NUTSHELL:
I purchased an Xbox Elite system from GameCrazy back in July of 2007 and it finally “red-ringed”. I took it to get exchanged under the extended warranty I purchased for it at Game Crazy.  The exchange was denied because my box did not have a tamper evident seal.  It wasn’t broken or even tampered with - IT WAS MISSING!! I have never removed the faceplate much less tampered with the unit itself.  I have NO CLUE as to how my unit is missing it’s tamper seal.  I was advised that I’d have to take it up with “Corporate” and was given a phone number to call.  I called and was told I’d have to wait to get a call back from a district manager.  My wife didn’t think things were moving like they should so she called the store to speak to a manager and left a comment via the feedback method on the GameCrazy website.  The district manager contacted the store’s manager and the swap was authorized.  I took the console in and they swapped it out because it DID in fact have the seal.  It was the “first generation” foil seals that I’m guessing no one (including myself) sees anymore.  I got my new Elite box and I’m happy for the most part.

Full details
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7/27/07:
I purchased a sealed, brand-new XBOX360 Elite system from GameCrazy shortly after they came on the scene (May ‘07). In addition, I also bought a rechargeable controller, a 12 month XBOX Live subscription, a game and a 2 year service contract (Scanned in here).  I spent a total of around $745. My extended warranty card was in spanish because the store had no more english ones.  I live about 10 miles from the US/Mexico border and therefore, just about everything around here is translated into spanish.

The system was seldom moved.  I took the system to my parents house (in my padded laptop bag) to share the love of RockBand with them for Thanksgiving and again on Christmas. Short of that, the system has lived in my entertainment center underneath my TV.  It got shuffled around every once and a while for dusting and plugging/unplugging flash drives.  The system worked flawlessly for almost 2 and a half years

1/24/10:
I noticed that it would freeze and there was a red light in quadrant 3. After multiple on/off’s I decided to leave it until I talked to a co-worker of mine.

1/25/10:
I spoke to my friend who is pretty well versed in all things Xbox360.  He directed me to the Xbox website and after I went through the troubleshooting steps, I noticed that my red light in quadrant 3 had changed to lighting up quadrants 1, 3 & 4 now.  I went through the online troubleshooting process again and determined that I needed to send my unit in.

1/26/10:
I spoke to my XBOX360 guru friend and he explained the return process to me.  He had already returned one of his and was in possession of a shipping box that Microsoft had sent him for his system some time back.  I was set. All I needed to do is make sure I was still within the three year Microsoft Warranty.

I decided to gather all my materials and in doing so noticed that on top of the 1 year manufacturer’s warranty, I had purchased a 2 year extension through “Game Crazy” (the place I bought it, a child company of Blockbuster Video).  I called them and they said to bring it in and they’d be able to swap it out so long as I had my original receipt (which I did), the Xbox360 and the power supply unit.  “Great, I don’t have to send my unit in!”, I thought, “I can take care of all of this locally!!”.  I went down only to find the store was in the middle of inventory and I decided it would be best to show up the next day instead of waiting for them to finish.

1-27-09:
The next evening I went to GameCrazy and the gentleman in front started the exchange process.  He took down the unit’s serial number, made sure it matched the one in the warranty booklet and then went to the computer to do whatever he had to do.  He came back with some sort of wierd code written on a piece of paper.  He took my face plate off and said “Uh oh, we have a problem”.  I asked him what was wrong and he told me that my unit was missing the warranty seal.  I had no idea that the unit had one under the face plate or that the face plate was that easy to take off in the first place.  He showed me the seal on the new Elite unit that he was planning to exchange mine out for and sure enough, it had a seal.  He put mine right next to it to show the comparison and it was obvious - mine was missing the seal.  He then proceeded to inform me that he would be unable to perform the exchange and on top of that, Microsoft would probably not warranty it because it was missing the seal.

How could this have happened?  When they handed the box to me the day I bought it, it was sealed. All of the plastic covers, the wire ties, the warranty information, booklets and various other things that come inside the box were brand new and did not look used.  The unit itself definitely did not look used and functioned flawlessly until a few days ago.

I decided to gather my stuff up and go home for the evening and call corporate when I got home.  After hearing that there was “up to a 30 minute wait” for customer service, I decided to call the next day.

1/28/10:
10:19 AM REF # 100128-000024
After a 25 min hold even though the recording said 5-10 minutes, I spoke to someone at GameCrazy coporate and they asked for a short description of my issue.  I gave him the nutshell and he said he’d have to have a District Manager (Camp Murphy) speak to me. I asked for the district manager’s (DM from here on) phone number and the customer service rep (CSR, from here on) said that he couldn’t give that information out.  I apologized for being seemingly over-cautious but explaned that I had been through enough bad experiences in my time to know that I should get as much information as possible. (Good examples: Car Nightmare | Wrongly Ticketed | Time Warner Trouble)

The CSR mentioned that the DM traveled regularly and that the contact number was actually the DM’s personal cell.  I asked if the company issued the phone to the DM and mentioned that I found it odd that a company would conduct regular business on an employee’s personal phone (at the DM level).  He said he wasn’t sure.

The CSR told me that the DM would be in touch with me in 24-48 business hours and that he had just dispatched an email to him regarding my situation.  I asked for the email address of the DM and the CSR told me that he was not allowed to give that information out either.  I asked the CSR if I would be told the same thing if I went to a GameCrazy and asked for the DM’s info and he said he did not know.  I figured I’d wasted enough of our time and decided to contact the DM through other means should I need to.

SIDENOTE:
After some digging I found Camp Murphy’s Linkedin profile.  (Seems to be the correct one, but no contact info)

2:00pm
Jen called the store in the morning to speak to the Store Manager and he was in a training.  Some time between then and the time he called Jen back, the District Manager contacted the Store Manager and authorized the return in spite of the missing sticker.

The Store manager called Jen and gave her the news.  I hope it was that easy!! We’ll see this evening!

5:40PM
I went to the GameCrazy store and spoke to “Oscar”.  He took a look at my box and asked why the previous employee didn’t accept it because “it had the sticker”.  I told him that I was told it didn’t and that the employee even showed me.  He pointed out that the 1st generation Elite Xbox systems shipped with a foil sticker that just said “MICROSOFT” on it and it was off to the side (LIKE THIS) and the newer generation units shipped with a  paper sticker like the ones they have on software (LIKE THIS).

I felt kind of stupid for not noticing before, but all of the pictures I saw and read about were for the newer generation units.  Oscar quickly swapped it out and apologized for the trouble.  I was satisfied to have my Xbox swapped out.  I wasn’t so thrilled about the employee who couldn’t figure out that the foil sticker was actually the seal.  After all, it’s *HE* that works at the gamestore, not me.  The first time my faceplate had been off my unit was done they day of the exchange.

I’m glad everything worked out and how timely everything was handled.  I just wish the employee would have saved me the trouble of running to the store & back as well as a bunch of time on the phone (on hold).
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-N

Well this weekend went well.  I borrowed my dad’s bike so that I can get to work and back since my car is out of commission for now (needs some repairs). It’s taken some getting used to.
I bbq’ed a steak, some sausage and loaded beef ribs.  Jen had been wanting some BBQ so my inner-mexican decided that it must be done.

My poor parents have not had the luck with computers lately.  My dad dropped his laptop and now the screen won’t light up.  You can see all the images, but it’s just dark.  To  make matters worse, the home desktop they use took a dump as well.  The hard drive failed horribly and nothing was recoverable.  Well, not by means I am capable of.   We got a new hard drive and I’m about 90% done restoring everything.

I went shopping for clothes this weekend and realized that jeans and polo shirts were just as much as docker/cotton slacks and long-sleeve button-down shirts.  So I opted to upgrade to slacks & nice shirts.  I also got my hair cut after well over a month.  The lady at the hair cutting place was surprised that I let it go so long.

After a year off, I decided to start blogging again.

Jen and I have gotten married, bought a house and all is well at the Casa De Avila.

Powa the cat is doing well.  Fat and lazy as ever.  She has taken to her new home (was living with my sister for a while) and friends (Bear, the Pekingese & “big kitty” the american short hair mix)

I’m still playing Team Fortress 2 and I have recently discovered Mass Effect for the console.

Well, things are going okay.

Car is fine - drives like a charm.

Powa is good - loves her new family.

People are STILL trying to affect Jen & I.   Manatees can be hard to manage, they love their cabbage.  They seek it often.  When they find some, they go all out in eating it.  Oh well, I guess it is genetic.  Nice try YA FUCKIN’ CUNT WHORES.

Not feelin the greatest.

Been playin games to pass the time, sucks when your guts liquify.

-N

I have been playing around with my iphone more.  I’ve grown quite accustomed to it.  My only problem now is that the Google G1 phone is coming out.  I’ve been waiting for a somewhat “open source” phone.  Lots of free stuff, great apps and no regulation by a money/power hungry company dictating what can/can’t be developed for the phone.

Full Specs Here

Coming out Oct. 22nd.

-N

Well, Jen and I have pretty much decided on a REALLY, really small wedding.  We’re talking super immediate family and that is pretty much it. 

We’re trying to save up for a house and it just doesn’t make sense to blow money that could go towards a house on a wedding.  Houses can provide “memories of a lifetime” too ya know :)

-N

So I haven’t been updating much, I’ll be honest, I’m lazy. Most of the time, if you want to know what is going on with me, just view my PHOTO BLOG. It’s much easier to update for me since I can do it with my phone and you get a nifty idea of what I’m up to (shopping, eating out, getting pulled over by DPS…etc)

I’ve been busy with my car, my woman, my music, etc…

Been diving head-strong into Cisco Unified Wirless Networking too. I’ve been trying to get more schooled in the art of wireless so that troubleshooting is easier. I’ve also managed to pick up a few networking side-jobs here and there. They pay handsomely :)

In car news:

I bought a JLT cold air intake and new “no slip” pulleys.

I also installed a “KILLER CHILLER” system. It takes your A/C system and super-cools your intercooler fluid so that your air-charge is super cold. Essentially, it’s like running your car in winter, year round. Anyone who has a fast car knows how it feels in cold weather!

Life is good. Just chuggin along.

I asked Jennifer to marry me. She said yes.

:)

-N

My dad’s bike caught fire this past week. They say it may have been the battery. He usually eats at the office or out somewhere. For whatever reason he came home and smelled smoke. He opened the garage door and was met with thick black smoke. As I said, they’re not exactly sure what happened with the bike, they just know that it seems to have originated from the battery on his old harley. It’s pretty beat up (see pics), but it will ride again - just need to clean it up. What was bad was there was TONS of soot that thickly covered everything in the garage. All the instruments, the sound stuff….etc.Here are a few pics:

We moved everything out to try and wipe down as much as we could.

My nephews came over to help out along with Pete and my Uncle Jerry.

My gas-mask that a good friend of mine gave me in High-School. It worked like a charm. None of that black stuff in my lungs!

The Aftermath of cleaning up. I was covered in black soot. I can’t imagine being a fireman and having to deal with this crap daily!

On another note, the 4th of July parade is coming up, that will be really fun. It is every year. All the stuff I got for my car is put in and now it just needs to be tuned up. Pedro will take care of that in time.

-N