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[LectureMaster]

For me as a consumer, one of the metrics to value a brand is the quality of their customer service.

I don't own Xbox console this generation but I have owned many Xbox controllers, they make good peripherals. My lates Elite series 2 controller started to have face button issues, so I tried to claim the warranty as it is still valid.

I am genuinely impressed by the experience. Registering the product is easy, just go to Microsoft account and add serial number, no question asked. The warranty claiming process is streamlined and user friendly - click a button just next to the controller I just registered, starting a repair order, the dropped down menu contained all possible issues, didn't need to type a single thing.

After that the system generated the shipping label and cost zero dollar as it is still in warranty. In the entire process, I didn't need to contact a single person, phone or webchat, and the whole process took 10 minutes.

Then you have a nice order status page to track its progress, again no need to contact anybody. I have received my controller on Wednesday, the issue was fixed, couldn't be happier.

Don't want to talk about Xbox's outputs or their strategic plan, but in terms of honoring their warranty, they've done a great job.

 

[adamsapple]

Their refund policy is also exceptionally generous.

 

[digital_ghost]

Had an issue where Gamepass included with the console wasn't working. So the chat rep gave me free Gamepass while i waited for them to fix the issue.

Excellent customer service.

 

[Aion002]

It is.

Last week I bought the Smite 2 early access... I hated. I asked for a refund on MS page, pressed two buttons and in 30 minutes they refunded the money.

I already did that 3 times without issues.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

It is, however I do have to note that their phone support is literal leagues better than their chat support.
Whenever I can't do something through an automated system, I tend to just call them instead of chatting, chatting with them I've had a near 90% failure rate on resolution.
I remember a bunch of years ago, back when MS didn't really have a refund policy in place, but you could still get refunds by contacting support, I spend an hour chatting trying to get a refund, but they just kept saying they couldn't help me.
So while they were escalating I decided to just call support instead, and literally within 5 minutes she had solved the issue for me completely.

Similarly there was a "just for you" offer on the xbox store about ~1.5years back, but I kept getting an error trying to redeem it, chat support again completely wasted my time, while the support call asked me to upload some screenshots with the error messages, and then he told me he couldn't fix it per se, but they would just credit money to my account, so I could effectively buy it at the advertised discount; boom, solved.

 

[DinoD]

MS customer service support >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Playstation customer service support.

MS 5 days turnaround. Hassle free. Playstation support. Was waiting for > 2 months for an update from them. Never came. I gave up. Never to be contacted by them again.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

It's easy when you have fewer customers!

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

I thought the embassador program was ending....too bad a good customer service is not enough to compete.

 

[LectureMaster]

MS customer service support >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Playstation customer service support.

MS 5 days turnaround. Hassle free. Playstation support. Was waiting for > 2 months for an update from them. Never came. I gave up. Never to be contacted by them again.

Honestly, that was my experience with Sony. I was very bummed because I lost a digital game license for no reason and I showed them my receipt directly from PSN store, still they wasn't able to help and I never got contacted back again.

 

[GHG]

Maybe in America.

You get just a 90 day warranty with them on controllers here in the UAE, even if that controller came as part of a console purchase.

 

[Loomy]

When the main competition(Playstation) buried the bar below the Earth's core, it's not exactly a hard to do better. To their credit, MS has made the process mostly painless.

 

[Punished Miku]

It is.

Last week I bought the Smite 2 early access... I hated. I asked for a refund on MS page, pressed two buttons and in 30 minutes they refunded the money.

I already did that 3 times without issues.

There is a cap annually. Maybe 10 or so. I usually max it out every year. I think I'm up again in October for some more refunds.

 

[Dafegamer]

Can't really disagree here

 

[El Muerto]

Anyone know hdmi repairs are covered if the Xbox is in warranty? My nephew destroyed the hdmi port in the Series S i got him for Christmas.

 

[Dacvak]

Ya know who I find has really good customer service? Apple. I can’t tell you how many random replacements I’ve gotten over the years, even when things are out of warranty.

To be fair, they fuckin better have good customer service for the prices of their products.

Never really had to deal with Microsoft though. I did try to get a replacement on an out-of-warranty Elite controller that caught itself on fire, but they didn’t bite.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

I mean not trying to be that person but they have to have support for much less customers and less countries. They better not mess up in those fewer places and those fewer clients.

From what i see about Sony it depends really. Some people say it has worked smoothly and others complain A LOT.

Xbox has a better refund policy though.

 

[reinking]

I rarely have to use customer service but by most accounts, PlayStation sucks. I did have an issue with MS that I was not pleased with but it was a very long time ago and I see a lot of positive comments about them now. Nintendo, while they replaced a set of Joy Cons and repaired a Switch-Lite, they caused my daughter to lose an AC save due to their overly convoluted save data policies. Frankly, I felt they were too much to deal with on the Switch-Lite controller repairs so I DIY'ed the last one. Steam seems to be top notch. I have had two refunds through them and it was basically no questions asked.

 

[Kacho]

Anyone know hdmi repairs are covered if the Xbox is in warranty? My nephew destroyed the hdmi port in the Series S i got him for Christmas.

I'd give them a call and ask. Should be a relatively simple fix for them.

 

[lh032]

i just want to say playstation customer service is awful outside of the US.
i guess the problem is that playstation market is too big for sony to invest in customer service.

I encounted one situation whereby the PIC on the phone shouted at me the moment he picked up the phone (i contacted using the international telephone line, i live in south asia).

Btw, anyone knows where to complain on the playstation customer service if you are living in south east asia?

 

[Topher]

This is pretty much common knowledge at this point

 

[cash_longfellow]

I already did that 3 times without issues.

And this right here is the exact reason why the “rival” doesn’t make it that easy .

 

[hemo memo]

MS customer service support >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Playstation customer service support.

MS 5 days turnaround. Hassle free. Playstation support. Was waiting for > 2 months for an update from them. Never came. I gave up. Never to be contacted by them again.

The quality of PlayStation support is severely lacking, resulting in a level of inadequacy that extends beyond the realm of video games.

 

[ManaByte]

Their refund policy is also exceptionally generous.

It's so easy to cancel pre-orders as well. Don't even need to talk to anyone.

 

[Nydius]

This is pretty much common knowledge at this point

Indeed. Sony’s customer service has been ass for a very, very, long time. Not limited to their PlayStation brand either. Kinda the reason why, outside of PS, I don’t really consider buying Sony electronic products. They might be good but heaven help you if you ever need customer support for them.

 

[Gaiff]

Both Nintendo and Sony have awful customer service.

 

[ap_puff]

I was told that more competition was supposed to fix this

 

[dorkimoe]

I havent really had to deal with microsofts, but last time i dealt with sonys it was ass. Bought a game that required plus, loaded it up and realized i couldn't play it due to it requiring plus. Then couldn't get a refund because i loaded it up.

 

[ManaByte]

I havent really had to deal with microsofts, but last time i dealt with sonys it was ass. Bought a game that required plus, loaded it up and realized i couldn't play it due to it requiring plus. Then couldn't get a refund because i loaded it up.

If you download a game and don't even load it you can't get a refund.

 

[Freelance Yakuza]

I just want to add how awful, terrible and bad Sony's costumer's service is.
Horrible I may add

 

[MarkMe2525]

Anyone know hdmi repairs are covered if the Xbox is in warranty? My nephew destroyed the hdmi port in the Series S i got him for Christmas.

A manufacturers warranty typically is not going to cover any physical damage.

 

[Aion002]

And this right here is the exact reason why the “rival” doesn’t make it that easy .

My country's law:

Should the Consumer, during that period of seven days, decide to exercise her Right of Regret, any amount paid, for any reason, should be promptly reimbursed by the Seller, who shall add to the amount paid all other transaction costs.

The Right of Regret in the Brazilian Consumer Protection Code | Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC)

www.acc.com

 

[West Texas CEO]

I love Microsoft.

 

[SweetTooth]

This is the saddest thread I have seen on gaf

 

[West Texas CEO]

Why?

 

[Komatsu]

Yes, they have by far the best customer support in the industry. I haven't had much issue with Sony either - it's Nintendo whose support is atrocious. Just pure, unadulterated garbage.

 

[cash_longfellow]

My country's law:

Should the Consumer, during that period of seven days, decide to exercise her Right of Regret, any amount paid, for any reason, should be promptly reimbursed by the Seller, who shall add to the amount paid all other transaction costs.

The Right of Regret in the Brazilian Consumer Protection Code | Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC)

www.acc.com

And I repeat…

 

[Codes 208]

Agreed, whenever i needed to do a return or exchange/uograde they never made me run through hoops.

Nintendo on multiple occasions has made me go through the call equivalent of a menu within a menu hidden in another menu.

Sony, i bought skyrim anniversary edition by accident and they were basically like “lol sucks to suck”

 

[Skelterz]

Well when you’ve not got many customers to should hope so .

 

[adamsapple]

Maybe in America.

You get just a 90 day warranty with them on controllers here in the UAE, even if that controller came as part of a console purchase.

 

[digital_ghost]

Ya know who I find has really good customer service? Apple. I can’t tell you how many random replacements I’ve gotten over the years, even when things are out of warranty.

To be fair, they fuckin better have good customer service for the prices of their products.

Never really had to deal with Microsoft though. I did try to get a replacement on an out-of-warranty Elite controller that caught itself on fire, but they didn’t bite.

I would have sued Microsoft to hell and back if one of their controllers caught fire.

Your fortunate your house didn't burn down and your still alive.

A friend of mine died in his sleep when his apartment had a fire. Smoke got to him.

 

[ReBurn]

Ya know who I find has really good customer service? Apple. I can’t tell you how many random replacements I’ve gotten over the years, even when things are out of warranty.

To be fair, they fuckin better have good customer service for the prices of their products.

Never really had to deal with Microsoft though. I did try to get a replacement on an out-of-warranty Elite controller that caught itself on fire, but they didn’t bite.

I remember when you could take your frayed to crap charging cables to the Apple Store and they would replace them no questions asked. I guess when they sell you a cable for $19 that probably cost them less than a dollar to make they have some headroom to replace them.

 

[Dacvak]

I remember when you could take your frayed to crap charging cables to the Apple Store and they would replace them no questions asked. I guess when they sell you a cable for $19 that probably cost them less than a dollar to make they have some headroom to replace them.

I’m still able to do that, at least to some extent. I just got a new iphone case for free after mine started coming apart.

Though I’m not exactly applauding them, since that case cost me $50 and was probably 5 bucks to make.

 

[MarkMe2525]

This is the saddest thread I have seen on gaf

The irony coming from the author of this

Drama - Hardware - Wait a minute? How does Portal connect to my PS5 at home?

Long Story short, been playing Astrobot on Portal (my PS5 is connected through Wifi ) connection is good with minimal lag, I decided to download Mr.Mosquito, game downloaded a little bit then I got an error!! Checked my phone, my internet has stopped working!! Still playing my portal, went to...

www.neogaf.com

"How does my Portal work locally? Some sort of HW between PS5 and Portal?"

 

[SteadyEvo]

Their refund policy is also exceptionally generous.

2 or 3 a year if I remember correctly

 

[MarkMe2525]

Maybe in America.

You get just a 90 day warranty with them on controllers here in the UAE, even if that controller came as part of a console purchase.

I believe the OP is referring to the straightforward nature of the process itself, when making a warranty claim. OP didn't mention how long they have owned the product

 

[adamsapple]

2 or 3 a year if I remember correctly

Five last I recall.

 

[ZoukGalaxy]

Let me laugh. Not in Europe. And certainly not for hardware.

Had a problem with a Xbox One controller back in time, once they got the proof of purchase, they totally ignored all my numerous emails and I stayed with that infamous poorly designed controller that would miss to register A press whenever it wanted (I bought the controller alone, a Halo 5 special edition but not warranty 2 years as it should have been since I bought it in Europe, but they didn't care: for them it was on warranty only 60 or 90 days, I didn't remember and I gave up).

I have far better memories from Xbox Support back in time with the Xbox 360, any RROD gave you a new console without any discussion and a free card to get online for 3 or 6 months, it was marvelous.

Today, all brands are mostly the same shit: they'll do anything to NOT let you speak to an human being and force you to chat with a stupid bot and check a FAQ, then once you figured out the maze, if you do, you can find an stupid human being that "can't do anything and is sorry".

Seriously,

 

[Starbuck2907]

My only complaint is that when I went through over 10 Xbox 360 warranty replacements, they didn’t fly me to Seattle and give me a new console like they did that other guy. I had more replacements than him!

They did give me like $200 in Xbox Live money though.

 

[The Pleasure]

Their refund policy is also exceptionally generous.

Wish they'd fix my Surface laptop which had a known issue that they admitted to and wanted 600 to fix it.

 

[Megatron]

MS has been better at Sony at every single thing for the last five years. Except games. And it hasn’t helped them at all. We don’t care how you treat us, just give us the games.