Late last year I bought myself an XBox 360. It’s great to be able to come home after work and be able to let off steam once in a while. Getting rid of the built up stress, tension and pressure that mounts during the work week is a great way to spend a couple of hours. I knew before sinking down almost $400 that I was taking a small risk however – XBox 360’s don’t exactly have a great track record in the reliability department, but I was willing to forgo that with a willingness that Microsoft had extended their hardware error warranty to three years.
So in October of 2007, I picked up my console from Best Buy and all was going fine until I got the dreaded Red Ring of Death. My XBox would play for a short while, freeze, then give me the red lights. This continued to get worse until I couldn’t use my console at all. I contacted XBox customer support and they gave me a cheat sheet of steps to try out to save me from shipping my machine. Unfortunately, none of those steps worked and so I had to ship it off. They sent me a box and UPS label to send it in, and then sent me my replacement back in around nine or ten days. Not a bad turn around time.
Cue last weekend – the games I played began to skip and jump. Not cool. I switched discs and sure enough, it happened with each one. Then the screen went a weird green colour and looked all washed out. Again, I changed discs, rebooted, and did all the things they tell you to do at the Microsoft support site – none of which worked. I did some checking into the warranty and this is where it gets all murky, what I like to call misty buff.
The three year warranty only covers ‘hardware failures’ – or errors deemed to be caused by a hardware malfunction. In other words, unless your XBox 360 craps out and shows the red ring of death, you’re out of luck and have to stump up almost $110. After looking at online forums and YouTube videos of my issue, it seems that it’s not an uncommon occurrence. Apparently it’s a video card issue resulting from over-heating (my apologies for playing on my console for over three hours).
The way I saw it, I had three options:
- Go out and purchase a new 360
- Stump up the $106 to get it repaired
- Pitch a hissy fit on the phone to Xbox support.
There was no way I was choosing option number 1, putting more money into Microsoft’s coffers? Heck no. Again, choice number two was out, why should I have to pay for repairs on the console that they sent me? So I was left with option number three – and that is exactly what I did about two hours ago…
I was in no mood to beat around the bush, my machine going out at all is bad enough, but over the Christmas holiday period? Even worse. However, I retained my composure and called the support number. The service rep I spoke to explained to me that even though it was indeed a hardware issue, it was not covered under my warranty for my original 360 and that I would have to pay for it to be repaired. I told him that this was the console they sent me, and that it should last longer than an obligatory seven or eight months before it bites the dust.
After much back and forth in the conversation here’s how it went down:
Rep: “I understand that you’re having some hardware difficulties sir, but that’s why we have these kind of warranty’s and you did have the choice to renew it..”
Uh-oh, he just committed the ultimate customer service faux-pas, putting the blame on the customer.
Me: “Why should I have to pay for something you sent me to replace the original one that crapped out? That’s a pretty crappy warranty if you ask me.”
Rep: “Let me go ask a supervisor to see if there’s anything I can do..”
A few minutes later…
Rep: “Sir, I’m sorry, there’s nothing we can do because your warranty expired in October 08″
Me: “So you’re telling me that because I chose not to renew the warranty on a machine that lasted less than 8 months, which was sent by Microsoft, that I have to pay for something that is not my fault?”
Rep: “That’s correct sir, unfortunately even though it’s a hardware issue it’s not covered by warranty”
I’d heard this warranty crap long enough. I don’t mind paying for something if it’s because of something I’ve let happen or if it were an old machine and I needed to get a new one. But there was no way on God’s green earth I was going to pay for damage that happened to a console I had less than eight months. We were about 15 minutes into the conversation at this point.
Me: “Can I speak to a supervisor please?”
I must have waited for another 15 minutes before someone called ‘Frasier’ came on the line. Frasier asked me if I was given a reference number by the last service rep..
Me: “No, I think he was pretty sick of me.”
Frasier: “Ok, so can you please explain to me the problem you’re having?”
I told him what was going on with the video being messed up and that this was the XBox I was sent by Microsoft to replace my original.
Frasier: “Sir, I can tell you’re very frustrated. I can’t offer you the repair for free but would you be willing to come to a compromise?”
Me: “Sure, what do you have in mind?”
Frasier: “How about 50% off the repair price and an extra one year warranty plus some free months on XBox live?”
Me: “Done!”
Frasier was then quiet for a point after he’d took my details…
Frasier: “Uh, sir, do you mind if I ask you what your nationality is?”
Me: “Hah, sure – I’m English”
Frasier: “I was gonna say man, you don’t sound like you’re from Tennessee!”
After that he confirmed that he would be sending me a box and a shipping label to send off my damaged XBox and that I would receive it within a few days, and that’s how it ended.
Before the conversation began with the first rep I was prepared to give a little ground to gain some, but I knew what my boundaries were and I wouldn’t cross them. I was ready to come online and start a viral campaign against Microsoft explaining what a bitter experience I had and that they were just money sucking vagabonds.
However, I’m very pleased with how this was settled. It’s easy to forget that behind the large corporations are people who have to feed their families, pay the mortgage, buy Christmas presents for the kids and listen to people like me day after day whinge about something that they have nothing to do with.
Dear Microsoft, please employ more people like Frasier, your company will be a lot better off because of them.
Tags: customer service, microsoft, xbox 360
[...] My Experience with XBox Customer Service | The Internet Monkeh [...]
I read your post and just have to chime in with my recent experience with Xbox 360’s truly “expert” customer support.
Mid-November my xbox audio just stopped working. No warnings, no reasons, just no sound. So I called the support line and was told that I would have to pay the $110 to get the warranty and that once paid they would issue a box and repair the console etc. So,being an honorable person I pay the $110. The box and the label come a few days later, and I ship it out.
3 weeks later the repaired unit returns, and it worked fine…for 2 days. Then abruptly, no more sound again…so I send emails to Xbox support (**never do this, it is bad for your intellect). The message I sent was clear and concise “HDMI audio is not working again after you repaired it”. The first response was apologetic for my consoles “inability to power up”…huh, clearly that dummy didn’t bother to read my email. I blasted back with a more firm support email, kindly reminding them that the problem is HDMI audio related and not power related, and that this was just fixed. The second response I got back was just as priceless…”we are sorry to hear that you are having problems with your xbox. It can be frustrating when your xbox won’t boot up.”
At this point I realized I had slipped down the rabbit hole and that I was surrounded by drug-addled morons. So I skip email and decide never to use it again to speak with xbox support. I call and get a rather nice yet firm rep who is clearly in India. (note like you I have no aversion to Indian people or to outsourcing work, but I have a major aversion to people who do their job poorly). She is fair and when I ask her what she is going to to do to compensate me for the 2 months my xbox was being repaired she quickly put me on hold and came back to offer me a free game, Project Gotham Racing actually. I gladly accepted it, thanked her, and the next day sent the xbox back out for repair.
3 more weeks later I receive the xbox back…I hook it up, pop in Fallout 3, and ta-da it works, like it should…for 3 days. If you can believe it, the same problem happened yet again.
Now I am just flat out angry. This is definitely the worst hardware experience I’ve ever experienced, without at doubt. What makes it even more frustrating is that I work in the Video Game industry and have a great relationship with dozens of folks in the Xbox Live team.
So I get back on the phone with Xbox support. I don’t even try to hold back my tone or anger at the situation. I never curse, but I do allow my tone to be pretty sharp. So, she hangs up on me. I call back, but this time instead of navigating the “repair” option I instead choose the “technical support” option. This took me to a very lovely and helpful woman named Brooke who was definitely in the US and definitely concerned that I had experienced this problem a 3rd time. She volunteered to connect me with her supervisor because she felt that my case was pretty rough.
I was connected with a supervisor who was not as nice or as supportive as Brooke, but he was efficient. I told him that I only want a new replacement of the exact same console I have, not a refurbished unit, and that I want the newest available chipset version so that I won’t have to go through this again for at least another 6 months. Well he told me that they don’t do that, they only send refurbed units. But he did offer to “expedite” my replacement with a newly refurbished unit, which felt to me like he wanted to expedite me off the phone. I pushed back a bit and he agreed to also give me a free controller.
Just before writing this little rant I penned a very formal and stern complaint letter directly to Microsoft Corporate and intend to fully nag them about this issue until someone who is actually important addresses my concern and gives me some level of satisfaction for this fiasco.
I totally agree with all your comments about Microsoft, it’s a love-hate thing with them. The xbox is a great system of content and hardware (when it works) and they should be applauded for the quality of the gaming experience it can provide. But it is sad to be treated like a 9 year old by customer service. I am not alone in my frustration, I’ve been trolling through dozens of similar stories across the web and have finally concluded that they know they are in a very bad situation and are purely doing damage mitigation at this point. They are probably instructed to fight as hard as possible to prevent having to issue any collateral for customer troubles until the customer is just about to break with reality and have a postal experience.
I wonder what the $1billion they set aside to handle all these problems has dwindled to at this point.
So that’s it. I hope you enjoy my rant, and I’ll follow up with the next chapter in the saga when something new occurs.
Cheers!
Hi I read your comments and rant about xbox customer support and I am a support agent in the HW and Live department. I am not American nor Indian… but these objective comments help a lot in how I do my work. Anyway hope you have a great time with your xbox.
Having just got off the phone to xbox support i googled xbxox support problems and got your post, seems i got an even rawer end of the deal compared to most people
ive had my xbox just over a year and its dead so i sorted out repair online but the option for a pre paid box wouldn’t work so i phoned them, i got some german guy who kept asking me to repeat things because he couldn’t understand me, so we get the details done,
i say i want a pre paid box shipped
he says they only do that in special circumstances as it takes longer and theres more work involved and Ups struggle to deal with sending empty boxes
i say that i dont want to be held responsible should anything happen to the console in transit and xbox blame me for it being damaged further in transit (as ive heard people experience online) i say i dont mind if it takes longer id rather i dont have to do all the leg work as it is their problem to deal with for me as they’ve supplied faulty goods, also i had an apple laptop sent back to apple for repair and apple sent me an empty box via UPS which they delivered very quickly and took straight away and all i had to do was put the laptop in the box (how easy is that?)
then the guy kept talking under his breath at me and being very aggressive, he ended up shouting and continuously trying to belittle me, claiming at one point that my precious apple computer means i have unrealistic expectations (WTF?)
i asked him if he is representing microsoft right now as this is a laughable way to treat a customer
to which he replied “whatever” i’ll put you through to his superior
so i get through to the supervisor and within 1 minute the pre paid box and details are sorted, very helpful very quick
so was this just an unlucky encounter with a moody worker or are microsoft getting as bad with customer service as they are with making games consoles?
my experience left me in a really bad mood and swearing that microsoft will never get my money again