Sony: Take note, this is how customer service is done right.

[Meggiepants]

So today I come home and check my mail and in there is a letter from Volkswagen. First, they apologized for the inconvenience of having a voluntary recall for my Jetta.

Included with the apology? $50!!!

Hot damn this is some fine customer service! I've had several vehicles in the past with recalls, and I have never been treated this kindly about them. All I usually get is a letter in the mail that says, "You might want to get this fixed."

So of course, this comes at a time when I'm thinking about Sony and all the troubles people have had with them, myself included. When I got this money from Volkswagen, it made me realize how seldom I get such excellent customer service. I think this is a time when Sony could really shine. Now I know they are giving me fraud protection for a year, and I'm already a Plus subscriber, so I'm sure they are going to give me something for that, but I do think about all the people who this won't really mean anything to.

I know Sony probably can't afford to do something as extravagant as Volkswagen - there are likely a thousand times more PSN users than there are Jetta drivers, but surely, with their back catalog of games, they could give everyone affected by this breach of PSN and the continued outage something that would send some goodwill their way. Because, really, that's what customer service is all about. It's a way to show you as a company care about your customers.

So... I guess for discussion value, what could Sony do to wash the bad taste out of your mouth?

For me, surely they could offer a voucher for a free Sony title from the PSN store. I know they might not be able to give me their newest stuff, but even if they gave me a voucher for something that has gone platinum, I know it would go a long way for me.

Edit: I understand that some people don't think Sony owes them anything, because the hackers are ultimately to blame. I personally only expect to be reimbursed for what I pay for ie. Playstation Plus. However, not everyone feels that way. Many people claim they will not buy Sony products anymore.

For those who say Sony is not to blame at all, I would say that when my debit card number was stolen, my bank took care of everything, false charges and all. Not because they were at fault, they didn't steal the number and use it in an unauthorized manner, but because they wanted to keep me as a customer. Part of being a business is excepting that sometimes going the extra mile pays dividends in the end in the form of customer satisfaction and loyalty. This isn't about what Sony owes their users, it's about what Sony can do to stem the flood of vitriol, whether rightly, or wrongly assigned to them.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

The bad taste was never there. Just bile for the hackers.

 

[Vigilantis]

yay 50$!

Uhh...I'm actually fine with what they are already giving us as compensation...though some can say that a trial subscription of PS+ should of been given out already and that this is more or less taking its place. In all honesty I just want the PSN back up...if only to play the laggy MK9 online =)

(Oh yeah and to never have to go through this crap again)

 

[Tanis]

Personally I think PSN+ is a joke...but beyond that?


I'd say at LEAST one free title from PSN should be given, and/or maybe some kind of coupon for a PS3 game/accessory.

 

[DrMetal]

Mpre than that, they should build their image back to the comunity.
Lawsuit and bashing theirown customers, because a few choose to exploit loopholes - is now how you make good publicity.

What you do from incidents like these, is lear what is exploitable in your systems and improve upon it.

More than anything, if sony attack was indeed targated (as they said, not only PSN effecter, but SEO was as well hit, unless attack was targated hardly both of them would be breached), huge amount of security will only slow down attackers, it is PR that needs to improve. Some one jailbroke your concole? Fine, if they are openly profeting from it, then sure, go ahead and knock them down a coupple of pegs, but dont punish your customers and dont blow such things out of proportions.

Their security breach is only half of problem, them treating comunity as expendable is whole different problem.

To me? One thing that could be, is public rehaul of both their Custome relation teams as well as security teams, and integrations of those 2 closer together.
What they could do directly to custmer? Inform customer faster (only informing that PSN was down due to attack only after afew days, could do more damage than attack), other than that... More than free vouchers, cash limited spending --> as in you could spend $10 on anything, or as part of payment within their network.
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TL;TR, i forgot what i was saying, so read back if you are interested =P

 

[Nargleblarg]

Just my opinion but I really don't think Sony should pay out anything. The Jetta recall is different because that was Volkswagen's fault. Sony did not want this to happen to them and even though it happened doesn't mean they weren't taking care of the information. They provide a free service for people but when something out of their hands goes wrong (this is referred to as an accident) they should have to pay? Now if credit card info was taken and for whatever reason credit card companies feel that they won't cancel the charges then yes feel free to have a sit down with Sony to discuss getting free crap even though you would have more immediate issues to worry about.

 

[Skorpyo]

Well damn.

Working in the auto industry (dealership side, even) as a tech, I can tell you this much: That is actually some rather unprecedented shit right there.

Enjoy the $50. That never really happens.

 

[FalloutJack]

-Compact-

I think you're confusing something here. A car recall is due to defects and faulty parts in the motor vehicle. The thing with Sony is that they were ATTACKED. That is the equivalent of a man carpet bombing the headquarters, car factory, and dealership with a plane. Sony will do what Sony will do, but they don't actually owe you anything. Business does not work that way.

 

[Lullabye]

I actually dont have a problem with Sony. I mean boohoo PSN is down but they've never bashed me, and DRM whilst a problem for others never really affected me. I dislike some of their policies but I dont like alot of companies' policies.
Though maybe Sony could apologize nicely.
It would certainly go some way in convincing me they're more than just a great big douchy corporation.

 

[Meggiepants]

-Compact-

I think you're confusing something here. A car recall is due to defects and faulty parts in the motor vehicle. The thing with Sony is that they were ATTACKED. That is the equivalent of a man carpet bombing the headquarters, car factory, and dealership with a plane. Sony will do what Sony will do, but they don't actually owe you anything. Business does not work that way.

I edited my initial posting to clarify what I mean. No, I do not feel I am owed anything.

And, really VW did not design their car with the idea that it would have flaws, just like Sony did not create their network to have exploitable security holes. In both cases it was a design flaw that led to a problem.

I did not feel I was owed money from VW or Sony, merely that this was great customer service on the part of VW.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Grats on the 50 quid. :3

On the subject of customer service;

I think one of the best companies for customer service and response is Blizzard. I have always been treated very well by them.
One of the worst is EA who seems to wish their customers would implode after gaining thier money. Don't even talk about the Sims 3 website where I heard you can get banned for, no joke, posting a link to google . On the other hand the updates to the horrible EA downloader have been coming thick and fast recently.