We all have been waiting too long for the launch of PS4. However, to the surprise of most, PS4 has received a dubious honor from its disgruntled customers i.e. nickname of “the Blue Light of Death”. It somewhat mimics Xbox’s nick of “Red Ring of Death”, that remained with the Xbox for years after its launch. This nick is associated to the various fatal flaws that forced numerous PS4 owners to mail consoles back to Sony for necessary adjustments. These angry customers have expressed their concerns in online forums, blogs and reviews. But what is the truth in it?
Though we can’t be sure about the truth in the issue related to broken consoles, Sony did share the expected failure before launch. They mentioned an expected rate of 0.4%. So, we can safely say that it is 1 in 250 consoles sold. When we apply this failure rate to a million; this comes to 4000 broken consoles. No doubt the figure looks very promising, but customers feel nothing great about mailing a $400 brand new console back to Sony.
Another important point we should discuss is, this is the first launch of PS, since the emergence of social media. This means that disgruntled customers can effortlessly share their opinion with a huge audience, waiting for some news. It is also evident from research that angry customers spread more negativity as compared to a happy customer. In fact negative customers are 10 times more likely to share bad about their experience. It is now a routine matter for us to discuss a purchasing decision with our online friends, thus making it important for companies to adapt to the customer opinion.
The PS4 forums are filled with posts that point towards the anger of customers facing flaws in the consoles. Same is the case with Amazon review thread, where the opinion is divided into 5 and 1 star reviews. Most of these 1 star’s are calling PS4 a “Flashing Blue Light”.
What about Sony’s Customer Service:
There is a DIY thread on PS forums that allows the visitors to fix the bugs related to flashing blue light, but if you have not been successful with this, the best advice is to go to a Sony store. Official stores can do onsite maintenance for you and sometimes offer you replacements without you having to mail the console back to Sony and wait for it to arrive at your doorstep.
If you have been facing any fatal issues with PS4, we would like you to share your experience. In case you need technical help, the best idea is to run for a Sony store, because commenter’s won’t be able to help you much with it.