Dust Voids PLAYSTATION 3 Warranty?

[malware]

Do you know that dust can void your PS3 warranty? Probably no, so let's start from the beginning:

I have kept my 60gb PS3 in Its entertainment center since its purchase. It is known within the PS3 community that the thing is a HUGE dust magnet. I took good care of it...One day I turn it on and put in a disc and it doesn't show up, then it wont eject, finally I get it to eject and I try a blu-ray, nothing, CDs, nothing.

said the customer of this poor PS3. After some minor obstacles with the warranty he was able to RMA his console. 5 days later, Sony calls the guy saying that it has taken pictures inside of his PS3 and it was too dirty to be eligible for replacement, so no warranty. The next day he got a call from the same guy, telling him that there is no way Sony could replace the console unless he pay 150$ out-of-warranty replacement fee? Sorry I'm limited on the front page, you'll need to click here or on the source link and continue reading what happens after.



Source: The Consumerist

[malware]

Very interesting story, I'm sure there'll be lots of comments.

Many thanks to Wile E!

[Wile E]

Can you put the picture of the front on there? It really shows how bad it is.

Personally, I agree with Sony on this one. The console has clearly been neglected/misused/abused, imo.

[wazzledoozle]

Sony strikes again. Maybe they'll figure out what they did wrong when they go bankrupt. That dust really isn't that bad, remember that the PS3 has a super-glossy black finish. If "two years" of dust buildup can cause a malfunction, then obviously they didnt engineer it well enough to deal with dust buildup.

I think in this age of consoles being compact computers, they should include a slot for a dust filter that you can remove occasionally and clean out.

Edit: Also note the pictures were taken with a flash. This will make anything glossy look like it got the crap beaten out of it.

[malware]

Done

Personally I don't see the point of voiding the warranty because of dust. I work in computer service too, and we have to clean and repair many servers and PCs, you can't say clean it first...than we'll reprair it. There's a waranty void sticker, how are you supposed to open the console and clean it?

[Wile E]

Originally Posted by malware

Done

Personally I don't see the point of voiding the warranty because of dust. I work in computer service too, and we have to clean and repair many servers and PCs, you can't say clean it first...than we'll reprair it. There's a waranty void sticker, how are you supposed to open the console and clean it?

But my point is, it's clear he never attempted to remove dust from it. Just dusting the area it's in, and the outside of the console, will reduce the amount of dust inside the console. How could he not notice that dust build up?

I don't know, I guess it could go either way.

[DanTheBanjoman]

Quite logical, if you don't treat it decently it breaks. They can't warrant stuff you mistreat. Plastic being a dust magnet is a lame excuse, you have to keep your room clean. Most companies won't give warranty on stuff that's physically broken or looks like it wasn't used normally. Seeing the picture of that PS3 it's not just dusty.

[Darksaber]

I do not want to know how the rest of this place looks like, if his PS3 is this dusty...

[cjoyce1980]

I've owned a PS3 and have mates that still do, but if you dont clear them often they does get messy very quickly, its like they attract dust and dirt. so if a user did not clean there console for 6 months and it was in an open space, then i believe this!

[UnXpectedError]

see this is what happens when there are very few worth while games to play for a console...it just sits there collecting dust... i blame Sony

but in all honesty and joking aside, i could leave mine sitting around for only a few weeks with out cleaning and it would get very dusty..maybe not to that extreme but even still my place is very very clean. I have a friend who him and his wife smoke and if he doesn't clean his off ever 2 weeks or so it starts to look like that.. so maybe thats the case here

if Sony is not going to warranty this ps3, i think they should put a disclaimer or something on every console stating that it needs to be dusted every so often to retain the warranty.

[pt]

damn!, that ps3 seems that it has spent quite some time in the middle of a war

[OnBoard]

Obviously it must have a very high CFM fan in it and run hot being in entertainment center, so it blows all the time. It does look like it's been in use for years without cleaning, but it depend what the manual say about cleaning.

I had an arctic cooling fan http://www.arctic-cooling.com/vga2.php?idx=63 in my 9600pro and the fan broke in a year. Started making a very bad noise (the bearing went). It was voided warranty because it had dust build up in that heatsink you see.

It's almost impossible to clean it there, the manual said to vacuum on the rear end of the cooler (which I did) and considering that it broke way before that the 6 year period I finally got a new one. I would have had to pay "repair fee" that was the same as the price of the cooler and all shipping charges, luckily I fought back.

This seems like an identical scenario (except for the trying to clean it part :P), but he can't clean the inside. If manual says some cleaning instruction and he didn't follow them, then Sony did the right thing. If the manual says nothing about cleaning the unit, then thay should give him a brand spanking new PS3 for trying to get out of warranty.

[hat]

Sony... gay...

[newtekie1]

Originally Posted by Wile E

Can you put the picture of the front on there? It really shows how bad it is.

Personally, I agree with Sony on this one. The console has clearly been neglected/misused/abused, imo.

I entirely agree, if you look at the pictures the dust looks like it was caked on there. The guy obviously didn't take care of it, or even clean his house for that matter. The things been misused, it looks like he took a bag of potting soil and dumped it over the PS3.

[AsRock]

Looks abused to me and cannot blame SONY for there actions in this. I think i am right in saying most of use would of attempted to remove as much dust as possible before sending it in like that.

Thats just disgusting.

[Ravenas]

Either someone has gotten the PS3 dirty, or his or her house is just extremely dusty. If it were that dusty, I would hate to live there. I don't blame Sony for this. This person looks like they purposefully abused the system or just plain don't keep their house clean at ALL.

[PVTCaboose1337]

Thats alot of dust, but DUST cannot void a warranty. It is unpreventable.

[Wile E]

Originally Posted by PVTCaboose1337

Thats alot of dust, but DUST cannot void a warranty. It is unpreventable.

That amount of dust is most certainly preventable. It's called cleaning.

[AphexDreamer]

Originally Posted by Wile E

That amount of dust is most certainly preventable. It's called cleaning.

I think he ment that the PS3 getting dusty was "Inevitable", just like all other electronic devices. I clean my PC everyday and everyday I find it getting dusty, might I add that my house is kept clean at a daily bases. Really though, thier is no excuse to let anything that costs that much money to get that dusty.

[Rob!]

Normally I'd go "fuck sony!" on this one, but that's an extreme amount of dust. I'd expect that after years in an entertainment center, but not this long...

[LiNKiN]

Negligence ftl on this one. Learn decent housekeeping skills, and you will avoid this situation. It is simple take care of your equipment, and your equipment will take care of you.

[3991vhtes]

Good thing computer manufacturers don't have dust voiding warranties policies. None of my parts would be on warranty

But, really, I think sony did a right choice. People need to clean their house. I can't control the ammount of dust in my room, I clean once a month, and it just keeps accumulating .

[Grimskull]

he clearly never heard of a can of compressed air duster! Hate to see his house!

[jocksteeluk]

Sending something back that filthy could ever only had the one response, if he had cleaned it up before hand then sent it back id bet it would have been a complete different scenario.

[WhiteLotus]

i dont have a PS3 so i do not know what the warrenty includes - if the words "dust", "clean", and "maintain" are not included then sony should replace it if those words do exist then the person in question is being an idiot.