| CONSUMER ADVISORY
concerning the PlayStation 2 Sony
Computer Entertainment America Inc. Cautions
Consumers of Fraudulent Business Practices and
False Advertising Surrounding Its Coveted
PlayStation(R)2 Computer Entertainment System.
Company
Encourages Internet and Online Shoppers to
Exercise Discretion When Purchasing PlayStation 2
and Related Products
Sony
Computer Entertainment America Inc. (SCEA) today
issued a consumer alert targeted at holiday
shoppers in North America looking to purchase the
PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment system.
The company and other organizations, such as the
Better Business Bureaus (BBB) in the United
States and Canada, have received some consumer
inquiries and reports of Web sites falsely
advertising the availability of PlayStation 2. In
an effort to protect its loyal consumer base, the
company advises customers interested in
purchasing the PlayStation 2 system through
various e-commerce or "e-tail" sites to
conduct business with familiar merchants or
research individual sites before buying.
Consumers
not only benefit from a variety of rights that
they need to understand, but can utilize a number
of preventive steps when shopping online. For
example, under the law, a company must ship
orders within the time stated in its
advertisements and no more than 30 days after the
order date. If consumers decide to pay by credit
card or charge card, transactions will be
protected by the Fair Credit Billing Act.
Additional information about consumer rights is
available through the Federal Trade Commission
web site www.ftc.gov.
"Internet
usage and online shopping is growing and because
of this, the Better Business Bureau is committed
to educating consumers about how to safely make
online purchases," said Ken Hunter,
president and CEO, the Council of Better Business
Bureaus. "Each year we find recurring
problems associated with hard-to-find holiday
gift items. To protect consumers, our
organization has established the BBB Code of
Online Business Practices and the BBBOnLine
Reliability program. Through this program, more
than 9,000 individual Web sites have qualified
for the BBBOnLine Reliability seal which signify
the merchants' commitment to good customer
practices including standing behind advertising
claims."
"With
demand for PlayStation 2 reaching unprecedented
levels, as an organization we are committed to
protecting consumers by exposing merchants with
deceptive business practices," said Kazuo
Hirai, president and chief operating officer,
Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. "As
we move through the holiday selling season, our
main objective is to supply the North American
market with as many PlayStation 2 units as
possible. We will continue to work closely with
our retail partners to ensure that product is
continuously shipped in and moved through retail
distribution and ultimately, into consumers'
hands. "We are on track with the original
shipment schedule disclosed earlier and we look
to have 1.3 million PlayStation 2 units in the
market by year end," added Hirai.
If
consumers have questions relating to this matter,
or would like to investigate an e-commerce Web
site, please contact the SCEA Consumer Service
Department at 800-345-7669 (SONY), the Better
Business Bureau or local protection agency.
Consumers also can check a business's complaint
record with the Better Business Bureau through www.bbb.org.
Additionalinformation about consumer rights is
available through the Federal Trade Commission
web site www.ftc.gov
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