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My PSN account was permanently banned for no apparent reason (100+ Games/DLC lost)
- Thread starter Tevious
- Start date
Parapraxis
Member
Yup, and Sony's FB page if you must.
DidntKnowJack
Member
Holy shit, that's scary. Though i have to agree with the people that say it's most likely the Paypal charge back. It certainly wouldn't surprise me, Paypal has gone to complete shit in recent years, all in the name of "security." The burden Paypal puts on you, the consumer, is downright deplorable.
And if Sony won't even let you know what the issue is, that's ridiculous as well. Hope everything gets sorted out, dude.
And if Sony won't even let you know what the issue is, that's ridiculous as well. Hope everything gets sorted out, dude.
I actually didn't know this was a thing either. Keep calling OP.
djplaeskool
Member
Yeah... chargebacks are a good way to get accounts and services killed quick, because they are a major flag for potential fraud, and they cost the vendors tons in bank fees.
If Customer Service can't do anything immediately, you may actually want to get in touch with Paypal (eventhough they are kind of shitty to deal with).
They sound like they're at the root of this.
If Customer Service can't do anything immediately, you may actually want to get in touch with Paypal (eventhough they are kind of shitty to deal with).
They sound like they're at the root of this.
Tevious
Member
I will try the contacts on twitter, but its probably a long shot that they even read it.
I also did not receive any email about the ban yet. I've heard it can take a while to go through. Customer service is unlikely to have any other information for a while too, so if I call them again, I should probably wait until Monday.
Also, keep in mind the original problem with PayPal was resolved with PlayStation. So I'm not sure that's the reason why I got banned again. Unless PlaySation then investigated my account, saw some activity going on from South Korea, and falsely came to the conclusion my account was compromised.
In this case though, Sony has committed the fraud. If every avenue for getting his account back proves fruitless, he should pursue a chargeback for as many old transactions as he can. It's basically the last last last last last resort after Sony customer service stops answering his calls.
Interface23
Member
Shu runs his own twitter and replies to fans a lot so it's about the best I can help with you with dude, sorry you're going through this though 
It really sucks you lost all those games if you didn't have them backed up on your HDD. The online games are a no go but you still should be able to play the offline games.
I'm a bit cynical though whenever anybody posts a "I was banned for no reason" thread because they normally don't end well. Especially when you start out with "for no apparent reason" and then proceed to cite at least 3 things that could get you banned.
I'm a bit cynical though whenever anybody posts a "I was banned for no reason" thread because they normally don't end well. Especially when you start out with "for no apparent reason" and then proceed to cite at least 3 things that could get you banned.
Lord of Castamere
Member
BBB if they feel your issue is justified something will get done. That's what they're there for to keep companies in check.
Dr. Kitty Muffins
Member
We need an act of Yoshida here. This is wrong. I feel for you.
Interface23
Member
None of those three SHOULD be reasons to get banned. Least of all the Paypal thing
neogaffer1
Banned
Link?
Well that's happened a few times, but we'll have to wait and see for now.
Tevious
Member
Sounds like it would be easier for me and my aunt to just take them to court and sue for damages and start a new account. I got purchases going back for years.
gotstrangepowers
Banned
Looks like me and one other person has tweeted @yosp and @amboyes . Everyone send one
shungokusatsu
Member
Annnnnnd, I'll never buy a digital title again unless it's a digital exclusive. This is beyond fucked up.
Tevious
Member
I didn't do any such thing. I honestly have no idea how to even do that. If that's the reason, then its because my account was hacked and someone else did it on a different console.
Piston Hyundai
Member
Is it okay if I yell at them for a fourth Jumping Flash instead?
Neuromancer
Member
Check your PMs.
Possibly yes. Just as a last resort of course. Make a list of all things you bought.
That really wasn't my point though was it. I'm not trying to argue what should or shouldn't be in the TOS. Just don't pretend you don't know why you were banned when you can already list some things, and who knows how many other things you aren't going to willfully give up in a pity thread you make on a forum. If you are using a VPN to mask your IP I imagine you already know about region locking/region blocking.
The bigger point to me at least is yes, this is the problem with a digital future. You don't own anything just like pubs and devs want, you are just licensing/renting code from them like they want it to be.
Imru al-Qays
Banned
Hope it doesn't end up with you having to deal with Paypal to fix the issue. Paypal is an absolute fucking nightmare.
djplaeskool
Member
Either Sony is going to have to talk to Paypal, or Paypal is going to have to talk to Sony.
Digital content providers don't play games with Chargebacks.
Digital content providers don't play games with Chargebacks.
mgs2master2
Banned
a similar situation happened to me a year, or less, ago.
I more or less had no idea why i was banned and the representatives wouldn't give me the reason why I was banned. They said something like "its in our terms of service to ban at will and not give you a reason why". Not sure if true or not, but that's what they told me. Being pissed as I was losing essentially over 100+ ps3 games, 50 PS1 games, and other games/dlc, I raised hell on the phone. I told them get me their supervisor. The person said they were the supervisor. I called their bluff and told them bullshit. I know my rights and I know i didn't violate the TOS. I kept raising hell until they disconnected me. I called them right back and got someone else. This person was confused about the situation. They said they aren't at liberty to discuss the reasons of a ban and i am suppose to get an email about it. I said I didn't want an email and I want to speak to someone In charge right that instant (I knew to keep pestering them because my old college roommate worked as one of these boneheads at Sony customer support. He basically said keep calling and complaining and things would eventually go your way if you sound convincing enough). I finally was going to be transferred to i guess a head guy at the CS department, I was also given some number in case. I explained the situation to the guy, I told him if I was banned for a legitimate reason, I want to know the reason. The guy said I was flagged for "denial" or a "refund" of funds while owning the games still. I had no idea what he meant, but it was a PayPal transaction. What had happened was when i guess PayPal was somewhat new to PSN (that should tell you when it was), I did a transaction 3 times (all the same amount), 2 of the transactions were refunded and considered fraud by PayPal. The third transaction went through and I got my stuff. Sony saw this as fraud, since PayPal claimed it was and I was supposedly refunded 104 bucks (transaction was 54 dollars). The issue here is while I did the transaction 3 times, it didn't go through 2 times, so the money never left my hands or my account until that 3rd attempt which was successful. PayPal claimed it was fraud and Sony thought i stole money (or exploited a glitch). they banned my account on that. After i told them this was not true at all and demanded that this should be investigated (I even provided the transaction numbers through on PayPal). They placed the account on review so it was more or less still banned for about a week. I gave my email and number so they can call me when its done being reviewed. After about 6 days, the boss/supervisor called me and told me that they were sorry about the inconvenience because the error was on PayPal's end and I never broke the TOS. They reinstated my account the next day, plus credited my account 50 dollars for the inconvenience.
that's how it went for me, so I wish you luck OP. Just keep being persistent about it.
tl;dr : I was banned, i raised hell until i got some help, account was reviewed, was found the error was on PayPal's end not mine, account reinstated and given 50 dollars store credit as a sorry gift.
I more or less had no idea why i was banned and the representatives wouldn't give me the reason why I was banned. They said something like "its in our terms of service to ban at will and not give you a reason why". Not sure if true or not, but that's what they told me. Being pissed as I was losing essentially over 100+ ps3 games, 50 PS1 games, and other games/dlc, I raised hell on the phone. I told them get me their supervisor. The person said they were the supervisor. I called their bluff and told them bullshit. I know my rights and I know i didn't violate the TOS. I kept raising hell until they disconnected me. I called them right back and got someone else. This person was confused about the situation. They said they aren't at liberty to discuss the reasons of a ban and i am suppose to get an email about it. I said I didn't want an email and I want to speak to someone In charge right that instant (I knew to keep pestering them because my old college roommate worked as one of these boneheads at Sony customer support. He basically said keep calling and complaining and things would eventually go your way if you sound convincing enough). I finally was going to be transferred to i guess a head guy at the CS department, I was also given some number in case. I explained the situation to the guy, I told him if I was banned for a legitimate reason, I want to know the reason. The guy said I was flagged for "denial" or a "refund" of funds while owning the games still. I had no idea what he meant, but it was a PayPal transaction. What had happened was when i guess PayPal was somewhat new to PSN (that should tell you when it was), I did a transaction 3 times (all the same amount), 2 of the transactions were refunded and considered fraud by PayPal. The third transaction went through and I got my stuff. Sony saw this as fraud, since PayPal claimed it was and I was supposedly refunded 104 bucks (transaction was 54 dollars). The issue here is while I did the transaction 3 times, it didn't go through 2 times, so the money never left my hands or my account until that 3rd attempt which was successful. PayPal claimed it was fraud and Sony thought i stole money (or exploited a glitch). they banned my account on that. After i told them this was not true at all and demanded that this should be investigated (I even provided the transaction numbers through on PayPal). They placed the account on review so it was more or less still banned for about a week. I gave my email and number so they can call me when its done being reviewed. After about 6 days, the boss/supervisor called me and told me that they were sorry about the inconvenience because the error was on PayPal's end and I never broke the TOS. They reinstated my account the next day, plus credited my account 50 dollars for the inconvenience.
that's how it went for me, so I wish you luck OP. Just keep being persistent about it.
tl;dr : I was banned, i raised hell until i got some help, account was reviewed, was found the error was on PayPal's end not mine, account reinstated and given 50 dollars store credit as a sorry gift.
Interface23
Member
Customer service: 1 (888) 221-1161
Paypal
Tell them an incorrect chargeback got you in trouble with Sony and see if they can help
Paypal
Tell them an incorrect chargeback got you in trouble with Sony and see if they can help
Hoho for breakfast
Member
Yep I've heard of people being banned for charge backs, so if this is the whole story I'd bet that's exactly why.
What you need to do is tweet people as someone mentioned and I think you did the right thing (again assuming what you've said is truth) in making a thread here. Someone at Sony will see it and get things taken care of. Hopefully sooner rather than later =)
Edit: A total ban for one chargeback like that does seem excessive imo. At the least you should be able to play your content offline.
What you need to do is tweet people as someone mentioned and I think you did the right thing (again assuming what you've said is truth) in making a thread here. Someone at Sony will see it and get things taken care of. Hopefully sooner rather than later =)
Edit: A total ban for one chargeback like that does seem excessive imo. At the least you should be able to play your content offline.
Tevious
Member
I couldn't even get ahold of PayPal when that happened. I had problems verifying my account too because they thought my number was a cell phone and wouldn't let me use the automatic call option with my magicjack phone to receive a code. I eventually got it to work, but not until after they reversed the charge. But as I said, I already resolved that with Sony customer service, gave them another $50 PSN card (from amazon), had them restore my balance and un-ban my account, until now anyway.
This.
Yes we all know the BBB is technically a powerless toothless organization. The thing is, it still matters to companies like Sony and MS. If you try calling again, threaten them about taking it to the BBB. If they don't help after that. *Actually* take it to the BBB. I had to do that after MS refused to refund me money after my account got hacked a few years back and what do you know, they fixed that real quickly.
No, I read, but I'm afraid the issue of the chargeback will outlive the you-crediting-your-account thing. Like as a matter of policy, chargeback = ban and the only way it can be wiped out is if the chargeback is erased.
LookAtMeGo
Member
It happened to me a few months ago. Mine was for an offensive name
and they told me there was nothing I could do and I lost everything. I called back and demanded to talk to a manager and they put me through to the manager. I basically had to beg but he let me change my name and keep my psn purchases but i lost my trophies, friends list and any progress I made online. So all I can say is call back, get mad and demand to talk to someone who can help you because they told me the same shit they told you and I still turned it around. Good luck OP, its so frustrating.
it wasnt offensive
Quote
Member
Sony is doing so many great things right now but their lack of customer service is a complete drag and gives me anxiety. They really need a reform of their whole CS procedure and structure. Any support team who doesn't assume positive intent with their customers is doing their brand a disservice.
Hoho for breakfast
Member
Well look at you go. I'm curious what the name was.
Thaumaturgic Tomato
Member
Mercy, please use the enter key. Nobody can read all that text wall. It's physically painful on the eyes
Based on the last line, glad you got it fixed + bonus $. A digital reliant world is a scary place. Everybody keep your bunkers in good order and stock up on survival guides
Can I get a link to that, brah?
OccamsLightsaber
Regularly boosts GAF member count to cry about 'right wing gaf' - Voter #3923781
Why would you need to use magicjack? Are you in the US? Do you buy games outside of you region using a separate account? To my knowledge that is in violation of the TOS.
Tevious
Member
I understand, but the reasons I stated that could have gotten me banned are either a long shot or was supposed to be resolved.
Imru al-Qays
Banned
He already said he lives in Korea.
Conkerkid11
Member
This happened to me with Nintendo when I attempted to purchase Luigi's Mansion 3DS. They didn't ban my account or anything, but they prevent me from purchasing games using anything but gift cards. I called them up, and they told me I'd have to work it out with my bank. I've attempted to on several occasions, but they refuse to fix it.
Oh well, gift cards are cheaper most of the time.