Playstation 5 won’t turn on after 14 months

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

OP the first line of customer service at big companies will likely have a script to stick to. You are better off writing an old fashioned letter (address is in the Terms and Conditions page on their website).

You need to state that you are entitled to a remedy of a repair or replacement as the goods do not conform to the contract in terms of durability. 

This is basically saying there was an underling issue with the goods during manufacture which although not previously active has now arisen to cause the issue you are experiencing and the goods have not lasted a reasonable amount of time.

It would be worth noting in the letter that you've already spoken with customer services who advised you should contact Sony but that your contract lies with Game and you wish for them to resolve the matter. 

Keeping the letter polite and to the point is best  

As it is over 6 months since delivery Game can come back and request you show what you are stating, in this instance you would typically be looking at an independent inspection, preferably by someone with some credibility, to show what the fault is and how it has come about. 

Typically if the goods have not been misused or interfered with this would be a good base on which to argue your point, if finer details can be concluded all the better. 

You should expect any reasonable costs of this to be covered by Game. 

If they continue to refuse to acknowledge their responsibilities another option you have is to have the Playstation repaired yourself and seek a refund of that cost from Game, as long as the cost isn't disproportionate compared to the other of those remedies, so less than £240 really given that's the cost of a replacement. If the person carrying out the repair can provide an independent inspection at the same time that would be ideal. 

If you paid with a credit card you probably have Section 75 rights which place the same liability upon the card provider but equally that does come with the same burden of proof which they will likely ask for. 

If you get nowhere at all you can send a letter before action stating what you wish to occur within x amount of time otherwise you will begin the small claims process. 

You can of course then continue by using the small claims process which will be decided on the balance of probabilities, the more you have to show your side is correct the better.

At the moment Game are in a poor position as they are denying you your consumer rights (if they have stated the mater is nothing to do wit them), getting them to acknowledge your consumer rights and working towards a compromise would be ideal, even something like so called goodwill to cover half the £240 from Sony might be acceptable to you given the headaches of the above. 

Lastly Game say you can use an online dispute resolution but I have no idea how well they consider your consumer rights or what their judgement is based upon. Depending upon the answer to that it may be of detriment to you to use such a service. 

https://helps.game.co.uk/en/support/solutions/articles/80000620291-online-dispute-resolution

BeerSavesMoney

@the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Thank you for the detailed response. I’ll take your advice and write them a polite and to the point letter and see what happens from there! 

It does seem like this will be a long process and paying Sony £240 does seem a lot easier but as the console hasn’t been misused, opened up, interfered or modified in any way I don’t believe it’s acceptable that it’s malfunctioned in such a short timeframe. 

Thanks again everyone!

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

BeerSavesMoney said:

@the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Thank you for the detailed response. I’ll take your advice and write them a polite and to the point letter and see what happens from there! 

It does seem like this will be a long process and paying Sony £240 does seem a lot easier but as the console hasn’t been misused, opened up, interfered or modified in any way I don’t believe it’s acceptable that it’s malfunctioned in such a short timeframe. 

Thanks again everyone!

No trouble at all, if you are able to post back at some point and let us know how you got on, it's always interesting to hear how things turned out. 

Manxman_in_exile

BeerSavesMoney said:

@the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Thank you for the detailed response. I’ll take your advice and write them a polite and to the point letter and see what happens from there! 

It does seem like this will be a long process and paying Sony £240 does seem a lot easier but as the console hasn’t been misused, opened up, interfered or modified in any way I don’t believe it’s acceptable that it’s malfunctioned in such a short timeframe. 

Thanks again everyone!

I would also include in your letter a reference to, and a link to, the legislation - I always think it makes you look a bit more as if you know what you are talking about

If you are specifically going down the "not of satisfactory quality because of lack of durability" route as suggested above, I presume it's in s9 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015.  (Durability is included as a factor to be taken account of in assessing "quality" - see s9(3)(e).  )  I'm sure others will correct me if I'm wrong.

Consumer Rights Act 2015 (legislation.gov.uk)

Flower76

BeerSavesMoney said:

Hi,

Unfortunately my PS5 is longer functional. Basically it was left in rest mode and I went to turn it on and was greeted with various error messages.

After restarting the console it is stuck in Safe Mode and can’t be reset, it’s almost as if it’s corrupted itself.

I know this wasn’t caused by a power cut due to the standby light still being on before I turned it on. If the power was lost this light wouldn’t be on.

I called Sony PlayStation support who took me through various troubleshooting steps however it was determined I would need to return it to them and they would send me a refurbished replacement at the cost of £240.

I purchased the console with GAME who I have already contacted. They said it’s up to me to resolve this through the manufacturer as it’s out of warranty.

Do I have a case for this under the consumer rights act? I would expect a PS5 console to last longer than 14 months especially considering this occurred as a result of normal usage. I also didn’t even use it that much (3 - 5 hours a week max).

What do you all think about this? Do I have a case with GAME under the consumer rights act or should I pay Sony the £240 for a refurbished console?

Cheers

Hi

My son's PS5 starting having issues 1 month out of warranty. It just powers off randomly during games.  We've tried all of the suggested fixes to but nothing has worked.  Sony want £240 but I think it should last a whole lot longer than 13 months!  Did you get anywhere with getting yours fixed?

Thanks

screech_78

Flower76 said:

BeerSavesMoney said:

Hi,

Unfortunately my PS5 is longer functional. Basically it was left in rest mode and I went to turn it on and was greeted with various error messages.

After restarting the console it is stuck in Safe Mode and can’t be reset, it’s almost as if it’s corrupted itself.

I know this wasn’t caused by a power cut due to the standby light still being on before I turned it on. If the power was lost this light wouldn’t be on.

I called Sony PlayStation support who took me through various troubleshooting steps however it was determined I would need to return it to them and they would send me a refurbished replacement at the cost of £240.

I purchased the console with GAME who I have already contacted. They said it’s up to me to resolve this through the manufacturer as it’s out of warranty.

Do I have a case for this under the consumer rights act? I would expect a PS5 console to last longer than 14 months especially considering this occurred as a result of normal usage. I also didn’t even use it that much (3 - 5 hours a week max).

What do you all think about this? Do I have a case with GAME under the consumer rights act or should I pay Sony the £240 for a refurbished console?

Cheers

Hi

My son's PS5 starting having issues 1 month out of warranty. It just powers off randomly during games.  We've tried all of the suggested fixes to but nothing has worked.  Sony want £240 but I think it should last a whole lot longer than 13 months!  Did you get anywhere with getting yours fixed?

Thanks

My son’s PS5 had the exact same issue. It was bought at launch and started acting up in Nov 21. It only switched itself off when he was playing Fortnite or PS5 games (PS4 games were fine). In the end, we took it apart and gave it a really good clean. It has worked perfectly since. 

Flower76

screech_78 said:

Flower76 said:

BeerSavesMoney said:

Hi,

Unfortunately my PS5 is longer functional. Basically it was left in rest mode and I went to turn it on and was greeted with various error messages.

After restarting the console it is stuck in Safe Mode and can’t be reset, it’s almost as if it’s corrupted itself.

I know this wasn’t caused by a power cut due to the standby light still being on before I turned it on. If the power was lost this light wouldn’t be on.

I called Sony PlayStation support who took me through various troubleshooting steps however it was determined I would need to return it to them and they would send me a refurbished replacement at the cost of £240.

I purchased the console with GAME who I have already contacted. They said it’s up to me to resolve this through the manufacturer as it’s out of warranty.

Do I have a case for this under the consumer rights act? I would expect a PS5 console to last longer than 14 months especially considering this occurred as a result of normal usage. I also didn’t even use it that much (3 - 5 hours a week max).

What do you all think about this? Do I have a case with GAME under the consumer rights act or should I pay Sony the £240 for a refurbished console?

Cheers

Hi

My son's PS5 starting having issues 1 month out of warranty. It just powers off randomly during games.  We've tried all of the suggested fixes to but nothing has worked.  Sony want £240 but I think it should last a whole lot longer than 13 months!  Did you get anywhere with getting yours fixed?

Thanks

My son’s PS5 had the exact same issue. It was bought at launch and started acting up in Nov 21. It only switched itself off when he was playing Fortnite or PS5 games (PS4 games were fine). In the end, we took it apart and gave it a really good clean. It has worked perfectly since. 

Thanks for your reply.  It seems to be a common theme. It's not good enough though is it?  My son's PS4 used to overheat playing Fortnite and the fan was really noisy but this was after about 3 years of use.  For something to break just over a year and for there to be so many websites offering different fixes just proves how badly made they are.  I was tempted to take the cover off and try cleaning it but didn't want to invalidate anything but it's unlikely to be repaired by Sony now anyway.

screech_78

Flower76 said:

screech_78 said:

Flower76 said:

BeerSavesMoney said:

Hi,

Unfortunately my PS5 is longer functional. Basically it was left in rest mode and I went to turn it on and was greeted with various error messages.

After restarting the console it is stuck in Safe Mode and can’t be reset, it’s almost as if it’s corrupted itself.

I know this wasn’t caused by a power cut due to the standby light still being on before I turned it on. If the power was lost this light wouldn’t be on.

I called Sony PlayStation support who took me through various troubleshooting steps however it was determined I would need to return it to them and they would send me a refurbished replacement at the cost of £240.

I purchased the console with GAME who I have already contacted. They said it’s up to me to resolve this through the manufacturer as it’s out of warranty.

Do I have a case for this under the consumer rights act? I would expect a PS5 console to last longer than 14 months especially considering this occurred as a result of normal usage. I also didn’t even use it that much (3 - 5 hours a week max).

What do you all think about this? Do I have a case with GAME under the consumer rights act or should I pay Sony the £240 for a refurbished console?

Cheers

Hi

My son's PS5 starting having issues 1 month out of warranty. It just powers off randomly during games.  We've tried all of the suggested fixes to but nothing has worked.  Sony want £240 but I think it should last a whole lot longer than 13 months!  Did you get anywhere with getting yours fixed?

Thanks

My son’s PS5 had the exact same issue. It was bought at launch and started acting up in Nov 21. It only switched itself off when he was playing Fortnite or PS5 games (PS4 games were fine). In the end, we took it apart and gave it a really good clean. It has worked perfectly since. 

Thanks for your reply.  It seems to be a common theme. It's not good enough though is it?  My son's PS4 used to overheat playing Fortnite and the fan was really noisy but this was after about 3 years of use.  For something to break just over a year and for there to be so many websites offering different fixes just proves how badly made they are.  I was tempted to take the cover off and try cleaning it but didn't want to invalidate anything but it's unlikely to be repaired by Sony now anyway.

To be fair, it’ll probably depend on where it’s stored (if you have it lay down or stood upright), what kind of conditions the room has and how often it’s used. My son has a typical boys room and is on his PS5 pretty much every hour he can spare. Dust will always be a problem. It was very easy to take apart and clean (YouTube has some great videos) and it has worked perfectly since.