PSN Account Banned - Advised Bank to Card Charge Back in Error

Steven Reece Lewis on 09/12/2017 - 21:48
Last edited 11/12/2017 - 10:26 by 1 other user

Hello Ozbargin gamers,

I've gone to access my PS4 account this morning to play some destiny 2 and have received an error screen stating I'm banned.

After getting over the shock I realised what's happened to bring about the "ban". I received some weird text messages in October about a fitness membership that didn't belong to me. I called my credit card customer support and reported that I believed that someone was trying to use my card. They cancelled the card and did some charge backs. Unfortunately one was for a pending PSN transaction for some Nioh DLC I did earlier that morning. I rang them back that day and told them to please do not charge back anything PlayStation related. They said they "wouldn't"

Fast forward 6 weeks later to today. PSN account = total ban. No email yet as it's a weekend. Can't call customer support to lift the ban and pay the debt as it's the weekend. Call Credit card Customer service and they state to me that they did the charge back for PlayStation when I reported the fraud attempt. Why for the love of God!?

Anyon here had experience with how long it takes with Australian customer support to lift a PSN ban once you've paid the debt off? I know you need to buy a credit voucher in store. All this because some fool got their mobile phone a couple of digits wrong when signing up for fitness First membership.

On another note, I know my account name and user id but not the DOB and address as I put in made up stuff because I was paranoid about fraud when I first signed up after Sony's track record. All the chips are lining up to make this even more painful than it already is and I just renewed PlayStation plus for 2 years!

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Comments

  • trustnoone on 09/12/2017 - 22:08
    +1

    If you can still login, you might be able to go to your account details settings: https://account.sonyentertainmentnetwork.com and you should be able to find the address in there?

    Not sure about dob, hopefully with address, name, email etc it should be enough, especially since your're giving them money. I have no idea how it go's but good luck mate.

  • Steven Reece Lewis on 09/12/2017 - 22:15

    Thanks for the link. Unfortunately, a real ban means you can't even get into your account via any device. Not even the app on my phone. I'm pretty sure my address is as stupid as something like 123 fake street

    • trustnoone on 11/12/2017 - 02:59

      Thats absolutely abhorrent to hear they do that ugh, I could totally go on a rant about this but its probably unhelpful lol. I have a /feeling/ I remember reading somewhere that you can do it with PSN cards. I still think you have to call them up, but I think you can also use a card to add to the account and if the account is positive they can take the money off that?

      I could be very wrong so probably useful if you're out of other options, but hopefully you have no problems getting it resolved.

  • dcep on 09/12/2017 - 23:04
    +1

    hope they didn't nuke your account yet.

    chargeback = straight ban , no questions asked, that's Sony modus operandi

    • [Deactivated] on 09/12/2017 - 23:12

      How is that even legal? Just nuke the whole account, even if the charge back was in error?

      • whooah1979 on 10/12/2017 - 08:45
        +3

        How is that even legal? Just nuke the whole account, even if the charge back was in error?

        a chargeback is a violation of their terms.
        https://account.sonyentertainmentnetwork.com/liquid/info/ter…

        ii) You comply with all applicable terms
        If you fail to comply with these terms of service, including any additional terms (see below), we may take action against you as explained below including banning you from the PSN.

        Chargebacks
        If a top up to your wallet is reversed by your payment service provider (e.g. your bank, credit card provider or PayPal), known as a "chargeback", you will owe us a debt equal to the amount of the chargeback. We will suspend access to the PSN by your Account or console until that debt is repaid. We reserve the right to deduct funds from your wallet to pay any debt owed by you to us.

  • onceupon8 on 10/12/2017 - 01:09
    +2

    I find it hard to believe that the chargeback was in error. I'm not familiar with CBA, but I believe most banks make you sign a form that lists the specific transactions that you are claiming are not yours.

    • Steven Reece Lewis on 10/12/2017 - 08:06

      The transactions on the day were all "pending". In my panic that my card was comprised, I told them they should cancel everything. A couple of hours later I rang back and said. Don't worry, Ive determined that most of them are legitimate. The $15.50 transaction is for Nioh Season pass from Sony Playstation. Please don't charge back that. The operater said she'd pass the note on to the fraud department … They obviously decided I wanted it charged back. I love Nioh and I wanted that DLC so the charge back is unwanted

      • HighAndDry on 11/12/2017 - 10:21

        In my panic that my card was comprised, I told them they should cancel everything.

        So not in error then.

        For obvious reasons, the fraud department works quickly when processing chargebacks and cancelling cards. By the time you called back it may well already have been processed.

      • onceupon8 on 11/12/2017 - 12:56

        I still find this hard to believe. It's not possible for the bank to just cancel the transactions. They need to lodge chargebacks. Most banks (I'm not familiar with CBA) will send you a form which you need to sign which lists the transactions that you are disputing. When the chargeback is lodged with Visa, the bank will submit a copy of this form which will end up being given to the merchants bank to prove that the transaction is being charged back by the cardholder.

        • Steven Reece Lewis on 11/12/2017 - 14:31

          28 degrees didn't issue me a form. I rang them and they said they'd cancel the card and issue a new one and look at the pending transactions and figure out which are most likely fraudulent. I told them anything PlayStation related isnt fraudulent because I made a purchase that morning. 4 hours later I had determined that the text messages I had received that made me think someone was trying to get at my credit card were due to some human error. I rang 28 degrees cc and told them to call off the fraud team and not issue any charge backs. That message was obviously not relayed to the fraud team and they went ahead and charged back my PSN purchase any way. I didn't fill out any forms I can assure you.

    • SirFlibbled on 11/02/2019 - 15:53

      oops necrothread

  • pineapple12 on 10/12/2017 - 03:55

    I think you may need the DOB. I made a fake DOB PS account years ago and it’s the worst mistake. But I still use the account fine.

    A few months ago my PS4 got hacked into to use some extra money laying around in my wallet on the PlayStation store, luckily I was on the time and it said someone was trying to get onto my account. So my silly self ignored the message and kept on playing my game.

    Later did I realise they have activivated my PS4 account as their primary PS4. I contacted Sony and they said they needed the DOB but I was unsure of it. Luckily the guy working at Sony there deactivated the PS4.

    Also because it’s the weekend try calling Sony internationally.

  • Steven Reece Lewis on 10/12/2017 - 08:34
    +1

    The lesson in this I've learnt is don't context PayPal or CC with your PSN account. Just stick to credit vouchers

    • HighAndDry on 11/12/2017 - 10:22
      +1

      How is the lesson not "Be careful when doing chargebacks"? Jesus, people will go to any lengths to not take responsibility for their own mistakes.

      • Steven Reece Lewis on 11/12/2017 - 11:14
        +2

        Being careful with charge backs is obviously paramount. I specifically told my 28 degree master card customer service not to charge back Sony Playstation which is what was charged back along with my internet bill. I've learnt my lesson. To prevent possible charge backs and even prevent a hacker going on a spending spree. Using prepaid top up cards is the way to go

        • HighAndDry on 11/12/2017 - 11:16

          Fair. I do think people have a difficult time assessing the risk of credit card fraud and certainly it's better to be over-careful than the opposite.

  • Steven Reece Lewis on 11/12/2017 - 11:16
    +2

    Got through to PlayStation customer support this morning. All good. The bloke on the phone sounded like he hates his job and life but got it sorted. Emailed a photo of the top up card to pay the debt. We'll see how long they take to lift the ban

    • HighAndDry on 11/12/2017 - 11:29
      +1

      Good to hear.

      The bloke on the phone sounded like he hates his job and life

      Have worked call-centers in the past - understandable.

  • Steven Reece Lewis on 11/12/2017 - 23:24

    Took them 14 hours to lift the ban from me contacting customer support by phone. Not bad after reading forums with people waiting 10 working days. I was prepared though with a top up voucher I bought after reading support forums. No such information was published officially. Still, lost my online usage for all of Saturday and Sunday. Could have been playing destiny 2. But that is partially my fault for not digging deeper as the PlayStation customer service number is intentionally buried in the website and if you google it you get the generic Sony company wide customer support number which only operates Monday to Friday, whereas the PlayStation suppourt is Monday to Saturday. Even though I had a silly name listed when I signed up, they know my real name which i found odd. And the rep on the phone and the rep in email correspondence refered to me by my actual name and not the made up one after he asked me what name the account is under and I gave the made up one … Hmmmm. on another note, had this all gone belly up I was seriously considering selling the console (not hardware banned) and investing in an Xbox one X, as I would have lost everything worth keeping anyway. All my online multiplayer progression and even some cloud backed up saves for single player disc games (Witcher 3) would have been toast and about $250 in digital games including the 2 years subscription. Glad it's sorted

    • AssociatedSamsgp @ PlayStation on 10/02/2019 - 17:46

      I just discovered your post and encouraged by the result you got. I fell in the same situation lately when i chargedback my paypal transactions which seemed suspicious and one of them ended up was a $1.45 sony charge. The second Paypal credited the amount back instantly my psn account got banned.

      You mentioned you bought a voucher and sent a photo of that to sony to credit back your account. Are you referring to the psn wallet digital download from like jbhifi or eb games? Or is it a physical card/ voucher that they will need?

      Funny there are no instructions or emails sent to me by sony. Been a week. Not even one saying why my account was banned.

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