Thought i would add my own 2p's worth here.
Bought my PS3 in December 2007 and after 11 months of gaming it decided to crash while i was playing a game, then after this incident i was unable to play any games/dvd's/blu-ray's/cd's. So i called the Playstation helpline and after talking to the tech guy there was a courier at my door 2 days later. My console was collected and sent back but it was left in the programming mode or something so had to be sent back and another unit replaced my old one.
Everything was great and i had another 9 months usage out of the replacement unit and then suprise suprise i got the same fault again but this time i was out of my Manufacturer's Warranty. So i decided to call the helpline again and told them that i had the same fault before and this unit was displaying the same symptoms to which they replied "you are out of your 12 months so we are going to have to charge you £99 and a replacement re-furbished unit shall be dispatched". I was rather disappointed and pointed out to the Tech guy that i had only just had a replacement unit sent to me 9 months prior and i asked if the replacememnt unit Sony sent me came with a 12 month Warranty to which he said "im sorry but replacement units are only come with a 3 month warranty" which i reckon is rather poor.
Roll on another 3 months and i decided to call them again today and spoke to a nice Tech Girl who noticed i had a few replacements and realised i was rather disappointed with the PS3 experience. The Girl on the phone ran through the usual checks with me and then said that she was going to speak to her Manager/supervisor, When she returned she said that she was going to get the courier to bring back the unit to Sony and have it repaired rather than to replace it with a re-furb'd unit. She then went on to say that the total cost of repairing the Unit would also be £99 BUT.......... becuase she knew i had had alot of trouble with the PS3 they are now doing the repair for free and i shall get a 12 month Warranty on the repair too.
I am very happy with this situation and i thought i would share my story with others in the same situation.