11 replies to this topic

[moycon]

Xbox 360 hardware failures aren't exactly unusual, but when Halo fan Nathaniel sent his Xbox 360 to Microsoft's warranty repair center, he got back a little less than he was expecting.

Although Nathaniel's Xbox began life as just a regular, launch-edition console, he'd customized the case with original artwork from noted Halo fan artist Luke McKay, signatures from Halo development team members, and other unique scribblings. In other words, it was a one-of-a-kind -- so when it broke, he was understandably nervous. But after being assured by Microsoft support staff that his precious artwork would be safe, he sent the broken console in for repair.

When it came back, to Nathaniel's horror, it had been scrubbed clean. His collectors' item had become just another garden variety console.

Gamer hits the jackpot!
One week later, Nathaniel's story took a turn for the awesome. Halo's creator Bungie spotted blog postings about his sad story and set about seeing what they could do to make it up to this loyal fan. So while Nathaniel still doesn't have his unique Xbox 360, he does have a huge grab bag of hard-to-find Halo memorabilia -- including a model Master Chief helmet signed by the studio staff and a copy of the game's soundtrack autographed by its composer, Martin O'Donnell -- to make up for his loss.

"Bungie has far surpassed any response I could have anticipated," said an overjoyed Nathaniel in a public statement. Read his full letter and check out pictures of his swag right here.

http://us.i1.yimg.co...me-true/1194723

Still sucks the 360 is such an unreliable POS and MS basically f'ed up his one of kind item, but at least one guy out there is happy his broke.

Actually I was happy when one of mine broke and MS sent me a brand new power supply back.
I used it on my 3rd HDTV setup. If anyone comes over they can just set down their 360 and plug everything up in about 30 seconds. Those power supplies are like $80-$100 new. Not as happy as this dude though.

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Edited by moycon, Thu Mar 13, 2008 11:18 PM.

[Breakpack]

You mean when some drops in,they dont need to bring any hookups?Just the console and a controller....maybe a few games they own?That's pretty sweet! Great story about the soundtrack and helmet as well.At least some good news comes out of the RRoD syndrome Bust out the BBQ!

[moycon]

Hmmmm, Don't even need a controller really.
I have a few extra to go around!

[Breakpack]

moycon, on Fri Mar 14, 2008 1:10 AM, said:

Hmmmm, Don't even need a controller really.
I have a few extra to go around!

Wow,the only thing you'd need is some killer game soundtracks!

[Hyper_Eye]

That story is really awesome. Bungie actually had nothing to do with what happened to this guy yet they went above and beyond what anybody could imagine. What an incredible gesture on their part. I hope MS can come even remotely close in making it up to this guy for their huge screwup.

[GrizzLee]

I am happy to see that some positive action was taken. It is unfortunate however, that is was not MS who stepped up to the plate, but rather Bungie. Three cheers for Bungie... who seem to get what a user gaming experience should be all about.

If this were Nintendo counsole, I think this story would've have been different from the onset. The fact of the matter is... MS XBOX support is not customer focused like it's rival across the street in Redmond. Which is unfortunate, because I love my Xbox and would love to be proud of a home grown product and have the same warm fuzzies as I do in regards to their competitor.

-Lee

[Mendon]

I agree that what MS did was stupid and what Bungie did was great.

But the owner is not totally without blame here either, in my opinion. I mean, if I had a valuable, one of a kind console, I would NOT be shipping it off to a massive exchange/repair warehouse for anything. I'd either:

A) keep it in a glass case for display and not worry about whether it worked or not
B) I'd take it to a local electronics store which repairs consoles (we have two of them even here in my small town), explain the situation to them, and have them repair the console. Much better chance for customer service from Mom & Pop than from a massive corporation.

To ship a valuable, one-of-a-kind console to MS or Sony or Nintendo and expect their warehouse to treat your console with any sort of respect isn't living in the reality of life.


Mendon

Edited by Mendon, Sun Mar 16, 2008 6:28 AM.

[moycon]

Mendon, on Sun Mar 16, 2008 8:26 AM, said:

I mean, if I had a valuable, one of a kind console, I would NOT be shipping it off to a massive exchange/repair warehouse for anything. I'd either:

I was thinking the same thing to be honest.

[Hyper_Eye]

Mendon, on Sun Mar 16, 2008 7:26 AM, said:

I agree that what MS did was stupid and what Bungie did was great.

But the owner is not totally without blame here either, in my opinion. I mean, if I had a valuable, one of a kind console, I would NOT be shipping it off to a massive exchange/repair warehouse for anything. I'd either:

A) keep it in a glass case for display and not worry about whether it worked or not
B) I'd take it to a local electronics store which repairs consoles (we have two of them even here in my small town), explain the situation to them, and have them repair the console. Much better chance for customer service from Mom & Pop than from a massive corporation.

To ship a valuable, one-of-a-kind console to MS or Sony or Nintendo and expect their warehouse to treat your console with any sort of respect isn't living in the reality of life.


Mendon

The person that issued the RMA should have informed him that they were not responsible for the artwork on the console and there should be no expectation of it being preserved. He specifically told his story and expressed his desire to have the work preserved to which he was assured it would be. I still wouldn't have sent it but the guy had reason to believe the artwork would be preserved.

[remowilliams]

Hyper_Eye, on Mon Mar 17, 2008 4:07 PM, said:

The person that issued the RMA should have informed him that they were not responsible for the artwork on the console and there should be no expectation of it being preserved.

Probably, but again you're dealing with the faceless corporate machine. You have to have some smarts about what goes on behind the scenes, and what you should and should not expect.

And sending a one of a kind collectors item to a cookie cutter corporate warranty center is one of those things that you should know better not to do.

[HammR25]

He knows better now. lol

[Hyper_Eye]

HammR25, on Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:05 PM, said:

He knows better now. lol

He does? Look what he got out of it.