Gamer's tale takes Xbox repair woes to new levels of sadness
By Donald Melanson 
posted February 29th 2008 2:29PM
posted February 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.
It's only if you think it's the bottom.
vertical position, its on the side.
If his XBOX was so valuable to him he should not have sent it to M$ for repair. Go out and buy another one and put this one on the shelf.
He should ask the Bungie team and/or the Microsoft team to draw him and sign his "new" Xbox 360. That really does stink for this guy. I feel bad for him...
Suing is probably not the answer here. Kid's best bet is to get the story out (as he's done) and work the customer relations department to get something that *attempts* at least to compensate him.
Suing is the quick answer, but the time and red-tape to jump through, even for small claims, is a huge hurdle. Besides, as soon as you sue MS, the lawyers necessarily get involved (whether it's a bad PR move or not) and that will only drag things out.
This posting & message board(and apparently, Digg's as well, as was so pleasantly noted by 1st poster) is working far more than any suit would towards helping the kid out. Good call Engadget on posting.
I agree with you. The person did try contacting Microsoft
"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."
Will people STOP talking about Suing !
Thats what makes AMERICA such a farkin toilet. As soon as someone is pissed off, they all think about "SUING"!!
chumps.
Thats horrible, I hope that some of the people who signed it know what happened and get a him a new one with some more artwork.
I love MS. But to trust them enough to send in a customized xbox?! Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeells no.
I'd say take Microsoft to court.
he got that feeling that something bad would happen.
everyone gets it, but they go ahead anyway, and what happens?!
You know your priorities are messed up when you bitterly complain about your drawing of Robocop getting smudged on your precious little video game console.
Why be sad, I'd sue their asses off for destroying a one-of-a-kind artwork. What do you do to someone who steals your "Best-Baseballplayer-of-all-time"-ball? That's at least worth the eBay price. And it with the climate of Haloism out there that would probably be a 4 digit number.
Why would have people sign an xbox 360? Its like having them sign a piece of fruit, you know its going to go bad eventually.
Best comment award.
Oh man that just tears my heart out... :( Dont those MS morons think twice before they do anything?
HAHA!
this is complete bullshit, first of all here are the two pics of the front and back:
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a124/boysofsheahem/blog%20graphics%202/360Bottombig.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a124/boysofsheahem/blog%20graphics%202/360Topbig.jpg
now, if u look to the far edge of the xbox near the xbox 360 engraving, you will see there is nothing drawn on the xbox, this person claims that they erased the drawing, and their proof is the smudge shown here:
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a124/boysofsheahem/blog%20graphics%202/THEYCLEANEDTHECASEbig.jpg
this smudge is not from them cleaning the xbox off, they just replaced the case. this is a complete bullshit story.
Also, the "after" picture is fake... If you look carefully, the "smudge" is in a place where there was no marker before...
The guy is an idiot. If I had an 360 w/ that case, I certainly wouldn't play it, and if I did, and it broke, I sure as hell wouldn't be dumb enough to send it to get fixed. The dumbass guy got what he deserved for his amazing stupidity. I would have had that thing put into a safe and locked up. With the signatures and artwork, it was priceless. Now its worthless, besides the fact that it can play games, which is something that everyone's 360 can do.
microsoft has complete deniability for outsourcing their repars, kinda like valet... kid got his cover jacked by some a%%h@1e5.
If you look at the writing on the other side, there's one that says:
"360? More like three shitsty!"
And he thought they'd leave that on? That's naive...
good luck. it states in the ms tos they don't have to give you anything. It just so happens, they called me yesterday to fix my drm issue with all my purchased content. I called about this last August i ask if they would give me anything for my time of not being able to play and my effort of dealing with all the people. They said no.
Fuck Microsoft and their employees.
I'm not happy with them anymore. I used to think they were okay, but now I know they make a shit OS and now they abysmal customer service.
Learn Microsoft. Good products brings you customers. Good customer service ensures you keep them. Too bad you have either.
Wow! That is taking incompetent customer support to a whole new level. It is usually difficult to get them to do the minimum they are supposed to do but to go and do what is explicitly asked of them not to do.
Nathaniel, you should seek compensation from Microsoft and not just some points or a free arcade games. You can seriously take'em to the cleaners for a couple hundred grand probably.
Looks like more than one person is trying to profit off of this story:
http://cgi.ebay.com/RARE-Nathaniels-Custom-Xbox-360-Case-Modded_W0QQitemZ130202663556QQihZ003QQcategoryZ122517QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting
"Also, the "after" picture is fake... If you look carefully, the "smudge" is in a place where there was no marker before... "
Um, haven't any of you bothered to wipe up a spill before? The liquid will move around and when you lift up the pad/cloth/whatever, sometimes a bit of the spill is left WHERE you pick up the cloth.
Any cleaner that'll take off perm marker (and there's LOTS OF THEM) will push the liquified remains around. If you don't "push it off an edge" it'll leave a mark when you lift up.
FYI: Expo dry erase board cleaner will take perm marker off just about anything shiny and most plastics. Even if the mark has been on there for over a year. Does it in about 5 seconds, so we're not talking about "working hard" here.
See how Microsoft screws you really hard in the..., well you know where, disgusting. Yea dude that sucks, should've gotten a Playstation 3, its the sh*t!
yeah, the shit with no fucking quality games that are not ports from xbox. (i have both so I know)
When did Microsoft start cleaning Xbox 360 hardware instead of just replacing it with someone else's dirty used hardware as they did with both my Xbox 360 and my brother's Xbox 360?
I READ ENGADGET!
DIGG SUCKS!
if only Mexicans worked at the Louvre, instead its the lazy ass French, who wouldn't lift a finger to clean an xbox anyway! ces't la vie bitches! Besides, the guy who sent his xbox in before mr. I sharpied my game console, wrote a letter asking for his xbox to be replaced with one that had irreplaceable graffiti that had been inadvertently washed off by non-english speaking beaners....now who is going to feel sorry for him? Maybe we should start a useless thread dedicated to him as well.
Eat some hatertots, and drink my haterade!