PSA: Sony's Welcome Back package ended today [update: last-minute extension]

@pickupdoctor
I had exams and so didn't activate + earlier. You know we have lives and make plans accordingly. Not all gamers are slackers.
I made it a point to not turn on the Playstation during my exams.

Please don't assume anything about me.

@(Unverified)

so you had 30 days of exams?

@(Unverified) You couldnt spare 5 minutes over the course of 30 days? that's your stance?

@pickupdoctor I'm sure somebody is suffering from the rare, incurable paralyzedforthirtydaysitis.

@(Unverified)

To be honest, that's your problem, not ours, I had time to switch on claim my stuff and switch off. If you didn't then it's simply your loss, sounds harsh, but then life is a bitch sometimes, get used to it.

@Equal Opportunity Dork

No I could. I DID redeem my games, but I didn't see the point in redeeming PSN+ since I knew the Playstation was not going to be used.

@Chris
I had 3 weeks of exams and revised for about a month before that. I'm in law school and sadly that means I have had to curb my gaming a bit. I've gone a couple of months without PS3. Summer vacations just started for me.

Again, I'm NOT A Slacker. Gaming is just not my #1 priority, we have LIVES to live. If i was a slacker then I'd be on my PS3 non stop!

@(Unverified)

Still fail to see your point, you keep saying you're not a slacker, neither are any of us, there's people here that own businesses, work for top firms, study rocket science -_- If they can find 2 mins to get PSN+ if they really want it, they can.

You missed out, tough, no point being angry at Sony, be angry at your 100% lack of free time

@(Unverified) So what I had exams too. Exams aren't 30 days, what kind of school do you go to? And you seriously couldn't take 5 minutes to download the games and leave set the system to turn off when the downloads were done?

Why are people complaining about the Plus subscription? You got 30 days no matter what date you signed up on. Those that thought, for some reason, waiting until July 3rd was somehow a good idea are not the brightest.

@pickupdoctor
I picked up all of my downloads, but didn't do it until a couple days ago.
This is still a customer service issue. Regardless if Sony is blameless for pulling this offer or not.

The first couple days of it's announcement, I attempted to get my freebies, but PSN was STILL having problems (intermittent network errors, etc.. and I know I'm not the only one who experienced this). So, I decided to give it a couple days, and it sort of fell off my radar.

If I hadn't surfed to Joystiq this week, I would have missed out entirely. Sony had my email address. Presumably knows if I've redeemed my freebies. Why was it such a problem to contact me and everyone else?

Given the nature of the program, it seems weird that Rubenstein is digging in his heals. Does he need to be reminded the extent in which his company compromised their users?

At the same time, the promo clearly had an expiration date (though I'm uncertain why an expiration date exists on this to begin with. It's only available to the accounts affected by the security breach, right?). Every other company in a situation like this generally has a soft expiration date and a hard date. The soft one is advertised, and the hard one is the actual that occurs a few days later.

The customer is always right, Sony. Even when they're technically not.

@FalconLunch
I got my games on day 1. just not psn+

@(Unverified)

turning on your PS3 for 5 minutes doesn't make you a slacker. all you had to do was claim the promotions which means redeem the "Welcome Back" items and start the downloads for what you wanted. hell i redeemed mine last night and turned the PS3 off after that and didn't even let them download but they are in my queue now for the next time i decide to play. they said July 3, so i figured it was wise to have everything redeemed by July 2 just in case. guess it paid off.

@Polymorphic Ninja

There was a limit, like food has an expiry date and vouchers often have a 'valid until' date. It was put on every gaming site and recurred to the point my eyes were bleeding on the news, closer to the deadline everyone was warned over and over day by day. Now suddenly people are acting suprised, I'm not quite sure why.

You are using a free service, you aren't really entitled to moan about anything unless you are paying for plus, and they aren't moaning either because plus subscribers are still getting free + for a while. Its your fault for leaving it so long. I had errors too initially, but those errors were sorted out ages ago, are you telling me that it took you that long to realise the errors and bugs in the store were gone?

Come off it, you aren't babies, you don't need things to be stuck to your forehead so that you remember and see it clearly.

@(Unverified)

Before I get downvoted into non-existence I guess I should point out that I'm not UPSET that I missed out on PSN+
I thought it'd be fun to give it a try. I did get my games though, so I'm still happy.

@(Unverified)

Uhhh I'm not a slacker either sir....not only do I take care of my 2 girls with them being out of school for the summer....I also run 2 home based businesses.....it took me all of 7 minutes to go in and setup 8 games to download from the welcome back package on my UK and US accounts.....

I'm starting to think you are the guy from Back to the Future....I mean who says "Slacker" anymore these days?

@(Unverified) You had exams and only exams in a month?!
Even if you were making final projects, checking final grades, etc.
You didn't have to play the games, only enter at the store and pick your free games. As long as you added the games of your choice to your download list, was enough, you could always download them whenever you please.

So yeah, it couldn't take you more than 10min, your fault.

@pickupdoctor I admit yes we had a ton of time, but everytime I tried to log into the playstation store it said it was under maintenance, so I was never able to change my password or log in to download the Welcome back package. :/

@(Unverified)

So what are we complaining about :/ The main point of PS+ was to get access to free games, a few discounts and Uncharted Beta, if you got all those, I don't understand why there is this big ruckus about nothing :/

@Chris DPSN AggieCEO XBLThe Aggi

Didn't mean to imply you were one dude. I meant that a lot of people are assuming that people who waited until today are procrastinators. I just wanted to point out that I'm not.
I got my free games on day 1 but didn't activate plus because there was no point until i finished my exams (which really took 3 weeks plus a month of revising).
I mean I could've activated plus but then I'd be no better off than now since it would've expired while i was buried in my books.
Do you see what i mean? Would you bother activating psn+ just before you took your kids on a vacation? I wouldn't. I frequently put my cellphone service on hold when i leave the country for extended periods.

@Spunky Monkey 190906

The free games were separate from PSN+ i think. those ones you keep for good. I got those.
I've just never tried PSN+'s automatic download service and cloud save feature etc.

I'm not upset by this. But now that I think about it, I was upset at Jeff Rubenstein and his attitude. Its kind of like "really he would say that?" especially since he is part of the social media management at sony. He did later clarify that he'd look into it after the holiday weekend. So I'm calm now and I believe something good will come from this.

@(Unverified)

So why not activate on July 2nd, just to be on the safe side :/ Thats what I would have donw, because if a specific time isn't given on the due date, I automatically assume that this could be the afternoon or even the morning.

If I know I have an assignment to hand in, I've been given the day, but I'm not sure of the time, I hand it in the day before, or long before even that, not leave it for the very last POSSIBLE second.

@Spunky Monkey 190906

I'll never understand how in action movies they always disarm the bomb right on the last few seconds. Luckily PSN+ isn't a bomb, otherwise quite a few people here would be blown up :D, because you can't leave things that late just on a whim. Do things at least a day before just to be on the safe side. Regardless, you got the games which was the most important thing. So I guess we can say case closed.

@(Unverified) Then why are you complaining? Activating PS+ takes a lot less time to download than games. It's literally activated when you click download. You really have no reason to complain.

@pickupdoctor

Now i agree that 30 days was more than enough. but this was certainly NOT a "great deal".

@Spunky Monkey 190906

I can respect that you err on the side of caution when uncertain times are given. However, do try to respect that for me, and i think a lot of english speaking people, if not the majority, "through july 3rd" means 11:59 PM July 3rd (in the region of your account).

I read your comment elsewhere about "laws smaws" or something flippant. Thats a fair point but its a bit offensive to me as a law student. Certainty is a very important factor in doing business. even if I was careful like you, I would still find Sony's actions so far appalling and I would really reconsider doing any business with them because I would never know what they mean.
you have to have common Interpretation when doing business. So all said and done, I think I am entitled to assume that thru july 3rd means thru july 3rd. when two parties disagree on what they meant, then they try to go to court i guess.
I know in this case it seems a little silly that some gamers missed out on some games, big deal. But if you use your imagination, you can see how serious such a breach could be.

I did get my games though and I'm getting sleepy, so maybe we can close the case! cheerio.

@pickupdoctor What's with this anger??? Playstation CLEARLY misled when they said THROUGH July 3rd. The fact that I set it up on my phone to ring on July 3rd is besides the point. The fact I wanted my 30 days to be through July and not June (since I have more free time in July yo use it) is besides the point. The point is they shut it off at midnight last night, so they should have said THROUGH JULY 2nd, and NOT 3rd!!!! Why are so many ppl siding with a company misleading users than with fellow gamers with a valid complaint?

@Chris DPSN AggieCEO XBLThe Aggi

Tech N9ne. lol

This is one of the longest threads I've ever seen on Joystiq.

But in all honesty, Sony gave everybody tons of time, and to anybody complaining, shut yer trap and get off my lawn!

@pickupdoctor "..expiring on July 3. Once this date has passed,.." From the Q&A on PS' Welcome Back page. "We were clear from the outset." Ur just talking some shit, don't back up what u don't know.

@(Unverified)

who's 'we'? You got a mouse in your pocket?

@pickupdoctor I said it before and I'll say it again. The whole reason for the free games was a gesture of good will after they screwed up. You would think that they would make sure that it was available as long if not longer then what they said as a true gesture of good will. Anyone that works at Sony that then points the finger at any of their users seems misguided.

@pickupdoctor
Darwin wins.

@Polymorphic Ninja

It's not Sony's responsibility to remind you or any other user if you did not claim your free items. If you didn't get your free items its no ones fault but your own.

People need to grown up and take responsibility for themselves. Not blame somebody else because of this or that. Which is all you read in comments of anything online anymore.

I think Walmart has Kleenex on sale buy one get one free for all you crying babies.

@(Unverified)

The laws smaws was in regard to the fact that laws will mean about as much as candy floss in a factory for this case. They were free games, Sony was giving you a free service. Your credit card details were not accessed, Sony was not entitled to give you anything being a free customer.

I don't understand how you can think it fathomable to even bring law into something you are getting for free, Sony would win the case and I don't even need to check with a lawyer to know that, that's just basic free common sense, That's like taking a man to court for giving you a free t-shirt, only for you to find out it shrinks in the washing machine, you can't complain, its free! You decided to take it. You'd only have a case if it somehow effected your health and wellbeing, you should know that, you're a law student as you keep monotonously repeating over and over again.

@(Unverified) You happy now? You have until Monday July 4th, 9am PST.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/07/01/public-service-announcement-claim-your-free-games-now/

If you're still whining after that, it's your problem.

@(Unverified)
They extended it to July 5, 9:00 AM pacific time but i'll bet some poeple will still something to complain about.
http://twitter.com/#!/PlayStation/status/87772948462702592

@(Unverified) Wow, I can't believe how much people are being douches about your situation.

It's a rough month, you want to focus on school, that's commendable. Those "free games" were only going to be good for 30 days so there was ZERO reason to activate the account early an every reason to wait until the last minute, otherwise you couldn't fully take advantage of it. Alternatively, you might be if you're not interested in what they have to offer in June and want to roll the dice on July, also a valid reason.

Everyone is getting defensive about Sony's decision to pull this early, and they're in the wrong. It's irrelevant that people had 30 days. Expiration dates and due dates are until midnight of the day they're listed. It's one of those things you figure out in grade school. Would you argue if you bought a library book back on the last day, and they charged you? If you tried to use a coupon that said it was only good until today, and they refused to take it? You had plenty of time on those too, but you'd argue it just the same. And people make a much bigger stink about way less.

As far as customer service things go, this was not the point to play hardball for Sony, plain and simple. This wasn't a promotion, it was a mea culpa. If anything it should have ran longer than originally advertised, especially when the accusations have been made that the only reason customer data was compromised was because they valued saving money over their customers (in the form of not springing for enhanced server security for customer data and spending much more on security for the developer network).

Downvote away, but you know in your rational mind that the way they're doing things isn't the way to do things.

@onan
I upvoted you man. I share the same unpopular opinion as you.

But as you see in today's news, Sony agrees with us. Too bad they just didn't do this silently from the get-go. It would have avoided this issue entirely.

@Skizem

Actually it's a very good idea. If you couldn't find a reason to use PS+ there was no reason to sign up for it right away. Wait until the end, there's a chance something more desirable might be offered (demos, discounts, etc.) as opposed to the 30 days that's run out for everyone else that rushed in.

@(Unverified)

I been reading your older post. And I noticed that you where posting comments on this site since the 30 day periods of the psn wb. So I understand you expend lot of time posting comments on this site while you where studding "LAW". You spend more than 4 hour posting nonsense on this site and you are telling us you don't have time to get the psn wb. People check for his profile and you will see what I'm saying.

@Spunky Monkey 190906

Yeah.. Actually it fell off my radar. Must have happened while I was working, providing for my family, etc. You know.. unimportant stuff like that. I also own an X-Box and a Wii. Gaming and movie time was admittedly being devoted to those platforms instead. Not out of any sort of preference, but more out of availability.

My issue isn't with the expiration date. And I actually did get all my freebies. The issue here is Sony's amazing ability to turn something so simple and avoidable as this into another PR disaster and draw negative attention to it. They have no problems spamming me with sale-related advertisement. Do you think it would have killed them to send out a notification to everyone to avoid this issue to begin with? Or in fact, pad the expiration date with another 24 hours to fully cover their ass on any sort of ambiguity of what they meant by "through July 3rd"? How much would that have cost them?

But as you see, the extension and clarification of the expiration indicates that at the end of the day, Sony does realize what I and many others have been getting down-voted for this entire time: that the misunderstanding isn't worth losing customers over or giving Microsoft and Nintendo any ammunition toward trashing their customer service later.

@Spunky Monkey 190906
I run a sales market for a wireless retailer out of 3 states. In my travels to New York and DC and even back to Philly to run my stores I STILL HAD TIME TO CALL MY WIFE( yeah gamers get those as well) to tell her "babe cut on the PS and download INfamous and Wipeout). they are right! At this point bruddah you bitching. please rest it

@vidguy It's currently 7:45am July 4th JST (6:45pm EST).

@Berzerk Oh, in Japan, where no one has gotten redeemed anything from the welcome back program?

@vidguy

Fair argument, except
1 - the notice to users did not indicate they were basing the date on Japan time
2 - the notice was posted on the US Playstation website by a head of Playstation's US division

I think it's silly to wait, too, but I can understand why people feel duped.

@vidguy
To play devil's advocate for a sec. expires July 3rd could mean expires after July 3rd or when July 3rd hits, I'm reading it as either way. Sony could spin it as they gave extra time.

No matter what happened though, waiting until July 3rd would not be the best method.