Damien O'Neill

We feel compelled to share an experience we're currently having with @PlayStationUK, that is affecting us on a personal and professional level. We've covered PlayStation games and consoles for over 20 years, always having a good relationship with the brand and with the various teams that have worked with them over the years. In a bid to further expand our coverage and include more PS5 content, we bit the bullet on Tuesday night and ordered a PS5 console from PS Direct, PlayStation's online store. Why did we choose there? Because as a PS Plus subscriber, we received a 5% discount off the retail price, which is significant given that the console normally retails at £479.99. Happy with our decision, we excitedly went to track our order on Wednesday morning to discover that our PlayStation Network account, the one we've had for around 20 years, has been permanently suspended. The first thing we did was speak to PlayStation Support's online chat, as the help guides suggest, who told us that we could appeal it. Within a matter of hours, we received a response that simply said "Thank you for contacting PlayStation Support regarding your account. I'm sorry to hear about your situation. Unfortunately due to security reasons we can't assist you any further. I hope this helps, but if you have any other questions, please contact PlayStation Support, and one of our team will be happy to help." We tried speaking to PlayStation Support on the phone and was told they couldn't help, or tell us why our account had been suspended. Logging on to our PS4, we could see the code WS-37368-7, which after a quick Google tells us that there is debt or a chargeback on our account. We spoke with our Credit Card company who told us that they hadn't initiated a chargeback. Next we called PS Direct, who confirmed they'd had no issue with the payment, but that they couldn't help us with our account and passed us back to PlayStation Support. We've been batted back and forth between the two since Wednesday, with no further information provided and no willingness to help us. We have spoken to the UK PR company, who is trying to help, but as of yet there's been no resolution. As it's becoming clear that we won't be getting our account back, we decided the best thing to do was cut our losses and return the console. Speaking once again to PS Direct, we were told we can't return the console unless we can access our online account - the same one that's suspended. We asked if they could send a return label by email and we were told that they can't. When we asked what to do, they passed us back to PlayStation Support once again, who confirmed they would not help with our account. When we asked how we can return the console, they told us we couldn't and advised us to 'sell it online'. We then received an email with a return label, linking to an account we can't access. PlayStation Support and PS Direct has refused to disclose why our account has been suspended, and there seems to be no way to return the console. We can't actually believe how poor this experience has been, how anti-consumer and a complete disregard for consumer rights. We're now forced to take advice from Citizen's Advice, who have advised what our legal rights are and suggested steps forward, which include complaining in writing to PlayStation in the UK and raising a dispute with our Credit Card company. Before anyone says 'just open a new PSN account', we can't because we would then be violating their terms of service and run the risk of receiving a console ban, rendering our consoles useless. If anyone has anyone in their network who works at PlayStation, please can you forward this to them or tag them in the comments. For a company that is so well-known and popular, this is a complete and utter shambles, and we can see from a quick search online that they treat many of their customers like this. They shouldn't be allowed to get away with it. #Playstation #PSN #PlayStationNetwork #PS4 #PS5 #PlaystationSupport #PSPlus #Gaming #PSNSuspension