I'm gutted. A gadget that cost me over £300 has packed up, and it's taunting me with a flickering LED. I called the manufacturer and they've told me that since it's out of warranty, it's going to cost me money for an engineer to look at it - and if I'm right and it is gubbed, it'll cost a small fortune to repair it.
PS3? Nope. Dishwasher.
I'm no Sony cheerleader, and as a veteran of the Xbox Red Ring of Death debacle I know how irritating it is when your expensive console fails. But we're baffled by the BBC's Watchdog investigation into supposedly failing PlayStation 3s.
Some PS3s, the programme discovered, pack up - and if they're out of warranty, they cost money to fix. Hold the front page!
So what exactly is Watchdog on about? First, Sony admitted to the programme that some 12,500 PS3s in the UK have packed up - a terrifying figure for a £400 console. It criticises Sony for only offering a one year warranty, and for charging when repairs are required after the warranty period is over. And best of all, it showed X-rays indicating "trapped gas" that apparently causes all the problems.
In order, then: 12,500 PS3s equates to a failure rate of 0.5 per cent, which is pretty much insignificant. We're not talking about an Xbox-scale disaster here: where around one-quarter of Xbox 360s are likely to suffer from the Red Ring of Death.
Figures for all failures
And that failure rate isn't just supposed Yellow Lights of Death: it's for all reported failures, so the number of consoles affected is considerably lower than Watchdog claims.
Secondly, Sony stopped charging £400 for the PS3 about 200 years ago.
Thirdly, one year warranties are standard for absolutely everything electronic, unless you buy a telly from John Lewis - but that's John Lewis's warranty, not the manufacturer's - and prices for out-of-warranty repairs are hefty whether it's a console or a dishwasher.
Trapped gas? If Watchdog is referring to solder voids, then Sony's rebuttal makes it clear that the soldering in the featured consoles was well within accepted tolerances.
The truth is, a failure rate of 0.5 per cent barely justifies a forum post, let alone a BBC investigation. Yes, if it happens to you it's annoying - same way my knackered dishwasher is really annoying to me. But I don't think the BBC needs to investigate Zanussi. It's a thing, it's packed up, end of story.
What's really annoying about this is that there are plenty of legitimate targets in tech. There's the dominance of individual retailers in gaming. There's the anti-competitive nature of smartphone contracts.
There's the issue of remote killswitches that can disable digital content you've bought. There's… you get the idea. If PS3s start failing in the tens of thousands then by all means bring Sony to account. Until then, there are plenty of more pressing problems Watchdog could get its teeth into.
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Your comments (11) Click to add a new comment
psyfur
September 18th 2009
11. Conflict of interest: I'm a PS3 owner
My ps3 broke after a year and half with the yellow light issue, I simply called Sony, faxed over my receipt and within a week I had another PS3 - brilliant service.
Now lets see the beeb showcase the xbox fail rate which is way above normal and some would say not suitable to be sold in the UK because of this failure rate.
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mbb
September 18th 2009
10. Mobius and Mallie have both touched on the point that Watchdog really should have. Yes, a PS3 that breaks down after just over a year through no fault of yours is something you shouldn't have to pay for - and you don't. Sony's warranty is only a year, but the Sale of Goods Act covers your for up to 6. It just isn't Sony's responsibility, it's the retailer's. Direct.gov.uk has a very useful description of your rights linked from the front page.
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mallie99
September 18th 2009
9. Bingo!!!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8253915.stm
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mallie99
September 18th 2009
8. How old is your PS3???
Read an article the other day, but can't find it... You should have options. If it's less than a year old take it back to the shop since they have sold you a duff product (this is external to warranty).
The sale of goods act basically means that something must be "fit for purpose" so as long as your PS3 hasn't been thrown down the stairs or used as a coaster then you may have grounds for it to be replaced by the manufacturer anything up to a few years.
I've spent ages now looking for this blasted article!! It was most interesting. It also mentioned somethin about if you used a Credit Card to pay for it you can claim against your Credit Card Company.
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lex
September 18th 2009
7. Since when has Watchdog been the gold standard for journalism? For years it's been a slipshod show that fast-tracks reports using researchers with no specific market knowledge and rentaquote so-called 'experts'. The sad thing is they often mess up a good story because they can't be arsed to research it fully or don't understand the underlying issues.
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richardjkeys
September 18th 2009
6. Watchdog must be grasping at straws! Most of the time, the companies that end up on there don't really care anyway.
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