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 This story is about a man named Nathaniel. Nathaniel is a huge Xbox 360 fan who pre ordered his console months before launch. Since getting the console, he has collected signatures from several people at Microsoft, Bungie, and Rooster Teeth (the creators of the hit Halo machinima series, Red vs Blue). As you can see, this is not just a few people signing it, but most of the console had some kind of signature on it. Heck, the bottom of the console had a drawing of Master Chief by the artist of the Red vs Blue comic. Imagine his shock when the console died. Now Nathaniel was faced with a tough situation. He had to decide whether to take off the case and see what he could do with repairing it on his own...or send it off to Microsoft. It was not an easy choice but he opted for the latter because the first would void the warranty. Before he sent the console off to Microsoft for repair, Nathaniel contacted them over the phone, explained the situation to them, and asked that he receive his exact same console back. Microsoft obliged and gave him a reference number to include when shipping the console off to them. He sent his unique Xbox 360 along with a letter reiterating his situation and his wishes to have all these signatures preserved to Microsoft. Everything seemed to be in good shape... Some weeks later, Nathaniel received his console back from repair. He opened up the box it came back in and saw his 360 was sent back. It had the exact same serial number, but it was missing something. What exactly was it missing? Yup, the signatures. He couldn't believe it! All those signatures that meant so much to him...gone. Oh, but they didn't just replace the case, they SCRUBBED THE SIGNATURES OUT! You can tell because there is marker smudge visible on the 360.  (Click the image for a higher resolution version) Since the original posting of the story, there have been some additional developments. Many have wondered why he decided to share this tale of woe with the internet. Well, he states that it's simply a cautionary tale for 360 owners who send in their consoles for repair. He regrets sending in his console in the first place, but he's angry because he was ASSURED by Microsoft that they would take care of his system and send it back to him how it was received. After some time trying to contact Microsoft, the company has finally responded to Nathaniel and apologized to him and stated that they are working to correct this issue. Nice of them to look into this, but it should have never happened in the first place. [ Source: Hawty McBloggy]
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Is anyone really surprised by the outcome?
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I really want to know what Microsoft does for this person.....
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"...are working to correct this issue."
Well, I'm glad they at least decided to - A-WHA-WHA-WHAAAAAAAAAAA?
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Wow that's really shitty.
This goes to show you the value of paper autographs.
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What a dumb ass for sending it in. If I was in the same boat as Nathaniel I would of bought a new system.
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that sucks
however I can see some manager at warranty repairs thinking pretty hard before ordering the routine scrub down. Sure the letter states that the case is valuable to him, and that the ink may smudge, but he never directly states that he wishes the case condition to be returned "AS IS" signatures and all. As a collector likely shouldn't have let this pass from his hands.
My initial thoughts weren't to give this article any credence, however a number of members from the RvB community have verified his story, including the editor for the blog that originally carried this story. I'm surprised he decided to post this over the internet before filing a grievance with MS. To me, it makes the author appear a whiner, but the most recent updates and some comments seem to lead towards some semblance of progress towards rectifying the issue.
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Well, what would you do if you sent something in after being told it would be okay and then upon return it was anything but? That is what happened to this guy, and in the world of poor Microsoft (well, any business, see the Consumerist, my favorite non gaming blog) costumer service and being severely wronged, I do not believe he wronged Microsoft by telling his story.
The victim here is Nathaniel, who was told by Microsoft Customer Service that his case would be okay, not Microsoft. It's really hard to spin this story. Try being really wronged once. It's not a pleasant experience. I can tell you what it feels like to be royally screwed by someone, and it is not a pleasant experience. Sadly, that is what happened to Nathaniel. I hope an amicable resolution comes out of this.
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It was a dumbass thing to do. It's like sending a signed jersey to the dry cleaners and getting pissed that they removed the sigs and the stains LOL. I'm sure the grunts in the outsourced company where ever that is, really care about some doodling on a case when they process this machine with the others.
I'm sure they loved the anti-MS slander written on the side of the case too, which I'm sure didn't help matters much.
If this was such an important keepsake, it should've been on the shelf, not in his entertainment center.
There's a lot of policy and people between the grunt making $8 in the outsourced call center and the guy who fixes the machines elsewhere. Anyone foolish enough to think a non Microsoft call center is in a position to assure anything is deluding themselves. Bad situation all around but the blame is shared between customer and companies involved in this case.
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So Tan, what you're saying is that when one of my Crew Leaders really screwed something up in the most terrible of ways I shouldn't have taken the fall as well? Could you go back in time to 2004 and tell that to the people who betrayed and screwed me?
Outsourced Call Centers are agents of a company. Sure they are not Microsoft, but they still represent the company and its policies. If Microsoft really cared about what they were doing, they would have been competent enough to ensure that what happened did not. It's simple, the call center should have said "No, you will receive back a totally different 360". Problem averted. Instead, Microsoft, through one of it's authorized agents, told something different, and now Microsoft needs to face up to the consequences.
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Are some of you reading the same thing I am? How in the hell is Nathaniel to blame? He called and even wrote a letter. He did no wrong. Microsoft is to blame 100% and I'm curious to see what they do to amend this. Even if he didn't call and send a letter I'd still be pissed if they fucked with my personal property like that. Common sense would tell you he has it that way for a reason. What a bunch of jackoffs over at Microsoft.
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I really want to know what they will do to make this right.
Figure out who signed it? Get Bill to sign it? What are they going to do?
Microsoft is to blame but why in the world would you send that in?
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Would you take a Ford GT40 to a local ford dealership? An Alienware system to a PC repair shop in a mall? A special case requires special treatment. Did this guy think he'd get special treatment because he talked with a grunt on the phone and put a letter in the box? How naive he must be to think the world works that way.
Only the outrage on the gaming blogs prompted Microsoft to even act on this. I'm sure he wasn't the only guy with a "special" X360 to have had a bad experience either. Putting your faith into a corporation of that size to treat you like anything but another processed file is foolish at best.
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@c1679:
I'm not saying what he did was dumb. The issue here is that an agent of a company (Microsoft) promised something and assured that something would be returned undisturbed and they failed to live up to that claim. Such an action is a huge break down in customer service and highly probable that someone really screwed up in adhering to Microsoft policy. Since that happened, they are obligated to follow up and rectify the situation.
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I have had my share of dissatisfaction with Microsoft over the years, but I by no means vilify the whole company or every product based on someone else' bad experience. Do I think they screwed up? Of course they did. Someone will get fired, compensation will be given, probably more than the situation calls for. That doesn't change the fact that the consumer had unrealistic notions of the company in question.
I just hope the articles that cover the compensation received from this are as active and commented on and as fully featured as the ones with all this "hate for the corporation". I'd hate to think it was the company in question that has caused such an outrage and outpouring of hate and malice and not the situation itself. It sure seems like Microsoft problems are more glorified on the net than those of unhappy Nintendo or Sony owners. None of them are innocent, not even close.
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Wow, they actually cleaned his system for him. That's awesome, if I ever had a 360 and it got dirty, I'm sending it straight to Microsoft. Perhaps they diagnosed that felt tip marker on the machine increases the core temperature by 0.001% and makes it more likely to overheat 
The reality is Nathaniel didn't do anything wrong by sending it in after being assured it'll be okay. The company these people represent are fully responsible for the actions of the workers. And the companies know it, I've had arguments with call centre staff and they were smart enough not to admit to my allegations even though they knew I was right because they knew it would be recorded and could be used against the company itself with call centre employees being representatives for the company.
Work for any big company, and they are very strict on anything and everything you do during the time you are representing them no matter how low your job is in the chain. You'd be amazed how much responsibility I had to uphold even just as a sales person of a huge company. Because if I did wrong it was the company doing wrong.
But honestly, who here had they sent in that system would expect someone to clean it all off? A new system getting sent back instead I'd understand the mixup but to actually go through the effort of cleaning it is pretty incredible.
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Seems to me that some employee probably has one job: clean systems as they come in for repair. Since they usually don't get sent back to the original owner, the employee probably just thought it was useless scribbles and knew the new owner wouldn't want it, so he did what he is trained to, and cleaned it. He probably thought some kid did it, especially with comments like "360? More like three shitsty".
But, there should have been some communication between the guy on the phone who said it would be fine and whoever is in charge of actually repairing systems. A sticky note on the system would have prevented all this.
And, it is partially the owner's fault. If you have something that is as "priceless" as this, you're supposed to actually play it. Put it on the shelf, admire it, and buy another one for your gaming purposes.
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It was most likely some immigrant slave worker who doesn't speak English and just saw a bunch of crap on the side of one of these magical boxes he cleans all day. We all know the lighting in those places must be abhorrent, no way M$ has good lighting, they lose too much on their systems for that.
You see M$? Stop hiring the illegals, it hurts you more than it saves.
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I find it funny that in the second picture of the "clean" XBox there's a questionaire underneath the console with the question "how would you rate your experience?" or something along those lines. Sort of ironic.
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