Gamer's tale takes Xbox repair woes to new levels of sadness
By Donald Melanson 
posted Feb 29th 2008 2:29PM
posted Feb 29th 2008 2:29PM
There's certainly been no shortage of sad stories involving Xboxes, but when it comes to attempts to get the console repaired, this latest tale from a gamer known only as Nathaniel might have to take the cake. As you can see above, his console (one of the first to hit the market) boasted a good deal of personalization, including signatures from folks at Bungie and the Xbox 360 team, and a spiffy illustration by Rooster Teeth Comics artist Luke McKay. As with many other Xbox users, however, Nathaniel's console eventually packed it in, and he was forced to send it to Microsoft for repairs. Needless to say, that's when things took a turn for the worse. Despite calling ahead of time and getting assurances that his prized console would be sent back intact, and including a letter reiterating how much the console meant to him, Microsoft apparently took it upon themselves to clean it as best they could before returning it, leaving only a few faint smudges of permanent marker to ensure that it was, in fact, the same Xbox. There's no word as to what Nathaniel plans to do next (other than weep), but given that Microsoft gave the royal treatment to someone that did nothing more than get a Zune tattoo, you'd think they could at least give the guy a few free points or something.
I hate to say it.
But this was on digg like 6 hours ago..
And we hate you FOR saying, so next time DON'T! No one really cares at all where you saw it before now. There are plenty of people who probably didn't and on behalf of them I will kindly ask you to leave now.
Does someone always have to make a comment like this? Not all of us have the time to read a bunch of different news sites, so it's still "new" news to us...
man i bet you feel like a total asshole because you are stupid and made this comment, and it is now low ranked....
and Nathaniel heard the story before EVERYONE! Even before those on DIgg, but I don't think he went on there and said "this is old news to me."
Haha,
I guess I came off a lot more elitist than I intended. Sorry ya'll, didn't mean to offend anyone. I just thought it was interesting how stories appear double on sites that are pretty related.
This really is a shame though. I still can't figure out why Microsoft would let something like this happen..
Um, I think the important question here is who the hell plays on an autographed Xbox and puts wear and tear on it? Like he stated, if its a prized posession to him, then he shouldn't be using it in the first place.
Thats like punting an autographed football down the street.
Some people don't read digg, y'know.
And what makes you think digg and engadget are related?
"But this was on digg like 6 hours ago.."
So it was on reddit yesterday?
Please don't feed the Brooks... I mean troll.
*Nom nom*
Brooks hungry! Brooks make engadget readers angry!!
Anyone else think Microsoft should sponsor a trip for him to Redmond and Bungie?
"Um, I think the important question here is who the hell plays on an autographed Xbox and puts wear and tear on it? Like he stated, if its a prized posession to him, then he shouldn't be using it in the first place.
Thats like punting an autographed football down the street."
whats the use of having an xbox 360 signed by bungee and drawn and all if you DONT use it. its like not eating the cake because it'll ruin the icing
I wouldn't play it, but if I did, if it RROD I would not send it to MS, I would be willing to buy a new one, but likely I would bitch to MS and get them to send a new one out.
He brought it upon himself, and it is a shame that such a nice object was destroyed. Really though, why did they clean it, and a coat of varnish on the outside could have prevented this tragedy.
"Some people don't read digg, y'know.
And what makes you think digg and engadget are related? "
How about: I saw this story about how some kid got his custom signaturized XBOX pwnd by MS...digg it?
"and a coat of varnish on the outside could have prevented this tragedy"
The easiest way to turn plain ol' varnish into barbeque sauce for your xbox..
Doesn't the xbox get hot enough already?
I hate Microsoft. Bunch of greedy fuckers
yea they scraped off the artwork and signatures and kept em for themselves!!! muahahaha you caught on to their evil plan!!!! wtf microsoft totally fudged up this whole situation but what exactly makes them greedy fbombers???
@kastonie
I didn't have to look very far...
http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/07/microsoft-weighs-in-on-save-xp-petition-sort-of/
http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/16/microsoft-vista-plus-pack-in-the-works/
http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/01/microsoft-blames-babys-parents-for-deadly-xbox-fire/
lol kastonie..
and I usually don't laugh out loud at the office
I pity the foo' who steals my masterchief decal!
It'd be silly to have it customized and *not* play it, however there's no way I would send in something like that for repair. Buy a new one and put the good guts into the customized case.
Agreed. Microsoft, as a company, has lost pretty much all of my respect. They rushed the 360 to beat the competition, gave it shoddy parts that fail (16%...was 33%), claimed they were going to make a program similar to Folding@Home (PS3 has F@H) and not because they want to heal the sick, but because they wanted to compete with Sony in the section. :-| Don't even get me started on Vista...Vista is by far the WORSE product to be sold in 2007! It would not in the slightest, surprise me if Microsoft goes completely under in 10-20 years!
Yeah, I hate all the other companies as well for every other small to big mistakes they've made. I mean, it's not like MS is the only company to do stupid things to their customers.
And I'll also hate a bazillion other stuff just because they did something bad before as well. I might as well hate everything.
Besides, I do feel sorry for this person, but I don't see how Microsoft was 'greedy' if they were giving his Xbox a nice clean. More like ignorance to users' customizations is more like it. That's what they need to fix in their repair policy, and maybe they will now since it hit the news.
1/2 of me feels bad for the kid.
The other 1/2 makes me want to slap him for even beginning to think to send in a custom console. Nobody in their right mind should ever do that, even if you wrote a letter.
Plus don't pretty much all manufactures give refurbs BACK to the customer anyway? If you read the fine print on pretty much any warranty it says that.
well once you send it in and they fix it, it technically has become a refurb.
I agree with the first half of you, because there should not be a reason that we have to beware of bad customer service. especially with a company at prominent as MS. If you read article they link to, it says he actually got the same exact case back. It's not some switched machine. It's the exact same one that he gave them. The faint marks from where the market was scrubbed off can be seen still. "All that is left are some smudges and the unmistakable purple-ish hue of diluted permanent ink." So someone actually cleaned this off the machine before sending it back, which is exactly the opposite of what the notes and letter said. I don't know if MS has a policy of cleaning off 360s before returning them, but unless there is such a policy, then I can't even imagine how this was not done intentionally.
Saw this on the blog it was originally posted on in the comments. Could be fake but take it for what it is:
Hi guys,
Im one of the people that works at MS for console repair.
(im a lacky but I can shed some light on this)
Keep in mind that the console repair facility for north america is in mexcio, by a 3rd party company, under administration by microsoft. Very few people there speak english so the letter would have just been disregarded when the consoles are unboxed.
Standard procedure is for the consoles to udnergo a cleaning and removal of any stickers or anything on the console before and after the repair process (otherwise it might get back dirty and people would complain about that). Thats what happened here. It got scrubbed with rubbing alcohol twice before leaving.
Nobody took vengance against the console to purposley scrub it off, this incident inst the fault of MS. Its just std procedure to make sure the consoles are returned to the customer in like new condition.
Sucks that it happened to this console though
"Its just std procedure"
Your mom is an STD procedure.
The North America Xbox 360 repair facility is actually in Texas.
mexico, texas... WTF-ever. One has lots of mexicans and the other one has slightly less mexicans who can legally own guns.
Oh my god. Poor guy. I'd be pissed. What kind of idiot would "clean" off that artwork?
The kind of low cost labor that 95% of US companies use.
Being that the facility is in Texas, senorita was just doing the job she is payed to do.
"What kind of idiot would "clean" off that artwork?"
A jealous idiot.
(Or one of the above.)
Matt B:
No hablo english.
racist idiots.
an idiot who took the case for themselves and sent back a different, dirty case to this kid.
you know, 96% of chinese workers don't even know the brand of the company they work for
You know 86% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
Oh my god. Poor guy. I'd be pissed. What kind of idiot would "clean" off that artwork?
oh so THIS is that "sadness" game that nibris was talking about
How the hell could they be so stupid as to "clean" off obvious artwork?
I bet one of the repair crew actually stole his (valuable) case, and gave him one with faked remnants of the illustration. Wouldn't be difficult to do.
Okay, my theory fails. I read the full article, the serial numbers on the case match up. They really are just a bunch of complete fuckups at Microsoft. Holy shit. I hope he sues.
That's exactly the kind of thing people would do. You are the correct one as far as my opinion is.
With that said, I know how evil people are so it would be no problem getting a second XBOX and returning that with the old insides. Then, when I received it back, I'd put everything correct and sell the new one. Think of it as a maintenance cost of having such a valuable piece of work. I certainly would never trust my stuff to anyone. What's Murphy's Law say?...
When Reading this story the phrase " Life Sucks, Get a Helmet" Comes to mind.
Here's the best part. Lots of people (myself included) have received refurbs in exchange for their RROD consoles that aren't exactly spotless. They literally would have had to go out of their way to clean off the signatures. It's pure spite, that's it.
@Lewislink re. case swap:
So when they receive a 360 with internals that don't match the serial on the box and void the warranty for tampering, then what? The case isn't the only thing with date and site codes on it, you know.
Red Ring Of Dumbasses if you ask me.
Damnit Microsoft, why not rub the Mona Lisa of her canvas too while you're at it! Sheesh!
Couldn't he sue?
For what?
Read your warranty terms and conditions
He certainly could. At the least, he can sue for a broken verbal agreement. However, I hope that Microsoft does the right thing and compensates him before that becomes necessary.
Perhaps he could technically, but lawsuits are often a battle of money. And unless he knows the European Union, MS will win.
I know it's not the case in this story, but I'm disappointed that MS sends back different consoles instead of repairing the ones people send in. I got a nice "smokers yellow" case design on the 360 I got back from repair (replacement). Also a shoddy disc drive.
i would sue, that's like taking your car in for repairs and they decide to give your car a different paint job...
Or taking your car in for repairs and them washing it.
Yes jmiday, because the dirt and grime a car collects over a few days is the same as the paintjob on the car itself. You need to shut the fuck up.
I got my car repainted at the dealership. It was supposed to be to factory specs, same color (silver), nothing special.
I got it back, and it had a black double pinstripe complete with lightning bolt "z" on the front fender. I was seriously pissed, and told the Manager that I wanted it removed immediately. His reaction? "Why are you so upset, we didn't charge you any extra for it." He just didn't get that what his paint guy thought was "cool", I saw as "white trash." Never had any work done there again.
Omfg. Wow. If he could have, he should have taken off that part of the console and stuck on another part. Regardless, I think this is really unbelievable becase of the disregard and disorganization of MSoft. He did try very hard to preserve his unit as best he could, and so it's a shame that none of it actually made a difference.
A conspiracy thought: I don't know if the serial numbers as stickers, but assuming they are, is it possible someone pulled a switcheroo - took a new case, made it look like this case was wiped down, switched the stickrs, sent this new case to him, and kept his case? Or am I hearing twilight zone music?
if he disassembled it, he wouldn't be able to get warranty service anyway...
Yeah, he couldn't take the case off because it would void the warranty. Besides, Engadget is only showing half the case. The guy had even more signatures on the other side. You can see the other side if you click the Read link.
You are hearing twilight zone music.
//It is a sticker, but it can't be swapped, the glue is really strong... even if you found a way to remove it, you would break it in the process..
Signed or not, if it gets the RROD its a piece of crap.
they kept there word and sent the same console back didn't they.
I'm thinking of the Product Key (ala Vista), it wouldn't make sense for a serial number to be a sticker, so never mind. I guess I'm just completely astounded by this article, it's so hard to understand what the technician was thinking!!
I'm sure the people at Bungie would be glad to sign a new cover along with the XBOX team. That is the worst thing about it. It wasn't just a drawing he did and a couple of his friends that signed it, they were people that actually made the XBOX what it is.
Microsoft should send him a brand new Elite signed by the XBOX team in gold ink.
This was the letter Nathaniel had sent along with the Xbox 360. If you click on Xbox picture up top, it shows the letter near the bottom of the page:
"To whom it may concern:
Enclosed in this package you will find one Xbox 360 console, serial number 610537654806. I pre-ordered this machine months before the Xbox 360 launched, and I’ve been a proud owner ever since it arrived. Although the original warranty for my machine has expired some time ago, I still keep the sales receipt and original retail box.
I have taken this unit along with me on some of my travels over the past two years, and during that time I have acquired a number of signatures from notable members of the gaming community.
Among those signatures are several members of the Rooster Teeth Productions staff, certain members of the Xbox 360 team, and some of the staff from Bungie Studios. Those signatures are also joined by custom artwork by Rooster Teeth Comics artist and Halo fan artist Luke McKay. This console represents some special memories—of which I am quite fond—from the past two years of my life. As you can imagine, this particular unit has a great deal of sentimental value to me and is quite possibly of reasonable monetary value as well.
I am well aware that in many cases new replacement units have been returned to those who have sent their consoles for repairs. I would be displeased if this were to happen to me. When I put in the service request for my unit, the agent that took my call assured me that the same unit I have sent to you would be shipped back to me. If you must send a different unit back, please put my original case on the replacement unit. Having put the above information forward, it is logical to conclude that I would be most disappointed should I receive a different console with a plain white case in return.
Please take care in handling the case, as despite the fact that the ink is permanent and has had plenty of time to set, the possibility yet remains that it may be smudged.
Thank you for your time and consideration."
Also the article which is linked to this one states:
"02.29.08 - UPDATE
Nathaniel wanted to share his story for this reason (his words) :
It is a cautionary tale to those 360 owners sending a console out for warranty repair.
He doesn’t want people to make the same mistake that he did. In retrospect does he realize he shouldn’t have sent off his console? Absolutely. However when you call their customer service number, share your story with all of the details, and are assured that your console will be returned to you safe and sound, you should be able to believe that. There was a communication breakdown somewhere along the way that resulted in a tangible loss. It’s unfortunate, and lessons were learned.
I agreed to carry the story because Nathaniel wants to discuss this with Microsoft, but all of his correspondence has continued to go unanswered. Last time I checked in with him, he still had not heard back from them. Not everybody wants to sue and receive some sort of compensation. Sometimes all it takes to feel like a valued customer is an acknowledgment of a mistake and a simple apology."
The link is http://hawtymcbloggy.com/2008/02/28/another-gamer-screwed-by-microsoft/
> This was the letter Nathaniel had sent
> to whom it may concern blah blah zzzzzzz....................
Much too long. Should have been about five words in a very big font, stuck right over the artwork. "DO NOT TOUCH - VALUABLE AUTOGRAPHS".
(I'm not saying that they can be excused for not reading his letter. It's just that my experience is that almost no-one under the age of 50 has the attention span necessary to read four hundred words (literally) before he gets to the point.)
Those crooked mother-fuckers.
I'm surprised it didn't come back all colored in with crayons.
That would have been a better result than losing it entirely.
Sucks, yes, but if its that valuable shouldn't he have invested in some contact paper? (Thats sticky back plastic to you UK folk.)
Never under-estimate the stupidity of the average joe. The person who 'cleaned' it no doubt proudly removed the post-it note that was also spoiling the exterior, which warned he/she to not remove the post-it, nor the artwork.
would stupid news blogs stop insisting people should get handouts because they know how to use wordpress?
I have no sympathy for this guy. If I had that custom console, it wouldn't have RRoD because it wouldn't have been played very often. Yes, I would've gone out and purchased another for use and kept this one as a display, a backup in case my play 360 RRoD, or something else.
Okay, so the guy does use it, and it does RRoD, and then he sends it to the repair center? Anytime anything goes out of my hands through the mail, or fedex, or ups, I take into account that whole Murphy's law deal.
The guy should have taken a look at his information to see what the warranty or terms said, then realized that most of the people working in these factories get paid probably based on how many consoles they push through. They aren't sitting there worried about making sure your console looks the same way, they are making sure that the console works again so they can move on to the next one. Does it suck, you bet it does. Does Microsoft owe him anything. Not a damn bit.
I love your response only for the fact that it boils down to, "expect your 360 to RRoD."
yeah . dont enjoy your signed xbox 360 .. put it in a glass case..that makes sense..
I totally disagree. He stuck a note on it saying to not clean it off. Why would you? It would take more time to clean it than to leave it alone anyway, so the "paid by the number of consoles pushed through" theory is blown away.
Timerider;
Work in a place like this. You are in an assembly line like station, you have a few basic tools, and some items to make sure you don't stop(by taking the time to look for them) working on the machines that come in. One is probably a silicon grease to install the new type of heatsync. Then you have an industrial style cleaner that will take the grease off the plastic outer shell of the unit. The cleaner is intended to clean almost everything off the plastic with the greatest of ease. So, the worker, doing what his checklist states he has to do, takes the cleaner goo, puts some on each side of the case, wipes it down, destroying the sharpie and everything else in its place. And because this worker has been in the system for so long, the whole process takes just a few extra moments. But, it's something that has been engrained into the workers head to do on every unit that comes through. In these shops, cleaner that will take sharpie off plastic with almost no effort is nothing.
First off, it's rediculous to send in a customized console. At that point it's like taking a Ferrari to JiffyLube.
Secondly, you can't blame Microsoft techs. Thier job is to fix the console and return a product that looks as close to new as possible. That's what they did. How is the guy making minimum wage swapping mainboards supposed to know what's an autograph and what are some kid's scribbles?
If it were me, I would have just picked a used one up on Ebay and then switched the covers.
I am glad that my 'box was out of warenty and I sent it somewhere else to get fixed (unfortunantly that was 2 weeks ago and I still do not have it back ~_~) and that I was able to replace the xclamps and heatsinks on another that broke, it only cost me maybe $10 ^_^
P.S. I hope his hard drive did not get wiped as well
Being a victim of RROD.....you don't send in your harddrive :)
i agree with iridium on this. Someone should start a petition... that's kidna jacked up.
"this latest tale from a gamer known only as Nathaniel might have to take the cake".
THE CAKE IS A LIE!!
the kid did get special treatment, albeit missaligned, when i sent my console in, i didn't even have a rrod (disc drive broken) as soon as the facility received my box, they sent a refurb out, they didn't even start workin on it, they just cycle em in and out. btw, i did get the new heatsink, and the manufacture date was that month. does anyone know if the referbs get fresh IDs? or do they keep their old ones?
There is simply no excuse for this. nothing about the autographs caused malfunction. There's no reason to spend an hr scrubbing off the sharpie. Ridiculous. If the whole machine was replaced it would be one thing, but this is just asinine.
To remove sharpie from plastic requires 1) an amount of scrubbing and 2) a powerful cleaner like denatured alcohol.
Someone in the repair center took time out of their day to screw with this kid. If "moving units" was their only goal, the Sharpie would have remained intact.
Exactly what I was thinking...
Someone spent a good deal of time on this, or they use really powerful cleaners in the repair center (wich would explain why the employees are so "happy")
As an engineer at a manufacturing facility that makes xbox's (which shall remain unnamed), I've seen some of the stuff they use to clean. One of them is a 3M product that smells like orange candy. You spray it once, and ANY/EVERYTHING just melts off. Yes, sharpie just disappears. I used it to clean my desk!
The brand name I'm familiar with is called Bio-Act (it smells like oranges because it's made from orange peel) and it's used in the materials testing and road construction business to clean equipment as it's capable of dissolving asphalt (literally clean the aggregate completely clean of the asphalt) or any other petroleum based product. Sharpie is petroleum based, as a result one wipe with the Bio-Act and the sharpie would be gone, any still left would simply be a bad wiping job.
All it takes is a simple rinse, maybe just a squirt, of acetone over the area written with a sharpie to wash most (if not all) of it away. I'm doing research this semester in my college and we use acetone in lab very occasionally to wash nonhalogenated wastes from labware.
Kid got what he deserved. You don't ask for "special treatment" for such a trivial item as an XBOX360. A Lotus or maybe Kitt the wondercar, but he was a dumb-butt for sending it in after it had been customized.
And you guys wonder why you never get laid...
Anyone ever hear of clearcoat?
If anyone sees a guy (or girl) with permanent marker on their fingers, body check them...please.
I think you are all missing the point. This is one of the first 360's on the market and it just NOW got the RROD. I've gone through 3 360's and none of them were the POS launch systems. So that alone makes this console "special".
Sup bechez? Sup becheez!!
Chad Warden here.
Natdog thought his console gettin f****'d was a figment of his imaginination,
Guess whos wrong!
I would sue. The person that cleaned it probably doesn't even know English. "Do NOT clean this!" "Ok" *cleans it anyway* "..." *gross sawing noises, screams, then nothing*
"I went back in time, met Jesus, got his autograph, and the time machine broke after I got back. Do NOT touch this! It's the most valuable artifact ever!" "Ok" *flushes down toilet*
He shouldn't bother complaining to Microsoft.
If I were him, I'd write a letter to Rooster Teeth and Bungie explaining what happened. I'm sure they're kind hearted enough to sign it again.
yep clearly you guys have lots of faith in the one company that constantly burns you
*enjoys M$ free computing heaven*
Just getting kind of sick of all the responses referring to the guy as "this kid" -- He's an adult. Why do you assume he's a child?
That being said, it's obvious that the XBox 360 fell between the cracks of their repair line, and someone who wasn't in the know just 'did their job' and cleaned it off, like they do every 360 that comes into their hands.
I've seen what people do to consoles-- They write on them, put stickers over the heat vents, and spill crap on them. The repair center's job is to return it in as close to "like new" condition as possible, and part of that is a routine cleaning by a low-paid wage slave in Mexico or Texas. They probably never even saw the note, and thought the scribbling on it was random junk written by techs who worked on it.
Either way, he'll get something from Bungie, I'm sure. People love tales like this. Good PR for Bungie.
why is that awesome drawing of master chief on the bottom of the console?