Playstation - Refusing cashback

[flexeh]

Hi All,

 

Not sure if this is the ideal forum to write this, so if there’s another specific then please do let me know.

 

Last year I purchased a ps4 and experienced some issues with online capability. I raised a complaint with PlayStation and they apologised and offered me a year PlayStation plus membership last Nov 14. To set this up I have to put in my card details etc., and to be honest I made some minor game purchases as well such as mine craft for £6.

 

Aug/Sep this year, I had not played my PlayStation much due to work and other commitments. I decided to sell/trade it in for something else. I went online turned off all payments but kept my gamer tag there should I ever return to PlayStation. As when membership of PS network run out the tag would remain, just in limited capacity. I then wiped all my details off the console and traded it in.

 

Saturday 12th December I received an email form PlayStation advising "thank you for your purchase", initially I thought someone had possibly used my card for something. I read the email and it said PlayStation plus, and my online ID. I called up PlayStation to ask what’s going on and they said that I had not cancelled my recurring payment. I explained that I had quite a while ago and that I didn’t have a console anymore. They refused to refund saying its terms and conditions and it’s my own fault. I advised I would get in touch with the bank as I didn’t authorise this as I closed payment down. He told me to go to the bank then.

 

Called up the bank who advised at the moment there was nothing they could do. As the money is in the withholdings as PlayStation had not officially taken payment yet and I would have to wait for payment to clear before raising a dispute. I then called PlayStation back and got a nice guy who sounded like he wished he could help. I advised that PlayStation had not officially taken the money yet so they could in fact cancel it. He said they couldn’t and that all he could do was close my account, he understood how annoyed I was but couldn’t do anything further but would pass it to a manager to call me. I asked him to do so. He said that even if he could refund the money, it would only go into my PlayStation wallet so I would then have to spend it on PlayStation store, which would be no good to me as I don’t have a PlayStation no more.

 

The next day a manager called me back and to be honest he was about as useful as a chocolate teapot. He basically said, terms and conditions, you must not of cancelled it so there you go. I also said I didn’t feel that the “go to your bank then” comment was very good from customer service. I asked if I requested call logs or transcripts of the calls would I be able to have then should I do a SAR., and he said no despite telling me all calls are recorded. I just ended the call to him.

 

Today i've raised a dispute with the bank who will pass it on to the investigators. I’ve advised that I’m being charged for a service I’m not getting, and that I got in touch with PlayStation very quick when the email was sent saying I had purchased something (13 minutes), The bank asked me If I could prove I cancelled the recurring payment, which I told them will be difficult as it’s all done online. ~I’m not holding hope on this. I have tried to contact Andy Barnes at PlayStation who sorted my complaint out last year, however as of yet no response.

 

I’ve read the email which states -

 

At the time of making your purchase, you asked us to provide you with immediate access to your purchase and confirmed your understanding that this means:

 

(i) for digital content (like a game or add-on) you will not have a “cooling off period” during which you can cancel your purchase; and

 

(ii) for a service (like a PlayStation®Plus subscription) you can cancel this service within 14 days from the date of purchase but you will not get a full refund as we will make a deduction for the use you have had of the service. To cancel visit http://eu.playstation.com/legal/cancel

 

Any ideas or advise guys, as I can’t afford £40 to just disappear, especially before Christmas.

 

Thanks

[ericsbrother]

your bank is at fault as they should have stopped the payment immediately when youtold them it was unauthorised. They can then have an argumant with the company asking for it and you fill out forms and a decision to process the payment or not is then made. They have breached the BBA code by failing to do this.

Make a formal complaint about your instruction being disobeyed regarding the payment authority being cancelled and the bank not following your instruction. No-one has the right to your money if you say they cant have it.

[flexeh]

Well by doing that now what would happen? As money's already gone and only thing they can do is chargeback depending on if the investigator sides with me.

 

Is there any templates or info to create a letter for complaining to the bank on this?

 

Thanks

Steve

[flexeh]

Ive written this @ericsbrother - The BBA code doesnt exist now it all comes under FCA

 

Dear Mr Bostock,

 

I’m writing to you in reference to an unauthorised payment taken from my account by Sony PlayStation Europe.

To give you some background,

 

On Saturday 12th December 2015 at 15:11 I received an email from Sony thanking me for my purchase. I looked right away thinking someone had used my details to purchase something from Sony. When I opened the email I found that the purchase was related to my old Sony PlayStation account which I no longer used. I was a customer of Sony in Nov/Dec 2014 and added my card details for buying items on the PlayStation store. During that time I was given a free 12 month membership of PlayStation plus due to some issues I experienced. When I inputted the code it had to set up “recurring payment” when it ran out a year later. I’m not sure if I turned it off at this stage or later on.

 

Over the months of use of my PlayStation from Nov/Dec 2014 I had accessed my account a few times making changes and looking at the store. I could have turned off recurring payment then. Approximately late August / September this year, I had hardly played on my console much in the last 5 months so decided to sell / trade it in. I checked my PlayStation account and no subscriptions were setup and no scheduled payments, I then removed all information from my PlayStation, double checking everything and traded it in. I didn’t delete my gamer tag from PlayStation in case one day I did return, and keeping it open didn’t cost anything.

 

That was the last dealings I had with PlayStation until the above date and time. I came across the email at 15:24 (13 mins later) advising of my purchase, I immediately called PlayStation UK. I got through to a rude call handler who seemed disinterested in my problem I told him I didn’t own a PlayStation anymore and that they had taken money without my permission for something I didn’t need. He basically accused me of not turning recurring payment off and said it was my own fault in not so many words. He quoted the terms and conditions and said nothing he could do. I explained that I would be in touch with my bank and advise them that this payment is an unauthorised transaction, as I had not given permission for it to be taken and ask them to stop payment or initiate a chargeback. He said “go to your bank then” and if payment isn’t received, your account would be in debit and closed down. I told him I didn’t care as I didn’t have a PlayStation anymore.

 

I called up Santander at approximately 15:35 on Saturday 12th to advise of the problem, the guy on the phone was new but very pleasant and nice and needed time to check different things and seek advice from his trainer/colleague as he had never had a call like this. I advised that it was an unauthorised payment, it didn’t have my permission and that I wanted to instigate a chargeback. After various conversations with his colleague / manager I was advised that the funds were currently in the withholding section and that it had not officially gone to PlayStation yet. I requested that it remained in there until it was sorted out but I was told that wasn’t possible. I was then told that as the disputes team were not in I would have to wait until the money leaves my account before raising a dispute. I was a bit confused about this as I’ve advised the transaction isn’t authorised by me but yet my bank is going to pay still. I then asked as it’s in the withholding’s do Sony officially have the money at the moment, but I was advised no it had not been accepted by them yet, so I told the handler that I would speak with Sony again and advise them that as they haven’t officially tried to collect the money yet, I wanted the transaction cancelled.

 

I called Sony and advised of the conversation I had with the bank, the handler was very friendly and tried to be helpful as much as he could, however he couldn’t do anymore. He even said that even if a refund was granted, it would only be refunded to the “PlayStation Wallet” so therefore would need to be spent on PlayStation products. I again reiterated that I made sure that the recurring payment was cancelled before I got rid of my PlayStation. He advised there was no more he could do, but asked if I would like a manager to contact me, which I asked for. I then emailed a support manager advising of the incident.

 

A manager contacted me back on the issue and wasn’t much help. He just said “terms and conditions, no refund and you must not have cancelled the payments, that’s basically it. Each person offered to close my account on PlayStation so I didn’t occur any further charges. I did say to them that at the moment until the support manager of Sony contacts me, please do not touch my account, as I want him to see it before anything is done by them.

 

I called the bank yesterday and spoke to the disputed team advising of the issue and that’s currently in hand. However I’m very concerned that I advised my bank that a payment is not authorised and no action taken. I was instead fobbed off and told I had to wait until the funds had cleared my account before anything can be done. All this seems very strange to me if I’m honest, money in withholding’s the bank still could influence and stop money going, until the incident was resolved. By allowing payment to Sony despite my instruction not to, it feels that the bank have gone against a customers wishes, have not fulfilled their duty to their customer and basically done what they want.

 

I’m writing to you as I would like this looked into, I’ve contacted the FCA today and they are surprised that I was told to wait till payment left before anything could be done. They also believe like me that money could have remained in the holding until the dispute was resolved. They have said they are unaware of your current system in place but they are surprised the bank allowed payment to still go through, especially at the speed on which I got in touch with both Sony and the bank. I wanted to give you the opportunity to look into this and explain to me what’s happened and what steps are next, before I consider lodging a complaint with the FCA.

 

I look forward to hearing back from you.

 

Regards

 

Steve

[renegadeimp]

Make sure you title that letter " Notice of formal complaint" in nice big letters, so you can start their complaints procedure.