• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Lost access to Playstation Plus free games permanently!! (Update: resolved)

NeoRausch

Member
Updated again

Support supervisor told me

If your Playstation plus subscription expires for more than 24 hours you will lose access to all previous free plus content permanently.

Nothing they can do, he doesn't know why anyone told me otherwise.

Total bullshit!

You can reactivate it after months and still use your shit.
 

BIGWORM

Member
Total bullshit!

You can reactivate it after months and still use your shit.

COMPLETE BULLSHIT!

I haven't had my PS+ membership active since I lost my PS3 in a house fire back at the end of January. I bet if I reactivate my Plus membership, I'll get all my shit back. Some news media needs to pick this up, because Sony is giving OP the runaround.
 

m@cross

Member
It is sad I used to think Sony was different; at the end of the day though, they are just like every other corporation. I've bought every system they have sold day 1, had plus since before it was "cool". I have a feking Sony Visa card...

My fault for thinking they where different, I am the fool here.
 

ryan13ts

Member
Updated again

Support supervisor told me

If your Playstation plus subscription expires for more than 24 hours you will lose access to all previous free plus content permanently.

Nothing they can do, he doesn't know why anyone told me otherwise.


Did you download most of those games, or just had them in your list from being a member for so long? I had a subscription to PS+ for almost a year but my original PS3 died and I didn't get another one until almost another year later (and my sub ran out not long after my PS3 died)

When I got my new PS3, I transferred my account over, and re-subscribed. While all my games from before weren't in the "Free Games" section like before, everything I HAD downloaded was still in my download section and I could re-download them like before, even though my sub had lapsed by almost a year.

Hopefully you downloaded most of the games you cared about, that way you should be able to at least get those again.
 
Wow, you really are a patient guy. I would go full rampage within 3 days if a company messes up something that isn't supposed to happen. You paid for it, you have the right to own it, it's what they advertise.

Write a mail, place a deadline (preferably 7 days) and be an asshole, seriously. Sometimes it's the only way to reach a goal, especially when it comes to customer services.
 
There's no way if you let your account lapse for 24 hours you lose everything.

Mine lapsed for like 3 days and then I put a new code in.


Yes, me too. I lapsed for nearly a full year even. I was pleasantly surprised that even all my Cloud saves were still there.
 

Fisty

Member
Total bullshit!

You can reactivate it after months and still use your shit.

Yeah theres no fuckin way, my subscription has lapsed for weeks at a time and I still have the Sega Classics they gave away at the very beginning. Seriously unless theyve changed it in the TOS and gaf didnt catch it (doubtful) that line is total bullshit
 

JJD

Member
OP, we have at least two Playstation MVPs here on GAF. PM then the details and ask then to look into it.

They were able to help some gaffers before.

I think it's Bamelin and Neuromancer.

They are your best bet of resolving this.
 

Manp

Member
Wow, you really are a patient guy. I would go full rampage within 3 days if a company messes up something that isn't supposed to happen. You paid for it, you have the right to own it, it's what they advertise.

Write a mail, place a deadline (preferably 7 days) and be an asshole, seriously. Sometimes it's the only way to reach a goal, especially when it comes to customer services.

and after the 7th day what should he do? blow up the hostages?
 

m@cross

Member
Did you download most of those games, or just had them in your list from being a member for so long? I had a subscription to PS+ for almost a year but my original PS3 died and I didn't get another one until almost another year later (and my sub ran out not long after my PS3 died)

When I got my new PS3, I transferred my account over, and re-subscribed. While all my games from before weren't in the "Free Games" section like before, everything I HAD downloaded was still in my download section and I could re-download them like before, even though my sub had lapsed by almost a year.

Hopefully you downloaded most of the games you cared about, that way you should be able to at least get those again.

I downloaded all of them;

I literally have games installed on my PS3, PS4, and Vita that will not let me start them. I have tried to delete a game on each system; the game shows up in my purchase history, in my download list, but it won't let me download it.

75% of my Vita content is now gone, 50% of my PS4 content.
 

NeoRausch

Member
OP, we have at least two Playstation MVPs here on GAF. PM then the details and ask then to look into it.

They were able to help some gaffers before.

I think it's Bamelin and Neuromancer.

They are your best bet of resolving this.

I'm at least 100% sure that neuromancer is a MVP. Contact him.

Edit:

Yeah, and Bamelin even works for Sony (I guess) contact him too.
 

Mr.Jim

Member
Just a shot in the dark but have you tried deactivating and then reactivating the PS4?
It sounds like all your plus stuff isn't activated like when I got a slim PS3 to replace my fat one. Everything was there but unplayable until I activated it. Maybe this will reset the PS+ stuff?
 

m@cross

Member
Just a shot in the dark but have you tried deactivating and then reactivating the PS4?
It sounds like all your plus stuff isn't activated like when I got a slim PS3 to replace my fat one. Everything was there but unplayable until I activated it. Maybe this will reset the PS+ stuff?
Yes I have, the plus games from July all work fine, just nothing before that date. If I got to my purchase history, EVERY plus game I have ever owned shows as expired on July 16th


Have you tried restore licenses ?

At least 15 times, not exaggerating.
 
and after the 7th day what should he do? blow up the hostages?

I never experienced a case myself where I had to go any further. Customer service knows he is right, and people could get into trouble if they ignore it.
Everytime I was forced to do this, problems were sorted out within 48 hours - no matter if it was Amazon or Panasonic or a smaller company.

Stay strong and go ahead, this is unacceptable.
 

Fisty

Member
I'm at least 100% sure that neuromancer is a MVP. Contact him.

Edit:

Yeah, and Bamelin even works for Sony (I guess) contact him too.

Yes please get this sorted OP, this is probably some jackass middle manager giving you the runaround and now they are straight up lying to you. These people need to get a Shu in their ass, if you catch my pun
 

JJD

Member
Yes I have, the plus games from July all work fine, just nothing before that date. If I got to my purchase history, EVERY plus game I have ever owned shows as expired on July 16th




At least 15 times, not exaggerating.

Try to contact Bamelin or Neuromancer here on GAF. They have helped gaffers with PSN issues before.
 
Lots of scary digital stories popping up lately. Even though this hasn't been solved yet I have a feeling things will work out. I'm just curious why this would happen.
 

Tenrius

Member
Yes I have, the plus games from July all work fine, just nothing before that date. If I got to my purchase history, EVERY plus game I have ever owned shows as expired on July 16th




At least 15 times, not exaggerating.

I think you really should read the thread I linked earlier and talk to Bamelin, Neuromancer and/or the "Mister S. at Sony". It doesn't sound like solving this on a lower level (meaning customer support or fiddling about) is possible, so you have to do something else. Twitter is somewhat unreliable, tweets are easily missed when you get a lot of mentions.

My post from the last page:

Me too lol.

OP, what the supervisor told you is wrong and I hope it gets resolved soon. There was a story like this on GAF recently: a guy lost his whole PSN account due to some error on their part, the support wasn't being helpful so he made a thread about it. Eventually someone from Sony (a GAF poster) noticed it and helped him out. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find al link to that thread, but I think it might be worth it to get in touch with the OP (if someone else can link that thread). He didn't publish the username of that Sony guy, but he might reveal to you privately and you can all work something out.

EDIT:

Actually found the link: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=853750.
 
If nothing else helps, might want to post a comment about your situation on the next Plus post on the PlayStation Blog. There are reps there who read and respond, and can hopefully relay your situation directly to the Plus team.
 

Mr.Jim

Member
That's just scary. Sorry man. The account renewed/bought plus for was always the master account right? That's the only other thing I can think of.
 
It's a complete lie. I had a one-month subscription to Plus back when the data breach rewards thing happened and I got a couple of games. Sonic 2 and Abe's Odysee I think. I didn't renew after that one month and stayed unsubbed until well over a year later. Those two games were and still are available to me, and I had completely deleted them from my PS3 for that 1+ year I was unsubbed.

They're either lying to you or Sony made a MAJOR (and completely terrible) change in its policy silently and hoped nobody would notice. I really hope it's the first case or there'll be a massive, massive shitstorm.
 

Bizazedo

Member
Contacting =/= help

Those are persons that can help and most of the times are happy to help.
And for some of them... It's their job to do so.
What are you getting at?
Them getting spammed eventually over any little problem would be bad, is all.
 

Manp

Member
I never experienced a case myself where I had to go any further. Customer service knows he is right, and people could get into trouble if they ignore it.
Everytime I was forced to do this, problems were sorted out within 48 hours - no matter if it was Amazon or Panasonic or a smaller company.

Stay strong and go ahead, this is unacceptable.

i'm sure it will work great for OP too.
 
Did you download most of those games, or just had them in your list from being a member for so long? I had a subscription to PS+ for almost a year but my original PS3 died and I didn't get another one until almost another year later (and my sub ran out not long after my PS3 died)

When I got my new PS3, I transferred my account over, and re-subscribed. While all my games from before weren't in the "Free Games" section like before, everything I HAD downloaded was still in my download section and I could re-download them like before, even though my sub had lapsed by almost a year.

Hopefully you downloaded most of the games you cared about, that way you should be able to at least get those again.

wait, does this mean the Vita games I've added to my account over the months will never work because I didn't download them? (don't have a Vita yet)
 

zruben

Banned
Total bullshit!

You can reactivate it after months and still use your shit.

I just came here to +1 this...

In my case, it wasn't months... it was about a week, and all my content was fine.




EDIT: This kind of threads are what make me kind of "hesitant" about this digital future. =(
 

ryan13ts

Member
I downloaded all of them;

I literally have games installed on my PS3, PS4, and Vita that will not let me start them. I have tried to delete a game on each system; the game shows up in my purchase history, in my download list, but it won't let me download it.

75% of my Vita content is now gone, 50% of my PS4 content.

That's absolute crap man, you should be able to download those games again, especially if you re-subscribed in such a short amount of time. I went almost a year with a lapsed account and got my stuff back right away.

I would just keep at it and pester the hell out of them until they finally fix it, because it's advertised that you should be able to get your games back. Being persistent/insistent is the only way to get things done sometimes, especially with companies that don't want to admit a mistake was made on their end.

Hopefully it'll work out in the end for you. You're WAAAAYYY more patient than I would be about it.
 

m@cross

Member
Heh @yosp responded, says that is wrong as well.

Hello support? Yes, Mr. Yoshida says you are wrong.....

Probably get the same guy who will tell me that just like the official FAQ and blogs, anyone can post on them so they are not official....
 
Them getting spammed eventually over any little problem would be bad, is all.

Who's getting "spammed"? The last time this happened when an MVP had to step in was once, well over a week ago (if not more). GAF only seriously suggests they be contacted (and the person with the problem usually only does) when they're completely out of options. You're making it sound like they're getting dozens of PMs of people going "HALP! I FORGOT MY PASSWORD!!! :( :( :("

And it's pretty insulting to the OP if you consider this "any little problem". It's a major issue. There's a technical error that's preventing him access to a gigantic library of games that he should have access to, and Sony's own incompetent customer service team is stonewalling him with no other avenues for a solution.
 

Darknight

Member
DIdnt something like this happen to GraveRobberX? Wonder what happened to him and his PSN list.

This is why Im not 100% with PS+. They should let you purchase PSN games at a discount while on the subscription, I mean they would get 2x the money. I would support 100% PS+ if they say let you buy a game currently for "rent"/free for a discount to keep forever. I mean you are paying $50 a year and then buying the PSN game? How is that bad? That would make me want to keep PS+ to keep buying games at huge discounts even if they are offered for "free". (Say they offer Tekken 6 for "free" to subscribers or buy it for 75% off at $5 while having a normal price for normal PSN members) This way, I can chose to not sub for a year if say I have to join the Army or some shit where I wont be using the service for a long period of time but keep all my games that I purchased for cheap. Then re-sub later on.
 

Victrix

*beard*
So if Sony's customer service doesn't exist to actually serve their customers, what are they being paid for?

They should fire them all, would save a lot of money on salaries!
 

Oersted

Member
Updated again

Support supervisor told me

If your Playstation plus subscription expires for more than 24 hours you will lose access to all previous free plus content permanently.

Nothing they can do, he doesn't know why anyone told me otherwise.

Has someone the TOS handy?
 

Bizazedo

Member
Who's getting "spammed"? The last time this happened when an MVP had to step in was once, well over a week ago (if not more). GAF only seriously suggests they be contacted (and the person with the problem usually only does) when they're completely out of options. You're making it sound like they're getting dozens of PMs of people going "HALP! I FORGOT MY PASSWORD!!! :( :( :("

And it's pretty insulting to the OP if you consider this "any little problem". It's a major issue. There's a technical error that's preventing him access to a gigantic library of games that he should have access to, and Sony's own incompetent customer service team is stonewalling him with no other avenues.
I did not say that this was any little problem. All I said was I hope they would not become knee-jerk goto problem solvers if it's not their job to do so. I am NOT talking about this per se. It's great if they can help. It would suck if they start getting pm's afterwards is all from others.

Calm down.
 

Lace

Member
Probably a shot in the dark but have you attempted to reset your game licenses through the setting menu? I had a similar problem and it fixed it for me.
 

Coringar

Member
I went through the same trials that the OP went through, and was also given the "Your case is being closed", and was told they would not pursue any further action on my account.

The biggest problem is their inconsistent lapsed Plus policies. If you have a save in the cloud, your Plus expires, and then you resubscribe, they explicitly say that the saves will be there. This creates the expectation that free content will be again free when Plus is reactivated, which is also confused by their FAQ examples that explain that "if the content is still free" you can re-download it".

Best of luck man, but after what I went through, I'm not very hopeful.

EDIT - Resolution steps attempted:
Reactivation of console, Download on another console. Factory reset of console. Download through system download history, download through SEN history.
 
Top Bottom