Is this normal (PS3 and Sony-related)?

[Zap!]

About a month ago I did a stupid thing. I bought a used 80 gig PS3 (the one that is PS2 compatable) on Craigslist for $230. Well, after a few days, it stopped playing all Blu-Ray's. It still played PS2 or PS1 games, but the system had to be off for an hour or two or it wouldn't regognize there was a disk in the system.

So I figured I'd send it to Sony, and hope they don't charge more than the initial $150 just to look at it. I filled out the online form and said it was bought on March 1, 2008 (just a random date), and they sent me a box two days later (free shipping). It included a sheet of paper that said to explain the problem, include the reciept (that I didn't have of course, yada yada).

I dropped the box of at UPS, and a few days later I got e-mail conformation saying they recieved it, and it takes up to 10 days. The very next day I got an email saying it was shipped back to me via second day air! I thought the worst, that Sony saw there was no reciept and just sent it back. I called Sony and asked them what was up, and the guy said "they either repaired it or sent you a new one."

Two days later, I recieved my PS3 with a free 90 day warrantee, and it works like a charm! No questions asked about the reciept! I didn't have to pay $1! Is this just Sony being nice, or did I get uber-lucky? Did the employee forget to look for a reciept? Has anything like this ever happened to you?

[lazyhoboguy]

That doesnt sound normal, lucky you.

[titanzguard]

Ya, very lucky. Usually they will just ship it back to you without repairing it.

[Zap!]

Ya, very lucky. Usually they will just ship it back to you without repairing it.

Actually, from what I was told before hand, if you don't have a reciept, they call you asking for your credit card so they can charge you $150 to look at it. Most repairs are covered with the $150 charge (but not all I am told). They never just send it back.

What confused them is on the online form, I clicked that it was bought March 1st 2008 (since this was a few weeks ago, it would have been covered by warrantee with reciept). I may have also checked that I had the reciept, but I can't remember if they asked.

[Nitrosport]

You're extremely lucky! I had to jump through hoops to get mine repaired on warranty. I had to call Gamestop and give them my consoles info so they could fax Sony my proof of purchase. It took about 1 month of bullshit before I was approved to send it in for repair.

[jb143]

It was probally just a fluke. Something that slipped by a worker doing the same exact thing day after day...or something new and confussing that they just let slide by. If it was a real loophole then people could buy busted PS3's on craigslist for pennies and have Sony send them working ones for free. Not that that's too unlikely either.

[demen999]

I dont now anything about ps3's or Sonys process to repair systems, but that sounds badass!

[Zap!]

It was probally just a fluke. Something that slipped by a worker doing the same exact thing day after day...or something new and confussing that they just let slide by. If it was a real loophole then people could buy busted PS3's on craigslist for pennies and have Sony send them working ones for free. Not that that's too unlikely either.

Yeah, it had to be a worker opened it, saw it was coming in as "under warrantee", and didn't bother to check for a reciept.

[Hitman Tyler]

This is extreamly Luck! :) I read stories where actually Sony sent the system back after Months of keeping and waiting for a Reciept to be sent.

Too bad you didn't get a 60GB instead.