MS “fixes” fan’s artwork permanently – Bungie is Knight in shining armor

Posted by admin on March 21st, 2008 at 05:38am

Imagine that you are a real Halo fan, so much so that you have decorated your ‘box with a picture of Master Chief and spent a couple of years getting it signed by the guys at Bungie. It’s a work of art that will last far longer than the console itself, and you want to keep it that way. Then one day, you get the RROD. What do you do?

This isn’t a piece of fiction. This actually happened to one Halo fan, known as Nathaniel. He’s a nurse, apparently, so perhaps he can be forgiven for the touching naivety of his next actions. What he did was, he rang Microsoft and explained that the artwork and stuff on the case was priceless, and asked them, if he sent it in for repair, would he get it back with the work on the outside left intact. They told him, “Yes” – and he believed them.

Just to make sure that the person who opened the packaging knew what the agreement was, he also put in a letter making it quite clear that the black marks on the case were valuable, intentional, and not to be removed.

Well, I’m sure you won’t be surprised to learn that what was returned to him wasn’t what he expected. It was his Xbox alright – there were a few smears where the permanent marker hadn’t quite come off when they cleaned it. Like all big businesses everywhere, they did exactly what they wanted, ignoring express instructions and totally screwing the customer.

That’s a sad story, and one that doesn’t really have a happy ending. There is some compensation for Nathaniel, though – not from Microsoft, but from Bungie, who heard the story and decided to put together a giant box of goodies to send him. He still doesn’t have his art piece, but his brother said, “I was floored when I found out everything that came in the big box.” Hope that makes up for it, but I kinda doubt it.

Under rrod+ xbox 360