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Customer Loses Xbox 360 Artwork During Repair
An anonymous reader writes "The Consumerist is reporting that one unlucky individual had to send his Xbox 360 in for repairs. The catch is he had spent a great deal of time getting signatures and artwork on the outside of the console from notable members of the gaming industry. He specifically asked and even sent a letter along with his console requesting that the outside of the case be returned intact. When he got it back it was once again, plain white. Assuming that this is a genuine claim, regardless of the circumstances surrounding the missing/cleaned case Microsoft should at least apologize to the guy."
If the signatures on the outside of the box were so valuable, he should have bought a brand new XBox rather than run the risk of having the "valuable" one stolen, damaged, or defaced.
As for the concept behind getting signatures in the first place, it may be cool to get XBox developers to sign an XBox, but what's the point of getting "notable members of the gaming industry" to sign a product that has a guaranteed maximum lifespan? Wouldn't taking a polaroid and having them sign that be a better way to preserve those memories?
Special treatment from a warranty repair center? He should be thankful to have received a working unit. Most of those types of centers are offshore -- meaning English probably isn't their first language.
Sucks to lose the artwork -- especially the signatures from Bungie folks. Using the Xbox 360 to hold the sigs when the failure rate for older 360s is still too high is begging for a huge pint of FAIL.
PS: FIRST POAST.
Sounds dubious to moi. To get those things perfectly white again after having been covered with permanent marker seems a little unrealistic. They must have accidentally swapped the cover or the story is nonsense. Either way, it's like duh.
Careful What You Wish For....
...that it was an entirely new console.
I just can't decide if the old one was discarded or some repair guy decided that he really liked the case and kept it.
maybe I'm missing something here but what repair could possibly justify the work of scrubbing signatures off of a gaming console? If somehow the repair did require that they not have ink/signatures on the case, why not take the case off, so the repairs, put the case back? For that matter, who thought it was easier/more efficient to take all that time to scrub it off when they could have used another case and returned this one?
Sigs are too short to say anything truly profound so read the above post instead.
I really feel for this guy. I really do.
However, you can never rely on an agent for anything. They really can say anything, and generally are not held accountable. You have to go up to supervisor level and above, get employee identification information, and to some extent, get a written letter of intent from the company.
It's like asking the sales guy for technical information on how stuff works. Bad Idea. Go to tech support to talk to the guy instead.
That being said, it seems pretty clear from the article that somebody at Microsoft may have been mean and spiteful to "wash" the case. I say that only since we do not know what processes go on inside. It may be possible that multiple people are responsible for the repair, and the person taking the unit out the box and reading the letter just lacked the appropriate standing or ability to communicate anything down the line. The person that washed the case, may have been simply doing his job, and may have even had reservations about doing it. That employee may have had nobody to talk to either, or even the time and the "empowerment" to do so. It is entirely possible that the whole operation is so big, that expecting this kind of interdepartmental communication and cooperation is just unreasonable, and a little naive.
That is what I believe. That kind of operation must be so huge, given the volume, that for the systems and policies to be implemented to track this incident from its creation to its conclusion is just too costly of an undertaking. You would have to believe that they could create a RMA and from the very beginning include dynamic handling instructions that would be passed throughout the entire process. Most business fail at this already.
If anybody is truly responsible, it is the agent for making that representation in the first place. That agent, by their representations, implied that such abilities do exist.
Of course it would be interesting to know if there are policies in place to retain cases and artwork. On the surface, it is easy to condemn M$ overall for this, but there are just too many unknowns in the story.
... they repair it for someone else.
FYI, if you mail-in your 360 for "repairs" your going to get a previously refurbished 360. MS does this in order to accelerate turnaround. Moreover, what you get back could very well be an older model that is more prone to failure.
"Things are more moderner than before- bigger, and yet smaller- it's computers-- San Dimas High School football RULES!"
No, that would be rubbing salt in the wound
Anytime you send something into service/repair for -any- company, regardless of what industry they are, you waive rights to that current hardware. As long as you get something that is comparable back to it, there's very little that you can do legally, since sending it to the Repair center means acceptance of all of the stipulations.
If it's not Microsoft IP then it doesn't get out of the building.
Personally I would give a half eaten French Fry and all the change I can find in couches in teh lounge at Caltech for the identity of the person who clean off that artwork.
BTW, the French Fry came that way. ( I got if off RMS)
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
From a 'repair' standpoint, most repair people I've dealt with wouldn't bother to clean the case regardless of any internal repairs done to this machine.
The article failed to mention what was wrong with the unit specifically and yes, it makes a difference.
I have to wonder if "cleaning the case" is part of standard operating procedure.
This doesn't seem right somehow.
He should have paid for the repairs out of his own pocket and located an authorized local service center, where he could carry in the XBOX for service. Maybe Microsoft XBOX repairs don't work this way, but if it meant so much to me, then I would have done everything possible to make sure that I found a certified local technician who would do things my way, even if it meant paying for the needed repairs instead of having the machine repaired free through the warranty.
Sometimes things that suck just happen and the problem can't be fixed.
Probably was just bad communication. So I'm guessing under normal procedure, you don't necessairily get your old Xbox 360 back. They may send you a different one they reconditioned (or perhaps a new one if that isn't available). That way if your problem ends up being something that takes longer to fix, or ends up being something unfixable, you aren't sitting around waiting for a long time as they figure that out.
Now that'd be pretty normal procedure for returns. Quite often when I've had to return something, I've gotten a different unit returned to me. They recieve the part, verify that it is defective, that the warranty does cover it, and then ship out a replacement so I don't have to wait. The one I sent in then gets sent over to the repair shop to look at and they do with it whatever they wish to. I'm happy since I have my item back quickly. In fact some companies even allow for cross ship. eVGA will allow you to buy enhanced warranties so that they'll ship you out a card, then once you get it you ship the old one back. Cuts down on your downtime that way.
So, I'm guessing that is MS's normal procedure. Now in this case, they got it noted that the guy wanted his orignal box back and said "no problem, we can do that." However, the reason he did, or maybe even that he did, never got sent down the line. So it goes to repairs, gets fixed, and then there's some guy who's job it is to clean them up and make them look nice. He hasn't been told this picture is supposed to stay, for all he know somebody's kid was scribbling on it. His job is to clean up the boxes, which he does.
The shipping department then gets the box back from repairs, matches it up to go back to the original owner since they have instructions to that effect, and he gets his unfortunately cleaned 360.
I really doubt that anyone would have done this out of spite. All other MS conspiracy theories aside, they LOVE the Red vs Blue guys. They've had them do promotions for launches and so on. This isn't a case of a Tux penguin or something that might go against their corporate culture, this is something that is supportive of MS all the way.
I'd just bet on bad communication in trying to do something that isn't normal procedure.
That is SOP for every shop I've ever dealt with for exchanges. In 99.999% of cases what the customer wants is a working replacement as fast as possible. They don't care if it is their unit, they care that it is a working unit that arrives quickly.
In fact with some premium support packages, it is explicit. For example at work we contract with MPC to provide our computers. Part of that is we get good support. Something breaks, I send them an e-mail saying "This part on this serial number is broken, I want a new one." They then send me a replacement, via next day air. I install it and get it working, then send them back the old one (which they pay shipping for) when I've got time. Net effect is we get computer fixed for people much faster. I don't care that it isn't the same motherboard or RAM or whatever that was in there before. It just needs to be one that is the same model and thus does the same job.
A case like this is very unusual. Most people are made the happiest by the fastest turnaround in getting a fixed part, which often means giving them a part you already fixed.
I love some of the comments about permanent markers. Apparently those people have no idea what acetone (nail polish remover / paint thinner) does to a Jiffy. Permanent markers are about as permanent as a fart when it comes to that stuff.
...he probably got someone else's broken Xbox360.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
Must...stop...playing...xbox...and...get...sleep...
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Sometimes electronic components (such as Xboxes I presume) get a bit scuffed during the repair process. There's probably some quality control guy in the outsourced MS Xbox repair center whose job is to "clean up" any newly-repaired Xbox before the box is shipped back to the owner. A quick wipe with an acetone-soaked rag will remove any permanent ink, paint, etc. in a jiffy. Sure it's stupid to clean the exterior for an obviously intentionally-decorated case, but hey, he was just doing his job.
"Never attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity." -- Hanlon's Razor
save your mod points for the gnaa trolls you morons.
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
For those of you who say that it's not really M$'s fault or let M$ off the hook, imagine if you sent your PC with it's side windows and lights and organized cables into a company for repairs. Now imagine that you get back a potentially older PC, more prone to failure in a solid beige case. What would you do?
if the specific Xbox was valuable to you, why would you risk even sending in it for repair in the first place. Personally I'd rather spend the $ and get another one versus having the risk of getting the original unit damaged, stolen, or lost.
Applying common sense and Murphy's Law can really save you a lot of headache and grief in life.
Not to be a dick, but generally when you send something for warranty work you are 1) not guaranteed to get the exact same item back. When discussing the legal aspects of a situation like this, it is generally a type of bailment known as a mutuum. Essentially, you are not guaranteed the return of the exact system that you sent in, in the same way that if you borrow a cigarette from a friend and pay him back, he might reasonably expect that you replace his Marlboro Red with a Marlboro Red and not a Camel, but he knows not to expect the return of the exact same cigarette. Also, you can consider a neighbor borrowing sugar from you. The exact wording of the warranty contract will determine whether this is the case. 2) often advised in the wording to the warranty that any aftermarket enhancements will not be returned to you. In this case things like faceplates, stickers, and such. When sending in systems for warranty repair you are generally advised not to send any memory cards, cabling, or controllers, or you will not get them back. When dealing with warranty work with cellular phones, often you are asked to remove your battery, battery cover, and faceplate, because you will not get it back. Without having a copy of the warranty contract in front of me, I have no way of knowing, but chances are this guy doesn't have a leg to stand on.
It seems like now would be a good time to introduce my patent protected book cover for the Xbox 360.
It consists of a few plastic panels that clip over the box making it appear as natural as possible. But you can snap them off to protect your artwork when traveling or sending the system off for repair.
Actually, I don't have a patent but I had this going since the Atari 64 so I claim prior art on anyone wanting to block people from making them. I originally made the so it would be easy to hide the artwork of my kid sister's hours alone with a marker (that was actually only 10 minutes but she was fast) when I was watching her. Then I found that making them for other things and putting my own art on them so I could switch them out when I wanted to give it a different look. They are easy to make, and you can find the materials at most hardware and craft stores. A heat gun and a element out of an old electric hear makes molding it a cake. Careful though, heating it too much can cause bubbles and sags.
News for losers, stuff that doesn't matter...
Looks like some lucky guy who sends in his xbox for repairs is gonna get a refurbished one with a really cool case!
What wouldn't Jesus do?!
Acetone dissolves ABS based plastics (which is what 99% of the plastic of computer cases is based on).
Anyone touching the outer casing with acetone is prone to make a mess of it. Anything BUT acetone is fine. If you're trying to remove sticky labels , lighter fuel is the thing to use (basically very clean petrol - anyone amy idea how they get it this clean) - also excellent to zap chewing gum stains.
Disclaimer: no expert on flammable liquids but damn well on plastic..
Insert
Come on marketing and PR department of Redmond, even I know the answer to this one and I haven't ever taken a class in marketing or sucking up.
1. Issue a statement of apology explaining that you will get to the bottom of the problem.
2. Go ahead and look for the Xbox (but secretly you know this is futile and the box is next to the Ark or was really cleaned).
3. Contact the complaining customer and ask him what signatures were on the Xbox.
4. Contact the artists that signed the box. Make a big PR festival out of it! Have Bill Gates (or heck...anyone famous will do) take a brand new Xbox to each artist and have them sign it.
5. Send the Xbox back to the kid. No wait, have Bill Gates deliver it in person. Film the whole thing and put it on youtube, etc.
6. PR disaster averted and gold stars for everyone.
The media would eat this up and the free publicity would be worth its weight in cheetos.
If Microsoft didn't base the 360's thermal design on the EZ-Bake Oven.
The real problem is that Microsoft has released the Windows version of a gaming console. No amount of service can make up for that.
HTTP/1.1 400
Why couldn't the cocksucker just keep the 'novel' xbox in a broken state, and buy an ordinary to play with? - Fucking idiot..
A horse can't be sick, you know, even if he wants to.
I bet the Monkey Dancer took the case.
I would have bought a new 360, switched the cases (unless this voids any warranty... ugh), sent the broken 360 in, then switched them back and return the extra 360.
It's as simple as that.
The whole idea of sending a customized anything to a central repair place screams out for a "whatcouldpossiblygowrong" tag. The box may be special to you, but it isn't to them. You can't expect major manufacturers to spend extra time/money on you just because you decided to paint your box a different color. The world doesn't work that way.
Buy a new Xbox, swap the innards. Xbox all fixed.
No sig today...
Having a fancy box at a gaming conventions, etc. is cool (and he does go to them - that's where he got the signatures), having a few polaroids to show people isn't.
But yes, he should have bought a new Xbox and switched the case. Expecting a mass-market repair center to spend extra time/money on you just because you painted your Xbox a different color is, ummm, "unrealistic".
No sig today...
It would be better if Sony jumped on this and gave him a PS3, signed by Bono, The Pope, and bunch of other A-List celebrities. That's called a PR coup.
All I want is a secure system where it's easy to do anything I want. Is that too much to ask ~~ Randall Munroe
But unless the person you talk to on the phone is the exact same person who's going to open the package and do the repair work (which it won't be, ever...) then don't expect things like this to work out.
As for putting a special piece of paper in the box with instructions on it? Not very realistic either.
No sig today...
100 people died in Iraq, 20 000 Africans died of Aids, 20 species went extinct, 10 millions of tons of CO2 were emitted, BUT THEY ERASED GRAFFITI ON AN XBOX !! where is the FBI when needed ?
Google passes Turing test : see my journal
I just hope that when you take your custom painted car to service you don't complain when other side of car is wiped clean. Or send your signed camera body for adjustment, signature is gone and the value did go down %80+! Or send an oil painting for frame fixing and instead of the original Van Gogh get back a painting from some local artist - it is an oil painting, even new and fresh!, what you are complaining. Or maybe an old photograph for restoration and they do so good job that clean all the text and names out of it - they definitely are not part of a photograph! And so on.. Actually all these are examples where the company doing the job had to pay, and most of time a lot because those can't get back. I also hope that you are not on the receiving end when telling a Harley Davidson guy that you just cleaned the paintings out of gas tank for extra service when fixing the valves.
...they should give him a free HD-DVD drive
"We live in a global world" - Harvey Pitt, former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman
At this given rate, I bet 99% of all xbox1s will be alive and well in 2015, even though far out of date, they might still be usefull for some, but still WORKING, when
all 360s will probably die by then.
Maybe thats MS idea along, built in planned obsolescence through product self death like cloths. Genius!!
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
You're intending to keep this for a long time, so for a couple of years you just have an empty case. When the XBOX 720 or whatever comes out, 360s will be a lot cheaper and you can put your old 360 in there or buy a new one to fill out the case.
I haven't looked into it deeply, but I saw that custom clear cases were $50 or so. How much could a stock case really cost?
Just poor planning, really. If you wanted to get signatures of all major developers and felt it important to preserve that, then, y'know, put that thing in a protective box and never open it.
I have an original XBox Cystal Edition. It died, and I called MS repair. When I was about to complete the process, I told them that I had the Crystal Edition, and asked if the 'refirbished' unit they would send out to me would also be the same model..NOP! Everybody gets a nice black XBox. I wonder if I have a 360 Elite or Halo Edition needing repair (like that might ever happen), would I get the same back or some basic model. It's a big money sucking machine that everyday I feel less inclined to support.
This is unfortunate ... but perhaps an opportunity to discuss how to write for results.
Actions that you are requesting need to be immediately obvious.
The rest of the letter can be junk. The first few lines should have said "please do not clean or replace my XBOX cover", probably in bold.
You can't expect people to read a story. (In this case even a clear letter probably wouldn't have helped, but it certainly wouldn't have hurt).
After having read everything, here's what I have to say about this all:
First off, those of you who are screaming "TEHY SOTLE TEH ARTWORKZZZZ", this was probably repaired in Mexico by people who care more about not losing their job, probably a wonderfully good (for Mexico) couple of bucks an hour, than they do about some crappy Sharpie marker art on a case.
1) The kid was wrong to expect that one contracted arm of The Beast that is Microsoft would know the details about what another contracted arm of The Beast was doing. There's a reason they tell you to keep your faceplate and hard drive when you send it back in the coffin.
2) He enclosed a tl;dr whine letter in freaking ENGLISH. No habla Ingles, gringo. And even if they did know English, these repairs are probably so assembly-lined that they wouldn't have time to read it anyhow.
3) The cleaning was apparently part of standard procedure. And lots of things will clean off Sharpie markers, especially on a hard non-porous surface. Most people who work at offices know that you can clean Sharpie markers off of whiteboards by writing over it with a whiteboard marker. The guy probably started cleaning it, then freaked out when it streaked like crazy. At that point all he could do was finish the job. And for those who say "TEH MARKZZ ARE IN TEH WRONG PLACEZ", that's because the cleaning would have been done with big wide sweeps all over the sides. And one of the side-by-side comparison pictures was comparing the wrong sides.
4) Apparently it was worth less than $270 or whatever the price of an Arcade Edition is, or the kid would have bought one and put the other on the shelf. As someone said, if you get a football autographed, you don't play football with it, and you sure don't send it in to have the laces re-tightened. And the thing wasn't even covered by warranty (2 red lights, not 3 red lights), so it wouldn't have mattered if he swapped the case with another unit.
5) And he got a freaking Xbox 360 autographed? Something where common wisdom is that the failure rate is around 30%? He might as well have had his butt autographed. And it's not like he didn't know; at least two of the signings specifically mentioned the 360's crappiness.
So what to do about it? For those of you who scream "SUE SUE SUE!", this is why we can't have nice things. A lawsuit isn't going to get the art back. Here is what he should do:
1) Get a broken Xbox 360 off of ebay or craigslist. You can't tell me there aren't any.
2) Get said broken Xbox 360 signed. They probably know about this already at Bungie and Roosterteeth, so it shouldn't be too hard to get it re-signed by them.
3) LEAVE THE BROKEN XBOX 360 BROKEN. That way you wouldn't be tempted to play it and have it break and need repairs again.
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
Since its painfully apparant that most of you didn't read the RTFA, the customer went through the following steps: A) Contacting microsoft via phone and getting assurance that nothing would happen to the artwork, as well as instructions to ensure that the assurance was met. B) He included a letter with the microsoft including the unit serial number and an explanation of why the case needed to be returned.
I can't blame the kid when he was given assurance from the company that his 360 would be returned in tact. Hell, I'd say he should at the very least file a grievance with the BBB, and at most try suing microsoft (its pretty much a slam dunk case these days, everyone is doing it).
I suppose the real lessons are to be a pc gamer, and to not trust a thing microsoft says.
this would be fraud and theft of course, but no way to prove it.
So the cost of replacement would be to the few thousands of dollars it would take to fly the kid around to get replacement signatures, not that this would happen.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
...and the guy said it was one of a kind.
damn
I'm still working on a clever footer.
I have painted / airbrushed quite a few of these things and it can be rather pricey depending
on the artwork. I use automotive clear over them though so nobody is just going to be able to
wipe it off. I cannot understand why someone would even think it is a good idea to clean
off the artwork and signatures in this case....he should be mad.
Got Code?
...who cares?
Why, WHY is this NEWS!?!?
And this is probably one reason why so many company employees are forced to behave like inflexible jobsworths and give a rote answer.
:)
I'm not sure if what you say would stand up in a court of law, BTW. (Usual IANAL and YAPNALE (*) disclaimer for the following).
If you've asked 19 people representing the same company and got the same answer, and then the 20th misinterprets the company policy and says something different, it could be argued that you *knew* the company's policy and position, and that you were intentionally fishing with the intention of getting someone to give you a mistaken answer and then using this as "proof".
IMHO, I'd also question how you'd phrased the question you asked guy #20 (did you accidentally or *deliberately* mislead him) and how you interpreted his answer. The defence may well argue that you should have *known* by that stage that such employees would be bound by company policy- and that you also knew the company policy and were seeking to take advantage of one employee's genuine mistake.
I don't know the legal position on this, but I suspect that a court would consider you were operating in bad faith and that the employee's mistake was not legally binding.
In contrast to your (bad) analogy, this is *not* the same as repeatedly speaking to an employee regarding a contract and him changing his mind.
Regardless of all that, given these doubts, even if employee #20's undertaking was authorised and not mistaken, it'd be gross stupidity *not* to get it in writing. Even if oral agreements are technically binding, there's so much open to question (and prone to misunderstanding) that I doubt you'd be able to prove it in court.
(*) You are probably not a lawyer either
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
You take your antiques and collectibles to a specialist. Someone who knows what needs to be done and what can be done without impairing their value. You negotiate a contract and get everything in writing. You pay whatever it costs to get the job done right.
Frankly, scrawlings & signatures on an XBox like that are a form of artwork. This is no different than taking a painting to a frame store and having them put a new frame on it. If the frame store damages the original artwork, or decides to "improve" it, they should be held liable for the diminished value of the potentially priceless artifact. So, why would an XBox, clearly containing some artistic work, being sent to Mexico for warranty work be any different???
If I was this guy, I'd consider contacting the local DA's office to file criminal charges against Microsoft. At the very least, file a police report to get the process started. Intentionally damaging or stealing artwork (and this is clearly intentional) is often worse than doing the same to "normal" property--i.e. a microwave or TV.
Windows 3.1x calc: 3.11 - 3.10 = 0.00
He didn't buy a new Xbox because he couldn't afford one (or wanted to keep the stats on his old box), and switching cases with a new box would have voided the warranty on both— this is not something you'd want to do on a shoestring budget. He's not a Comic Book Store Guy-type collector, so he didn't get two boxes to begin with (which would've made the signed box CSR-proof).
That said, surely he heard of all the RRoD horror stories, so perhaps working toward a second box should have been in his plans?
If there's written evidence from Microsoft that promised him they wouldn't touch the signatures, there's no doubt that they are liable. It'll be quite a bit harder to prove without that.
"We are Microsoft. You shall be assimilated. Competition is futile."
What would be funny is some guy complains that someone at the repair center tagged his virgin white unit he sent in for repairs.
So exactly how much money does it take to not suck? Because, clearly, Microsoft hasn't reached that fiscal goal yet... ("See, the M, that's sucking this ball here, and the S, that's sucking my other ball, so the M and the S are just sucking both my balls.")
Granted, the guy may have gotten the results he actually wanted if he'd foregone the detailed letter and instead simply have taken one of those sharpies and written "Please do not clean" in English and Spanish on sheets of paper and taped that over the artwork he wanted to protect. But you know what they say about hindsight.
I use Windows... like a two dollar wh.. why don't I just go ahead and not finish that sentence.
This is the most insightful post in the entire thread. (Except the retard part, that's kind of rude.) I hate Microsoft as much as the next slashbot but really, the guys an idiot.
in case you get married.
damaged by dogma
I'm reading and rereading the article to find where Microsoft told him that the box wouldn't get cleaned, the artwork wouldn't get erased or that "everything would be OK". He called to ask if the box would be replaced or he would get his original box. Microsoft, according to the kid, promised to return the same box. That's it. And they did that. So where is it that Microsoft lied? Yes, the dork that cleaned the box with solvents (which is something that's done at the beginning of a repair process on any large repair facility) should have noticed that this was a special case, but after you cleaned a hundred machines one day, when you receive the 101 you just don't stop to read the print, you just apply the solvent soaked cloth to it without even looking. And this is assuming this is not an automated cleaning process. Microsoft repairs (rough calculation based on the number of units out there) about one XBox every ten seconds. It is even possible there's an "assembly line" like process where the machines are placed on a belt that cleans, opens and maybe runs quick diagnosis on the consoles. But it is easier to say that the "borg" has enough time and money to look at individual ways to screw customers one at a time.
According to the fine article, this guy would just happen to have his XBox360 on hand at various events just so he could accost them to sign it. What a fucking sociopath.
The fact his precious molded plastic case was cleaned makes me feel nothing but Schadenfreude: it serves him right for stalking people and placing so much value in a single piece of consumer electronics.
I hope Microsoft summarily ignores this tool while he cries his crocodile tears. How could he not foresee that random parts would be replaced when he sent the console in for RMA service? He is faining outrage: the only reason for pretending to be outraged is to collect even more fabulous prises out of some-kind-of sense of communal outrage.
Sometimes I really wish a lot of the human race would just "grow up". This idea of worshipping "celebrities" is pathetic and serves to show what empty lives some people lead.
By all means admire a musician for a great piece of music, an actor in a great film or even someone who programs a good game - but don't forget that in each case, you are PAYING them to entertain you, no different to paying a plumber for replacing a faulty washer in a tap.
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
Why would Microsoft want to wash the device?
My opinion : He got ripped off. Now there is a happy support service employee with a signed Xbox 360. He'll prolly sell it on ebay...
Same shit, different day
Sorry it came across that way, I'd had a few drinks at the time of posting and was somewhat blunt - I still stand by the post though, it just doesn't feel like news that matters on an even remotely serious topic to me. :/
An employee took the original, then marked up a fresh case and scrubbed it to make it look like the original was destroyed, so nobody would come looking for it.
news items that i submitted. Are the editors so bored that anything that remotely disses microsoft will be deemed newsworthy here. Thanks for this inane posting and I bite just to vent.