My Playstation account just got permanently suspended for a credit card chargeback

[Grouch Douglass]

Nah, I agree with them. Gamers are way too into the companies and defend them with everything they got. There's nothing ok with sony or any other company banning you for a chargeback. They should revoke the access from that game only and not from everything else.

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You don't have to be a fan of a game company to defend these kinds of practices. Anyone with experience working with RM/Finance/Fraud knows that for each one of these unfortunate incidents there are likely hundreds to thousands of unauthorized payments made by real actual scammers and card thieves. Making it easier to get away with these types of transactions not only hurts the company, it encourages fraudsters to keep on scamming until it becomes a huge problem like we have seen with phone/ebay scams that have gained popularity in recent years.

I would rather a tiny amount of users have to go through the process of unlocking their account (a lot of the time due to their own mistake/oversight) than have scammers find yet another loophole that allows them to keep on screwing consumers and businesses over.

 

[HonestAbe]

LOL I've never made a mistake so neither should anyone else!

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You don't use a chargeback for a mistake. You return the item you purchased or you contact the vendor to sort it out (ex. double charge).

 

[Deleted member 81119]

consumer: wow this digital future is so convenient, i can get anything and not have to go to the store! i'm going to buy a ton! thanks corporation!
also consumer: man fuck corporation they took all my stuff away i didn't actually own, i wonder if i had anything to do with supporting this practice in a financial capacity.

really makes you think

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Yeah it makes you wonder how long digital future scaremongering will continue for. This thread is about someone temporarily losing access to their library because they made a mistake.

 

[nekkid]

Yes, if the account is using stolen credit cards to buy things. Sony has no way of knowing if those 100 other games were from stolen cards as well or not. Basically, as far as Sony can tell that account owner is a credit card thief until they contact customer support and explain otherwise. You're using Sony's platform, they have to protect themselves from litigation as well. They can't just let accounts tied directly to credit card fraud to stay active, that would make them complicit in future thefts.

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That's honestly besides the point. They've robbed you of your games. From the consumer's perspective it's like someone skimming your credit card to buy a game from a store, and that store coming to your house a taking all your physical games away.

 

[SoundLad]

Reading the first few pages and sheesh, it's blowing my mind how a lot of people don't understand what a chargeback is and how seriously it affects you and the company you're doing business with.

I swear some people think chargeback == refund request or some shite. Sometimes it feels like this forum is full of literal children.

I hope OP can get it sorted out.

there is a clear and fundamental lack of understanding of personal and consumer level finance among all consumer groups, not just angry gamers who are hitting the monolith with bones.

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Couldn't agree more.

 

[Rosebud]

So if you've bought 100 games, then someone gets access to your PSN account and fraudulently buys a FUT pack or something for which you charge back, they are justified in locking you out of your 100 games permanently?

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I don't know any site that doesn't suspend your acc when you do a chargeback. Even Paypal does that.

But it should be easily solvable contacting the support, which isn't the case with Sony.

 

[Swift_Gamer]

You don't have to be a fan of a game company to defend these kinds of practices. Anyone with experience working with RM/Finance/Fraud knows that for each one of these unfortunate incidents there are likely hundreds to thousands of unauthorized payments made by real actual scammers and card thieves. Making it easier to get away with these types of transactions not only hurts the company, it encourages fraudsters to keep on scamming until it becomes a huge problem like we have seen with phone/ebay scams that have gained popularity in recent years.

I would rather a tiny amount of users have to go through the process of unlocking their account (a lot of the time due to their own mistake/oversight) than have scammers find yet another loophole that allows them to keep on screwing consumers and businesses over.

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Companies should, then, come up with better systems than banning people left and right for chargebacks. The way it is now it's flawed. This is on the company, they make money and people are paid for that.

 

[Asriel]

Companies should, then, come up with better systems than banning people left and right for chargebacks. The way it is now it's flawed. This is on the company, they make money and people are paid for that.

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You're not getting it. Companies already have systems that deal with mixups, even if fraud does seem to be at play without having to resort to chargebacks.

There are other avenues of getting refunds and working out issues other than chargebacks. It's been explained ad nauseum as to why chargebacks should only be used as a last resort, but chargebacks continue to be the problem, for some reason.

 

[Rosebud]

Companies should, then, come up with better systems than banning people left and right for chargebacks. The way it is now it's flawed. This is on the company, they make money and people are paid for that.

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They should all copy Steam refunds policy (14 days or 2 hours played). And bans are in game only (like, if you are banned from PUBG it doesn't affect any other game).

But when someone does a chargeback it's usually because they were robbed.

 

[Swift_Gamer]

You're not getting it. Companies already have systems that deal with mixups, even if fraud does seem to be at play without having to resort to chargebacks.

There are other avenues of getting refunds and working out issues other than chargebacks. It's been explained ad nauseum as to why chargebacks should only be used as a last resort, but chargebacks continue to be the problem, for some reason.

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Nah they don't. If they did, it would be easy to get you account unbanned. As it is, people barely can contact Sony's customer support.

 

[nekkid]

I don't know any site that doesn't suspend your acc when you do a chargeback. Even Paypal does that.

But it should be easily solvable contacting the support, which isn't the case with Sony.

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True, but that doesn't mean Amazon take all your stuff back is my point! I don't think this a Sony specific problem, but customers should absolutely have more rights to their digital content and people should stop stanning for the brands.

 

[F34R]

My son has my cc info on his account, which goes to an email I have. Whenever I see a charge on that card from Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, etc., I call him to make sure it was him that made the purchase. Usually he sends me a text and says he's about to buy x on x system so there's not confusion or misinformation.

In this case of the OP, complete lack of communication resulted in Sony doing what is proper by their policies.

 

[BubblegumNemesis]

Permabans are usually final. You lose all your stuff.

 

[xxracerxx]

Permabans are usually final. You lose all your stuff.

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There is a way to get it back because of charge backs:

How to reverse a PSN suspension for account debt

If your payment method has had a charge reversed on a PlayStation™Store purchase, this can result in your account being restricted from accessing PlayStation™Network (PSN).

www.playstation.com

 

[TaySan]

OP, I agree Sony shouldn't have restricted your game library there is better ways for them to handle it, but this could have been easily resolved with better communication.

 

[F34R]

OP, I agree Sony shouldn't have restricted your game library there is better ways for them to handle it, but this could have been easily resolved with better communication.

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It isn't up to Sony to determine fraud from an external payment method. There are avenues in place for the account holder to contact Sony and resolve the issue. It's not the other way around. The OP was determined to use a fraud payment method, and per the policy YOU agree on when you make the PSN account, it was suspended for fraud.

 

[Nostremitus]

That's honestly besides the point. They've robbed you of your games. From the consumer's perspective it's like someone skimming your credit card to buy a game from a store, and that store coming to your house a taking all your physical games away.

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No it's not, they didn't take anything from OP's parents, the people who's credit card was skimmed in your scenario.

 

[Rosebud]

True, but that doesn't mean Amazon take all your stuff back is my point! I don't think this a Sony specific problem, but customers should absolutely have more rights to their digital content and people should stop stanning for the brands.

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Agreed, digital content needs a lot more protection than they have right now.

 

[BoxManLocke]

I can't believe shit like complete account suspensions are legal in places with decent customer protections.

Losing access to hundreds/thousands worth of products because of a chargeback for a single one is complete bullshit.

 

[PhelddaGriffey]

Had this happen to me a few years back. Someone got access to my account and was siphoning FIFA dlc using my card. Everyone here who says people don't understand finance is probably right, but as someone who had never had fraud committed on them before, my first call definitely went to my bank.

I get that someone technically took goods from Sony and understand the company's insistence on being reimbursed, but it really hurt to have $1000+ of digital content held hostage while I scraped together the funds to cover it on my first year teacher salary. It sure seemed like the megacorporation could have let that $200 go being that I had clearly never inserted a FIFA game into my console.

They got me to pay it eventually, sucker that I am. Not convinced that people outside this forum know how deadly contacting your bank can be for your psn collection.

 

[martinstraka8282]

All I know is that i'm glad charge backs exist, even if it needs to be used sparingly.

Consumers deserve protection from retailers, etc. being shitty as they quite often are.

 

[Deleted member 4346]

I have been reading some of the comments in this thread and now I completely understand why Sony and Microsoft are able to lock multiplayer gaming behind a paywall. Some of you are genuinely more concerned about a mega corporation being safe from fraud than you are about consumers being fucked over for dumb mistakes.

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It makes me feel dirty, honestly, with so many gamers rooting for multibillion dollar mega-media corporations over consumer rights. There's no universe in which your entire catalog of past purchases should be locked from you due to a chargeback. Especially with Sony and their history of non-existent or awful return policies. A chargeback is sometimes your only recourse to get a return on a game that isn't as advertised.

I buy physical discs still for this reason, or Steam/GOG, which have better policies.

 

[CanUKlehead]

It makes me feel dirty, honestly, with so many gamers rooting for multibillion dollar mega-media corporations over consumer rights. There's no universe in which your entire catalog of past purchases should be locked from you due to a chargeback.

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I don't think people are supporting or even agreeing with Sony's actions, just seems like people are saying what Sony's policy actually is?

 

[Lakeside]

Had this happen to me a few years back. Someone got access to my account and was siphoning FIFA dlc using my card. Everyone here who says people don't understand finance is probably right, but as someone who had never had fraud committed on them before, my first call definitely went to my bank.

I get that someone technically took goods from Sony and understand the company's insistence on being reimbursed, but it really hurt to have $1000+ of digital content held hostage while I scraped together the funds to cover it on my first year teacher salary. It sure seemed like the megacorporation could have let that $200 go being that I had clearly never inserted a FIFA game into my console.

They got me to pay it eventually, sucker that I am. Not convinced that people outside this forum know how deadly contacting your bank can be for your psn collection.

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That's it in a nutshell. Sony puts this fear in place to ensure that the customer is defrauded and not them. It's gross that so many fanboys are down with this.

 

[Redria]

Had this happen to me a few years back. Someone got access to my account and was siphoning FIFA dlc using my card. Everyone here who says people don't understand finance is probably right, but as someone who had never had fraud committed on them before, my first call definitely went to my bank.

I get that someone technically took goods from Sony and understand the company's insistence on being reimbursed, but it really hurt to have $1000+ of digital content held hostage while I scraped together the funds to cover it on my first year teacher salary. It sure seemed like the megacorporation could have let that $200 go being that I had clearly never inserted a FIFA game into my console.

They got me to pay it eventually, sucker that I am. Not convinced that people outside this forum know how deadly contacting your bank can be for your psn collection.

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The exact same thing happened to me too. I tried to get back access to my account and instead of locking the account straight away, they wanted me to answer an absolutely ludicrous amount of security questions while the hacker was still purchasing more and more FIFA points.

Sadly the only alternative I had was to charge them back to prevent more charges being piled on and bam, instantly permanently banned by Sony. Hundreds of pounds worth of games flushed straight down the toilet with no resource other than to pay for some FIFA points I never purchased.

The weirdest thing about the situation is that my password was 20+ characters long and generated by a secure password generator, I also had absolutely no password reset e-mails so they must have rang customer services and gained access to the account that way. So it's quite interesting somebody can reset a password with absolutely no information over the phone, yet when the account is compromised and they are contacted through e-mail it's an entirely different story.

 

[CallMeShaft]

OP got banned on ERA?!?

Let this be a lesson to all you thinking about performing a chargeback after signing up for Clear!

 

[AnimaRize]

Yeah it makes you wonder how long digital future scaremongering will continue for. This thread is about someone temporarily losing access to their library because they made a mistake.

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this isn't just scaremongering these are actual issues with actual consequences, these things are happening and will continue to happen, that is the risk of digital content, you truly do not own it, the account in your name owns it, and once you lose that account for whatever reason, you lose everything you purchased because you no longer have the account that owns it, it's not scaremongering that's fact, and it's not always a simple phone call fix

yes digital stores are convenient but convenience comes with many risks and the op got hit by one.

it's not simply a scare, this is the future if we keep ignoring those risks and don't address them

 

[MrFox]

The answer to your question is in the post you quoted. Just read carefully. There is zero chance that I am going to blame my mom for any of this shit.

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Can she simply call the CC company and revise her claim? She unknowingly made a credit card fraud claim against you, that is what created a big ripple effect. I would think it's clearly in her hands to reverse the ongoing investigation.

It happens often enough that the credit card companies ask about family members before accepting to do a chargeback. They asked me about it when I did one.

 

[Deleted member 81119]

this isn't just scaremongering these are actual issues with actual consequences, these things are happening and will continue to happen, that is the risk of digital content, you truly do not own it, the account in your name owns it, and once you lose that account for whatever reason, you lose everything you purchased because you no longer have the account that owns it, it's not scaremongering that's fact, and it's not always a simple phone call fix

yes digital stores are convenient but convenience comes with many risks and the op got hit by one.

it's not simply a scare, this is the future if we keep ignoring those risks and don't address them

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A temporary ban on an account is not something I would consider a great risk. But to each their own.

 

[LiK]

OP got banned on ERA?!?

Let this be a lesson to all you thinking about performing a chargeback after signing up for Clear!

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why was he banned? this thread is massive

 

[Grouch Douglass]

Can she simply call the CC company and revise her claim? She unknowingly made a credit card fraud claim against you, that is what created a big ripple effect. I would think it's clearly in her hands to reverse the ongoing investigation.

It happens often enough that the credit card companies ask about family members before accepting to do a chargeback. They asked me about it when I did one.

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Yes this is possible, but from my experience it would take up to 2 months for Sony to get the money back after a chargeback reversal is requested.

 

[OrangeNova]

why was he banned? this thread is massive

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Looks like he was banned for Hostility on this post

...

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[AnimaRize]

A temporary ban on an account is not something I would consider a great risk. But to each their own.

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what if he couldn't get that account back, what if his account was stolen, what if he permanently lost the account? those purchases would be gone, just because the OP's current situation is temporary doesn't mean each one is, it's a symptom of larger issue, nobody wants to address it because of the convenience, these are an issue they exist, you can't say temporary and it will go away it won't. And these companies don't care, they know this is an issue like amazon knows it is but how does hurt them? it doesn't you are having to give them more money to access that content again because you can longer access that content they are getting an extra sale.

you can't ignore it because one situation is temporary when there are others that aren't

 

[Puroresu_kid]

Had this happen to me a few years back. Someone got access to my account and was siphoning FIFA dlc using my card. Everyone here who says people don't understand finance is probably right, but as someone who had never had fraud committed on them before, my first call definitely went to my bank.

I get that someone technically took goods from Sony and understand the company's insistence on being reimbursed, but it really hurt to have $1000+ of digital content held hostage while I scraped together the funds to cover it on my first year teacher salary. It sure seemed like the megacorporation could have let that $200 go being that I had clearly never inserted a FIFA game into my console.

They got me to pay it eventually, sucker that I am. Not convinced that people outside this forum know how deadly contacting your bank can be for your psn collection.

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That is horrific.

The exact same thing happened to me too. I tried to get back access to my account and instead of locking the account straight away, they wanted me to answer an absolutely ludicrous amount of security questions while the hacker was still purchasing more and more FIFA points.

Sadly the only alternative I had was to charge them back to prevent more charges being piled on and bam, instantly permanently banned by Sony. Hundreds of pounds worth of games flushed straight down the toilet with no resource other than to pay for some FIFA points I never purchased.

The weirdest thing about the situation is that my password was 20+ characters long and generated by a secure password generator, I also had absolutely no password reset e-mails so they must have rang customer services and gained access to the account that way. So it's quite interesting somebody can reset a password with absolutely no information over the phone, yet when the account is compromised and they are contacted through e-mail it's an entirely different story.

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That is disgraceful

 

[Deleted member 81119]

what if he couldn't get that account back, what if his account was stolen, what if he permanently lost the account? those purchases would be gone, just because the OP's current situation is temporary doesn't is, it's a symptom of larger issue, nobody wants to address it because of the convenience, these are an issue they exist, you can't say temporary and it will go away it won't. And these companies don't care, they know this is an issue like knows but how does hurt them? it doesn't you are having to give them more money to access that content again because you can longer access that content they are getting an extra sale.

you can't ignore it because one situation is temporary when there are others that aren't

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This is what I mean by scaremongering. You're suggesting what if scenarios. People don't just randomly get their accounts permanently banned without good reason. I absolutely agree that even a temporary ban for this is way too strict, but it's not permanently locking someone out of their purchases. It's locking them out until they pay back the money they owe.

 

[LiK]

Looks like he was banned for Hostility on this post

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ah thanks

 

[Puroresu_kid]

Seriously peeps the way Sony handle this just don't allow yourself ever to be a victim of fraud via PlayStation services.

Use PSN cards.

 

[truncated_pachyderm]

Some of y'all are so fucking dense. My parents have no problem with me using their credit cards. There is a reason why the credit card was already on my account. Hell I didn't even know it was my parents credit card. I didn't have to put any info in. I was just in a rush to buy the games before Black Friday sales ended. My mom has no problem either. She just didn't know why she was charged by PlayStation. I didn't know she was being charged by PlayStation. The whole thing is one giant miscommunication. My parents use my card too since our accounts are connected. We don't have to ask each other for permission. But y'all keep making assumptions and assigning blame and fault. SDF coming out in full force here.

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There's a difference between informed adults mutually agreeing to a system (i.e., chargebacks = bans), and white knighting for a billion dollar corporation. Just because the majority of Era agrees that you fucked up doesn't make us part of the "Sony Defense Force." Sony doesn't need defending. You came here to air your grievances - nobody started this thread on your behalf. The point of a message board is that we read posts, form opinions, then respond with them. My opinion (like many others) is that you made some foolish choices that could have been avoidable.

Sony didn't make a decision here. Their decision was already made when they set up the PSN service. When your mom did the chargeback, the ban was automatic per their policy. You made the decision to agree to the terms, and then you made the risky decision to keep a payment method on file which you don't have 100% control over.

Hopefully your temp ban gives you a chance to cool down and own your mistake.

 

[Grouch Douglass]

what if he couldn't get that account back, what if his account was stolen, what if he permanently lost the account? those purchases would be gone, just because the OP's current situation is temporary doesn't mean each one is, it's a symptom of larger issue, nobody wants to address it because of the convenience, these are an issue they exist, you can't say temporary and it will go away it won't. And these companies don't care, they know this is an issue like knows but how does hurt them? it doesn't you are having to give them more money to access that content again because you can longer access that content they are getting an extra sale.

you can't ignore it because one situation is temporary when there are others that aren't

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I agree that there should be stronger consumer protections regarding digital content. Hopefully the Biden admin can address it. Until then the best thing we can do is to be knowledgeable about the risks of having a digital library and to choose a physical option if the risks are too great for you.

 

[Tunesmith]

I feel like this should be threadmarked

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Hope at least OP sees it and can use it. Even if he's now banned here too..

 

[AnimaRize]

This is what I mean by scaremongering. You're suggesting what if scenarios. People don't just randomly get their accounts permanently banned without good reason. I absolutely agree that even a temporary ban for this is way too strict, but it's not permanently locking someone out of their purchases. It's locking them out until they pay back the money they owe.

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these aren't just what if scenarios, people lose their accounts all the time they lose those purchases all the time, the op's situation isn't a rarity, what is rare is he's stuff back he is actually getting the account, not everybody is that lucky. once that account is gone everything you bought on it is gone, and very often you aren't, the op just felt the consequences of digital purchases, and while it is temporary this time, next time it probably won't. I didn't get it fixed when i had to rebuy my digital purchases from amazon when they lost the license, and i had the receipts showing i had bought the stuff, you want to know they did when i called customer service, gave $5 gift card and said they were sorry and had me rebuy the stuff again, the $5 didn't even cover half the amount.

 

[xxracerxx]

Hope at least OP sees it and can use it. Even if he's now banned here too..

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OP already filled it out I believe but this was BEFORE he knew it was their mom that did a chargeback.

 

[AnimaRize]

I agree that there should be stronger consumer protections regarding digital content. Hopefully the Biden admin can address it. Until then the best thing we can do is to be knowledgeable about the risks of having a digital library and to choose a physical option if the risks are too great for you.

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i've already felt the consequences of digital products, so yeah I am physical

 

[Deleted member 13101]

If you have an account anywhere, you need to know whose card is entered for the payment info, even if you're in a family account and not the main account holder.

And you need to know which card is the current "use this payment" card. Watch out in places where you may have multiple cards entered (like amazon), where they will run through the list of cards and charge Prime on any card/account where the charge will process successfully if the "use this payment" card doesn't work for some reason.

 

[Swift_Gamer]

It isn't up to Sony to determine fraud from an external payment method. There are avenues in place for the account holder to contact Sony and resolve the issue. It's not the other way around. The OP was determined to use a fraud payment method, and per the policy YOU agree on when you make the PSN account, it was suspended for fraud.

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Using your parents CC with their permission is fraud? LMAO

 

[Deleted member 43]

Using your parents CC with their permission is fraud? LMAO

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Yes, that's what the OP's mom told her credit card company.

 

[Swift_Gamer]

I don't think people are supporting or even agreeing with Sony's actions, just seems like people are saying what Sony's policy actually is?

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No, they clearly are agreeing with Sony here, some are being supportive and accusing OP of fraud.

 

[Swift_Gamer]

Yes, that's what the OP's mom told her credit card company.

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It's not fraud, darling, the mom just got confused. Miscommunication isn't fraud.

 

[Deleted member 43]

It's not fraud, darling, the mom just got confused. Miscommunication isn't fraud.

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OK, but as far as the credit card company and therefore Sony knew, it was. Because that's what they were told by the card owner.

Also, darling? Really?

 

[Swift_Gamer]

OK, but as far as the credit card company and therefore Sony knew, it was. Because that's what they were told by the card owner.

Also, darling? Really?

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Yeah, and then Sony should revoke access from that one purchase, not the whole account.