sony activation hell

[dabuddha]

So I moved my PS3 from downstairs to upstairs. When I tried to login, it tells me I need to activate my PS3. I tried to activate it and it tells me I have 2 PS3s already activated (wtf).

I login to my PSN account and it shows:

2 PS vitas
3 PS3s
1 PS4

For the PS vitas, I owned one previously which died on me so I bought a 2nd one (which explains the vitas).

I just bought a PS4 which explains the PS4

I've only owned 1 PS3. I don't recall every deactivating/reactivating it ever. When I try to do the deactivate all devices option in the account settings, it says I've done it within the last 6 months.

On the phone with these fucking ass clowns now and the CSR told me I did it back in mid march so now I have to wait 6 months (till September) before I can do it again. I told him there has to be something that can be done and he told me I have to wait until September and I can't use my ps3's online capabilities until then

I spoke with his supervisor and he emailed me this link:
http://us.playstation.com/deactivate

We went back and forth to no avail. I asked him if he sees 3 different PS3s or the same one. He told me he sees 3 different PS3s. I then asked him do you see 3 different serial numbers for the PS3s or does their broken system have my 1 PS3 added 3 times. He then said he can't see serial numbers but it's 3 different PS3s (stupid fuck sees the same screen I'm seeing which doesn't show 3 different serial numbers, just that there are 3 ps3s).

That link takes me to a form that asks for a single serial number. I'll fill it out but I'm sure they'll just deactivate my one PS3 system and still keep the other phantom PS3s on there.

I'm so pissed right now my hands are shaking lol. So at this point, I'm stuck and I don't know what to do. As of now, I'm unable to access any online content with my PS3 (including games I've purchased).

Sorry for the long rant.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Maybe you logged into a friend's PS3 before. I did that so it shows more than one.

 

[dabuddha]

Maybe you logged into a friend's PS3 before. I did that so it shows more than one.

That's whats odd because I'm the only one that owns a PS3 and I've never logged onto anyone elses PS3 nor have I shared my account with anyone

 

[dabuddha]

Filled out the forum and submitted it. As expected, now I see 2 PS3s on the account and I'm still unable to activate my PS3. This is so fucking stupid of Sony :/

 

[Skel]

Is this mean you can only have two PS3 consoles or just can only download content to two of them? Sorry.. I'm a bit confused. I've only had the one (that's lived most of it's life as a glorified Blu-ray player) so I've never seen nor heard of this.

 

[Bman123]

They do it so you can't gameshare your digital games across a bunch of systems. You can deactivate systems from their website, I've done it before

 

[dabuddha]

They do it so you can't gameshare your digital games across a bunch of systems. You can deactivate systems from their website, I've done it before

The deactivate all is "grayed out" for me. It claims I did it within 6 months ago. If I try to deactivate single machines, it tells me I have to do it from within the console.

The PS4 and Vita are my systems. Those other 2 PS3s are not mine.

 

[balloonshark]

That would royally tick me off. I would sell anything that had a Sony label and buy a Xbone or PC and send them a copy of the receipts.

 

[Ichinisan]

Does each user account on a PS3 count as another PS3 activation?

 

[mmntech]

Gotta love digital rights management. Sony's just trying to stop filthy pirates like you from stealing their games.

To paraphrase the great Stirling Archer: "You want to lose customers? Because that's how you lose customers."

I can see one month being reasonable but six months is just retarded. Not sure what you can do in this situation beyond threatening to lawyer up. It does sound very similar to what happened to that dude from Reddit who got his account hacked. Don't know if you have multiple accounts on your system but I can't see that affecting things. If a new user registers it, it should be marked as one activation on their account, not two on yours.

 

[dabuddha]

Only one account always. My setup is as plain as it gets. I'm going to try calling again in an hour and hopefully get someone "local." One person said they had success by doing this and by also letting the CSR know they were recording the call.

 

[dabuddha]

FUCK

so i got no where.

Spoke with 2 different CSRs and 1 supervisor. In the end, I told him

"ok hows this. I'm a customer and I believe my account has been hacked. What do I do?"

"Well sir, I can reassure you that our servers are unhackable. I would immediately change your password"

"Done. Now, I want to play the games I've purchased on my PS3 via the PS store. What do i do?"

"You'll have to wait till September before you can deactivate all"

"So what you're basically telling me is, someone who hacked into my account has activated their PS3s and is currently playing my games that I purchased while I'm unable to play them. And I can't do anything about it till September"

"Sir, please don't put words into my mouth. I'm saying you have to wait till September till you can deactivate"

"Will the person who hacked my account and activated their PS3s still be able to access my account and play my games?"

"Yes if you believe that's what happened"

So on and so forth. I recorded the whole phone call so if anyone is bored, you can listen to it when I post it later. I'm so fucking pissed again my hands are shaking. I got the download code for the last of us for my new PS4 and I'm afraid to use it now lol. Fuck non-physical media when it comes to these god damn ass clowns. They're basically stealing my money.
Sad thing is, the games I purchased aren't even ones I'm dying to play. It's just the principle of the matter.

EDIT: Oh I did ask the moron this. "How is it secure when a customer tells you they've been hacked and you refuse to immediately deactivate all connected machines to the account? Common sense dictates that you'd do that and let the customer activate his systems one by one. Normally it should be difficult to activate a system, not to deactivate it." No response of course

 

[mmntech]

"Well sir, I can reassure you that our servers are unhackable.

ROFLMAO.

Shove this up on r/PlayStation so it gets more exposure.

 

[Lil Frier]

This is awesome. I mean, "unhackable?" That's something that needs mentioned in a support chat, just so you can throw articles galore in the guy's face about Sony's server insecurity. Didn't they simultaneously have PSN and, like, 6 countries' music services hacked at the same time a few years back?

 

[Bman123]

Oh lord

 

[DaveSimmons]

Did you ever "share" game purchases with others?

I think some people here were splitting the cost of some games by abusing the sharing, if you did that it might have added PS3s from the people you cost-split with.

 

[Bman123]

Ding ding ding we have a winner. I didn't want to say it but that's what I thought all along. I do this myself with my secondary system so I don't have to pay two times for the same game if I want to play in the bedroom or the living room

 

[dabuddha]

Did you ever "share" game purchases with others?

I think some people here were splitting the cost of some games by abusing the sharing, if you did that it might have added PS3s from the people you cost-split with.

never ever have :/ I'm as plain jane as you can get. None of my friends have PS3s.

Ding ding ding we have a winner. I didn't want to say it but that's what I thought all along. I do this myself with my secondary system so I don't have to pay two times for the same game if I want to play in the bedroom or the living room

Only 1 PS3. I got it free when I bought my TV 3-4 years ago.

 

[dabuddha]

So I edited the recording of the phone call (removed the hold times and bleeped out the CSR's names when they announce themselves). I can't seem to find any info on whether I can legally post the recording online or not. I'd imagine I can transcript the phone call but that'd take forever on a 25 minute phone call lol

 

[clok1966]

Sorry to hear it, i have 3 PS3 in my house and don't run into any problems, but I'm sure it can happen (as your story shows) good luck. Now if you want to talk about cable companies i can share stories that will make this one sound like a day in the park.

 

[exar333]

Sorry to hear it, i have 3 PS3 in my house and don't run into any problems, but I'm sure it can happen (as your story shows) good luck. Now if you want to talk about cable companies i can share stories that will make this one sound like a day in the park.

Haha - Cable One or Mid (incontinent)? Used to live up there too myself....

Anyay, back on-topic. Seems like there a number of others outside of the OP with this issue. Pretty ridiculous that Sony isn't helping you out....physical media FTW apparently. :/

 

[mizzou]

This sounds unusual. I've disconnected and reconnected my PS3 to numerous monitors/TV's, numerous internet gateways, and never had this problem.

I don't think it's possible for the device to "re-register" itself based on moving the ps3. Perhaps this occurred while doing something else you weren't aware of?

 

[dabuddha]

This sounds unusual. I've disconnected and reconnected my PS3 to numerous monitors/TV's, numerous internet gateways, and never had this problem.

I don't think it's possible for the device to "re-register" itself based on moving the ps3. Perhaps this occurred while doing something else you weren't aware of?

It's possible, I honestly don't know what happened. But their system is broken if it allows a single device to re-register itself multiple times on a single account.

 

[sweenish]

Sony's software and software policies are and have been abysmal.

No one jumping on the PS4 love-in seemed to remember this. All they could regurgitate was the extra 180 lines of resolution (something that subjectively adds nothing) and anti-MS sentiment (which was deserved, but the reaction was extreme).

Throw in 2 absolutely massive hacks in the last couple years, and it's a wonder people still defend them so blindly.

With that said, in about a decade, I'll own one to play Uncharted.

 

[mmntech]

Sony's software and software policies are and have been abysmal.

No one jumping on the PS4 love-in seemed to remember this. All they could regurgitate was the extra 180 lines of resolution (something that subjectively adds nothing) and anti-MS sentiment (which was deserved, but the reaction was extreme).

Throw in 2 absolutely massive hacks in the last couple years, and it's a wonder people still defend them so blindly.

With that said, in about a decade, I'll own one to play Uncharted.

It's definitely ironic considering they just had perhaps the largest breach in American corporate history. It's been clear for a long time that Sony doesn't take security seriously. That's a big problem.

The fact that the PlayStation Network STILL does not have two-factor authentication is grossly negligent on their part. That's why accounts keep getting stolen. Passwords alone aren't strong enough anymore.

I'm not sure what Microsoft's policies are in this regard. I will say part of the problem with Japanese game companies is they don't "get" the internet. You see the same problems at Nintendo. A lot of the decision makers cut their chops in the 80s and 90s. So they're really slow to modernize their policies.