GoNintendo "End of day" thoughts - The customer service story continues!

Things ran just a tad late today as you can see! No big deal though, the thought has made it up. I am heading to bed for now. I’ll catch you guys in…well…about 2 hours! Have a great morning everyone.

This is a story that was supposed to start and end the very first time I wrote about it. A comparison of Nintendo’s customer service to Microsoft’s. I had my gripes, things did not go well, but I had resolved the issue…or so I thought. The second story came along to keep you guys up to speed on just how things were screwed up since the first post. I had gone through more customer service calls, talked to more reps, and went around in circles for hours. Once again by the end of the phone call I felt that things would be taken care of. I once again promised that I would keep you guys updated if anything else occurred. Unfortunately I am here to write that things have gone from bad to worse. I didn’t think I would be writing anymore about this experience, I was sure it would be done with. Now I realize just how much I should appreciate Nintendo’s response to issues compared with Microsoft. This has been going on for well over a month now, and I am still without a 360. Let me fill you in on yesterday’s events, which started out with a package on my front steps.

The last time I talked to a customer service rep, it went on for over two hours. I had to talk to two different people to get the job done. By the end of that conversation I was promised a brand new 360, and that it would arrive at my house in 72 hours. I was told to ship back the old unit in the box that the new one arrived in. No problem there, that’s what I had done in the past two times over. First off, 144 hours passed until I received my package. Mom Brain stopped by the warehouse and noticed a white box sitting on my front steps. I was working on the site, and didn’t have a chance to head out for the mail yet. She brought the box in and I cheered…finally an end to this nonsense. As she walked closer to me, the same trick was pulled on me again. Mom Brain threw the box up in the air a couple times. My jaw hit the floor…I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Microsoft had sent me another empty box.

This was such a punch in the gut that the only thing I could do was laugh. I think if I didn’t laugh I would have started cracking all my 360 games in half. I had now wasted a total of 5 hours talking to customer service reps trying to get my system replaced. My entire conversation last time was absolutely meaningless. Nothing but frustration came from it. I had to retell my story last time due to the other reps not writing anything down with my reference number attached to it. I had to get into arguments to convey my point. I was eventually told I would get what I was promised (and given two times in the past), a new 360 in 72 hours. Now I get another empty white box, the same as before. The box looked like an elephant had sat on it, but that’s not the fault of Microsoft…as far as I know! So here I was with a white box, no 360, and a sick stomach. The only thing I could possibly do was call up Microsoft yet again. Third time’s a charm right?! Well let me tell you, this was the worst phone experience of all of them.

I get my reference number from the previous call and dial Microsoft up again. I start making grunts into the phone just to get past the automated service. I am a pro at this now, so I know that if I make up words or just grunt noises, the system can’t understand you. This way you bypass all that nonsense and are connected to a live rep. Mom Brain thought I had lost my mind as I was making these noises; she had no idea what I was doing! Eventually I was connected with a young lady that asked for my phone number and address. They had my name in the system, but that was no different than any other time. I gave her my reference number…and nothing came up. She searched again and found no data. The entire conversation from the last call wasn’t documented in any way, shape, or form. This was another punch in the gut. Now I couldn’t even prove that I had had this previous conversation! I didn’t get mad at this new woman though, it wasn’t her fault. She promised me that she would write absolutely everything down and add it into the system. We got into a conversation about how she was having issues with another company’s customer service, so she knew what it was like. I retold my story, added in the new bit of receiving another empty box, explained the situation with the two guys from last week, and anything else I could think of. She typed all of it in, and gave me a new reference number. She promised that the info was there, and I could hang up and call back to check myself. For now though, she was going to transfer me to her supervisor. This is where the conversation went horribly wrong.

This new guy didn’t want to deal with me from the start…you could hear it in his voice. He read the notes that the other lady typed up, and continued to ask me about my situation. I explained parts of it once again, and he interrupted me as I was going along. “We never, ever send out advance units sir. I’ve worked here for two years and that has never happened,” he told me. He then told me that I must have gone through another service to replace the system. I said if that were true, than why would my name be in the system twice over and why do you show me as having two replacements already? I was met with silence. He once again told me that I never received two replacements before sending out my broken 360. At that point I said, “So you are either saying that I am making this story up, or I am flat out lying”. Once again, not a peep from the other side of the line. Taking a cue from Maury Povich “baby daddy” episodes, I told the man that I was 100% sure that these replacements happened not just once, but twice. He upped the ante with me, and said that he was 200% sure that it never happened. Once again I asked if he was accusing me of lying. He gave me his line about working there for 2 years in response. I asked him to explain how I got these replacements and was in their system, but they never happened. His answer was, “Thank you for calling Xbox customer support…if you have anymore…” This guy was going to hang up on me! I yelled “Don’t you hang up on me!” but it was already too late. I heard the click halfway through the conversation. An Xbox customer service supervisor hung up on a customer. I never once cursed, I never attacked him in any way…I wasn’t even screaming. I had a very stern voice, but never screamed…not even once. I couldn’t believe that he just did that to me. Now I sit with an empty box and no idea what to do. I decided to call back and test if my reference number worked.

Luckily that did work, and I asked automatically to be transferred to another supervisor. I was hoping to get that same guy, but I was given someone else much calmer. Keep in mind that an hour had already passed that meant nothing in the end. Now it was round two with what seemed to be someone much more willing to deal with me. Even with the notes I was asked to explain the situation again. This guy told me that he had no idea how I received these replacement units, and furthermore, I never received new ones…new in the sense of just off the factory line. This I now know…Xbox reps are telling customers they are getting a new console when they are really getting a refurbished one at best. I told this new guy that I did receive two replacements, and shipped back the broken one in the same box. In the original calls over a year ago, I was asked for the serial number, they took that down, and that was that. I even showed him that I paid for shipping on the second replacement. I was grasping for anything that proved that I had received the replacement and then shipped my old unit. While this guy was very nice, he refused to help me. After another meaningless conversation, I was told I would be transferred to someone else higher up. A specialist team that deals with these issues on a case by case basis. Where the hell were these guys when I called the first time?! I had to fight with the first reps just to get a supervisor. Now I find out there is a team dedicated to situations like mine! So I waited on hold to be transferred…and waited…and waited. The rep came back and told me that he could not reach the team, but they had been notified of my issue. They would be calling me in 24-48 hours to help me. I thought to myself, wow…I get to wait 48 hours to be told the same thing again. I just gave up at that point, told the man thank you, and hung up the phone. I was getting absolutely nowhere with these people. Something else had to be done.

I spent part of the afternoon looking for someone else to help me out. I know that Nintendo has their PR reps; I was hoping to find one for Microsoft. After doing some snooping around I came across a man a couple times. I took down his email and wrote up my entire story for him. I figured it was a last ditch effort. If this guy couldn’t help me than no one would. I was ready to give up on the system altogether. I received an email back about 15 minutes later. The man was very apologetic, and didn’t understand how an issue like this could have happened. He set me up with someone else to give my console info, and promised to help me out as much as he could. That is where we stand right now.

Look at the steps I have had to take to get to where I am now. In all honesty, while I believe this PR man will help me solve my issue, I had to go through multiple horrible experiences. On top of that, I took things into my own hands to get to someone else. I have been through 10 reps in the last month and a half, and had a pleasant experience with one…maybe two. That doesn’t even matter seeing that they couldn’t do anything to help me. The other people yelled, told me I was lying, lied to me themselves, hung up on me, didn’t take down my info, and offered no help whatsoever. Is this the way to treat your customers? Is this how you deal with someone that bought a system on launch day? My $400 investment doesn’t mean crap to these reps. That one guy told me it was my own problem. Well indeed it was seeing that none of these people would help me. All I was asking for was a NEW system, and the SAME service I had received in the past…twice over. I had no idea that this would be an impossible task to accomplish.

To anyone out there with any Microsoft products…I really hope you never have an issue with them. This issue is not worth the time invested in it. I have to continue on seeing that the hours I’ve already spent would be for nothing if I didn’t. I wouldn’t wish this service on my worst enemy.

If I do get a replacement system and that one breaks, I am done. I will have fully given up on the 360. It really isn’t worth the time, effort, or aggravation.