Monday, September 8, 2008

Aggrivation!

This isn't related to the house work, so deal with it. If it makes you feel better, remove the name Microsoft and replace it with Home Depot. Where I say Xbox insert the words cordless drill. There, now it's about house work.



Microsoft sucks. There, I said it and feel better already. They suck suck suck suck suck suck suck.

About a year after it first came out I purchased the Microsoft Xbox. It died shortly after the warranty ran out (isn't that always the case?).

I figured it was just a fluke, and since I had a bunch of games for it already I purchased another one to replace it.

That one worked fine, and eventually ended up in storage because games weren't being made for it any more, due to the new Xbox 360 coming out.

So about a year after the 360 comes out, I get one because it has the games I want to play and because it will also play my old Xbox games.

Until today.

It's dead now, too. Xbox owners are all too familiar with the term "red ring of death".

This time it died with 2 months of warranty left, so Uncle Bill at Microsoft gets to pay shipping both ways and pay to fix/replace the counsel.

Surprisingly enough, that's not what really bugs me. The thing I'm irritated about is the tech support system at Microsoft.

The first thing callers are subjected to is a computerized "person". "Hey, my name is Max, thanks for calling!" Gee, thanks crappy computer program, thanks should go to Microsoft for selling me a crappy product, leading me to get to deal with you...

The sound quality of the "dude" I eventually got to talk to (after "Max" failed to help me) was pretty horrible. I'm assuming he's either somewhere So Cal or he's doing a great job at disguising his Indian accent. The sound was so bad I had to turn the volume on my phone way down to keep it from distorting, but then I had a hard time hearing the guy.

Plus, the music on hold was some techno-crap, which was also heavily distorted. The distortion may have made it more tolerable, I'm still not sure... He kept apologizing for putting me on hold - he must know what I was forced to listen to.

The call dragged on an extra 10 minutes because he had a hell of a time trying to get my address to work in his system. Waukesha County uses a grid system for the streets, such as N85 W20345 Oakdale Drive (not my actual address, you stalkers), which tells you exactly where you are, even if you don't know the street name. The addresses are weird, but very useful if you spend 3 minutes trying to figure 'em out.

I can't blame him for the address issue. Finding an address like this in Mapquest or other online map programs is often a lesson in futility.

With all that said, I understand technology can be problematic. But 5 years down the line a company like Microsoft still putting out crap quality products? Amazing.

I think it's safe to say this is the last game system I buy from Microsoft. 2 out of 3 going bad indicates a bit of a problem.

Damn technology. When I'm Emperor, companies will be forced to provide QUALITY phone support, and any CEO who uses a "Max" for support line will be sodomized with a roadcone and 2x4.