There is no hope for Sony if they can't do the simple things

[Hobie-wan]

Any company that's worth their salt keeps spare parts or unit around in case of issues like missing items or DOA new units. This is often how 10 year old new old stock are 'found' in a warehouse or mysteriously show up for sale somewhere.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

You might have gotten one that was used and traded in with the original box and stuff, we get those in all the time at my store. It looks new but it sells for a used price which is great for families that need a cheaper system but still want it to look more presentable in a gift giving situation.

Whoever gifted it to you might have just stuck some plastic seal on it and bam, "new" PS3.

If the seal it had was the white Sony ribbon with the company logo all over it across the top end of the box then it's new.

Uh, I now have the receipt (which I mentioned above). It was purchased at full price, the outer box AND the inner box were sealed. The serial number of the machine is on the receipt too. The gift giver already has a PS3 fat (the backwards compatible version) so he wouldn't have had a need for another.

Simple: Sony's manufacturing bunch simply forgot to include the manual. Point is, a manual was paid for but not received. They owe me a manual.

And while, yes, hooking it up and using it was easy, I still like manuals. I've already had a need for it too (had to use the PDF version to find my answer). I had configured it for HDMI output on my HDTV but when I moved it to a standard TV I wasn't getting video. I found in the manual how to reset it to standard output by holding the ON button down until it beeps and the on light flashes twice.

In that case just hound them.

It's not Sony's fault you're having a ton of trouble they're all about helping you most of the time, it's that the agent on the phone's being an idiot.

Like others have said, keep at it and you'll most likely get your manual.

[D.D.D.]

@Scooter - Do they even come with manuals anymore? My 120GB PS3 slim didn't come with one and neither did my new 160GB version. I actually find it much easier to go through a PDF with the search function than flipping through pages.

When my wife bought a Sony Vaio Laptop, there were no install discs. The explanation was that I can burn the five install discs from the hard drive backup. I paid for windows, dammit I wanted pressed original install discs!

I'm not sure if you mean a retail copy of Windows or restore discs...
Unless it says you are purchasing a retail version of Windows with your "brand" PC, you are not actually buying Windows - just the license to use it on that sole piece of hardware you bought. It's not transferable so the only thing you'd be able to do is reinstall it on that laptop if you needed to - which is likely but I get where you're coming from. It's so cheap of PC manufacturers not to include restore-discs anymore but also, it's not really ecological to include them when most people won't ever use them.

[Scooter]

Well, I've see a few for sale on ebay so it would appear they actually exist. If they no longer included a hardcopy manual, why wouldn't customer service have just told me that?

[swiftzx]

Well, I've see a few for sale on ebay so it would appear they actually exist. If they no longer included a hardcopy manual, why wouldn't customer service have just told me that?

?, I bought a ps3 a few days ago and it did come with an instruction manual

[Hobie-wan]

?, I bought a ps3 a few days ago and it did come with an instruction manual

Good point. My PS3 slim from a year ago had one.

[CRTGAMER]

When my wife bought a Sony Vaio Laptop, there were no install discs. The explanation was that I can burn the five install discs from the hard drive backup. I paid for windows, dammit I wanted pressed original install discs!

I'm not sure if you mean a retail copy of Windows or restore discs...
Unless it says you are purchasing a retail version of Windows with your "brand" PC, you are not actually buying Windows - just the license to use it on that sole piece of hardware you bought. It's not transferable so the only thing you'd be able to do is reinstall it on that laptop if you needed to - which is likely but I get where you're coming from. It's so cheap of PC manufacturers not to include restore-discs anymore but also, it's not really ecological to include them when most people won't ever use them.

The whole restore works, Windows and all the driver discs. I paid for them, screamed and finally got the original pressed discs. The idea is if a crash or hard drive change, I have a full reinstall capability.

[Michi]

I'm with everyone else. Call them back and hound them. Most of the people in customer service don't have a clue, but you might luck out and get someone who does. And if you don't, and you so much as get an inkling of a runaround, demand to talk to a manager. Things just get done faster that way.