Email To Steve Ballmer Over Xbox Woes Leads to New 360
Consumerist reader "AlteredBeast" has gone through 6 Xbox 360s since launch. Four of them were due to "poor quality control with the refurbished units (only 2 fell victim to the overheating issue)." On the sixth repair, this gentlemen tried to escalate as high as he could to see about getting a new unit instead of another refurbed system. Unfortunately, the person he eventually go to on the other side told his he was just a couple of days too late and should have called sooner aroudn the time he received the sixth unit that was now going in for repairs. The rep on the phone also told AlteredBeast that he was as high up as he could go.
Fortunately, The Consumerist (I stop by every morning and throughout the day, just wanted to let you know), had posted the email addresses for Microsoft's executives. Being the good lil' consumerist that he is, Mr. Beast decided to take action and send out an email to Steve Ballmer. Two days later he received a call from a representative who was more than happy to give him a new unit. While it didn't come in a retail box, the system he received had no scuffs and smelt the smell of a new Xbox 360.
Tis' an epic tale, my friends. Mr. A. Beast, I'm so very happy that you got yourself a new unit after all this time. While this does show good customer service on the part of Microsoft, one still shouldn't have to go through this many consoles. Thank goodness they are trying hard to correct the error of their ways.
Friendly Email To Steve Ballmer Results In New XBOX 360 [The Consumerist]
[Image courtesy of The Consumerist]
Super Timsy
Posted to Video Games on 9 August 2007
· Comments (5)
Other stuff like this: Customer Service, Microsoft, Steve Ballmer, Xbox 360
This shows absolutely awful customer service on Microsoft's part! All he got was the run-around from someone who told him that he had reached the highest authority possible. The fact that he only received satisfaction by contacting Ballmer demonstrates that there is something terribly wrong with Xbox support.
I'm on my third console, and dealing with them is a fucking nightmare. They're full of incompetent assholes who don't give two shits about their jobs or the reputation of the company they work for.
This story is a sign of a negative trend, not a positive one.
I live in downtown Seattle, fifteen minutes or less from Microsoft Land (a.k.a. Redmond).
I called in my (death by red rings) 360 last Tuesday. It took a half-hour just to talk to someone over the phone. They told me that they were shipping out a box to send my system in.
It's been over a week and I still have yet to see this magical box. I almost feel like driving over there, proceed to throw the machine at the building, and then never look back...
I have to agree. While the number of games on the 360 that appeal to me is finally increasing, nothing about how this current generation in Microsoft's foray into console gaming makes me want to invest in their hardware. Between poor decision making when constructing the console and even poorer customer service in addressing a construction flaw (that they apparently knew about), to basically admitting that they consciously made a cost-cutting decision that turned out to generate a higher than expected failure rate on the console, I just feel that this isn't the generation to invest in microsoft's console.
And then that they nickel-and-dime consumers on peripherals and additional content makes me less than excited about microsoft. The hard drive shouldn't cost $100 (if you can find the $100 version). The wireless a) should be included and b) shouldn't cost $100.
I just got my first refurb sent to me, and when I plugged it in, I got 1 red light after the system froze on start-up. Apparently, the DVD drive was dead.
So, 7 weeks after sending my 360 in for repairs, they sent me a broken machine. And all I got out of them was a copy of Kameo, which I already have. Mother-fathers!
I-Mockery also has been having problems with Microsoft and didn't care for their letter:
http://www.i-mockery.com/shorts/xbox360-owners/default.php