PSN Automatic Renewal and Issues I have with it...

[shakey]

Well, December 18th was the last time I renewed my PSN+ subscription. 3 months went by, and it just happened to be that a friend of mine needed some money, so I gave them my card to hold onto for a bit ( trust is no issue, and this isn't the problem lol ). So March 18th comes, and I figure they charged my card for it already, as on the 19th and 20th of March I was still a PSN+ member. So on March 19th, I helped my sister by baby sitting my nephew, and she said I could order a pizza and get some downloaded content for MVC3 as my reward lol. So March 20th, at 11:30 in the morning, I input her CC info onto my account, order the MVC3 Downloadable characters, and think all is good. I use the restroom, come out, and with in those 10 minutes, Sony decided that at 11:40 am on a Sunday would be the best time to I guess renew my PSN+ subscription. So my sister's CC gets charged an additional $20 bucks. Now money isn't the issue here. I can afford it, she can, and I am going to pay her back. Here is the issue.

So this automatic renewal just goes whenever it wants basically, and Sony says , that since it was a automatic renewal, they have no ways of giving a refund or changing the charge to another card. I ask them, " So If I was to actually press through the store and verifications for a purchase, I could still get a refund, but something that happens automatically, without my knowing of when or consent of on what, is something I just have to deal with?" And they said Yes. I told them that if this was a automatic renewal, it should be charged to my original card I set it up on, and not the card I just put in 10 minutes ago to just make 1 purchase.

Ya, it isn't much, but it is enough to frustrate me. Sooo, if you have any renewing subscriptions, I recommend going to account management, transaction details, and then turning off the auto renewal. It really does you no good in the long run, as the only safety is that Sony will get what they want lol.

To me, this is just horrible customer service and business practice. Not only is the renewal not set up for the same day of the first purchase, but more on a random, at any point near the day, type of renewal. Doesn't matter how much you ask them to even change the charge to another card, they will refuse to help you. It has left me with a bitter feeling towards Sony, and if there was another way of getting some things than using the PS Store, I surely would. As I do not feel that they are putting the customers on a even field of respect and business.

[Doli]

I dont have PSN+ but if they have a automatic renewal system they should email people a few days before the subscription renews to let them know they are going to charge them so people can cancle if they like. Charging any card you put in instead of the one you used to buy the subscription is just silly I cant believe Sony did that. I am a little worried about having my card info on my console and I juist found out Amazon lets me buy PSN games and they have a PSN+ subscription cards also. I buy a game from Amazon and they give me a code to put into the PSN store.

[shakey]

I dont have PSN+ but if they have a automatic renewal system they should email people a few days before the subscription renews to let them know they are going to charge them so people can cancle if they like. Charging any card you put in instead of the one you used to buy the subscription is just silly I cant believe Sony did that. I am a little worried about having my card info on my console and I juist found out Amazon lets me buy PSN games and they have a PSN+ subscription cards also. I buy a game from Amazon and they give me a code to put into the PSN store.

I just wrote to the BBB about this. I believe that if they are going to hold me to a "contract" of terms, then the contract must follow the same rules as all contracts. If one party is on lesser grounds due to the contract, then that contract is null and void in the state of Texas. Both party members must be equals, and to do something like this is just under handed and horrible.

Like I mentioned before, its not about the money, its about the ethics and way they went about it. Just despicable.

[AbandonedTrolley]

They certainly should give a warning email about this. I subscribed for the free 30 day trial of Qrocity. Next thing I know I get an email from Sony saying that my subscription has been extended another month and ?9.99 had been taken from my wallet! Wasn't a happy guy, but I guess now I'm a bit more thorough in what I click subscribe to.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

They certainly should give a warning email about this. I subscribed for the free 30 day trial of Qrocity. Next thing I know I get an email from Sony saying that my subscription has been extended another month and ?9.99 had been taken from my wallet! Wasn't a happy guy, but I guess now I'm a bit more thorough in what I click subscribe to.

lol you doddo!

You can turn off your automatic subscriptions on the PS3 under account settings.

[AbandonedTrolley]

lol you doddo!

You can turn off your automatic subscriptions on the PS3 under account settings.

Wouldn't have minded if it was a service I was getting use out of but quite frankly it's next to useless. Rather use Vidzone and at least see the video too.

[Xilo]

They certainly should give a warning email about this. I subscribed for the free 30 day trial of Qrocity. Next thing I know I get an email from Sony saying that my subscription has been extended another month and ?9.99 had been taken from my wallet! Wasn't a happy guy, but I guess now I'm a bit more thorough in what I click subscribe to.

This is like that for every subscription service that offers a free trial.

[AbandonedTrolley]

This is like that for every subscription service that offers a free trial.

Yeah my problem was that I used it so little I had forgotten all about it, was only when I got the email that I remembered about it.

[Subject Delta]

If it was done on a credit card, just do a chargeback

[shakey]

Delta, it wasn't about the money, it was about how they went getting it, and how they wanted to then put the problem on someone else other than just admitting it was their wrong doing. No reason I or my sister should have to do extra work to get money back from them that was taken wrongfully.

BUUUT.....

Just 1 day after filing with the BBB, I get a call from Sony in California. They have apologized for charging my sisters card and gave a refund. Sad that it took that measure, but at least it was corrected now.

They know they weren't in the right on that. No way does entering a card on a system give them full authorization to use it for anything I have not already purchased with that card. I wouldn't have had an issue if they had done this the correct way, and just charged the original card that was used for it. But instead, they now have another complaint on the BBB list and had to admit their mistake.

Just remember people, don't let companies try this crap on you. Push as hard as you can lol.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Just remember people, don't let companies try this crap on you. Push as hard as you can lol.

(Y) Fully agree. people are way to complacent with these big time companies. Nice to see it was resolved, not nice it happened in the first place.

[x9248]

Eh Sony is pretty dirty when it comes to purchases on PSN. Heck, they use no form of encryption whatsoever and your credit card info is out in the open.

[AbandonedTrolley]

Eh Sony is pretty dirty when it comes to purchases on PSN. Heck, they use no form of encryption whatsoever and your credit card info is out in the open.

Are you sure, wasn't this just a feature of the custom firmware that was doing this?

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Are you sure, wasn't this just a feature of the custom firmware that was doing this?

Yes it's completely untrue, just like the nonsense about people being able to ban anyone on PSN.

Update: A document written by the hackers has clarified what they did and what privacy and security risks they believe the PlayStation 3 poses. The PS3's connection to PSN is protected by SSL. As is common to SSL implementations, the identity of the remote server is verified using a list of certificates stored on each PS3. The credit card and other information is sent over this SSL connection. So far so good; this is all safe, and your web browser depends on the same mechanisms for online purchases.

The concern raised by the hackers is that custom firmwares could subvert this system. A custom firmware can include custom certificates in its trusted list. It can also use custom DNS servers. This raises the prospect of a malicious entity operating his own proxies to snaffle sensitive data. He would distribute a custom firmware that had a certificate corresponding to his proxy, and that used a DNS server that directed PSN connections to the proxy. His proxy would decrypt the data sent to it, and then re-encrypt it and forward it to the real PSN servers.

Such a scheme would be transparent to PSN users (except for any potential performance reduction caused by the proxying), and would give the attacker access to all the information that the PS3 sends to Sony. This information is shown to be extensive, but apart from the credit card data, probably not too sensitive or unreasonable.

As flaws go, the risks here are not substantial. There is no generalized ability for hackers to grab credit cards from PSN users; only those using specially devised custom firmwares would be at risk. Essentially the same risk could be faced by anyone downloading a pirated version of Windows: extra certificates could be added to those normally trusted, along with suitable DNS entries, to allow interception of any traffic destined for, say, amazon.com. In practice, the risk of either of these is slight, and in any case, trivially avoided: don't use custom firmware.

The original story is below, but note that the claims originally made by the hacker quoted in the article are unsubstantiated.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/02/report-psn-hacked-showing-stunning-lack-of-credit-card-security.ars

[x9248]

Ah I wasn't aware of that. My understanding wasn't that hackers could get to it (I guess I shouldn't have said "wide open") but rather Sony employees can see all of your numbers if they so choose to take it.

In my defense tho it's not like I keep up to date on Sony news/trolling :p

[AbandonedTrolley]

Eh Sony is pretty dirty when it comes to purchases on PSN. Heck, they use no form of encryption whatsoever and your credit card info is out in the open.

In my defense tho it's not like I keep up to date on Sony news/trolling :p

:whistle:

Ah I wasn't aware of that. My understanding wasn't that hackers could get to it (I guess I shouldn't have said "wide open") but rather Sony employees can see all of your numbers if they so choose to take it.

Well not being funny that's the same as most places where you give your details.... any worker that works within that organisations web payments probably has access to them. Only giving them as much trust as you do when you hand a card over in a store etc.

Oh my :laugh:

[Mr. Gibs]

Well not being funny that's the same as most places where you give your details.... any worker that works within that organisations web payments probably has access to them. Only giving them as much trust as you do when you hand a card over in a store etc.

Not really, most legit sites that you give your credit card to encrypt your details (and while it's transferring it should be encrypted).

The PS3, however, was sending credit card details to sony in plain text.

[AbandonedTrolley]

Not really, most legit sites that you give your credit card to encrypt your details (and while it's transferring it should be encrypted).

The PS3, however, was sending credit card details to sony in plain text.

It was sending details via SSL, same as any other website would do.

As mentioned in the thread, it's only the custom firmwares that are doing away with that process.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Not really, most legit sites that you give your credit card to encrypt your details (and while it's transferring it should be encrypted).

The PS3, however, was sending credit card details to sony in plain text.

Major reading fail :laugh: Try again buddy!