A user on the PlayStation forums took a picture with his digital camera of a store offering PSP firmware upgrades... for only $4.99! I do get quite a number of silly e-mails from readers asking how to upgrade the system's firmware. Is it so difficult to visit Sony's official website? Is it so difficult to put a UMD that features an upgrade into one's system to update? Is it so hard to use the "Network Update" feature? WHY?? Why can't people figure this out?!
As long as there's simpletons using the machine, there will always be a market for capitalizing store managers. Is he a smart business man? Or is he just exploiting others for a free feature?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-20-2006 @ 11:10PM
jook said...
That's disgusting.
Reply
11-20-2006 @ 11:28PM
Kurifurisan said...
This reminds me of the Circuit City fiasco with offering "backwards compatibility" services at a price for Xbox 360 owners. As a person in the retail world I gotta be honest...sometimes people will pay anything just to get out of doing the work, even if it's as simple as clicking a link, putting a disc in the drive, or following a series of screens and instructions.
Reply
11-20-2006 @ 11:43PM
pentapenguin said...
I suppose if you don't have broadband, a PC, or a USB cable it might be worth a few $ but $5? No way!
Reply
11-21-2006 @ 2:05AM
mo1518 said...
This is sony's fault. They've had it wrong since Day 1 when they named it ad-hoc and infrastructure. They should have programmed this machine to cater to the lowest common denominator - American idiots who can't be bothered to learn hot to do something themselves. Instead they made it just confusing enough that morons have to pay money for free updates.
Reply
11-21-2006 @ 4:06AM
daniel-kun said...
Err, honestly, I don't think that $5 is such a big deal.
Reply
11-21-2006 @ 10:29AM
Kspraydad said...
You are paying $5 for the service and the time not for the update. This is perfectly legit.
Hey...guess what...that barber that just charged you $15 for a haircut...you coulda done that yourself you know.
Reply
11-21-2006 @ 10:37AM
poop whistle said...
LAME
if you dont know how to update the firmware then you shouldnt own it.
Reply
11-21-2006 @ 4:10PM
The Nickus!! said...
Wow, this is retail 101 here. Sure you can make $5 for supplying a service, it's not generous but it's legit. They're doing something for someone and charging for it. I changed my own oil once, I know how it's just a pain and I'd rather pay someone else to deal with it.
A smart retailer on the other hand could seize this opportunity to build relationships with their customers by doing this for free, or even better teaching people how to do it. This makes happy customers who return to your store for all the new releases and who tell their friends that you're shop is the place to go for games.
"XXX game shop helped me out for free while the kid at best buy told me it wasn't his problem"
When will people learn a little service can really profit you in the long run...
Reply
11-22-2006 @ 4:49PM
ArturoBandini said...
Eh, what's the bid deal. I can easily envision the possible catalyst for this: Store owner/manager/whatever gets more confused newbies asking about firmware updates than he cares to deal with. So he slaps up a sign saying that it costs $5 for a firmware upgrade. Helps reduce the number of newbies asking for help by half, at least, and he can proceed with doing whatever it is he thought was more important in the first place.
It doesn't have to motivated by greed, you know.
Reminds me of when I used to work in an auto repair shop where the owner printed out the definition of "estimate" and affixed it to the front desk. He's a completely honest and hard-working man, but he simply got tired of people complaining when estimated prices -- as is their nature -- would change as the job progressed. It's one thing to give someone a flat price for an oil change, it's entirely more difficult to give them an exact, definitive answer on how much it will cost to replace a head gasket...
Reply