Opinion: Sony Playstation VS Apple iDevice Support Transactions

My interaction with Live Chat on Sony Playstation tonight made me wonder how theoretically different, and more pleasant the interaction might have been had it been with Apple.

It all starts out with Sony's Service Policy stated in big capital lettering as though Sony is yelling at you before you've even told them what is wrong (with their product):

From http://www.playstation.com/en-us/support/warranties/ps4/

A VALID PROOF OF PURCHASE IN THE FORM OF A BILL OF SALE OR RECEIPT FROM AN AUTHORIZED RETAILER WITH THE DATE OF THE ORIGINAL PURCHASE MUST BE PRESENTED TO OBTAIN WARRANTY SERVICE.

This same warranty page points to www.us.playstation.com/support  in order to obtain a return authorization code.  From that page there is actually no obvious way to proceed until you select Support -> Contact Support from the upper right corner and are alerted to a 15 minute average wait time for "Live" chat.  My chat script follows with highlighted opportunities to be more like Apple and less like Comcast Residential Service.

Sony: Hello, My name is [Sony] how may I assist you today?

Sony: Are you still there?

You: I am

You: have a hardware problem with my PS4 controller

You: left analog stick clicks by does not work consistently when depressed

Sony: I'm sorry to hear you are having an issue. I understand how frustrating it can be.

Sony: Although you have entered information about a SEN account before this chat, could you please provide the following to confirm the *exact* account you need assistance with?

-  First and Last Name on account

-  Sign-In ID (email address)

-  Online ID

You: Rob, foobarbaz@yahoo.com, MyScreenName

Sony: Thank you, Rob. One moment while I access your account.

Sony: May I ask, since when this issue started?

You: Its gotten gradually worse over the course of the last two weeks

You: Difficult to actually run in Destiny now!

Sony: My apologies for the inconvenience. Tell me, did you purchase it recently?

You: and my left thumb is going to fall off ;-)

Sony: When did you purchase it?

You: It was purchased as a gift around October of 2014

Sony: I see, in that case we can create a service request but due to quality purposes the proof of purchase will be required, Rob. Our best recommendation will be to gather it and provide us with it so that we can create the service case for you.

You: Shouldn't the POS Bar code be sufficient?

You: it came in a system bundle

Sony: I do understand your concern, but in this case we have strict guidelines to follow, my best advice will be to gather that information, once you have it feel free to contact us back and any agent will be more than glad to check on the case.

You: and I'm pretty sure that I completed the registration when I used it the first time

Sony: Is there anything else I can assist you with today?

Now it is important to understand that the carbon copy warranty legalese does not include logic in the CYA, nor consumer friendliness, but anyone who can read at a second grade level would see:

will be free from material defects in material and workmanship for a period of one year from the original date of purchase (the "Warranty Period")

While I don't have the original sales receipt because my friends that pitched in together to buy it for me knew that I would never want to return it, I do have the original box and inner box that has clearly displayed the model number P-27452255-E which Google search readily identifies as the prerelease version of the special edition glacier white Destiny bundle.  Not playing favorites,  Amazon shows the release date of this version to be September 9th, 2014.  So, in order for me to be eligible for warranty coverage the following must be true:

1 year > todays date - purchase date

Let's use the purchase date as the date of the release because that really is the oldest it "can" be as warranty coverage should not start when you've paid for something so much as when you've actually received the product from the reseller (i.e. on the date of release).

365 days > March 2, 2015 days between September 9, 2014
365 days > 174 days

So, essentially, Sony is refusing to warranty a product they know had to be sold less than a year from today based on the Model number, and is actually denying service less than half way in to the warranty period because my product was a gift and not purchased by myself and they painted themselves in to an illogical and inflexible service policy that doesn't take in to account new product release dates as a consideration for valid serviceability.  Its no surprise then that Apple support asks for the serial number of the device first.