I’m sorry to return from such a long break from posting with a rant like this, but I wanted to get this story out there.
Today I’d like to present a new theory I’m currently working on. I’ve yet to come up with a name for this, but in summary, here it is:
Any customer service employee deemed too inept to function at the task of actually helping customers is immediately transferred to answering service calls related to the Xbox 360.
Allow me to explain the origins of this theory. In November of 2006 I purchased an Xbox 360 core system. I got a crazy-good deal on it from Amazon, $100 new, as part of Amazon’s Thanksgiving sales. Despite being one of the first revisions of the Xbox 360, I hadn’t had any issues with it, including the manifestation of the dreaded “Red Ring of Death (RRoD)”. Given the high rate of failure among other Xboxes of the same generation, I consider it a minor miracle that mine was still ticking.
Little did I know that the ticking was that of a time bomb.
Denial, Anger, Bargaining, etc.
The night of August 9 I sat down to play a game of NHL 09, and made it about 5 minutes into the game when the screen froze. Since the console was unresponsive, I restarted the Xbox, and was immediately greeted with the RRoD. I didn’t want to believe this was actually happening to me. I turned the Xbox off and on a few times, each time receiving the same results. I then began following the various troubleshooting steps at support.xbox.com, and had no luck. It was then that I realized I may have to actually ship my Xbox back to Microsoft for service.
Frustrated, but slightly relieved that this happened only a few months before the warranty expired, I broke down and decided to open up a service request, and ship my Xbox back for repair. I began to fill out the online service request form, but didn’t submit it, as I couldn’t see an option to receive a shipping box for my Xbox. I could either choose to have Microsoft mail me a return shipping label, or print one myself, after they emailed it to me. However, I wanted more than just a shipping label, I wanted a box.
Why would I be willing to wait for a box? Because I wanted to make sure that my Xbox was being shipped in Microsoft-approved packaging, and that it would arrive in one piece. Sure, I could purchase my own box, but having worked for a mail-order company in the past, I know how picky companies can be about returned items, and wanted to make sure there were no excuses when it was received by the service department. After checking the hours of the service department online, and seeing that they were open for another 45 minutes, I gave them a call, and after a few moments, I was finally able to reach a human being. This person was more than willing to listen to me explain the issues with my Xbox, but then told me that “the system was updating”, and he could do nothing for me, and I would have to call back the next day.
Undeterred, (and having worked in a call center before, and knowing the habits of some employees with minutes left on their shifts) I immediately called back. The second representative I spoke to again listened to my plight, walked me through the steps to verify the problem, and then told me I would need to file a claim online. “Can’t I do that with you?”, I asked, and as told that the only way to file a warranty claim was via the website. I’m going to assume that the system was not in fact “down”, as she was able to verify the serial number of my console, and collect other information from me. I informed her that the reason I was calling was to get a shipping box, and that since I didn’t see the option online, I was going to file my claim by phone. Again, I was told that online filing is the only way to do it, and that shipping boxes have never been an option. I was then disconnected.
I decided to call back one last time, hoping to speak with a reasonable person. Unfortunately, the third rep I spoke to was just as disappointing as the first. He gladly offered to process my claim, and setup a return. However, when I asked about the box, he denied me. However, rather than telling me that boxes have never been an option like the previous rep, he simply told me that as of June 1, 2009, boxes were no longer being shipped out. This confused me. Especially since I was staring at a screen on August 9, 2009, that looked like this:
Apparently, when Microsoft changes their policies, they don’t update sites that their customers might actually see them. They only tell their inept customer service staff. After a bit of discussion with the rep, I gave up, and decided to file the claim online, and ship back my Xbox in my own packaging. Sure, it only cost me six dollars for the packing, and my Xbox is already on the way to Mesquite, TX for repairs, but it’s the fact that each rep I spoke to that night was so unwilling to either help me, or answer my questions. Whether they were unwilling, or couldn’t I don’t know. Either way, I wasn’t asking difficult questions of them. None of the reps could tell me if I would receive my console with repairs made, or if it would be a replacement console. That’s fairly understandable however, as they may not know the extent of the repairs that would need to be made. When I asked about a replacement, if that console would be a new one, or a refurbished one, again, they had no idea.
The history of the RRoD and faulty Xbox 360 consoles is embarrassing enough to Microsoft. Why do they insist on continuing that embarrassment with experiences like mine?
As a side note, I guess now that I don’t have an Xbox for a few weeks, my Wii might finally start to see some regular action again.
Couldn’t resist the Wii joke. Sorry.
