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PlayStation Disappoints Customers with Damaged Last of Us Firefly Editions

Porshapwr13 Comments

UPDATE (September 13th):

PlayStation has begun responding to open inquiries about damaged Firefly editions of The Last of Us (see the full story below). I have confirmed with several others that they have been contacted with the exact same details as I just received. The good news is that PlayStation is offering to replace the bundles, and acknowledges the issues caused by one of the distribution centers during delivery.

While there will be a little bit of a wait to have it replaced, none of the people I spoke to mind the delay. We are all simply happy that we will eventually have an undamaged copy. Here is the email directly from PlayStation that is being sent to customers with damaged copies for reference.

If for some reason you are a customer with a damaged Firefly edition who is experiencing differing support, please reach out to me on Twitter!

Original Thread : I’ve talked near endlessly about The Last of Us since its initial release. It is one of my favorite games of all-time and not only holds a special place in my gaming history, but was also a seminal release for the industry. Previously I examined what makes it so special and we also produced a video to the same extent.

With that in mind, it should be no surprise that I was excited for the updated “Part 1” release on the PS5. I ordered my Firefly Edition the first minute pre-orders went live and have been waiting patiently to experience the game again. Then something happend: My Firefly Edition arrived.

You see, to my surprise and disappointment, there was no care taken in its delivery. The cardboard package was stuffed into an undersized, padded envelope and substantially damaged because of it. Here are a few of my images:

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Immediately I began reaching out to PlayStation Support and I also posted my experience on Twitter. What I didn’t expect was such a large response from the community.

Since posting I have spoken with dozens of people who have had the same experience. I’ve received numerous replies and DMs, and others have reached out to Seasoned Gaming directly. In fact, we received far more than I could ever feature. But here are a few examples.

I could go on posting examples for tens of pages, but I think you get the point. The larger issue I want to highlight however, is the sheer lack of support from PlayStation.

As I noted, I immediately reached out to PlayStation support and boy was it a journey. After navigating through a maze of pages and broken links, I eventually found where I could chat about a refund or replacement. After waiting for about 15 minutes for a representative and taking time to explain my situation, I was told they couldn’t help me, and that I would need to use a different chat (which they could not transfer me to). Apparently online support for the PS Store and PS Direct are entirely different (yet not defined on the site). Good to know.

I initiated the second chat (at this point I had 7 different tabs open) and spoke with a Matthew. He was very pleasant and as I work in customer-facing application development, I of course recognized that it was not his fault personally. Sadly however he could not offer much support. I was informed:

  • No replacements are available.
  • If any new copies became available, I could order one (obviously). But they could not reserve one for a replacement nor offer to let me know if some will become available.
  • They will not offer any sort of monetary compensation. My only option was a return which I would have to initiate to send the damaged copy back.
  • They offered me a 20% coupon on a future game order.

When I asked if escalation was available, I was informed that an inquiry could be opened. However, I was told in advance that no different solution would be offered (yes I have the transcript) and it would take a few days to receive a response.

As with the damage, it seems I am not alone. I’ve heard from several others that their experience with support was similar and PlayStation is not willing to compensate (outside of a return/refund) in any way. Others also said they have “inquiries” open as well. You can find many of these responses on the Twitter threads above for reference.

Sadly it doesn’t seem there will be much recourse. I would hope going forward that PlayStation examines their contracts with delivery companies to ensure first-party products are delivered appropriately. It would also make sense, as with many companies selling limited edition items, to reserve a small-percentage of stock for replacements. While that won’t always solve all of the issues, it certainly could help some.

I will update this post if any new information or support from Sony arises.

By Porshapwr

Founder and Editor-In-Chief: Seasoned Gaming. Avid gamer and collector. Plays a lot of Halo and Diablo. Find me on Twitter @Porshapwr.

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