@ penguin

I wouldn't be surprised if a Snes or Sega Megadrive would be well more reliable than a Wii. The Wii uses more complex technology.

Quite a shitty thing to charge (what was it £128?) when all that is required is a quick blast in the PS3 oven to re-attach any soldering causing loose connections.

Sony were pissed about them fixing YLOD PS3's for free on their doorstep. :P

If an electronic device breaks within 5 years due to a manufacturing defect, the retailer the machine was purchased from must provide a replacement or repair for free. Microsoft admitted the RROD flaw was their fault, meaning their 3-year guarantee helps their retailers in the UK a lot. However, you should have 5 years in the UK, not 3. I'm told Microsoft would have been forced to offer far longer if it went to court -- actually, the retailers would, but they would complain to Microsoft in turn -- so I have little respect for the whole 3-year thing, although it does make it really easy to get a 360 fixed if it pops in the first 3 years.

In short, Microsoft says the RROD was their fault at a manufacturing level, so they have to fix it. Sony says the YLOD is not their fault at a manufacturing level, so they do not have to fix it. I think. I'm no expert on these things, but I have talked to Sony's Customer Services a lot this last few weeks, and to the Government Helplines on retail law, and that's pretty much the situation they described to me.

Huh ? Didn't we already knew we could just cook the motherboard to get everything functionning again ? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RovgIm-33k0

For the record, Sony don't charge you £128 to heat your console. Instead, they give you a new machine with a 3-month guarantee (which you can argue up to a year if you try; I have, and I still refuse to pay). It's still £128, which is £128 too much if you already spent £425 on one already, but it's worth making it clear what you are paying for.

a quick blast in the oven only does a quick fix though. it said on the show that 4 of the consoles failed again

I would rather go out and buy the Slim then hand £128 to Sony for someone else's refurbished console.

The recourse in the UK should be with the trader not Sony, the important thing to remember here is fit for purpose. What this usually means is that if I bought an Iron I should expect it to work for X number of years. If they cannot demonstrate that I was negligent then I should be able to claim something along these lines to get all of your money back obviously how long I owned the item will probably affect your outcome. This has nothing to do with a manufacturers warranty and is a consumer right.

In most cases I think people are going direct to Sony and not the trader. Where this may change is if Sony claim the problem is inherent and introduce their own scheme as with Microsoft.

That's exactly what I said to them. The Sony guy made it clear I wouldn't get anyone else's console. Instead, all PS3s returned to them are stripped to their component parts which are then individually tested. They are then added to the production line for PS3s to be sent to existing customers. So, any PS3 you receive from them will be made up of a mixture of new parts and fully tested refurbished parts from other PS3s. That's why it's pretty easy to argue them up from the 3 months, as Sony see it as a new PS3, one that will be as reliable, if not more so due to the extra testing, than a store purchased PS3.

Still, I now own a slim. I'm still wrangling with Sony over my fat PS3. The fault is so minor that a £128 charge is simply too much for me to contemplate.

I liked how they said from the 11 PS3's that they fixed 4 broke again within days. Goes to show it's worth going to Sony if this did happen to you