Although we received an indication in March that Microsoft was phasing out its Xbox 360 return policy of sending customers padded boxes with prepaid return envelopes, gaming blog Joystiq confirmed that Microsoft quietly made it official in late May.
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Email Addresses For Microsoft Executives
By 3.25.09
It’s not uncommon to run into a dead end when trying to resolve your Xbox 360 or Xbox Live issues with the official customer support channels, which is why sometimes you have no recourse other than to try to get the attention of the executives at Microsoft. Here are some addresses to try, culled from the Penny Arcade forums.
By 1.20.09
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Best Buy is selling Far Cry 2 for Xbox 360 for only $29.99, for some reason. It’s selling elsewhere for $59.99. Backordered online, but you may still be able to find it available for in-store pickup. [Best Buy] (Thanks to Chris!)
Gamestop Selling 'Not For Resale' Game Bundle, Overpriced Of Course
By 1.13.09
This Gamestop somehow ended up with extra bundles of the games that were supposed to be included in holiday Xbox 360 sets (the ones that shipped with Lego Indiana Jones and Kung Fu Panda). So what do they do? Why, slap a $100 price tag on them and put them on the shelves, despite their “not for resale” labeling. You can buy both games brand new for less than $80 total, by the way.
Blockbuster Cancels Your Membership If You Demand A Refund On Unplayable Rentals
By 4.15.08
Andrew is having some trouble with Blockbuster: the 360 and Wii games he rented were unplayable, and the store manager refused to refund his debit card or apply the cost of the unused rentals to a purchase, saying “It’s not store policy.” She even tried to upsell Anrew to their Game Plan, saying, “Five bucks additional wouldn’t have killed you, with what you spent on the games previously.” What? He finally convinced her to credit his debit account—”however, she terminated my ability to rent games from the store” as a consequence. Andrew, don’t you understand? Blockbuster needs that money if they’re ever going to buy Circuit City. Here’s Andrew’s story:
Gamestop Screws Up Pre-Orders, Still Hasn't Fixed Them
By 10.1.07
It almost goes without saying that you should never trust Gamestop, but you’d at least expect them to honor ads that they’ve approved and printed. Gamestop pre-sold a Consumerist reader the new Medal of Honor game for Xbox 360 back in August. Part of the deal—according to their ad—was a card good for 400 free Marketplace Points for use on Xbox Live. But instead, they cancelled the card from his order, then gave him an incorrect reason for the cancellation, then admitted fault and promised to make everything right. As of today—almost a full month since the game was released—he still hasn’t received the points.
Fry’s New 360 Bundle… No Where Near As Good
By 10.12.06
Remember that sweet Xbox 360 Bundle that Outpost was pimping on Monday? The one that not only involved a premium system, but games involving zombie killing, hit-and-run-driving and not-hit-and-run-driving? All for $200 below retail price?
Cheap Ass Gamer’s 360 CSR Horror Story
By 4.10.06
Over at Cheap Ass Gamer, we saw a nightmarish Customer Support story of which we’re positively covetous. It features everything you could hope from an unsatisfactory support issue: a blubbering CS department outsourced to a Texan Down’s Syndrome group home. The suggestion that the customer could fix his problem by buying more of the company’s stuff. Expensive replacement systems going missing in the mail. The wrong product being sent back to the customer. Calls from customer support telling the customer that the unit they just sent to him wasn’t actually fixed. And, all in all, a two month wait time from initial report of the problem to resolution.
