Xbox 360 customer support tells customer “I Am Laughing At You”

It can be recalled that some time ago there was a supposed hacking of XBL, but it turned out to be just a problem where people’s private information was “conned” from Xbox customer support via “social engineering.” Boy was Major Nelson pissed with that one. Here’s the latest customer support “issue.”

The story – as The Consumerist reports it – is that some guy named Richard ran into problems with his old Xbox 360. He was under the impression that it was OK for him to have a technician look at his Xbox 360 because he though that it was out of warranty. Technician fails. Richard turns to Xbox 360 customer support for help. He says:

“I tried to explain that I was had a computer professional see if it was repairable.”

They say they can’t help him since the Xbox 360 was tampered with already. Richard asks for a supervisor. He gets told the same thing. Richard gets angry, then, he gets told off. Here’s Richard’s account:

“Is there anything else I can help you with… and by the way I am laughing at you.”

I responded, “you are what?”

And he enunciated, “I am laughing at YOU.”

Here’s all what we can gather from this situation: First, the guy in trouble was really in trouble since he really, SHOULDN’T have had his Xbox 360 tampered with and expect customer support to go fix it for him without reservation – they have policies against that. It’s common knowledge that they’re done with you once you’ve broken that sticker seal (whatever console you’ve got). Second, the CSR, or “the supervisor” – if it really was the supervisor – shouldn’t have insulted the customer. Yes, it’s even if they’re asking for the impossible, and even if they’re uppity and all that, there’s still something wrong with insulting a customer.

To be fair to Microsoft Customer service, there have been reports of them doing amazing things before. Which makes this recent incident of customer support rudeness seem out of place. For example, they went so far as to delay a police investigation so that they can protect your private information. Perhaps this recent “I am laughing at you” incident is an isolated case? Perhaps some trainees (who pretended to be the supervisor) fault.

Given that we’ve only got the claims of The Consumerist’s source to go by, the certainty of this incident is doubtful, as mentioned, Xbox Customer support does have a history of doing well at times.

Regardless of its authenticity, the point of this story is a) even if the customer is annoying or out of line, customer support folks shouldn’t give “service with a sneer.” (which might not even be the case since all we’ve got to go with is Richard’s claims) and more importantly b) DO NOT tamper with your Xbox 360 and expect customer service to take care of it for you without reservation.

It can be recalled that some time ago there was a supposed hacking of XBL, but it turned out to be just a problem where people’s private information was “conned” from Xbox customer support via “social engineering.” Boy was Major Nelson pissed with that one. Here’s the latest customer support “issue.”

The story – as The Consumerist reports it – is that some guy named Richard ran into problems with his old Xbox 360. He was under the impression that it was OK for him to have a technician look at his Xbox 360 because he though that it was out of warranty. Technician fails. Richard turns to Xbox 360 customer support for help. He says:

“I tried to explain that I was had a computer professional see if it was repairable.”

They say they can’t help him since the Xbox 360 was tampered with already. Richard asks for a supervisor. He gets told the same thing. Richard gets angry, then, he gets told off. Here’s Richard’s account:

“Is there anything else I can help you with… and by the way I am laughing at you.”

I responded, “you are what?”

And he enunciated, “I am laughing at YOU.”

Here’s all what we can gather from this situation: First, the guy in trouble was really in trouble since he really, SHOULDN’T have had his Xbox 360 tampered with and expect customer support to go fix it for him without reservation – they have policies against that. It’s common knowledge that they’re done with you once you’ve broken that sticker seal (whatever console you’ve got). Second, the CSR, or “the supervisor” – if it really was the supervisor – shouldn’t have insulted the customer. Yes, it’s even if they’re asking for the impossible, and even if they’re uppity and all that, there’s still something wrong with insulting a customer.

To be fair to Microsoft Customer service, there have been reports of them doing amazing things before. Which makes this recent incident of customer support rudeness seem out of place. For example, they went so far as to delay a police investigation so that they can protect your private information. Perhaps this recent “I am laughing at you” incident is an isolated case? Perhaps some trainees (who pretended to be the supervisor) fault.

Given that we’ve only got the claims of The Consumerist’s source to go by, the certainty of this incident is doubtful, as mentioned, Xbox Customer support does have a history of doing well at times.

Regardless of its authenticity, the point of this story is a) even if the customer is annoying or out of line, customer support folks shouldn’t give “service with a sneer.” (which might not even be the case since all we’ve got to go with is Richard’s claims) and more importantly b) DO NOT tamper with your Xbox 360 and expect customer service to take care of it for you without reservation.