Returned faulty PS3 and was given a pre-owned one in exchange

ezio

Hi all, here is my situation.

In September of last year i bought a new 250GB PS3 from Gamestation in Glasgow city centre and had been enjoying playing it up until a few days ago.

I had been using a Standard Definition TV as i had yet to buy a new HDTV.

I came across a nice looking 1080p HD Monitor on Amazon that reviews had said was ideal for PS3 so i went ahead and bought it and had it delivered the next day.

I was looking forward to seeing all my favorite Games in High Definition
so i excitedly set up the Monitor on the floor next to my old TV to test it out before moving everything to where it was going to be set up.

After connecting everything up and seeing it was working brilliantly i disconnected it all and began moving it to its proper place.

After setting it up again i found,to my disappointment, that i was getting no signal from the PS3.

After hours of tinkering and running up a large phone bill to both Sony and BenQ, who made the Monitor, it still wouldn't work.

Not having another HD screen to test it out on, i took the PS3 to my local branch of Gamestation and explained what had happened.
I wanted them to test it on one of their screens to try and narrow down the cause.

I had prepared myself to have to send it to Sony and be without it for god knows how long.

The manager of the store tested everything out and declared the PS3's HDMI port faulty.

He then said i had a number of options. I could send it back to Sony or he could give me a refund and put it towards another console.
He suggested the latter but said he had no 250GB models in stock.
He advised me to go for a pre-owned 320GB model as i would be getting more storage space for cheaper.

I would NEVER usually consider a pre-owned console as theres no telling what sort of owner it had and although it may work at purchase, for how long?
However the manager said all the Consoles were fully serviced and came with the same guarantee as a new one.

Not having the receipt with me he said to come back the next day and he would sort it all out, whatever i decided to do

When i went back the next day it was a different story.

I was going get the refund and buy a 120GB model which would still save me money and i would still have a new Console.

When i tried to suggest that he sid that it couldn't be done. When i asked why he said he had to treat my Console as pre-owned as i no longer had the original box and he could only swap like for like.

I have a growth on the surface of my Brain which causes random unbearable headaches and started to feel ill at this point.(not caused by the situation, i should point out.)

I pointed out that my Console had cost £284.99 and that he was selling pre-owned 320GB consoles for £219.99. I also pointed out that the day before he had said i was retuning a faulty product for a refund.

He denied this and said a refund was never on the cards. He said that the console he was giving me was actually more expensive than mine.

I pointed out that may be the case with a new Console but his was second hand.

He said so was mine and he was doing everything he could to help me.

Feeling really ill at this point i just wanted to go home but he kept on at me saying its up to me if i want to wait months on Sony fixing it.

He said if i agreed and anything went wrong he would still count the replacement console as being worth £284.99, the price of the original one, and i should keep both receipts.

He said he would give me brand new cables as well.

I finally agreed and went home to lie down.

When i woke up and thought about it i began to feel more and more ripped off.
However, i decided to give the replacement console a chance.

First thing i noticed is that he gave me all the OLD cables which were bunched up in an elastic band and covered in paint.
When i tried to load a disc i got a disc read error, although it read the disc on the second attempt.
The left analog stick on the control pad rotates at the top, it shouldn't, which is really annoying and the buttons don't come back out properly after being pressed.

The Disc- drive is also very clunky when loading Discs and A LOT nosier than my previous one.
I am also still getting intermittent Disc read errors.

I kept my Console in pristine condition and knownone of that should be happening.

I also found all of the previous owners data still on the Console, leading me to believe they barely looked at it when buying it in never mind fully servicing it.

I would like to know what my rights are (if any) and if what the store manager did was OK and if not, what he should have done and any advice on what i can do about any of it(if anything).

So sorry about the long post but i really would appriciate some help and advice as i feel cheated.

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Just noticed that the controllers vibration effect is also broken. I'm starting to get so angry.

NeilF3485

You bought a console in September last year, it is now broken.

The way I see it, it was still under warranty and should be repaired or replaced (like for like) FOC and it's as simple as that.

Him saying "so is yours" to your statement that it is second hand is nonsense. Yours was brand new, it was only becoming second hand now because he was treating it as a trade, so it was second hand to him. That doesn't change the fact you bought it brand new.

If he said he was treating it as the same price as your old one and to keep the receipt, then take it back and say it keeps bringing up a disc error and you want a refund as it is faulty. They should therefore return the full price of your original console (as he said he would) then you can go to Game and buy a new one!

As for vibration not working, are you sure it is a Dualshock 3 controller, my PS3 only came with the standard controller which doesn't have a vibration pack built in.

vyle

Looks like whoever served you at gamestation has no idea what they're doing.

Take it all back and explain the situation, that it is faulty, that you originally bought a 250gb machine that was replaced with a faulty 120gb, and that you either want a replacement 250gb, or your money back.

You may have some problem in getting a 250gb because you accepted a lesser replacement. It's only your word against theirs that they said anything, unless they noted on your receipt and signed it. Yes, you had a headache, but couldn't you have gone home, recovered, and considered the offer rather than rushing in?

In future, it'd be better to just raise a support ticket with Sony, get them to collect the console from your front door and then return it to your front door. Much simpler.

ezio

Thank you both for your replies. You both confirmed what i was already thinking, that he ripped me off.

And vyle, you are absolutely right, i should have told him to leave it and come back when i felt better, which is probably what i would have done.
However i had been in severe pain for 3 days and nights previous to that day and hadn't slept, at all. The pain had eased around 6 o'clock that morning then started to return when i was in the shop.

My judgement was far from unimpaired however thats not really an excuse for me as, probably unbelievably after what happened,i have been in some form of sales for about 10 years! I should have nailed him to the floor with his own bull****.

I think also that not having access to my PS3 for however long it would take to get repaired was an issue as well as, since i have became so ill, i spend a lot of time, (too much time?) playing games and chatting to people on PSN.
It has got me through many dark days.

NeilF3485, thanks for your advice. The morning after i had posted i called Gamestation's Customer Service line and explained what had happened.
The guy i spoke to was really helpful and basically said what you did about my console being bought new.
He spoke to his supervisor who confirmed this and who told him to call the store and get it sorted out.

He asked what sort of outcome i had in mind.
I told him at least a replacement console, a new one, and either a refund or credit note to the value of any difference in price.

He said he would have to speak to the guy who gave me the dodgy console as he was the manager of that store and as managers usually have sole discretion over all returns/refunds, he wanted to get some answers as to the guys reasoning behind his actions.

He said it was unacceptable and he would be looking to upgrade me to a brand new 320GB PS3 and maybe some sort of extra as an apology.

The manager of that store wasn't in today so the customer service guy is going to call me around 10:30 tomorrow (as its 3:10am, today!) and let me know the details after he speaks to the shop guy.
I said fine, and thanks for your help.

As for the controller, yeah its definitely a Dualshock 3 sixaxis model. Its just broken!

I will post an update after i find out what is going to happen.

Thanks again for your replies.:)

vyle

Hope it all works out. At least it sounds like gamestation are sorting it out and you should have a ps3 in time to catch the Welcome back offers (which went live today, and have caused the psn to be overloaded since I got up >.>)

ezio

hi vyle, you were right it was all sorted out by a guy called James from customer service but what a hassle!
Here is the outcome. I've condensed it as much as possible.
There is a lot of bad stuff left out but i would have been here all day!

James from Customer Service said he would call me yesterday at 10:30 and was as good as his word.

He again apologised for what had happened and said he had called the store and had a proposal for me.

He said he had refunded £81 and something pence, which was the TOTAL cost of the original PS3 bundle i had bought minus the cost of the pre-owned console the store manager had given me, to a gift card that was waiting for me in store.

The original deal was PS3+2 games, with 2 pre-owned games on top, which came to £307 and pennies.
The original console on its own was only £284.99 so it was a good start that he had refunded the difference of the total instead of just the difference of the price of the consoles.

He then said when i took the crappy console i had been given back i would get refunded the price of that as well plus an extra £10 towards a new game.

I was more than happy with that and thanked him for all his help and for sorting it out so quickly.

I went down to the store and the manager looked both boiling with rage, chalk white and embarrassed all at once! There was also a strange awkward atmosphere between the staff.

I put the console on the counter and said i was not accepting it and customer service had sent me down for my refund.

The manager said "there was no need to call them you should have just came to me if you weren't happy".

Yeah, right. Why the hell would i expect the guy who ripped me off to suddenly want to admit he was an a**hole and sort it out properly.

I put that to him, in nicer words, and he said "i did my job right, customer service always cave in".
I asked what he meant and he said "people call them up, spin them a story and they give them whatever they want".

I almost totally flipped at this point and told him i didn't "spin them a story" i told them exactly what happened and they couldn't apologise enough and if you had did your job I'm sure they wouldn't have did what they did and apologised for your behaviour.

The assistant manager, who had been standing nearby, went away to deal with something.

As soon as that happened the facade slipped and he snapped "do you realise they called my assistant manager and questioned him about how i run this store and spoke to all the other staff members as well?"
I said that's your own fault, that's what happens when you get caught ripping people off.

He must have got a severe bollocking, judging by the look on his face, as well as having his staff questioned, which would explain the awkwardness between them.
So much for having "done his job correctly"!

He said it was up to me what i wanted to do as there was around £300 on the card. I said i wanted a new console so he directed me to where the deals were advertised.

In the end i chose a brand new 320GB PS3 killzone 3 collectors edition bundle for £249.99 and decided to keep the rest of the money for the future.

I was more than happy with that and left the shop.

About 5 mins later i was talking to my partner, who was with me, about what to buy with the remaining money on the card and happened to look at the receipt.
There should have been about £60 left including the extra £10 goodwill gesture.

The receipt said £40. When i checked further i saw he had not only failed to give me the extra £10 but had gone further and charged me an extra £10 for the PS3!
I went straight back and confronted him asking if he was born an a**hole or was it something he had acquired.

I could tell by the look on his face he had did it on purpose.
He looked at the receipt and said there was nothing wrong with it.
I angrily told him to stop f***ing me around as i was starting to lose my cool at this point, probably because of the "f*** you" look on his face.
The assistant manager came over and asked what was going on.
When i told him he snatched the receipt out of the guys hand and asked me to come over to the till. He sorted it out and must have apologised 10 times for the managers behaviour and advised me to report him again to customer service.

The manager came back over holding some sheet of paper as if he was checking it and said "I'm sorry, maybe i had to manually deduct the £10 for the PS3 so you get the advertised deal".
I pointed to the poster behind him and said "if you turn round the poster says you save £64.99 on this deal, so as i would imagine a manual override would involve deducting that amount, where does your "theory" about the £10 come in?

He looked at me with pure hatred and walked away.
The assistant manager just shook his head.

Both me and my partner have came to the conclusion that, as he was so keen to get me to accept the dodgy PS3, he must have been desperate to get rid of it for some reason. Maybe he had realised it was stolen before being traded in and didn't want it to affect monthly figures or he had exchanged a friends old one for a new one then had to get rid of the old one.

I don't know but I'm just glad its over with!

I should add that Gamestation customer service were faultless and couldn't have been more sympathetic and sorted it out with great speed.

Thanks to everyone who replied and James at Gamestation customer service for sticking to his word and sorting it out right away. Thats unusual these days!

Gamestation customer service number: 01904 672 224

brettcta

top result, well done on standing your ground and reporting him

DCFC79

Bity long but glad its sorted, sounds like the manager might be moved to another store or retrained

ezio

Yeah, sorry about the long winded approach!

I really tried to condense it but there was so much that happened.
I left out whole sections of what the Manager had said, what i posted was nothing!

He really was a piece of work and i'm convinced he is in deep trouble going by what he said (there was a lot more) and the reactions of his staff.

He probably did underhand stuff all the time and acted smart about it to his staff as he was getting away with it.
What happened with me may have put his practices under the spotlight.

Hopefully it stops him ripping off anyone else.:)

asbokid

i think ezio deserves a round of applause for standing up for his consumer rights!

although i would go easy on the store manager, you don't know what pressures are being brought on him from on high.. it's not uncommon for head office to expect retail staff to meet certain figures, in the full knowledge that this can only be achieved through underhand methods. how that would pan out with repairs and replacements, i wouldn't know..

tell us, what would the store gain from giving you a replacement there and then? why weren't you told to go to sony? what would the store want from your broken machine, exchanging it for an equally exhausted model?

ezio

asbokid wrote: »

i think ezio deserves a round of applause for standing up for his consumer rights!

although i would go easy on the store manager, you don't know what pressures are being brought on him from on high.. it's not uncommon for head office to expect retail staff to meet certain figures, in the full knowledge that this can only be achieved through underhand methods. how that would pan out with repairs and replacements, i wouldn't know..

tell us, what would the store gain from giving you a replacement there and then? why weren't you told to go to sony? what would the store want from your broken machine, exchanging it for an equally exhausted model?

Thanks for the call for applause.:)

I don't think the store would have gained anything however if the one i was given was stolen and the manager later found this out he may have had a lot of these problems before and had been warned to be more vigilant.
He may have thought "oh crap, I'm not having this against me as well, i need to get rid". When things like that ARE stolen the police check places like Gamestation , Cashgenerator etc. first, especially if they have a serial number, and all they do is ask the manager to check for them. That would have alerted him to it being stolen.

Pure speculation of course!!!:)

However if you had dealt with him like i did you would have seen there was a pure predatory vibe from him,hidden behind a "anything i can do to help"facade, as if he looked for opportunities to offload the crappy/dodgy items from his shop all the time.

In fact the shop would have benefited from the situation, well his figures would have, as if i had just accepted that console mine would have been sent back to sony for repair and returned to the shop for sale as it was under manufacturer warranty.
He gets rid of a risky stolen console and gets back a fully working legit one without being spanked for taking in another "hot" console.

More speculation!:)

I don't normally look for conspiracy theories and i know Managers can be put under a lot of pressure but i'm just trying to work out why he would try to rip me off like that. Then get caught and try again out of spite!

The reaction of his own staff and all the rubbish he tried to feed me makes me think there was more to it especially the whole questioning of his staff issue.
And he did go all out to convince me to take the console in the first place.