Sony UK Marketing can suck my cock.
You probably won't have guessed from the above subject line, that I consider Sony equipment to be good stuff.
I have all sorts of Sony paraphernalia littered about my house:
Anyway you name it if Sony has ever made it, at some point I've probably bought at least one.
The kit itself speaks for itself, I only usually buy quality stuff, and I've never bought Sony because it was Sony, but because it was good gear, that stood out against the competitors in the same (highish) price range.
I have forgiven Sony for their misguided nonsense regarding the whole obsession with Memory Stick and its many inbred, cousin comprised, family members. *1
I have even let them off the hook over the shortsighted stupidity that caused
the Sony collective to stick its head in the sand over the MP3 issue that they refused to acknowledge. Eventually the market moved on, Sony ate a little humble pie and started knocking out MP3 players after Apple won the market with their little white and chrome boxes of MP3 goodness the iPod (and its many non-inbred well branded easily identifiable brethren).
Which makes it all more galling that Sony who occasionally make a crappy decision and seem corporately unwilling to soak up a fuckup, have chosen their current track...
That track being particularly shitty one: Pissing on their customers from a great height, in the name of headlines.
Here's my beef, several months ago, I decided I wanted to buy one of the new slimline PS2s for my bedroom, you know, play a little Tiger Woods before bed time, or watch a movie in bed before sleepy-byes. Could I find one the bloody things in the whole of London? Could I buggery. Why? Well it seemed the reason was that Sony had stopped supplying the retailers with the product, so that when Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas came out, the PS2 slimlines would be flying off the shelves at the same time as the GTA:SA boxes. When I finaly managed to get one, it was the day that GTA:SA came out, the manager at GAME told me he had been asking for skinny PS2s for weeks and he had got 160 that morning!
I'm no media/sales/marking guru, but it seems to me that the reason for this was to get the maximum headlines for the new PS2 with quotes of the "We couldn't keep them on the shelves" kind, all so that Sony could make some sales before the new Xbox 360 comes out*3. So what we are saying here, is that it is OK to piss of the customers if we get some headlines.
Armed with this foreknowledge, I decided not to buy a PSP when it came out, I was buggered if I was going to part with my heard earned to preorder months in advance, nor was I going to fuck about trying to find the one shop that had them in stock on the day. I decided to leave it a while and get one a little later, although I wanted the latest and greatest toy, I have other distractions to keep me going...
So yesterday while I was out, I decided to get DS & Nintendogs for the other half, and to get myself a PSP. Ha! Fat chance. Nintendogs & DS, no problem (and the missis is as happy as can be with the game too), but the PSP? No fucking way!
Some prick at Sony UK HQ decided what was needed was more fucking headlines ("We couldn't keep the PSPs on the shelf!", says Gary Grease-Spot store manager of GAME UK), so after trying about 5 or 6 shops it became clear that no one had any PSPs.
It turns out that the next Grand Theft Auto comes out in a couple of weeks, destined for the PSP. Big FUCKING surprise... So we lucky purchasers who want to buy the product, haven't a hope in hell, as Sony UK stockpiles their PSPs for the release of GTA97: Money for Old Rope, stupid fucks like me can waste their time walking from store to store in the vague hope that someone has them in.
On another note, only one store (HMV, Wood Green) actually had the decency to put up a notice saying they didn't have any in stock. Every other store, Had the big white display box with the screen at the top plyaing the "Buy me, buy me!" loop and the PSP in a perspex enclosure, above the stacks of empty white "PSP Value Pack" boxes. Not a fucking one had any in stock. The Dixons, HMV (Brent Cross), GAME (x2), Sony Centre (x2) and the three independents can all suck my cock too.
But I save my real retailer ire for Toys R Us, those fuckers had signs up at the edge of their carpark saying "Yes we have the PSP in stock!", they had signs on the doors saying "Yes we have the PSP in store right now", they had the big old display box surrounded by plenty of fucking empty PSP value pack boxes. Did they actually have a sodding PSP? Like fuck they did!
These bastards I wouldn't give the steam off my shit! Why fucking compound the problem by openly and aggressively advertising what you plain don't fucking have! Surely trading standards can do something about this... (Note to self.)
Oh and as for HMV Brent Cross thanks for making me wait on Saturday for the PSP reservation hadn't been paid for or collected, so that particular PSP would be available Sunday morning, then telling me it had been collected at 11AM Sunday morning when I went to buy it. I'm glad one of your staff got a discount to buy it, over a customer who had just pulled himself out of bed on a Sunday morning and driven 35 minutes to get there at opening time. Tough luck HMV you just lost a customer for life, I'm not buying from you again. You've just lost a shot at my £2,000/year media budget, no more DVDs, CDs or games from you any more. Welcome to a select list of retailers/manufacturers I never buy from after they have treated me like shit.
After fucking about on eBay for half an hour I managed to find a PSP for sale at a reasonable price, UK spec, with a "Buy It Now" option, I've ended up paying the same as I would anyway, I just have to wait a couple of days.
BTW, look out for jokers in eBay who are selling at vastly inflated prices (£280+) who mention in the small print that you are buying the PSP in advance for when their stock comes in in a week or two! Another shitty trick!
I've committed to buying the PSP now, but I'm going to have to seriously consider whether I'm going to buy any more Sony products after this. I don't like getting fucked about, so some wanker in marketing at Sony HQ can get his headlines in Edge et al, and get his big fat bonus to buy his fast car, big house, trophy wife, house in Essex, coke and whores.
Same goes for all the other companies that hype their product then deliberately limit availability to max out the velocity on their hype-wagon.
In conclusion, I offer that self same marketing wanker at Sony, the opportunity to come around here and suck my cock.
*1 What is the deal with Duo/Magic Gate/Mini/Maxi/Cheesey/Sleepy/Grumpy version of Memory Stick, I mean for Fuck's sake(*2) Sony, please for the love of things wholesome make your sodding solid state memory identifiable will you!
*2 No idea who "Fuck" is but I'll give him/her/it a possessive apostrophe just to be safe.
*3 Which I won't be buying BTW, as all but Halo and Halo 2 have sucked mightily on that platform*4, I bought 7 or 8 games for that platform, and I admit I was burned, Microsoft wouldn't know what gameplay was if it bit their collective arses. Don't get me started on Project Gotham. As a racing obsessive, I welcomed the option to play a game where you were penalised for hitting walls (not rewarded) Of course if there is fuck all street furniture to gauge against for accurate braking prior to corners it becomes somewhat sodding impossible. Bah.
*4 An they got a little tedious at times, yes the flood are boring, and attempts to kill the motherfucking librarian fail.
I have all sorts of Sony paraphernalia littered about my house:
- 2 x Sony Playstation 2
- 1 x Bigggg ass widescreen TV
- 1 x Video camera
- 1 x DVD player
- 1 x Mobile phone
Anyway you name it if Sony has ever made it, at some point I've probably bought at least one.
The kit itself speaks for itself, I only usually buy quality stuff, and I've never bought Sony because it was Sony, but because it was good gear, that stood out against the competitors in the same (highish) price range.
I have forgiven Sony for their misguided nonsense regarding the whole obsession with Memory Stick and its many inbred, cousin comprised, family members. *1
I have even let them off the hook over the shortsighted stupidity that caused
the Sony collective to stick its head in the sand over the MP3 issue that they refused to acknowledge. Eventually the market moved on, Sony ate a little humble pie and started knocking out MP3 players after Apple won the market with their little white and chrome boxes of MP3 goodness the iPod (and its many non-inbred well branded easily identifiable brethren).
Which makes it all more galling that Sony who occasionally make a crappy decision and seem corporately unwilling to soak up a fuckup, have chosen their current track...
That track being particularly shitty one: Pissing on their customers from a great height, in the name of headlines.
Here's my beef, several months ago, I decided I wanted to buy one of the new slimline PS2s for my bedroom, you know, play a little Tiger Woods before bed time, or watch a movie in bed before sleepy-byes. Could I find one the bloody things in the whole of London? Could I buggery. Why? Well it seemed the reason was that Sony had stopped supplying the retailers with the product, so that when Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas came out, the PS2 slimlines would be flying off the shelves at the same time as the GTA:SA boxes. When I finaly managed to get one, it was the day that GTA:SA came out, the manager at GAME told me he had been asking for skinny PS2s for weeks and he had got 160 that morning!
I'm no media/sales/marking guru, but it seems to me that the reason for this was to get the maximum headlines for the new PS2 with quotes of the "We couldn't keep them on the shelves" kind, all so that Sony could make some sales before the new Xbox 360 comes out*3. So what we are saying here, is that it is OK to piss of the customers if we get some headlines.
Armed with this foreknowledge, I decided not to buy a PSP when it came out, I was buggered if I was going to part with my heard earned to preorder months in advance, nor was I going to fuck about trying to find the one shop that had them in stock on the day. I decided to leave it a while and get one a little later, although I wanted the latest and greatest toy, I have other distractions to keep me going...
So yesterday while I was out, I decided to get DS & Nintendogs for the other half, and to get myself a PSP. Ha! Fat chance. Nintendogs & DS, no problem (and the missis is as happy as can be with the game too), but the PSP? No fucking way!
Some prick at Sony UK HQ decided what was needed was more fucking headlines ("We couldn't keep the PSPs on the shelf!", says Gary Grease-Spot store manager of GAME UK), so after trying about 5 or 6 shops it became clear that no one had any PSPs.
It turns out that the next Grand Theft Auto comes out in a couple of weeks, destined for the PSP. Big FUCKING surprise... So we lucky purchasers who want to buy the product, haven't a hope in hell, as Sony UK stockpiles their PSPs for the release of GTA97: Money for Old Rope, stupid fucks like me can waste their time walking from store to store in the vague hope that someone has them in.
On another note, only one store (HMV, Wood Green) actually had the decency to put up a notice saying they didn't have any in stock. Every other store, Had the big white display box with the screen at the top plyaing the "Buy me, buy me!" loop and the PSP in a perspex enclosure, above the stacks of empty white "PSP Value Pack" boxes. Not a fucking one had any in stock. The Dixons, HMV (Brent Cross), GAME (x2), Sony Centre (x2) and the three independents can all suck my cock too.
But I save my real retailer ire for Toys R Us, those fuckers had signs up at the edge of their carpark saying "Yes we have the PSP in stock!", they had signs on the doors saying "Yes we have the PSP in store right now", they had the big old display box surrounded by plenty of fucking empty PSP value pack boxes. Did they actually have a sodding PSP? Like fuck they did!
These bastards I wouldn't give the steam off my shit! Why fucking compound the problem by openly and aggressively advertising what you plain don't fucking have! Surely trading standards can do something about this... (Note to self.)
Oh and as for HMV Brent Cross thanks for making me wait on Saturday for the PSP reservation hadn't been paid for or collected, so that particular PSP would be available Sunday morning, then telling me it had been collected at 11AM Sunday morning when I went to buy it. I'm glad one of your staff got a discount to buy it, over a customer who had just pulled himself out of bed on a Sunday morning and driven 35 minutes to get there at opening time. Tough luck HMV you just lost a customer for life, I'm not buying from you again. You've just lost a shot at my £2,000/year media budget, no more DVDs, CDs or games from you any more. Welcome to a select list of retailers/manufacturers I never buy from after they have treated me like shit.
After fucking about on eBay for half an hour I managed to find a PSP for sale at a reasonable price, UK spec, with a "Buy It Now" option, I've ended up paying the same as I would anyway, I just have to wait a couple of days.
BTW, look out for jokers in eBay who are selling at vastly inflated prices (£280+) who mention in the small print that you are buying the PSP in advance for when their stock comes in in a week or two! Another shitty trick!
I've committed to buying the PSP now, but I'm going to have to seriously consider whether I'm going to buy any more Sony products after this. I don't like getting fucked about, so some wanker in marketing at Sony HQ can get his headlines in Edge et al, and get his big fat bonus to buy his fast car, big house, trophy wife, house in Essex, coke and whores.
Same goes for all the other companies that hype their product then deliberately limit availability to max out the velocity on their hype-wagon.
In conclusion, I offer that self same marketing wanker at Sony, the opportunity to come around here and suck my cock.
*1 What is the deal with Duo/Magic Gate/Mini/Maxi/Cheesey/Sleepy/Grumpy version of Memory Stick, I mean for Fuck's sake(*2) Sony, please for the love of things wholesome make your sodding solid state memory identifiable will you!
*2 No idea who "Fuck" is but I'll give him/her/it a possessive apostrophe just to be safe.
*3 Which I won't be buying BTW, as all but Halo and Halo 2 have sucked mightily on that platform*4, I bought 7 or 8 games for that platform, and I admit I was burned, Microsoft wouldn't know what gameplay was if it bit their collective arses. Don't get me started on Project Gotham. As a racing obsessive, I welcomed the option to play a game where you were penalised for hitting walls (not rewarded) Of course if there is fuck all street furniture to gauge against for accurate braking prior to corners it becomes somewhat sodding impossible. Bah.
*4 An they got a little tedious at times, yes the flood are boring, and attempts to kill the motherfucking librarian fail.
posted by C at 6:07 pm
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