Three Red Lights (another) Update

Another day, and still no overnight shipping slip in my e-mail. So, I had to call Microsoft. Again.

This time, I talked to Ben, who liked to repeat the phrase "Thank You." As in, "Thank you, Thank you." Ben helped me find out that Bob never took down my e-mail address properly, even though I double-checked the spelling with him three times. So I gave Ben a different e-mail address, only to be told that, again, I was going to have to wait 24-48 hours for my overnight shipping slip.

Obviously this was ridiculous, so I got him to go ask his supervisor if there was any way the e-mailing time could be expedited (my favorite word of the week). When he got back on the line, he told me I would be getting my e-mail between 20 minutes and 24 hours from now. And I double-checked again that it would be overnight shipping... only this time, unlike earlier in our conversation, he told me it would not be overnight.

Dumbfounded, I demanded to talk to his supervisor. So a woman named "Jay" got on the phone, only to tell me despite the fact that THREE DIFFERENT Microsoft customer service people promised it to me, she said there is No Such Thing as them giving free overnight shipping. I thought I was going to blow a gasket.

So I asked her if she would be able to just pick up a phone and call the shipping department to have this done immediately. She told me they have NO INTER-DEPARTMENT PHONE NUMBERS. That's Right, she expected me to believe she had no way to contact other departments in her company. She also told me I would be getting my e-mail between 24-48 hours. I said "Ben just promised me 20 minutes to 24 hours," and Jay said "Ben shouldn't have promised that." What the hell, man?!?

So, after waiting three days, I no longer have overnight shipping (like I ever did), I am still waiting at least another day for my shipping slip (if they got my e-mail right this time), and all I have is lip service from this supervisor "Jay" that apparently she is going to send a note to the technicians to handle my Xbox immediately. Somehow, I doubt that will happen.

Needless to say, I'm fuming. No wonder these people get sued so often, the customer service is the only thing worse than the construction of the Xboxes in the first place.

My silver lining in all this, though, is my brother-in-law was happy to help me out and lend me his Xbox, so I can get back to my hard-hitting job as a game reviewer. After all, "Fable II," "Legendary" and "Spider-Man: Web of Shadows" are all on my plate for the coming week.

But I swear, Microsoft, how horrible can your customer service get?!?