I have found the thief and its name is kitty
Microsoft hasn’t returned Tiffany’s XBox 360 for four months because they think she is a thief, even though she has her original receipt and a credit card statement proving that she is the console’s rightful owner. Microsoft repaired the XBox back in January and tried to return it via FedEx, but a shipping snafu landed the box back at Microsoft’s service center. Tiffany has called repeatedly. She even sent a letter to Microsoft’s legal department, after sending her receipt and statement, asking how else she could prove ownership. That was 22 days ago. She has yet to receive a response.
Tiffany writes:
I’m writing to you in hopes (just like Dustin at the military base, but possibly a little more desperate) that some day in the near future I can get my Xbox360 back.I sent it to Microsoft to fix on January 5, 2008 and shipped it back to me on February 2, 2008; however, FedEx shipped it to my home address and I unfortunately couldn’t sign for it because I was stuck at work. I requested that FedEx change the delivery address to my work address, but they said they couldn’t without Microsoft’s permission. I asked FedEx to hold it at the shipping center but it accidentally got returned to Microsoft’s service center.
At that point, Microsoft had done no wrong, but this is where it starts to get frustratingly nightmarish. I contacted Microsoft who assured me that they would send the package back, this time to my work address where the package could be signed for during normal work hours; however, somewhere along the line, Microsoft decided I had stolen the Xbox from the original owner since it was suspicious that I was “opening two repair orders” in such a short time. Countless (I lost track after 10ish) phone calls were made to Microsoft customer support about my case in a fruitless battle to get them to send me my console back, but they kept dancing around the reason(s) they were refusing to send it back to me. Eventually, a customer service representative admitted that all along they were unauthorized and had no means to actually help me, so all the times they claimed a supervisor assigned to my case would contact me about my case were lies. They eventually coughed up an address to the Microsoft Legal Department and said if I sent a letter their way, they would help me out. She hinted that the reason corporate had put a hold on my console may be because they didn’t believe I was the original owner, despite the fact that I sent them a copy of my receipt and credit card statement as bona fide proof of purchase.
My coworker had suffered similar bad luck with his console repair and also had to write the legal department several letters before finally receiving his console back, so I felt like I finally had a chance to get my missing console returned to me. I sent a letter to the Microsoft Legal Department and CC’d a copy to the Vice President of Consumer Affairs at Microsoft 22 days ago begging for at least a response to my letter. Thus far, my e-mail inbox has remained vacant and my phone has not rung with news from Microsoft.
At this point, I’m quite at the end of my line and know that contacting customer support would just wring what little humanity I have left out of my soul. I noticed last week you posted about Dustin’s grief with Microsoft not sending him a box to ship his Xbox in for repairs and also provided some links to file a small claim and contact my attorney general. I’m wondering if you can assist me further in any way, or know of someone who can since you’ve mentioned that multitudes of people of submitted similar complaints. Being completely left in the dark as to why they won’t send my Xbox back to me after four months is making me more than a little crazy.
Thanks,
Tiffany
Looks like Alberto Gonzalez got a job with Microsoft. Your XBox may be transfered to Gitmo until it provides irrefutable proof of its owner’s true identity. Efforts to identify you will result in an extended and unchallengable sentence.
You can try going even higher, straight to the top, and emailing big billg@microsoft.com, but reason apparently has no home at Microsoft.
Our advice to reader Dustin, who, after three months, still hadn’t received a shipping box, was to speak with his credit card company, consider small claims court, and to launch the mighty Executive Email Carpet Bomb. Tiffany wants even more, a customer service weapon so powerful, so effective, that it hides beyond our conception. For that, we’re going to turn this one over to you, our beloved and infallible Consumerists. Tiffany has reasoned, waited, begged, all without results. What should she do next?
PREVIOUSLY: It’s Been 3 Months And 12 Days Since My XBOX Broke And Microsoft Still Won’t Send Me A Box
(Photo: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com)
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Small claims court FTW.
If none of the email-carpetbombs work, could she try filing some sort of criminal report against MS? I dunno, just throwing that out there.
Small Claims court and include 3 months of depreciation of lost playing time.
Definitely small claims court. She already provided proof of ownership so they have zero legal reason for holding on to it. I’m willing to bet they’re also not actually trying to locate the “real owner” and it’s just sitting on a shelf somewhere.
Kick Micro$haft to the curb and get yourself a PS3.
Makes me glad I’ve got a PS3 and a Wii, but didn’t bother with Microsoft.
I typed this from a pirated version of Windows, because M$ is too cheap to let me use my LEGIT version of Windows on both a laptop and a PC (the laptop came with Windows, was stolen, so I bought a custom PC and installed the Windows disc… only to find that M$ wouldn’t let me activate it).
lol’soft proves once again how awesomely crap’tastic they are.
Tiffany, if your lucky enough to get some sort of payment for this. Which I am sure once this hits a few hundred websites, and lol’soft realizes their screwed yet again. You should go buy a ps3 =) *cough*. The only thing you will probably get is your 360 back. Now, it may not be yours(long story behind that one) but at least you will have one.
Good Luck!
@Breetai:
there are ways around that =)
Don’t buy a 360 people.
This is all just a cover to try to hide the fact that they lost the unit.
@Dakota Courtois: Actually, she can make this into a full-blown court case.
Also, people, she said she wants her 360 back. Stop telling her to get a PS3.
Ya that’s BS. I agree, fight the man. In other words stop being stupid Sony fans, yer always on the prowl for the opportunity to boost the machine you purchased over the others. I only play my PS3 when my 360 is broken
one word: Sue them! Ok, that were 2 words, but if it was my console I would sue them… (If I could)
I hope that MS at last apologizes for this stuff and gives her some stuff for free bcoz of all this stuff she has gone through..
(when she gets her 360 back)
LAWSUIT! I would be pissed if they were keeping my xbox 360 like that. This is ridiculoius!
@moe84: Normally, I’d call you a fan-boy, but you are so right. Honestly, I would get a ps3 and rid myself of my 360 if not for the number of friends who have a 360 and live.
Gah. I’m waiting for my 360 right now – it’s my second send back. When I got it back the first time, it red lighted five minutes into the first game.
Here’s hoping it doesn’t get lost to the atmosphere in transit.
i agree with small claims court.
what the heck is microsoft’s deal. for being such a big company they sure do have customer service issues. they better give this girl some free shit when it’s all settled.
although i’ve never had any problems, i might just write them some hate mail for being jerks.
urgh for Microsoft’s legal department… but even more urgh for the fanboyism shown in the comments… it’s not like Sony is the perfect company either:
[arstechnica.com]
Microsoft really messed this one up, and deserves nothing but bashing, but don’t claim Sony as the Holy Grail. Nobody’s perfect, and it’s fully possible MS is less perfect than Sony, but please take the pure fanboyism out of it and try to stay at least somewhat objective.
@Breetai: ya man, just call them and say you had to dump your hard drive and re-install. and that you don’t know what’s going on. they’ll give you a code. it worked for me.
Indeed, a lawsuit should yield the desired results. After submitting your proof that you are the owner, their refusal to return the merchandise falls under the tort of conversion.
Sweet, I remembered something from personal and business law class.
I know the Intercooler was known to cause more damage to the 360 than help. I would have blurred that out of the pic.
OMG she should totally write about it in her blog! That would show them!
@Clstirens:
Fan boy? Far from it. Not owning the system. But statistically, your much better off with Sony. Less issues by far(there are some yea). Not to mention, the issues with their CS dept. Headache that Tiffany and anyone else should not have to deal with.
Besides I have a 360 in my house. No Ps3.. so calling me a Sony fan boy = way off.
GJ
I wonder whether or not these service centers are explicitly instructed to misappropriate some percentage of 360s sent in for free repairs in order to diminish the impact of that one-billion-dollar plus warranty coverage extension, citing to the shafted customer some bogus reason like “ummm… you stole it?”.
Somehow, that wouldn’t surprise me at all. And somehow, I don’t think Microsoft has thought it’s cunning plan all the way through.
Actually, all joking aside, it’s quite ingenious: if the percentage of customers to whom you do this is small enough, it won’t receive much media attention and put off too many would-be customers from buying 360s. The financial department probably did the numbers and ultimately concluded that even though there were a bit of risk in this move it would ultimately be more financially advantageous than embracing scruples.
Microsoft is a terrible company and their XBox360 is something I wouldn’t touch with a 10 foot pole.
Good luck Tiff. M$ has enough money to make you “disappear” from the Earth. Better get a new 360, and this time buy a extended store warrenty.
I smell a civil lawsuit!
“Microsoft is a terrible company and their XBox360 is something I wouldn’t touch with a 10 foot pole.”
When it comes to consoles I have to agree completely. But not when it comes to an OS. Best in the world imo. Even Vista.. thats right.. I said it!!!!
(and I am not joking)
If you’re gonna make a console that breaks a lot you should make sure your customer service is the best! I don’t own either console but what I’ve heard about the 360 (games aside of course!) hasn’t been good. On the other hand people have told me that their experiences (if any) with sony customer service have been good.
Quick, who’s John Mayer’s Microsoft Counter-part… Umm…
“Hey, Dave Matthews here. I have a missing Xbox 360. It’s like you guys want to see what’s on my hard drive or something. Email me back.”
OS support> 360 Support.
@moe84: Duck quickly!
Seriously, isn’t this some form of theft? What about reporting it stolen? They have the property and refuse to return it despite proof of ownership. Maybe a police report, followed (as suggested by others) by a lawsuit, might do something?
Maybe call your local PD and see what they have to say. They should be happy to talk to you for a few minutes, and it’d cost you nothing.
@nox: That’s just a stock photo. Always look for this at the bottom of articles:
(Photo: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com)
Lest we forget, FedEx is an enabler as well. Fuck them and their policy not to allow a change of shipping address. Fuck their constant refusal to hold at the shipping center in Manhattan for a Brooklyn address, even though no one knows how the fuck to get to the Maspeth office.
@giovonti:
Wow, that often?
On a more serious note, I do believe that they might’ve lost it.
I mean really, do you think they just hold on to a broken consoles they think are stolen forever?, sounds way too silly.
My advice?, sue for the money you lost and the console back and get a decent PC, which is where most 360 exclusives end up with superior versions.
@FightOnTrojans:
*pokes head above monitor*
Damn red dot fly. shoo shoo
Phone them up and tell them you’re suing them.
I’ve had similar (maybe worse actually) situations with a few mail order/ebay items. I actually had a situation where ebay froze my account and wouldn’t let me do anything until I jumped through a few hoops that would’ve taken weeks to complete (waiting for mail to come in). The bottom line? Be a pest. A really, really angry pest. I never realized, before the ebay thing, how yelling/demanding supervisors/threatening legal action could solve problems.
Wow. How many horror stories about Microsoft’s customer service are there? The BreakBox 360 is causing a lot of trouble.
Time for Tiffany to go nuclear and file a complaint with the Washington State Attorney General’s office.
Safeguarding consumers
Unresponsive Companies tend to change thier tune real fast when they get contacted by the AGs office following up on a complaint from someone they’ve been screwing with. She might also want to contact the AG’s office in her home state. Even a big company like Microsoft isn’t going to blow them off.
Oh no! No way it gets back in time for gtaiv!
@IphtashuFitz:
I hate to say it, but I bet if she takes them to court the xbox mysteriously disappears and then they’ll ask her to prove they have hers.
@Tibeerius:
That is probably Tiffany’s best bet.
“Phone them up and tell them you’re suing them.” this could work. But, with out having taken the necessary steps to do so, given the ok. This could backfire. Don’t threaten a corporate company w/o being ready to open fire imo
@Primate:
If Tiffany has email confirmation saying that they received her xbox, fixed it. And sent it back.. That is all she needs. IF lol’soft actually does this sort of thing. Besides a confirmation from FedEx that yes they tried to deliver it to her. No they couldnt. Yes they sent the item back to lol’soft, yes they received it.. would probably work as well.
I thought my experience with Microsoft customer service was bad.
@Primate: Of course, if she has retained the tracking numbers from the shipping label supplied with her coffin and from the failed delivery attempt…which should be done as a matter of course in these situations…then that argument will not score points with the judge.
Nice to see that MS has sunk to a new low.
@moe84: Yeah….threatening to sue them probably won’t work because they won’t believe you. I work cust service for a major CE company (which will remain unamed for sake of my job), unless the lawyer calls or we get served papers threats to sue are not taken seriously. OTOH, calls and letters from a State AG’s investigator get prompt attention and things that were impossible suddenly become possible. If I were her I’d try the route of emailing Bill Gates or Ballmer, if that did not get results I would contact the AG’s Office in WA and my home state and file complaints against Microsoft….i’m sure they’ll at minimum cough her XB360 up just to make the whole thing go away.
Has she tried these guys?
[consumerist.com]
@moe84: Ummm… XP, maybe. Vista, no. Microsoft only gets it right every 2nd time. Windows 3.1 was okay in its day. 95 was prettier but had issues. 98 was decent (particularly “SE” which was basically a major service pack.) ME was a monstrous joke. XP is quite solid (there’s a reason that corporate and experienced consumer users aren’t switching just yet.) I’ll wait until the first full service pack but I’m thinking Vista is the new ME.
I’m with MissTic. EECB the Xbox guys first, then Bill Gates AND Steve Ballmer (Steve runs Microsoft now, Gates is just Chairman of the Board as of this year). If that doesn’t help, contact your credit card company for a charge-back, your Attorney General for theft of the XBox, and a lawyer for a civil suit.