So after they get their PlayStation Network servers hacked by vengeful hackers and expose 100 million user accounts, passwords, and credit card numbers to those hackers, they offered a "Welcome Back" package with a free 30-day subscription to PlayStation Plus, some free downloadable games, and a few other stuff. But that was the least they could do after making all their customers vulnerable to identity theft. They don't deserve credit or praise for that.
I activated my free subscription to PlayStation Plus last week because I knew the offer was expiring soon. I waited to the last minute because there's really nothing on PlayStation Plus that I'm remotely interested in. My plan was to wait till the last minute to activate it so that I could still at least back up all my save files to the Cloud in case my newly refurbished PS3 decided to croak on me again.
I'm glad I did it when I did, because I noticed that the "Welcome Back" stuff was gone from the PSN when I logged in yesterday. So I guess that means the offer has ended.
But Sony didn't bother to give users any notification or warning that the program was going to expire that I was aware of. No email notification. No messages when logging into the Playstation Store. I don't even think the "Welcome Back" pages showed the expiration date (did they?). Maybe there was a notification in the little news ticker on the top right, but that thing is so small, I never notice it.
Way to go Sony.
I know they gave us a deadline when they put it up on the PSN. But come on! You couldn't at least give us a two-minute warning? Gee thanks, Sony.
I guess I'm not the only one who thinks they screwed up on this one, because apparently, fan irritation caused them to extend the availability by a few days to let some gamers get last minute stuff before it all expired.
At least I got my two free games a long time ago.
But other people I know didn't.
In fact, some people I know didn't even manage to change their PSN password yet. If you only have the PSP and not a PS3, then you had to log in through the website. But if the website is down, then I guess those people couldn't get connected to do that.
Sucks for those people. They don't get jack-diddley squat.
And for the rest of you who may not have redeemed you're "Welcome Back" gifts, you're too late. Too bad for you. And if you didn't redeem them because you couldn't get connected, or you didn't have internet access, or the website was down, or a glitch prevented you from resetting your password, or you simply haven't touched your PS3 or PSP since the "incident", well then that sucks for you too.
So why the heck did this program even have to have an expiration date? Why couldn't all PSN users have just been given an online voucher for 2 free games and a 1-month trial to Playstation Plus that's valid for as long as the PSN is up and running?
Sony, sometimes I really don't understand you at all...