused to accept the unit. This time they replied (in writing) that the Authorized SONY Services could provide service only to the products imported by them.

On the same day I replied to SONY (US) stating that I didn't have a chance to send the unit to US, the local Authorized SONY Services do not accept the unit since it was not purchased in this country, and asked what I could do under these circumstances. They provided a link for applicable SONY services and this link (not surprisingly) took me back to the same service that told me that they did not accept unit purchased out of this country.

Upon this I found a 3rd party repair shop on the 1st of July, in ISTANBUL and shipped the PS3 to them. After waiting for more than a month, on August 5th, they informed me that they had tried everything that they could do (including reflow), but could not keep the equipment working more than two days, it kept giving the same failure.

A Brand new PS3 came with a fatal defect. (A defective unit should not pass the final inspection and test at the factory), SONY did not provide the necessary support to a consumer who bought a brand new unit with a fatal defect, The Authorized SONY Service listed by SONY on the WEB, refused to service the unit (even for an out of warranty repair to be paid by the Customer), as a result of this I was forced to find a third party repair shop (and therefore to void the warranty).

John of Deridder, LA August 27, 2009

I bought a 60gb Playstation 3 from Sony in December of 2007 for 499.99. In April of 2008 it had a system failure. I called Sony and they sent me a box to ship my PS3 back to them for a fix or a refurbished one. I did this and was sent a refurbished PS3. August of '09 the refurbished PS3 has system failure called YLOD (Yellow Light Of Death)which is known as a manufacturer defect. I have researched this online and have found that many, many consumers of this product have suffered the same result.

Sony only offers its customers a 1yr. warranty on this product for natural wear and tear, if you have problem after the 1yr. warranty expires then they want to charge you 150.00 to fix or send you refurbished PS3. Then they only want to give you a 90 day warranty on the fixed or refurbished product. After 90 days you must pay the 150.00 again for a fix that is caused by a manufacturer defect.

The Microsoft XBOX 360 has a similar issue called the RROD (Red Ring Of Death). From my research the systems last only an average of a year and a half before this problem arises, the warranty is for 1yr. Now I have a 500 product that is less than 2 years old with a 60 game stuck inside of it. Can't get game out of system with out messing up tamper resistant sticker that manufacturer puts on so they know if system has been opened which nullifies any warranty or fix.

Due to defect I must shell out an additional 150 to have fixed or send me a refurbished system with the same potential defect that could cost me an additional 150. Seems that Sony would either fix the defect or offer a 3 yr. warranty, since the system average before problem is 18 months.

Cezan of Darwen, United Kingdom August 5, 2009

I Purchased a playstation 3 in july 2007 and it has now (august 2009) broken. it is not of fault of my own. it is a common problem in the playstation 3 and is a hardware fault. yet playstation 3 want me to pay £150 pounds to get it fixed when it is not my fault it has broken.

Taylor of Dacula, GA July 31, 2009

I have had a Playstation 3 system since Decemnber 2007. My parents bought it for us for Christmas. We played the system and it functioned perfectly until March 2009. We believe my younger brother left the system on and it overheated because it would no longer power on. We ordered Sony's 150 repair service (because it was out-of-warranty) to have it either repaired or exchanged for a working system in late June of 2009. We received their box and shipped it and received a system yesterday July 29th.

We played the system that day and today and it was working properly. However, we came home later this evening July 30th, and discovered that the system was no longer "reading" or "recognizing" the blu-ray game discs. We called Sony and after trying a few options, they told us we had to send it in AGAIN. We told them we did not feel comfortable doing this because we could easily get another broken system, and have to keep going through this process.

Their warranty for the "new" PS3 is only 90 days, so they could essentially make a profit if it breaks down in 3 months. I do not appreciate their lack of value in customer service and their unwillingness to compromise at all in the situation. We wanted a BRAND NEW system "from the box" or a refund and they refused. We are stuck with another repair request and are frustrated with the way Sony has handled the matter. We have bought all their game systems and are very dissatisfied with their service.

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