A small word.

[Zenurb]

I recently posted on extended warranties that GAME in the UK is providing, and it was sent to the hall of shame, with a link to The official rules of the forum

Here is why taking an insurance and repair policy out on your PSP with GAME is not a violation of these rules:

From time to time, in the course of experimenting in the line of dev, someone might damage or destroy their console.

Some unscrupulous individuals will then abuse the return policy of various stores, sometimes repeatedly, in order to avoid taking responsibility for their lack of care.

I haven't heard of anyone irreparably bricking their PSP since Dark_Alex's new custom firmware.

What I mentioned is _NOT_ the return policy of GAME, and they will not return your bricked PSP. It's accidental damage and therefore covered by your insurance and repair policy.

These same people occasionally suggest this course of action to others who are stuck with damaged goods by their own carelessness.

I've never bricked a PSP, sorry and all.

This will not be tolerated on these boards. Discussions alongs the lines of "But its not really wrong...they let you do it" is besides the point, and also will not be tolerated.

It's an insurance policy, not a return policy, it's what it's for!

Encouraging unethical action, regardless of how much someone else bends over to let you do it, is still against the rules of the forums.

Ever insured your car? For like, when you have an accident? Like crashing it? Yeah. By your logic, insurance companies are unethical!

Violators are likely to be banned, especially if they attempt to defend their suggestions/actions in response to a warning, assuming one was nice enough to not ban them outright.

Ban me then, this is an internet forum, not my life, I came back after a year (possibly longer?) to try and tell people about an insurance policy, that wont push your home insurance premium up, and you people are too quick to judge.

In the end, we're all developers, and if anyone _WANTS_ the piece of mind that the GAME insurance policy offers (On any new console you buy, wether you develop on it or not) then go for it. If not, delete this post and ban me.

[TyRaNiD]

Yes but accidental damage is the crux of the matter it can hardly be argued that bricking is accidental, sure from the point of view that _you_ might not have intended to do it it could be classed in your mind as accidental but from the insurers point of view it would be willful negligence. You took an action which invalidated the warranty and more.

Now I might be wrong but it would be unlikely that any insurer would agree to terms whereby any issue with a device could be construed as accidental and thus liable for a payout, that is just not how insurance works. And remember they are only bound by the terms of your contract with them, even in car insurance if you breech those rules then you could be liable for the costs, they don't _have_ to cover your damages if they have a good enough excuse not to pay.

Now in the end if you tell them, "Oh I was just upgrading my firmware using non-Sony tools and it bricked" _and_ with that admission they gave you a new PSP then fair enough, but I somehow doubt they would. Therefore the only way you are going to them to pay out is to tell them a lie (maybe a subtle one like power cut + power adapter + battery failure all at the same moment when doing a Sony update :P). Now I don't know about you but I dont see many places in this world where lying is _not_ unethical :)

[J.F.]

I don't know - I'd say bricking on a custom firmware install would be accidental. Most people never have trouble, and it's not like you're TRYING to brick the PSP. You accidentally bricked it doing something Sony doesn't approve of. That is precisely what insurance is for. Ford may not approve of how you drive, but the insurance company must specify in the policy if that behavior is acceptable to them or not. If they specifically state - no custom firmware installing - and you lie about it, then you're in violation.

[emcp]

to tell them a lie (maybe a subtle one like power cut + power adapter + battery failure all at the same moment when doing a Sony update :P)

you could say that you bricked it while doing a update but not mentioning which kind (if its a SONY or HOMEBREW)
then you wouldnt be lying just not telling the whole truth there for no violating

but i do have to agree with J.F. if it says specifically that they wont cover you if you use homebrew then

fair enough \\\\!!!VIOLATION!!!////