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Broken Xbox 360? Be happy you don't live in Nome, Alaska


We almost all have Red Ring of Death stories at this point, but few compare to that of Kim Galleher in Nome, Alaska. The Seattle Times reports on the mother's month-long quest to get her 13-year-old son's Xbox 360's RRoD warranty honored by Microsoft. Turns out the main situation revolves around MS not sending a coffin because Galleher's address wasn't recognized -- it's speculated in the piece this is because the United States Postal Service delivers mail in the region to post-office boxes. Meanwhile, other attempts to circumvent the address glitch with Microsoft also failed. Although Galleher's circumstances are slightly out of standard parameters, the whole piece reads like one giant failure in customer service.

One of the better parts in the story is Galleher wrote a letter to Xbox honcho Robbie Bach, stating that Microsoft ought to be "ashamed that a group of women at Victoria Secret can figure out how to send a bra to [her] via UPS and yet Microsoft can't figure out how to send an empty box."

For fairness, we contacted the Nome, Alaska visitor's bureau to get a little more background about the mail situation in the town, located at the end of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race. The incredibly pleasant woman on the phone said she had the same problem when dealing with another computer warranty situation and the post-office box issue causes problems from time to time. As for Galleher, Microsoft contacted her directly through an advocate to inform her a "repaired console" should arrive by March 17.

[Thanks, Matt S.]