Video Gamers: Please boycott Sony.

[Louis Mielke]

Hey some people are probably going to flame me for this but I would like to throw out a little boycott I'm trying to participate/start a boycott of Sony video game products.

Sony has been at the top of the video game industry for quite some time now but sadly it has gone on too long. Now big headed, Sony has begun strong arming consumers, the industry and retailers a like and it’s got to stop. Sony needs to know that they need the consumers, not the consumers needing them.

I bring this up because of some bad luck a small online video games retailer was recently crushed by Sony because Sony doesn't like their business. Lik-Sang, has for a long time been a video game importer, allowing people to buy video games from different parts of the world. Their business has been legitimate and they have grown in popularity over the years. Officials in the game industry have even utilized this company.

Recently Sony decided to be a bully because they thought they might be losing a few dollars over the import companies business. Read about it here. http://www.lik-sang.com/news.php?artc=3901. I think its kind of sad, no matter who, whatever retailer is selling their products to, Sony is still receiving money from these sales and I don't feel its right for them to snuff out this company just cause they don't like how they do business.


I'm sure someone will argue with me and all kindsa stuff and bring up counter points against Lik-Sang. I don't really care, I just want to get my opinion out and shed some light on the bad taste policies that Sony stands for.

SONY DOESN'T CARE ABOUT THEIR CUSTOMERS. They should, they're nothing without us and I would like to do my best to show them.

Something’s you can do.

Don't buy brand new video games. Go for used!

Don't pay ridiculous high prices for a new Sony system.
*cough* Playstation 3 *cough*

Forget their crappy proprietary UMD video format and the new BLUE RAY technology that’s Sony's toting. Hi-Def DVD video is almost the same quality and costs less. The average consumer won't notice the difference of Blue Ray discs anyway.



I know this is dumb, but Sony has mistreated their customers for too long now and we've let them. I personally am not going to be purchasing a Playstation 3.

[SYKO]

oh man this sucks, I currently have about 600+ playstation titles mostly ps2, And I have already preordered my ps3. I agree it isnt right for big business to do what they do at times, but, BUT do yo honstly beleive that the consumer can do anythign about it? unless EVery one got involved, and I mean EVERYONE! This thing tends to happen more and more.

But I do mostly buy my games from second hand stores and in fact orders many games from overseas. The ONLY time that I buy new is when its a title that I cannot wake up in the morning without, or a new system.

ANd when you think the price of a new playstation 3 is ridiculous, a "NEW" blue ray player from samsung is over 1000 dollars for Just a player, at lease you get a game system with the ps3 with online capabilities for 400 dollars less than jsut a blue ray player.

I am not going to flame you for posting anythign like this, I personaly dotn buy anything from microsoft becouse if theirs a company that takes advantage of the little guys its them, plus there games suck.

[Dammit!]

Go dvdtalk.com and read the HD-DVD and Blu-ray reviews. In almost every case the video quality is actually better with HD-DVD anyway.

[Eric250R]

I personally have never been that big of a sony fan anyway. Xbox all the way baby!!! And I know....someone is going to want to tell me the PS3 will be better than the 360 but don't really care, Sony will never have a game that compares to HALO. NEVER!!!!

[jsimonh]

I have owned Playstations since they came out. I was a lucky one and got a PS2 that first Christmas they were out. As a late birthday present my mother-in-law gave me a 360. I have 15+ PS1 games and 25+ PS2 games, so I was looking into trading the unopened 360 in on a PS3 until I seen the ridulous price of the PS3! That day I opened my 360 and never looked back. From now on I'm a X-box man all the way.

[theonlyjosh]

I don't play video games very much but our family has never owned anything accept ps1 and ps2, we will be getting ps3... they are better all around than xbox and nintendo IN MY OPINION. It's the customers opinion it's not like your going to stop us sony fans from buying them just because they treat us bad, they still come out with products we like and we will always buy them.

[ATC crazy]

Sony rules...end of story. :D

We have close to $10,000 of Sony equipment in our house and vehicles.

Sony is a business. Businesses are only around to make money. Live with it.

[theonlyjosh]

couldn't of said it better ATC and if i had 10,000$ i probably would have that much of sony stuff in my house too lol i love everything they make... from cd walkmans to play stations to tv's it's all excellent stuff!

[Dammit!]

Sony as a company, sucks balls. They treat their customers like pure crap. I've had some run ins with them before. I haven't bought any Sony products since the last blowup I had with their customer service over a 19 inch CRT monitor that was still under warranty that they refused to service because I bought it from an online dealer. Nothing in their warranty information says jack squat about online purchases voiding their warranty. Not in the included information, or anywhere on their web site (at the time). It was just an excuse and I called them on it (repeatedly.. and loudly too).

So over $50 worth of repairs, they lost a customer that was in the process of putting together a very respectable home theater and was considering a $4500 Grand Wega. Brilliant! It's been... lets see. Five years now I think. I might give them another go around someday but if there's a suitable alternative, Sony can bite me every time.

/rant

[82300R]

was at best buy saturday and i saw the display for ps3. so i asked the sales guy if they were taking orders. he said no that you had to get in line the day before.:lol: so i ask how much they will be, he says 600 bucks:eek: :eek: :eek: . i think we will be sticking with the ps2 and x box that we have now for a while. if it is that much better may get one down the road when they cool off some.

[bassman]

Though the Lik-sang incident was uncalled for and completely BS, i still like sony the best outta the top 3. No boy-cott from me.

[KASEY]

hmmm, the video game market is a very very small percentage of sonys big picture,,, but that doesn't excuse the greed:crazy: :crazy: :crazy:

[Groundworx]

I have owned a lot of Sony products. Recently I haven't been impressed with thier quality at all. I had to return 3 Mavica cameras before I got one that actually worked. Then when I did get one, it quit about 2 months after the warranty expired. Then they wanted to charge me $75 just to look at it. I had kinda the same deal with my PS2. I had to return 1 and then I had to send the other one off to the repair center once. And of course, a few months later, it messed up again and Sony wanted $$$ to look at it. I have had my Xbox 360 for almost a year. I got mine the day they came out and I love it. It sucks there isn't a better selection of games, but I am sure that will change. I love it and it hasn't given me any trouble at all. I am happy with Microsoft. I am not crazy about Sony's quality lately. For a company that is that big, thier quality should be better.

I say that, but I bought each of my boys a PSP for thier birthday earlier this year. I thought about buying a PS3, but I was going to ebay it as soon as I got it and make some extra $$.

[firefirefire90]

iono...sucks..but i own a PSP and i love it. Sony's PS2 was awesome but after a while, all of the games started to not work so i sold it for 200 bucks. Sweet deal i think. Do what you want to sony. If i want sound systems and nice TV's, i'll go for the expensive long lasting non crap shibangbang.

[Louis Mielke]

Sony rules...end of story. :D

We have close to $10,000 of Sony equipment in our house and vehicles.

Sony is a business. Businesses are only around to make money. Live with it.


Well I can give you a list a mile long who will disagree with you but I'm not gonna do the whole Sony VS Nintendo VS Microsoft thing. Thats not what this is about, nor will this turn into a fight club thread,

but

I do have to comment, why do you reply in true Sony fanboy fashion? You give no real reason as to why you feel this way other than saying. Ugg me have ton o sony stuff. Ugg Sony best. Me have no reason.

Sounds just like some of the Honda boys who crack on Yamaha. In my opinion Honda and Yamaha are equal..

BACK TO THE REAL POINT.

Sony is a business. and Business's are out to make money.
But how do they do that? By making customers happy!

PR is a huge deal. and quite frankly, I'm one customer who's not happy with them.

I mean its almost as if you're saying you'd still support Sony even if they put labels on the game system saying that one newborn puppy had to die in order for this game system to be manufactured.

Would you still buy from them if they were clubing baby seals and making funny haha over it?

Were does the fanboyism get put aside and the real opinionated consumer come out?


Sorry for going out on a rant but it just burns me sometimes when someone puts on the caveman attitude. Ugg. Me Say BRAND X rules even if brand X bends me over and puts it were the sun dont shine.

[Dave223]

Companies, no matter how large or small only care about 1 thing...how much profit they can make. No-one, NO-ONE, cares about customer service more than they do profit. Its why rich folks are rich and poor folks are poor. Its part of life and something you will have to learn to live with.
If someone who owns a business tells you they care more about their customers than their bank account, ask them to cut the offered price for the product you want in half and you will return next week to give em more business. Come back and tell us what happens.;)

[Billy Golightly]

I dont keep up with the "console wars" much anymore but some of the press releases and statements I've seen from sony execs concerning the the PS3 are really really funny. Like selling 4 times more units then Nintendo or Microsoft even though they are twice the price :crazy:

[Louis Mielke]

Companies, no matter how large or small only care about 1 thing...how much profit they can make. No-one, NO-ONE, cares about customer service more than they do profit. Its why rich folks are rich and poor folks are poor. Its part of life and something you will have to learn to live with.
If someone who owns a business tells you they care more about their customers than their bank account, ask them to cut the offered price for the product you want in half and you will return next week to give em more business. Come back and tell us what happens.;)


I think my father said it best as he owns his own automotive repair garage, and has done well in the past 20 years. One day I was talking to him, asking him why he doesn't spend some money and make his business better, better facilties, better tools etc etc. He smiled and yes this was one of those father life lesson things.

He said "Louie, my moto has always been that I don't want to get rich or be famous. All I want to do is make an honest living and provide a comforatble life for my family. I already make enough money to reach my goal, and yes I could make 3 times as much as I do but theres just no need for it."

Now yes I understand this is hard to apply to big bussiness, but the point is greed doesn't get you very far. My father has gone out of his way, and given way too much work away for free just to take care of his customers and keep them happy. And you know what? He'll have those customers untill the day he can't turn a wrench anymore. He has customers, just strangers that showed up to his sister funeral just because he's taken care of them over the years and they care about him because of it.

The point I'm trying to make and I'm sure someone will try and refute it, is that part of business is taking care of you're customers and making them happy. Yes there are a select group that will be happy with Sony no matter what they do, but a larger group feels like Sony's giving them the shaft.

[firefirefire90]

If your dad was Japanese...this would be a different story.

[Dammit!]

If your dad was Japanese...this would be a different story.

Or if he were Bill Gates. ;)

[Louis Mielke]

Or if he were Bill Gates. ;)


Everyone knocks Gates so much (and yes I'm one of them lol) but he donates alot of money and does alot of good things for many organizations.


And as far as my dad not being jappanese.


There was a time that in most Asian companies, the employee/large company relationship was one of mutual respect. The company would take care of the employee for their entire life basically and in return the employee was basically loyal to the company as long as he could work.

Look it up, There was a dramatic change in the way big corporations treated their employees at acertain point in history. I can't remember dates or anything like that but the asian way of doing business has changed dramatically. It wasn't always the way it is today.

[ATC crazy]

Well I can give you a list a mile long who will disagree with you but I'm not gonna do the whole Sony VS Nintendo VS Microsoft thing. Thats not what this is about, nor will this turn into a fight club thread.

I could do the same. You're not special.



I do have to comment, why do you reply in true Sony fanboy fashion? You give no real reason as to why you feel this way other than saying. Ugg me have ton o sony stuff. Ugg Sony best. Me have no reason.

Ugg, Me have Sony stuff because they are one of the most reliable brands out there. Our big screen has been going strong for 5 years now. I have a 2.5 year old head unit in my truck that has been covered in mud, dirt, and dust...and it is still cranking out the tunes and running a 700W 12" sub.



Sony is a business. and Business's are out to make money.
But how do they do that? By making customers happy!

They make me, and millions more happy, by putting out a quality product.


I mean its almost as if you're saying you'd still support Sony even if they put labels on the game system saying that one newborn puppy had to die in order for this game system to be manufactured.

Would you still buy from them if they were clubing baby seals and making funny haha over it?

Hey, guess what? THEY DONT DO THAT! That is completely irrelevant to this topic. That'd be like me saying "For every new 3wheeler that rolled off the line, Honda and Yamaha clubbed a baby seal, or skinned a kitten alive" Would you still like trikes?
I could care less if they kill puppies. That would be their problem...not mine.

Sony has never bent me over. If I have a problem with one of their products, I take it back to the store and get a new one. Simple as that.

[Louis Mielke]

I could do the same. You're not special..

Never claimed to be.



Ugg, Me have Sony stuff because they are one of the most reliable brands out there. Our big screen has been going strong for 5 years now. I have a 2.5 year old head unit in my truck that has been covered in mud, dirt, and dust...and it is still cranking out the tunes and running a 700W 12" sub.

Thats interesting, if I remeber correctly the first playstation had a huge problem with the optical units cariage rails wearing out prematurly causeing overheating and other problems. This was a problem for a large number of consumers. Why in the world did this happen using CD technology? CD players had been around for a quite a long time at this point. why in the world did a leader in the electronics industry have problems with something that had more than enough time to be perfected.

If I remeber correclty the PS2 also had several issues in its first generation.

I have had several peices of sony audio and video components that didn't last even half as long as some generic units I've owned. My sony boom box I receivd for a birthday stopped reading CDs after only 2 years.

The $100 dolar sony MP3 player I was given totally sucks. Its dificult to load music on to it, requires a crappy proprietary SONY file format and batter life sucks.

I could can go on and yes I'm sure you can bat my reply back at me with lots of your own positive stories.


Hey, guess what? THEY DONT DO THAT! That is completely irrelevant to this topic. That'd be like me saying "For every new 3wheeler that rolled off the line, Honda and Yamaha clubbed a baby seal, or skinned a kitten alive" Would you still like trikes?
I could care less if they kill puppies. That would be their problem...not mine.

Sony has never bent me over. If I have a problem with one of their products, I take it back to the store and get a new one. Simple as that.

You say my statement was irrelevant to the topic. Its called metaphor, it wasn't supposed to be directly related to the topic, only paralleling it.

Oh and you just take your product back eh? Well then in reality you're expecting your retailer to take care of you, and not Sony. No wonder you haven't been bent over by Sony. You just expect Retailer X to take it in the rear for you.

[Louis Mielke]

Another note, by expecting you're retailer to take it on the chin, they in turn have their employees take it on the chin. Chit rolls down hill, the little guy stocking the shelves get kicked, and Sony sits at the top of the pile and doesn't give a care. All I'm saying is that SONY SHOULD care. Thats the point of my thread.


I suppose as far as the retailer goes you could reply that the retailers get credit for broken and defective merchandise. In a world were Sony and other big business cared, thats how it would work. But in reality thats not how it really works at all. I've worked retailed I know first hand it very rarely happens that way.

[bigredhead]

I've had the original Atari... and then the Atari 2000.. and then the original Nintendo... that's where it stopped... tooooo much $$ for what you get ( my own personal opinion YMMV )

As far as Sony goes.... just like any HUGE company.. it's all about wich employee you get on wich day... i have quite a few dozen SONY items in my house .. inslucing a 32" Sony Vega XBR.. 200 CD changer.. walkmans.. alarm clock.. phone... etc......

Personally.. it's been more good than bad. I had a Sony V444 ES receiver, 1 year past warantee that just popped... sent it in... and told them i wanted a call before they work on it as i was not happy that an ES ( elevated Standard ) as they call it.. would die in 3 years of use....

2 weeks went by and it showed up at my door.. fixed.... free !!!!

[theonlyjosh]

lol all you guys going on about crappy things like they stop workin or have defects, they do but they do take them back i have never had a problem that hasn't been resolved with sony.. walkmans,stereos,tvs,ps1, ps2... stop arguing.

[Louis Mielke]

I've said what I wanted to say. As I said everyone can flame and kick me if you want, I really don't care. I'm finished with this thread. thanks for everyone who read and put in their two cents.

[SYKO]

I cant say that I dont blame you, bad business boils my blood, but when you dealing with a super company such as sony, I just keep trucking. But if it was some local bike shop screwing people, then I would join a wich hunt for their ass's. You made a wicked awesome point, everyone else should either disagree or agree with it, If you dis agree, dont blast louis for it, jsut state you own opinion. I have had problems with sony, but I have had problems with Honda,toyota,ford,magnavox,maytag,HP,polaris,yamah a,chevy, dodge, and a few more. Oh well life goes on.

[gravelord]

if i could swear i would, but i cant.. so ill just say this to keep it simple - no matter how good their products are and we all cant live without getting one once in a while for a good price or whatever it may be....... PHUCK SONY RIGHT UP ITS PUCKERED HOLE!!!!!!!!

[motorola79]

I love Sony.
I cant undestand, people say PS3 is very expensive, $600, and how about the iPhone??? no one says nothing about its price, $600 too, with a 2 year contract. I`ve only read good things about that phone, even its a prototype until now.

Every time i read something on Engadget about Sony, i realize they hate that brand, and love the fashion Apple.
What does Sony did? If you dont like PS3 dont buy it, simple.

[3 weelin geezer]

OOOO....I can't help you there. Can't see a single thing here that says SONY. I don't like game consoles anymore since the "super" nintendo though, I still have my ATARI 2600 from like 20 years ago. I'm gonna have to pull that out one of these days just for old times sake. That thing got me through what would have been a very boring sick day the day I got it. I stayed up all night playing E.T. to see what would happen if I got to 1,000,000. Looking back, now I know why the store had a whole clearance bin full of these at $.50 each. How boring a game can you get? BTW, you don't get anything when you roll it. You just keep playing ad in...I mean, nauseum.

[ATC crazy]

I love Sony.
I cant undestand, people say PS3 is very expensive, $600, and how about the iPhone??? no one says nothing about its price, $600 too, with a 2 year contract. I`ve only read good things about that phone, even its a prototype until now.

Every time i read something on Engadget about Sony, i realize they hate that brand, and love the fashion Apple.
What does Sony did? If you dont like PS3 dont buy it, simple.


I consider the PS3 a bargian! At the time of it's release, a standard Blue Ray DVD player was well over $1,000, and they are still around a grand...

[honda_atc200es]

i was a sony guy, but since the 360 came out first i got that, its an excellent system, i played the ps3 and to me it seems like a combination ofthe psp and the ps2