Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Oh, Microsoft

I realize this may be the least original observation one can make on the internet, but I'd still like to point out that Microsoft sucks.

This post is not meant to be constructive or move any dialogue forward; I simply need to share my Xbox 360 repair experience to make myself feel better.

First, some background. About a year and a half ago, my original Xbox 360 ceased to read game discs or DVDs. Sure, it would try, but it inevitably produced a disc read error upon scanning even the most pristine discs. I'm well aware that there is a cache fix to this problem -- it didn't help. So I sent the console for repair, and received a new one.

Now, I'm again faced with a useless console, this time thanks to the Red Ring of Death indicating a "general hardware failure." I didn't expect to encounter this given it was a newish console and all the PR work Microsoft has done to assure gamers that the RRoD issue is basically solved.

Thankfully, a lifetime of working with Microsoft products dating back to MS-DOS and the Blue Screen of Death days of Windows 3.1 (and beyond), my expectations are low. I took my malfunctioning console in stride, and resigned myself to a game-free couple of weeks. Yes, the timing is atrocious with the release of Fallout 3 and Guitar Hero World Tour (featuring, OMG, a Tool level), not to mention the time-suck that is NHL '09's Be a Pro mode. But as the friendly guitar player on the E train this weekend sang, que sera sera.

And yet, Microsoft keeps pushing me. It's taken me four separate attempts to place a repair order. Attempt one went well, I thought. I went online, entered my information, submitted the request, and received a confirmation email. Great. But then I received a phone message from "a supervisor with Xbox" giving me a reference number asking me to call them to confirm my address. Again? I wondered. So I called back and eventually gave up after being on hold for too long.

Attempt two put me in touch with a friendly, but ultimately unhelpful customer service agent. I tried to explain that I'd already placed a repair order and only needed to confirm my address, but he insisted on taking down all of my information again. After several minutes of this he gave me a new reference number and asked me to call back in two hours, as their system was down. Confused, I made sure I heard him right. I did: my phone call had been in vain because he was unable to confirm my address due to a Microsoft customer service system update. I managed to remain friendly and said I'd call back.

Upon calling back three hours later, and once more navigating the phone tree*, I reached a less friendly customer service agent. I explained the situation and he said the system was still down -- I'd need to call back tomorrow. "Can't you please just write my address down and enter it once the system is up?" I asked. He said he could not.

Attempt four came today and was the longest of all. The rep I spoke with refused to go off script, meaning most things I told her were met with an "I apologize for the inconvenience" or other such automatic response. She also insisted on starting the process from the beginning, meaning I needed to dig up my serial number and give her all my info again. She had no interest in my reference numbers I'd been dutifully writing down each step of the way. At long last, she gave me a third reference number, and claimed my repair request was now official. Shortly thereafter, I received a print-it-yourself mailing label from UPS. Unlike last time, where Microsoft mailed me a pre-addressed shipping box, I now must find a box and ship my broken Xbox back to them myself. This is a minor annoyance, but significant because of the added difficulty of accomplishing any kind of simple errand in New York City.

I appreciate that Microsoft will fix my console for free. I don't appreciate all the time this takes to accomplish, and the continued shoddiness of their gaming system. I like the thing enough to have invested in it over the PS3 or Wii. Yet every time I have to put up with something like this to play it, it pushes me further away from Microsoft. I've already abandoned my PC in favor of a Mac with no regrets. The Xbox 360 is Microsoft's last stand for my brand loyalty, and they're blowing it.

*The phone tree is obnoxious. At no point was I given a direct number to call or a way to reach an operator. The best way I could find to reach a human to give my address to was to navigate to the repair section and repeatedly mash 0 until the robot on the other end stopped saying "I didn't catch that" and relented and said "let me see if someone is available."

2 comments:

Justin James said...

Do you think if you tweeted this that you would get a better response from MS?

Michael said...

Are you still happy with your Zune?