Gizmodo
A few weeks back, an unlucky Xbox owner shipped off his customized Bungie autographed console to Microsoft's repair center, and to his horrors they wiped it clean. Bungie resigned a console for him, but now, Microsoft is chiming in with a new console with Bill's signature on it and hundreds of dollars worth of new video games.
Since Nathan's Xbox was returned stark naked, his girlfriend left him, his pet dog didn't even recognize him and people on the street looked at him in disgust. (Probably.) Such was the change in Nathan's life, he could hardly bare waking up in the mornings. However, Microsoft saw this atrocity going on, and they sure fixed it:
Despite Bungie jumping (ha!) in and giving our man all of the following:
• Legendary Edition Helmet signed by most-if not all-of the studio staff
• Halo 3 Soundtrack (two disc) signed by Marty O'Donnell (with "DO NOT ERASE!" written under his name)
• Bungie Jacket
• Bungie T-Shirt
• Halo 3 Messenger Bag
• Two Halo 3 Limited Edition Wireless Controllers (one covenant, one human)
• Signed Halo 3 Faceplate and Skins for Xbox 360
• Four McFarlane Action Figures (MC, EVA Spartan, Brute Chieftan, Jackal Sniper)
• Halo Actionclix Preview pack (Target exclusive sticker on the front)
• Halo Actionclix Game Pack 4
• Halo 3 Wall Graffix
• Halo 3: Ghosts of Onyx Novel
• Halo Graphic Novel
• Halo 3 Wristband
• Halo 3 Hackeysack
M Nathan is, we presume, now back with his girlfriend, his dog loves him and people in the street can't wait to stop and chat with him. He's so cool, we want to be his friend. [Kotaku: 1, 2 and 3]
Comments
And his favorite game is COD4
Friggin awesome if you ask me! Good publicity can be relatively cheap!
If i send my Girlfriend to Microsoft, and they send her back without make up, and i complain ... do i get more and prettier girlfriends back ? (oh and i sooo hope that he wont read this post)
Holy... Crap...
@Redwraithvienna: "he"?
@Redwraithvienna: We respect your sexual preferences, dont worry....JK everyone makes a mistake like that once in a while :P
@Redwraithvienna: No, you have to write a letter telling microsoft not to remove his/her? makeup. Then send her to microsoft.
+1 to MSFT. Not my favorite company, but they sure handled this f-up with class.
c'mon its clear the he forgot the s. If he didnt, then good for you for being out, loud, and proud
so wait a guy who already was lucky enough to have a one of a kind amazing console now has even more awesomer stuff. i kind of hate this guy or at least i wish i had his "bad" luck.
A singed Bill Boy photo...
Whoooo bleepin' whoooooo.......
Maybe if it had perforations you could wipe your butt with it or something, or sell it on FleaBay to MS Whores who crave genuine Bill porn.
LMMacAO!
this is like? OOOOLD?
@Brian B:
Word.
Props to BG, although the tech who caused this whole issue should be hung upside down by his toenails for a couple of years.
(grrrrrr)
I'm PRETTY SURE a clever programmer could make a chatbot that could accurately produce Mini Driver comments....
@MINI Driver: Are you just a Troll or something? I don't get it?
and yeh, I guess its pretty damn good publicity... the bungie team put in maybe $500 for the gear, and m$ the same amount... and they got their names on every nerdblog available
who's Bill Gates ?
my money says that ms will NEVER make the same mistake again, and if they do, THEY WILL NOT BE AS GENEROUS. damn straight.
Gaylo. 'nuff said.
@Johnny.Shitbox: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. You come up with that yourself?
@nutbastard: He's actually a Turing test... and still too predictable....
Nice to see ANY company owning their f*ck-ups and making good. Far too often the attitude is more like "piss off, we already GOT your money".
thats a good move, it was the M$'s fault and bungie kinda took the responsibility, and then people started to hate, saying unfathomable curses and claims to M$ for not taking care of it.. kinda made a noise, bad publicity and all that.. they're just cleaning the mess. nathan you lucky bastard!
@rohan1: what ?
I loved that it got cleaned off! It's like performance art.
awww wow that guy is lucky lol i can already imagine him crying at his footsteps thanking bungie and in later years starting a halo/bungie cult :]
i wish i could apologise for stuff by giving people a signed photo of me......
T minus "Blaming the Victim" comments in 3... 2... 1...
I wonder what a signed photo of Gates would be worth? ...probably a lot in 20 or 30 years.
Like him or hate him (I doubt anyone but his family loves him) you have to admit he is one of the most famous people in world history. I think his name will be remembered for as long a civilization exists.
I'm not really surprised. I worked the Bronze Platform performance support desk at MS a few years back and noticed that MS was quite willing to make things right when they genuinely screwed up. Now this is above and beyond but ya gotta give them props for making such an effort.
But I still switched to a Mac. :p
I concur. Windows pisses me off to no end, but damn Microsoft sure pulled through.
@rohan1:
I just can't believe that someone would think a signed Billy Gates picture would make a good gift! Especially when you're already F'd up once!!
I mean, what are you going to do with it - put it inside your locker and stare longingly at it every day?
Or put it in your breast pocket, close to your heart, when ever you go into combat on your GayStation3 LOL
Way to go MS. Check that out, huge company, pretty big screw up, they make good. People like BestBuy and Apple could really learn from this if they weren't so busy screwing over consumers.
@MINI Driver: I still don't get it.
@MINI Driver: I was thinking more along the lines of eBaying it when the time was right to get a lot of money from it. Death, retirement, or otherwise.
@neekap:
Can't come quickly enough for some.....
@rohan1:
Can't help you then.
Don't think of it as a oh MS bill gates signed picture... Think of it as the 3rd richest man in the world signed that picture for him personally... then it seems more reasonable.
It's clear mini driver's only purpose here is to bash MS products at every turn. Your blind mac fanaticism is starting to worry everyone - seek help.
Great job by MS and Co. in owning up for the mistake...far too often (best buy stories, anyone?) big companies simply tell the consumer to GTFO.
I...I am so jealous.
I remember RT talking about this and how they signed it. Awesome... The WHITE 360 never looked so sexy.
@Gofastmazda:
Mazda boy - you've been at this for less than a month, chill out!
I don't like MS and I don't like Bill Gates - no secret agendas here.
But you don't have to be a fanatic to realize that giving away free signed photos of yourself as an apology is pretty warped!
Maybe the Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, could sign a nice portrait shot for the Dalai Lama...
@MINI Driver: You make mac lovers look bad. They also sent him a new 360 and a bunch of games. I'm pretty sure that makes up for it. Go Die. plzkthx bye
thats pretty cool on Microsofts part... good for that nathan guy.
@nyaz:
Yep, only after they had painstakingly wiped clean his original artwork for no reason what so ever!
I mean what sort of A-hole goes to those lengths to destroy a guys artwork, even after he's written a letter asking them to leave it alone!
No way it was an accident - you'd have to get the right chemicals and put some effort in, to wipe out the permanent marker of the original artwork...
There's someone at MS that deliberately went out of his way to ruin this guys treasured possession - why haven't we seen anyone being disciplined for that?
nice done my ms. i like them now :D
wow Mini Driver, stfu. Shit happens, judging by the fact you are alive. Stop the hatred child!
@MINI Driver: Well...as far as that's concerned, isopropyl alcohol (90% is better) does a pretty damn good job. The guy probably went off cleaning it as he was reading the note...
"whoops..."
@Chameleon8474: I dunno. If the guy took the time to write a nice little note to repair crews, which obviously was neglected, it's kinda ridiculous.
The guy DID end up far above even in the end though, so whoopteefreakindoo!!!
I have worked in the manufacturing business for many years, I know that notes that get stuck on things get lost very easily. In a case like this, the note could have gotten stapled to the back of the rebuild order. Once you have rebuilt a bunch of anything that is the same thing, you stop reading the rebuild sheet. My guess on the case being cleaned... they actually have a machine that does it... might even put a new coat of paint on it. Who knows. But I do know that MINI is just being an asshole to get people to talk.
Apparently if you work in the manufacturing business you start thinking that customers are nameless, faceless, clones.
@MINI Driver: keep some pride and stop commenting now!
they erased his signed artwork!
and now they send him with face plates with signatures from all most the whole studio!&plus a lot of goodies fans of the game might keep as prized possession!
i dont understant wat ur bitchin abt!wat more would u like msft to give him?
"See, we MAY or may not have messed up. HERE TAKE EVERYTHING, WE'RE SORRY! *sob* Please don't leave us!"
Does anyone else think maybe the cover wasn't scrubbed clean. There's no need at all to do that. I'm guessing the tech just snagged the good cover and replaced it with a plain one.
Now THATS making things right. About time someone did the consumer right. Wow. Impressive.
@malcs: You should try it and see how it goes over! LOL...hell...I think I'm gonna do that from now on :D
Thats really cool that they realized how much they screwed up. I cant really imagine sony doing that. Theyd probably just give him a copy of home beta (only a few quarters late). I have a ps3. STILL WAITING SONY
@Walter:
except that it had the original serial # still on it, and some smudges from the wiped artwork....
there's probably a really good technical reason why black marker on the case effects the internal circuits.......
And in Nate's own words:
'While my story has come to what I am sure the average reader will conclude is a satisfactory close, I do not personally view this as its ultimate end. Don't get me wrong: My overall mood about the packages I have received from Bungie and Microsoft is nothing short of ecstatic, but compensation was never my focus. The only thing I have specifically asked of Microsoft and the Xbox 360 team for is this particular case to be examined so that some change(s), whether small or broad, can be made to the service process to prevent the occurrence of any similar scenario. This remains my only request. '
Perhaps some overly enthusiastic MS fans here should read the original posts, and pay attention to the details before flaming....
Well, the first thing that I'd be tempted to do with anything that has been signed as to make it commemorative, would be: a: not use it, or b: if I couldn't resist the urge to leave it as a trophy, I would varnish over the additions to the stock unit, in order that the modifications cannot be removed.