100 Free Music Downloads!Scam?

[mixed_gears]

just got my sony x-series walkman from amazon and ive seen and heard that you get a voucher for 100 free music downloads. opened the box, checked out the player and all the extras. no voucher for downloads. went over to sonystyle and it states that you must buy from them to be eligible. my question is...anyone that bought from amazon or any other retailer other than sonystyle received a voucher for the 100 free songs?

[rangel28]

Wow. I was just coming to this forum to ask your very same question. I want to purchase the 32 GB x1000 from Amazon, and I was wondering if I would still get the 100 free downloads. Based on your experience, it sounds like you have to order from Sony. That sucks, especially since I have a gift card from Amazon that I want to use.

[thoots]

I just bought one from my local SonyStyle store tonight. The "voucher" was right on top of the pile of innards -- you just can't miss it. If indeed your package came with one....

[mixed_gears]

Originally Posted by thoots

I just bought one from my local SonyStyle store tonight. The "voucher" was right on top of the pile of innards -- you just can't miss it. If indeed your package came with one....

i checked every single piece of paper that came in the box. nothing. this makes me believe that only sony is offering the free downloads.

[thoots]

Originally Posted by mixed_gears

i checked every single piece of paper that came in the box. nothing. this makes me believe that only sony is offering the free downloads.

Yep, that's what it sounds like. You absolutely couldn't miss the thing, if your package had it.

[mixed_gears]

Originally Posted by rangel28

Wow. I was just coming to this forum to ask your very same question. I want to purchase the 32 GB x1000 from Amazon, and I was wondering if I would still get the 100 free downloads. Based on your experience, it sounds like you have to order from Sony. That sucks, especially since I have a gift card from Amazon that I want to use.

yeah it does. amazon however, does offer $5 of free downloads from their music store. not as exciting as $100!

[thoots]

Heck, it's right there:

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/...msId=musicpass

How to redeem your 100 free music downloads

1. Purchase a new X Series Walkman™ player or Sony Ericsson W995a or W705a Walkman™ mobile phone from Sony Style.

2. Locate the Sony MusicPass PIN supplied in the box.

3. Visit www.sonymusicpass.com and enter your PIN to redeem the 100 free music downloads.

[mixed_gears]

Originally Posted by thoots

Heck, it's right there:

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/...msId=musicpass

How to redeem your 100 free music downloads

1. Purchase a new X Series Walkman™ player or Sony Ericsson W995a or W705a Walkman™ mobile phone from Sony Style.

2. Locate the Sony MusicPass PIN supplied in the box.

3. Visit www.sonymusicpass.com and enter your PIN to redeem the 100 free music downloads.

yeah. i saw that earlier today. but when i was told about the free downloads i thought it was included as a package from sony regardless of where you bought it from.

[mrpmpfan]

How could you think it was included in the package regardless from where you bought it when the number one thing on the requirement package it says "from Sony Style"

[The DarkSide]

Wow, another reason to tell Sony to KMA!!!!

[thoots]

Good grief -- have any of you guys actually TRIED that "Sony Music Pass" site? If not, just think in terms of "the web site equivalent of the Sony Media Manager software." It is horrifyingly, horrifyingly AWFUL.

Trust me, you're missing a LOT of aggravation, at the least....

[binkman71]

I have been on and off the phone with so many Sony reps over this.

While Sony may be right in saying the offer was only intended for people buying direct, nearly every authorized reseller (including the one from which I purchased) is advertising the 100 free downloads included in box. Only, as I found out, it isn't included. And while I certainly understand mistakes can happen, the fact that I have found MULTIPLE retailers advertising this troubles me.

It also bothers me that Sony was somewhat rude to me about it. I kept getting passed around from department to department, each one waffling around, but ultimately just saying "We aren't going to do anything about this." I suggested they, at the least, need to inform their resellers about the mistake. I get the impression that isn't going to happen either.

K.

[The DarkSide]

Originally Posted by binkman71

I have been on and off the phone with so many Sony reps over this.

While Sony may be right in saying the offer was only intended for people buying direct, nearly every authorized reseller (including the one from which I purchased) is advertising the 100 free downloads included in box. Only, as I found out, it isn't included. And while I certainly understand mistakes can happen, the fact that I have found MULTIPLE retailers advertising this troubles me.

It also bothers me that Sony was somewhat rude to me about it. I kept getting passed around from department to department, each one waffling around, but ultimately just saying "We aren't going to do anything about this." I suggested they, at the least, need to inform their resellers about the mistake. I get the impression that isn't going to happen either.

K.

When a company treats a person like crap, I'd say it's time to return the item purchased for a refund. That's the ONLY way you'll be listened to in the end. Otherwise, 1 person complaining does no good, especially falling on "deaf ears" such as those possessed by Sony.

[thoots]

Originally Posted by binkman71

....nearly every authorized reseller (including the one from which I purchased) is advertising the 100 free downloads included in box.

Well, you know, I think I have to call your bluff. "First post, eh?"

I just spent quite a bit of time doing an online goose chase, and couldn't find even ONE online retailer (excluding SonyStyle) that mentioned anything about the 100 downloads offer. I checked all of the major online retailers, then I checked the sites for any stores in my area that might possibly have an X series player in their stores. Not only did most of them NOT have any X series players on their sites, the only one that did -- Best Buy -- not only doesn't mention the 100 downloads offer, but doesn't have the players available for sale yet.

I've only seen the X series in two stores -- the SonyStyle store, and Fry's Electronics. Fry's certainly didn't have anything about the 100 free downloads in their store, and thinking back about it, I really don't recall seeing anything about the offer at SonyStyle, either.

So, I'm sorry, but you've dragged Sony's name through the mud here, but I sure can't find ANY of your so-called "nearly every authorized resellers" advertising the SonyStyle 100 downloads offer.

By all means, feel free to rebut me with the name of any or all of these "authorized resellers" you're finding, including the one you bought yours from. And then I'd recommend that you re-focus your negative campaign against the apparently dodgy reseller you found, rather than the innocent folks at Sony who tried to help you.

[Ascariss]

here is a link from JR.com

http://www.jr.com/sony/pe/SON_NWZX1061FBK/

100 Free Music Downloads: Purchase a Sony X series Walkman® player and receive 100 free music downloads from Sony Music

It should come in the box regardless, I bought a A818 from JR.com and it also came with free downloads usa only though I think.

[thoots]

OK, there's one. I actually looked at this on J&R and didn't catch it buried there in the specs and such. Still, I haven't found any other site that mentions the 100 downloads offer -- anyone care to keep on looking to find any others?

Frankly, once you get beyond the biggest online sites, it's pretty darn rare to find anyone who's actually got the X series at all -- whether "in stock" or not. Bottom line, it doesn't add up to "most resellers" advertising this offer. If we're just talking about J&R here, then the beef is with them, not Sony.

[binkman71]

http://www.buy.com/prod/sony-nwzx106...211190517.html

I bought from www.abt.com, and after alerting them to the situation, and confirming with Sony, they have now removed the information about the 100 free downloads (was there when I purchased, though).

There's the J&R link already posted. And so on.

So, while I admit I may have jumped the gun saying "nearly every", I had no trouble finding multiple places that had it advertised, and told that to Sony. I will also admit, unlike a previous poster, I'm not planning on returning it over this issue, but I still fault Sony -- they most likely provided the marketing information to these resellers to use. If so many are including the "100 Free Downloads" information, it came from somewhere.

K.

[binkman71]

Heh -- Abt only removed it from the 32GB version. Still on the 16GB as I write this:

http://www.abt.com/product/41180/Son...1051FBSMP.html

K.

[thoots]

Originally Posted by binkman71

I bought from www.abt.com, and after alerting them to the situation, and confirming with Sony, they have now removed the information about the 100 free downloads (was there when I purchased, though).

There's the J&R link already posted. And so on.

So, while I admit I may have jumped the gun saying "nearly every", I had no trouble finding multiple places that had it advertised, and told that to Sony. I will also admit, unlike a previous poster, I'm not planning on returning it over this issue, but I still fault Sony -- they most likely provided the marketing information to these resellers to use. If so many are including the "100 Free Downloads" information, it came from somewhere.

Well, first of all, apologies if I've come off harsh here. Still, I don't think Sony is at fault in the slightest here. More about that later.

I actually checked abt.com after Ascariss posted about J&R -- very late last night. But, indeed, I always looked for the 32-gig model, and abt.com wasn't showing the 100 downloads thing then. So, excluding abt.com, that's a whopping "two" online vendors we've managed to dig up here. That's just not anything even remotely close to thinking that "most sites are advertising the offer."

Whatever the case, let's look at this from a strict legal and business perspective. Sony's 100 downloads offer very clearly states the terms and conditions of the offer on the SonyStyle site. You can rest assured that offers like this are stated with very specific legal terms, in order to limit the company's liabilities -- and this is a perfect example that shows why they need to do such things.

There's just no way Sony can be responsible for a hundred or a thousand third-party sites stating God Knows What about what they're selling. Whether the sites that included this offer were mistaken, or were lying through their teeth, or were just a result of some inept copy-and-paste from Sony's site to fill out their own info, "just doesn't matter." Sony's liability has been defined in legal terms, and as you found out, NOBODY at Sony has the ability to overrule the offer's legal terms.

Sony simply isn't at fault here. The sites that incorrectly included the offer on their pages are at fault. If you bought from one, then you should be crucifying THEM for the mistake they made, and they WOULD have the ability to give you a remedy -- either a return of the unit and a refund for hooking you with a bogus offer, or perhaps a partial refund in order to "make good" on their error.

In the end, any web site that includes the 100 downloads offer should really provide a link to the details of the offer, just like SonyStyle does. Only then could you truly understand "the fine print" of the offer.

[Eazy123]

I went to SonyStyle for my WMX - the guy HANDED me a voucher for 100 free songs. Guess he didn't realize there was already a voucher inside the box. So I basically got 200 free songs.