The Jokes on Us

Maybe, if you think about it, the problems with the Xbox 360 and the worse problems with the repair center are Robbie Bach or J Allard's or Bill Gates himself's idea of joke. Build a faulty system and then offer to repair it using a repair process that is intended to torture the paying customer through constant delays and screw ups. At least that's how I'm coming to see this whole process because I can't come up with any other rational explanation.

I received a repaired console today from MS. I noticed as I was taking the box back to my place that it felt light, and sure enough, when I opened it, there was a console (pretty sure it's someone else's refurb) but no power supply or AC cord. I called MS customer support and proceeded to get disconnected when I got put on hold after explaining in detail while I was calling.

I called back and got a different customer service rep. He checked the file. The previous customer service rep had ientered the wrong info about what I needed so that I would have been getting a power cord for the wireless racing wheel, not one for a console. The second rep caught the error. (But just imagine the look on my face when I would have opened that box and seen the wrong cord. Hilarious!) He started to correct it and then stopped to tell me that there was good news and bad news: He could correct the info in the file and request the power supply for the console get sent out, but the system was down for maintenance and updating, so that what he was entering was not being accepted. The best I can do is call back tomorrow, re-explain everything and hope that the system is up and running. And if I do that, and the moon is in the Seventh House, and Jupiter is aligned with Mars, and peace will guide the planets and love will steer the stars, and this is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, then maybe, just maybe, I will have a working, playable Xbox sometime next week.

Oh, my! This is just rich. I'm about to piss myself from laughing so hard at how a multi-billion dollar corporation is pulling one of the all-time great practical jokes on its customers by appearing to have a repair system that defies competence and basic quality assurance procedures. My side hurts, and I can't breathe. They really got us. Too funny.

But enough's enough. The joke's over. Just let me get back to playing my games.