While I am known for my profane tirades when dealing with electronics manufacturers who fail me (see- Alienware, Asus, HP, Dell… oh the list could go on forever) and I am definitely one of “those” consumers who you absolutely hate have call you if you are some hapless Customer Service Representative (Yes, I’ve made CSRs cry by the time I was done with them) I also like to make sure to give proper kudos to companies who do right by me.

As I reported almost two weeks ago, my Xbox 360 Elite (which was a launch “Elite”) decided it no longer liked me and show me how it felt about me with three flashing red rings. I admit, I was miffed. In fact, when I purchased all three of the current generation consoles I could have been quoted over a dozen times in saying “10:1 says the Xbox goes first”. Well, sadly, on that fact I was right. But Microsoft has treated me with great care, something that shocks me as I’ve had a lot of negative to say about them in nearly 10 years of IT work.

I shipped my 360 Elite out on 4/14 to be repaired. I asked very politely (something unusual from me in moment like that) if, due to the usage of the unit, an expedite could be placed on the repaid of the unit. It is now 4/24 and my 360 Elite should be here within the hour (my usual delivery time for UPS). Excluding weekends it took Microsoft a whopping 9 days to resolve my issue and this includes shipping time. So for all of you out there who think I play favourites let me go on record as saying “Microsoft, you rock.”

PS- I opted to keep the Xbox 360 Arcade unit I purchased to replace the missing Elite model because, well, I can and I think Microsoft earned the business. That brings the tally in my home office to: 3x Xbox 360s, 2x PS3s, 2x DS Lites, 1x PSP Slim, 1x Wii, 2x Gaming Laptops, 2x Gaming Desktops and a Macbook Pro. At this moment, I am very happy I live so close to the Hoover Dam (don’t ask what the monthly electricity bill is…don’t).