Mandatory Microsoft Madness

Most people that know me will tell you I don't have a very high opinion of Microsoft. There are lots of reasons for this, but rather than bore you with a bunch of history, I'll tell you about my recently-purchased XBOX 360 that died last month and the humorous and annoying process of replacing it.

I purchased a new 360 after my old one died about nine months ago. I probably wouldn't have bought a replacement except a friend of mine worked on Red Dead Redemption and sent me a copy so I wanted to play it, and I had a bunch of controllers and peripherals, so I sucked it up and bought a new box. When the new one died, I started up the repair process.

First problem: Microsoft's XBOX support site doesn't function properly in Firefox. OK, I understand Microsoft wants people to use IE, but... seriously? Not supporting a major browser is just petty stupidity.

Humorous anecdote one: I had to buy a box to ship the unit back to Microsoft, so I went by a local shipping company that's also a UPS drop. The guy at the counter told me they get three or four XBOXes a week going back to Microsoft for repair. Now I do live in a college town, but I had to laugh at this.

Humorous anecdote two: When the UPS guy brought the replacement to the door he recognized what it was from the box. His most telling comment was "usually more than once to the same place." Greeeaaat!

Final problem: Microsoft included an apologetic letter in the box as expected, along with a free 30 day XBL Gold card as a "gesture of our appreciation." Yeah right. How about as compensation for the XBL Gold time I already paid for and lost out on because your crappy hardware died? Sorry Microsoft, your appreciation isn't really all that appreciative.

In fairness to Microsoft, the repair process they've developed is pretty quick once you've gone through the hurdles of initiating the repair. I guess practice does make perfect.