Sony PlayStation Refused Refund of Stolen PSN Game & 'Watchdog' IPlayer TV Show Steps In

The limelight is once again on Sony PlayStation and this time it isn't because of their gaming capabilities or how they have essentially owned the digital landscape for more than 20 years. This time it's because of what seems to be a faulty digital policy that is being investigated by the BBC television show Watchdog and its Iplayer segment. Apparently one gamer's plea to get a refund after his account was stolen was turned down even though it was found that his PSN account was stolen.

It all started when the PSN user noticed someone purchased a game for £39.99 on a Playstation 3. The kicker in all this is that the player didn't even own a PS3. When he got in contact with Sony they swiftly rejected his offer even though they admitted the game was bought under somebody else's volition.

"Our investigation concluded that the serial number of the console on which these transactions were made does not match the serial number of the console you provided to us on your original call," Sony said in their e-mail to the gamer. "Regrettably, as stated in the PlayStation Network Terms of Service, we are unable to offer a refund for purchases made on PlayStation Store unless the content is found to be defective."

After the investigation was closed by Sony, the BBC and their television show Watchdog stepped in. This prompted Sony to refund the player his money. The man with the stolen account still isn't impressed by the refund though. According to him it took more than six months for them to act.

"You can look at this two ways, Sony are all fine because, hey, they did refund me in the end, or you can view it as pretty bad that it took six months, multiple calls and emails and a TV investigation before they cynically refunded me so they can say 'the affected users have since been refunded, we regret...' on TV when they're asked about it."