Venting about Xbox Support
My Xbox 360 broke on November 15th (3 red rings). I called, and after I explained that this was the fourth 360, they “escalated” me to “priority support”, said they’d send me a box to send back both the console and power supply, and that a “supervisor” from Microsoft would call me. (I begged them to cross-ship a replacement, but they wouldn’t even consider it).
The next day, a lady from Microsoft called me and said that she didn’t have a status update for me but that the box was on its way. She did this again the next day.
After about a week of this, I still hadn’t received the box. I asked her to send me another box, which she did.
A few more days goes by, and I receive a box, but it’s not the box I can send the power supply back in. I call and leave her a message asking if I should send the console back anyway, or wait for the proper box.
I don’t hear from her; I call the next day and leave a message. Same thing the next day.
Figuring she’s forgotten about me or something, I call the main Xbox support number again and explain my problem. The 1-800-4MY-XBOX folks inform me that they’re the outsourced support organization and they don’t have access to any information about my case, because it’s being specifically handled by a supervisor. They say all I can do is wait for a callback.
I wait. The supervisor lady calls me and when I asked if she got my voicemail, basically explained that she’s too busy to check her voicemail. She says to send the box back anyway and that she’ll tell the depot to send me a 360 with a power supply.
That was about a week ago. I know I can’t call her and ask for status because she doesn’t get messages and doesn’t answer the phone, so I call the 1-800-4MY-XBOX people again. Once again, they explain that they can’t do anything at all, not even see the status of my repair. All they can tell me is that my new console hasn’t been shipped yet.
So the 360 has been out of commission for a month now, and I can’t even get order status. And this is the “priority”, “escalated” support with my own personal “supervisor” to ensure that I get prompt service.
And what can I do at this point? When I did talk to the “supervisor” lady at Microsoft and she told me she doesn’t pick up her voicemail, I said I wanted to talk to someone higher to complain to about the service I was getting (not just her, but the whole support case). She said there was nobody I could talk to, and that I’d have to write a letter, and gave me the corporate headquarters mailing address.
Recap:
- The outsourced support folks can’t help me.
- I can’t contact anyone at Microsoft who can help me.
- There is nobody I can complain to.
Maybe having your case escalated to a supervisor is some sort of penalty box in which they put people whose consoles break too often. I use the 360 a lot – both for games and as a media center – but it’s out in the open on top of my stereo cabinet, so it’s not like I’m mistreating it.
Any goodwill they may have gained by extending the warranty to 3 years, they’ve lost to this ridiculous repair process.
Want to make a 360 exchange less painful? Cross-ship a replacement. Even if you have to charge my credit card and credit it when you receive my return, I think most people would be willing.
December 14th, 2007 at 9:50 pm
Personally after reading all your 360 woes I would have just gotten a PS3 by now.
My own Xbox 360 went RRoD this past August. My box came almost instantly (well I consider 3 days ‘instantly’). But get this, I never got the 360 back after I shipped it off until the same week of the Halo 3 release. That’s pretty much two months.
December 15th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
Is there anything more frustrating than outsourcing done badly?
Microsoft must realise that this level of customer service completely undermines all the good work that went into the console in the first place.
A friend here in the UK is on his fourth 360 but at least he can exchange them at the store he bought from.
They do say the latest batch of 360s appear to be more reliable.
I’ve been interested in getting a 360 for a while but I really want console that’s reliable, runs quietly and has a built-in HD drive. PS3??
December 19th, 2007 at 7:56 am
The situation is quite unacceptable. It’s inappopriate for the supervisor to say that you can’t speak to their superior. You should be able to complain without having to write a letter, too. It sounds like the supervisor is trying to protect her back by limiting your avenues of complaint. I would insist on speaking to another supervisor and asking for their superior and not taking no for an answer. If all else fails, call Microsoft directly and insist on them escalating your complaint as you cannot get satisfaction from their outsourced support.
If things get any worse I would threaten to make a big issue of it and make a complaint against the company. They cannot hold onto your property and not give you a replacement.
I’m one of the lucky ones – my 360 is still working fine after 2 years, but I use it often enough to really sympathise with your plight. Best of luck.
January 15th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
I’m in the same boat… I’m on my 3rd xbox, soon (hopefully) to be my 4th. I too have begged for cross shipping, then attempted escalating an escalation. No can do. They won’t do it, they say it’s impossible and you get absolutely no where. The best advice I got from the supervisor? “You can hang up and ask for another supervisor if you want to speak with someone else”. This is the atrocity that is Microsoft.
January 25th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Incompatible XBOX 360 Elite power supply and XBOX support is no help
I made the mistake of purchasing a second xbox 360 elite for my bedroom. Purchased it from Best Buy online. It arrived with a power supply that does not connect to the console. I looked at the power supply for my older black 360 and it is a different model number, Rev 01. The new console came with a Rev 00. Best Buy is sold out of XBOX 360 Elite consoles so I called XBOX support to get then to send me a new one.
First call was about an hour long, mostly because the support person spent 30 minutes trying to tell me that Microsoft does not have more then one model power supply. Once I finally convince the suport person that I am not lying to him he tells me that I have to pay to ship the wrong power supply back before they can send me a new one. I don’t feel I should have to pay to resolve an inventory issue on a brand new product. I ask to talk to a manager. After another 20 min of convincing the manager that I am not lying he tells me wow we might have a real problem here. Can you call back in an hour.
Second call, have to start all over again and it is exactly the same. They try to tell me I don’t know what I am talking about. This time I get to the manager and I am tolled there is no other option. I inform them that I will return the console to Best Buy since it is clear that Microsoft does not want me to have a second console in my home, was going to use this one for renting movies from XBOX Live Marketplace and if I have to take it back to the store I am scraping the idea of having 2 consoles in the house/ He says that is my only other options. What a waste of time and money
XBOX Support Thanks for wasting about 5 hours total of my life and convincing me that having a second console to rent movies from XBOX Live Marketplace is a bad idea.
April 20th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
I’m on my 3rd xbox, soon to be 4th. I did my first two repairs online, decided once I have to replace my 3rd xbox I should call them up. I speak to someone I can hardly understand (due to a heavy Indian accent and the HORRIBLE quality of the call) who is asking me questions like I’m responsible for the broken product. Finally, after asking me how many consoles I’ve gone through, he TELLS me, rather than asks, that my power supply light is red when I try and turn on the xbox. I turn it on, look, and tell him that in actuality the power supply light is GREEN. He tells me I need to send in the power supply along with the xbox to the service center. I’ll update in a month when I get something sent back (I’m guessing an xbox with no power supply).
May 3rd, 2008 at 2:50 pm
I’m on my 3rd system which has now just broken. My first two stopped reading any media I put into the disc drive and now this 3rd one has gotten the RROD once and beeps-n-freezes (anyone who has had this knows exactly what I’m talking about). I called Xbox support and they escalated my case to a supervisor which would guaranteed come with “compensation”. After reading this page I hope my problems don’t get worse (they honestly can’t at this point anyway). Cheers to you for explaining your issues and good luck in the future! (even though you’ll need a few more drinks to drown out the fact you have to go through this AGAIN in 6 months).
May 12th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Unfortunately, I have the exact same problem. I got the RRoD on my original 360, so sent it back and they shipped me a new one. I was told the problem had been resolved and that I shouldn’t have any problems. That was 5 months ago, and now the new “superior” 360 they sent me is displaying the RRoD (after several months of intermittent freezing).
Calling customer support is useless- unless you happen to speak Hindi, as all the calls were outsourced! NO ONE will give you another number, they just tell you to call back and “maybe you’ll get lucky.” I have been placed on long (>30 minutes) holds, transfered and left, and disconnected multiple times. I have spoken with 3 different “supervisors” who all seemed to know less (including english) than the original reps. As others have mentioned, I asked for their manager and all three times was told that it was not possible- they were as high as it goes. One hung up on me, one continued to talk over me (repeating the same junk), and the other gave me the address for the legal department- she actually tried telling me that was who she reported to directly…BULL!!!
The best they’ll do after all this is give you the same empty promises and one month of xbox live gold. Hardly what I would call “customer service” in view of the problems!
Oh, btw, the REAL reason they extended the warranty is not because “we stand behind our product and want to support our customers” as claimed, it is because they were facing a class action lawsuit and decided this would be more cost effective for them. As an interesting side note, the first time I ever had to call xbox (prior to extending the warranty and the RRoD) I consistently got reps in the states who were actually useful- now it’s all outsourced…go figure.
June 13th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Well I guess I am not the only one. This issue is ongoing…
Sent in my 360 elite after 11 months due to an E74 message. I was informed I was ‘lucky’ because if it happened after another month I would not be covered because this was not the RROD. Wow, it was my lucky day. The system I paid $500 broke.
I received a replacement unit. It never worked right and continued to freeze up. I was told to send in the unit and power supply. I kept the box I received it in and sent it back as instructed by the support rep.
One week later I receive my 360 with NO power supply. I call and they informed me they would have to launch an investigation and that I should not have used the box I received my first 360 in. Even though the support rep said I could and emailed me the shipping label. I was initially told 3-5 days on the power supply, I called the next day and requested a manager to see if the power supply was at least on the way. She told me in all honesty I should not expect it for at least 5-10 business days. She said they have to determine if I should even receive one! I repeated this and she informed me there was a very slight chance I would not receive one at all. You can imagine how pleased I am with the crappy product I bought, and the atrocious support. I really wish I could go back and purchase a ps3. I will post the conclusion of this whenever that may be. My expectation is that I receive a power supply and I am back in the same boat. What a joke, I will contacting the BBB at some point though. I was told I could call back and they would provide with an accessory as compensation. I told her I only wanted them to properly do their job. For Microsoft support, this is a huge stretch. They obviously do not care about their customers, and I will NEVER purchase an MS system again.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:56 pm
lets start from the beging,
1st my 360 stops loading games on a friday afternoon so i ring the repairs helpline they tell me they will repair it free of charge(so they should) they lady tells me “WE WILL SEND YOU SHIPPING NOTES THEN YOU RING UPS AND THEY COME AND PICK IT UP” i understood that i also understood the parts about just sending the console on its own in a plain box, no problems yet.
on the monday when i was working a late shift a ups guy comes to the house telling me girlfrind he was here to pick up a parcel(i didnt ring ups cause i had no shipping notes) my girlfreind unaware of the packing specifactions, put the 360 in its original box with the 2 wirless controlers the power supply the wires that connect to your tv plus a memory card and the wirless network adapter, namely everything apart from the games,(not her fault she didnt know) also she didnt put the ref number on the box.
so as you can imagine when i return homw from work and she tells me this i panic.
i ring xbox straight away and explain to a lady what happend, she tells me they never send shipping note out, but yet i still have the email to prove it, so she puts all the stuff on to the computer file attached with my console so when it gets to the service centre they will know to return all of the stuff
2 week later(today) and my xbox 360 has arrived i opened the box and what do i find a console, power supply , cable for the tv one wired controler.
straight onto the phone had to explain everthing to a gentleman he said he could she what the prevoius woman had written on the file, he said the matter would be esculated, and i shall receive the bits missing in due course which i was impressed with untill reading your escaltion stoires. (not the end yet)
i then set up the 360 to have a quick go on tiger woods (even though i cant save it).
when i treid to put the power suply in the back of the console it wouldnt fit upon futher inspection i fing a couple of bits of plastic either side that wont alow the lead to fit in the back of the console, arrrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhh
back on the phone explaining everything, the gentleman was very helpfull untill
“YOU SHIP THE POWER SUPLLY BACK TO US AND WE WILL SEND YOU A NEW ONE”(him)
“OK” (me)
“THE ADDRESS IS “CARE OF……..”(him)
“HANG ON DO I HAVE TO PAY”(me)
“YOU DONT HAVE TO PAY FOR THE NEW POWER SUPPLY, BUT YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR THE RETURN SHIPPING”(him)
“I DONT THINK SO (in a nice but stern voice) I SENT YOU MY 360 WITH THE POWER SUPPLY(amongst other things) YOU SEND ME BACK A POWER SUPLLY BACK THAT DOSENT FIT? THAT IS NOT MY FAULT AND AM NOT PAYING FOR YOUR MISTAKES”(me)
after being on hold for a few minutes he came back and said he will send a new one out and that i dont have to return the old one, result(we will have to wait and see if this accutly happens)
just to be cheeky i asked the gentleman.
“HOW CAN I BE SURE I WILL GET THE CORRECT LEAD THIS TIME”(me)
“OR SERVICE CENTRE TEAM WILL HAVE ALL THE INFO ON YOUR 360 THEY WILL PROVIDE YOU WITH THE RIGHT ONE”(him)
(he set himself up for the next question)
“SO HOW IS IT THEY GOT IT WRONG THE FIRST TIME WHEN THEY HAD MY 360 IN FRONT OF THEM DID THEY NOT HAVE THE INFORMATION THEN, THEY HAVE EITHER SWAPPED THE POWER SUPPLY OR SWAPPED THE 360(i do know about the referbs they send out).(me)
what follwed was a series of apoloise and garentess i will get the correct power suplly
i do hope so.
in case you are wondering how i remeber all the conversion is cause i just had it not more than 40 mins ago
regards
paul