I'm currently in a quandary....
I'm absolutely rubbish at complaining. I am afflicted with that stereotypically british attitude that you just put up with things if they go wrong, no matter how inconvenient it may be. I don't consciously think that way, but when it comes to complaining I somehow manage to talk myself out of it most of the time. I've put up with bad treatment at work for ages until I exploded with rage at my boss, let an ex run "us" thousands of pounds into credit card debt (which she then took great glee in blaming on me despite exactly 5 american dollars being my actual bill) and often get caught for what seems like aeons doing market surveys or listening to some new offer from my insurance company, rather than just saying "No, thank you" like a normal person (in fact, I once pretended to be searching for a bank statement for over 10 minutes rather than tell the phone monkey I wasn't interested). But for the past few weeks, I've steadily been gearing up to complain.

I want to telephone sony and complain about my playstation 3. I searched their website for hours before finally finding an email address, but their reply was simply "phone us", so I have no choice.

The bloody thing keeps freezing. I only bought it as a replacement for my original ps3, which died last year of the yellow light of death (I didn't even attempt to complain about that, I merely grimaced, payed £100 for a failed repair attempt then bought another). Now, it doesn't freeze all the time, but I can't play fallout at all, I can't play Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 online at all, and it freezes a lot whenever I use the internet on it. It's also frozen a couple of times during other games.

It's still in warranty, but I've lost both the box and the warranty documents thanks to some over-zealous tidying. I do, however, have a receipt from amazon proving it was purchased less than a year ago.

I don't know if, somewhere deep in my brain, I imagine my old primary one teacher answering the phone and giving me a terrifyingly loud bollocking for being so stupid. "Well, if those games don't work you'll have to just not play them" she'll say, and I'll feel like a tit.

I'm going to do it. I'm going to. Tomorrow.
( baw__bag contains traces of nuts on, Wed 8 Sep 2010, 14:29, 18 replies)

It might be overheating
they do get quite toasty, especially if you wrap them in an electric blanket
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Wed 8 Sep 2010, 14:42, closed)

Think that's what did the first one in.
I found standing it on it's side allowed me to play COD for a few days before the problem returned, but it's as bad as ever now. I'm gonna have to man up and phone, don't want to shell out on the new fallout and COD games only to find they don't work either :(
( baw__bag contains traces of nuts on, Wed 8 Sep 2010, 15:08, closed)

Just 'phone them!
Then we can all get back to killing zombies.
( Blind Meach Cautiously optimistic, Wed 8 Sep 2010, 15:10, closed)

Dont blame you for wanting to complain.
But then Im an xbox 360 owner! Only had one red ring of death and they replaced it for free and it was all good.
(Beaverman Opulence, I has it., Wed 8 Sep 2010, 15:19, closed)

One word:
XBOX

Seriously though, it could be overheating due to vents being blocked. Have you tried putting the hoover nozzle in all the vents to clear out any dust? Is it positioned with walls/carpet/cabinet blocking vents?

how-to-fix-a-ps3.info/ps3-overheating-solutions/

Might just save you some hassle.....
( TheFinch is getting to grips with the complex plane on, Wed 8 Sep 2010, 15:19, closed)

hint: don't use vacuum cleaners on electrical devices to clean them

( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 8 Sep 2010, 15:28, closed)

Agrees--^
with the hoovering part that is.

I'm a PS3 owner myself as are a couple of my mates and one of our group had the same problems a while back that seemed to cease after a good going over with the hoover (Which he tried after reading the solution on a website similar to the one above).
(mon bison powered by magnets, Wed 8 Sep 2010, 15:31, closed)

I'll give that a try, thanks :D
It works ok with most games though, and hasn't played fallout at all since the day I got it (I assumed the disc was damaged) but it's worth a try.
( baw__bag contains traces of nuts on, Wed 8 Sep 2010, 20:13, closed)

If you don't have a warranty, Sony can ignore you.
As the retailer that sold it to you, Amazon can't (see the sale of goods act). If the goods were defective when they were sold to you (or unfit for purpose, which includes breaking under conditions you would be normally expected to use it in) then Amazon would have to either replace it or refund you.

After a certain amount of time (depends on the nature of the goods), it becomes accepted that it is impossible to show that the goods were defective at the time of sale, rather than breaking later on during use, so don't leave it and expect to be able to get it replaced later. An electrical item in the first year of use with no signs of mechanical or water damage would almost certainly legally fall in the category of defective at point of sale.
(Mr T, Wed 8 Sep 2010, 15:37, closed)

I was hoping
that sony would offer a replacement without much trouble. All ps3's are covered by a year's warranty, so I was hoping that proof of purchase less than a year ago would be enough. These kind of things are why I am loathe to phone :P
( baw__bag contains traces of nuts on, Wed 8 Sep 2010, 20:10, closed)

when i rang microsoft about my xbox
they just asked for one of the codes that was on it
( weaver., Thu 9 Sep 2010, 3:09, closed)

Can you lend me £75
I look forward to you not being able to ask for it back.
(waxdart hello., Wed 8 Sep 2010, 15:42, closed)

A mate of mine from college
has owed me £40 for over a year. And it's really closer to £60 :P
( baw__bag contains traces of nuts on, Wed 8 Sep 2010, 20:05, closed)

YLOD should just require a quick reflow - you need a cheapo hot-air gun, a screwdriver, and a few copper coins (to improve the heatsink) - that's all. Takes about an hour, and should have the ps3 running for another six months or so before you need to do it again. Dunno why some miscreant thought it was worth 100 quid.

Re companies - I buy and sell a lot of computery bollocks, and I invariably have a better time complaining to the manufacturer than the retailer. I sent a (not angry) complaint to Logitech recently about my diNovo Edge (105 quid worth of keyboard) misbehaving after a year and a half of near-constant use. Their response was 'no worries, we'll send you new one' - they didn't even ask for the old one back (I'm typing on it right now, new one is still in its box). Iiyama were similarly generous, albeit a little more kack-handed in the implementation. Retailers almost always argue the toss.
( Happy Phantom has been to Hastings, Brighton, and Eastbourne too, Wed 8 Sep 2010, 16:03, closed)

Check this:
playstationlifestyle.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2376

Full instructions included and looks straightforward.
( TheFinch is getting to grips with the complex plane on, Wed 8 Sep 2010, 17:58, closed)

I got it repaired,
it broke again. They repaired it again for free and fitted a larger fan (I assume, because it sounded like a hoover) and it broke a further twice before I gave up :(
( baw__bag contains traces of nuts on, Wed 8 Sep 2010, 20:12, closed)

Buy another one online
take the warranty card out of it, send your new one back saying you've changed your mind (ten day cooling off period) and use the warranty card with your old one. Simples!
(brutal stack Raided the beeves of Apollo on, Thu 9 Sep 2010, 1:08, closed)

or even more sensibly
swap the new one for the old one...guh
(brutal stack Raided the beeves of Apollo on, Thu 9 Sep 2010, 1:09, closed)