Xbox Customer Service (2007)

When I was a kid...

About 10 years ago, my Xbox 360 hard drive broke. My dad said it was too expensive to repair, so my creative little kid mind decided to write Bill Gates a letter. I told him that I couldn't believe my Xbox 360 broke because all I wanted to do was play games with my friends, but I couldn't anymore. The Xbox 360 was out of warranty, and my dad said it was too expensive to send in for repairs. I also thought I would share my *brilliant* thoughts on the X-Hand, my idea at the time for an Xbox portable. The picture was their return letter and response.

On top of the reply, they also fixed my Xbox 360 for free. I could not describe how happy the little version of me was.

I have been a loyal Xbox customer since the OG Xbox nearly 15 years ago. That response made me even more so. I don't even want to know how much money I have spent on hardware, games, and accessories combined; not to mention how many hardware, games, and accessories I have per-ordered currently.

I purchased an elite controller last year. I pre-ordered it, in fact, and was a day 1 purchaser. Since then, it has broken twice, and been repaired twice. I want to make clear that I treat all my electronics carefully, never throw anything or drop anything, especially the Elite controller being as expensive as it is. The RB button broke both times, and considering I play Gears of War a lot, it made sense. The RB reloads and is so crucial to playing that game. The $150 premium price made me slightly upset considering it broke twice, but I accepted that it was from playing so much Gears.

However, I noticed last week that the left stick started to drift. This was very noticeable when playing games like Destiny, where in the menu, the cursor would scroll up while I wasn't touching the controller. This problem has gotten far worse over the course of the past week. Playing competitive multiplayer games like Rocket League, Call of Duty, Gears of War, Destiny, etc has gotten incredibly harder. So I decided to call Xbox Customer Support.

After politely explaining to the helpful guy on the phone my situation, he said the only solution was to pay out of pocket to have the controller shipped to them for repairs and sent back. I stated that frankly, that wasn't going to work. The third time a $150 controller broke and I still needed to pay out of pocket for repairs and shipping? When I have never had a problem with a regular controller? After having spent thousands, if not tens-of-thousands on xbox products over the past 15 years? So I asked to speak to his manager, who politely said the same thing. That was the only option. I made sure to let the two people who helped me on the phone know that I wasn't trying to be rude or angry with them, as I knew they were only doing their jobs, but that it was a terrible way to treat a loyal and long term customer.

I'm not an Xbox fanboy, I am a video games fanboy. I love the competition between Xbox, Playstation, and PC, in every aspect, because it drives this industry forward. It allows for mistakes and successes, it allows for lessons learned. I love the changes Phil Spencer has made in the recent years and I look forward for what's to come; all I ask is that Xbox never forgets their customers. Customer service has always been one reason I love Xbox, but today, I miss the Microsoft that was around when I grew up as a kid.