When my PS4 was new I had a problem with my controllers (both the one it shipped with and the DS4 I bought).
- They would occasionally develop significant lag: my character would not respond to controls or movement would be delayed.
- The console would respond to instructions I never gave, causing characters to run around in circles, the camera to look in unwanted directions, or selections to switch without my input.
- The controller would disconnect, even if it was connected by USB to the console or the battery was fully charged. This would often happen repeatedly within a minute of a reconnection.
These problems would often happen together, to great frustration. Consider trying to select an item on the screen. A Simple Up, Up, X should take about a second. In my case that process could eat up a minute. Up (nothing), Up (nothing), Up (nothing), Up (Up, Up, Up, Up, Up, Up), Down (nothing), Down (controller disconnects)…
I contacted Sony for support for this problem when the console was under warranty and they suggested a fix that didn’t work. Based on my experiences with Sony I dreaded dealing with support again, so I waited too long and the warranty expired before I rolled up. I assumed since I was calling about an existing on-record problem that began under warranty I would be covered. I was wrong, and was told there is nobody who can waive repair charges, which is probably a lie.
I need to ship my console to Sony, at my expense, and pay $100 for the repair. The hard drive will be erased, which I don’t want, so I asked what if I remove it. They said I would need to replace the original hard drive which is in use in a PS3, so is unavailable. They won’t service a console that does not have a hard drive.
So so they sold me a busted machine (strike 1). They won’t fix it at their cost (strike 2), and they won’t fix it even if I pay and send it to them. (Strike 3).
For the first time in my life I’m looking forward to the next XBox.
