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Customer Loses Xbox 360 Artwork During Repair

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the customer-disservice dept.

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."

12 of 330 comments (clear)

  1. MS doesn't repair your Xbox 360 for you... by Aqua+OS+X · · Score: 5, Informative

    ... 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!"
    1. Re:MS doesn't repair your Xbox 360 for you... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Actually, according to the article, he talked to them beforehand and got their word he would get his original case back.

      And he did, the odd part is not that he got back someone else's case, but that he got his own case back scrubbed clean.

      Someone specifically knew he wanted the same case, and they scrubbed all the stuff away before giving it back. It sounds malicious.

  2. Pretty common... by KyoMamoru · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

  3. Re:He's an idiot by Tristanjh · · Score: 5, Informative

    I found this comment on another sie reportingthe same story: All repairs and maint are done through a third party company, Jabil, in Renoysa, Mexico. They have a specific set of instructions that they follow assembly-line style, and one of the first steps in that is they scrub the unit down with rubbing alcohol and remove all stickers and so forth that are on it. Any letter with the console would have been disregarded since the workers don't speak English, and are much more concerned with keeping up with the mass amount of work to be done, because they can be fired very easily if they don't. Even in an unusual case like artwork and signatures, the workers have better job security just pushing it through like usual than stopping to ask.

  4. Re:They didn't tell him... by HAKdragon · · Score: 5, Informative

    If it was a new console, the serial numbers wouldn't match up.

    --
    "Our opponent is an alien starship packed with atomic bombs. We have a protractor."
  5. Re:He's an idiot by lena_10326 · · Score: 3, Informative

    There are oil based paintings many centuries old
    All those paintings have been restored and are stored in museums with perfect atmospheric conditions under very low lighting. They are also never handled in the way an Xbox would be. Ever seen an oil painting from the 19th century? They are always filled with cracks. They crack, chip, and fall apart with time.

    Paper will last but it essentially turns to dust even when stored in perfect conditions. Quite a number of the dead sea scrolls could not be recovered because they were dust. An Xbox case will certainly last longer than 500 years given museum quality handling and storage.

    --
    Camping on quad since 1996.
  6. Re:He's an idiot by arodland · · Score: 4, Informative

    They still sell them, they just don't make them. They're selling off existing stock, which is expected to run out before the end of 2009.

  7. Can I take polaroids to gaming conventions? by Joce640k · · Score: 3, Informative

    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...
  8. I'm not surprised by jeremyp · · Score: 3, Informative
    The linked article itself contains a link with a photograph of the other side if the X-Box on it. Two choice comments written on the box stand out:

    Don't put too much ink on me, I might overheat
    and

    360? More like three shitsty!
    Why is anybody surprised that Microsoft decided not to preserve his "artwork"?
    --
    All I want is a secure system where it's easy to do anything I want. Is that too much to ask ~~ Randall Munroe
  9. Re:He's an idiot by nurb432 · · Score: 3, Informative

    I totally agree, sending it back was stupid. Microsoft shouldn't have been liable for any 'additional value' add-ons. Most of the time you just get a replacement stock box out of the refurb stack, and they send yours off for repair to add to the stack ( or the trash heap ) and never even look at it when its still attached to your name.

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
  10. Re:He's an idiot by jbengt · · Score: 3, Informative

    All those paintings have been restored and are stored in museums with perfect atmospheric conditions under very low lighting.

    You've never been to The Hermitage, have you?

  11. Re:You Don't Even Need a New 360 by rnelsonee · · Score: 3, Informative

    ... it's because he was promised he would. And for the record, he *did* get the same case back. That's the 'WTF' point of the article - he got the same case back, but it the artwork was intentionally and very deliberately removed. I was going to complain that the parent of your post didn't RTFA (because the warranty was cited there as the reason for not opening the case), which means he shouldn't be responding to the article in the first place, but it looks like you didn't either. Sheesh.