Tag: customer support

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How to reset the display settings of the Xbox 360 console

This evening whilst trying to set up Dance Dance Revolution for our boys and their friends, we ran into a small problem: no video.

Hmmm… Could it be that I set the switch incorrectly on the Xbox 360 Component HD AV Cable?  The cable may be switched to either regular SDTV or HDTV output.) 

Nope, I don’t think that’s it. 

So I tried two different Xbox AV cables with the console and same result: no video. (The sound works fine as I hear the Xbox 360 boot sound on the speakers.)

So, I looked at a number of KB articles, including…

To reset the display settings of the Xbox 360 console to the default settings, follow these steps:

  1. Remove any discs from the disc tray.
  2. Turn the console off.
  3. Turn the console on. Note If you are using an Xbox 360 Wireless Controller, turn the console on by using the Xbox Guide button on the controller. Make sure that you use the player 1 controller when you do this. The player 1 controller will have the upper-left quadrant light illuminated.
  4. As the console starts, press and hold the Y button, and then pull the right trigger at the same time.
  5. The Xbox Dashboard resets the display settings to the default settings, and then automatically restarts the console.

I believe that it will be addressed by resetting the display. We’ll see in the morning. Just too tired to futz with it tonite.

Tags: Xbox 360, customer support.

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Windows Vista, Windows XP Service Pack Previews Released, and I’m looking forward to both

A quick break for lunch and I saw this come across the news…



Windows Vista, Windows XP Service Pack Previews Released


IDG News Service – August 07, 2007



“Microsoft confirmed Tuesday that it released preview code for both XP SP3 but still would not say directly when the updates to each OS [Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Windows Vista SP1] will be released in their final versions.


“While Microsoft said it will have a beta of Vista SP1 available “sometime this year,” it won’t commit to a more firm date or speculate when the final release will be available. Some insiders had expected a beta to be available by now, though one has yet to materialize. As for Windows XP SP3, Microsoft said it is shooting for the first half of next year but called that date “preliminary” and declined to disclose more details.


“A third service pack for XP, which has been in the works for some time, may seem a moot point now that Vista has been available to consumers for about seven months and to business users for nine. However, there are many XP users, particularly business customers, that would find a third service pack for the OS valuable, said Samir Bhavnani, a research director at Current Analysis West.”


Moot point? Don’t think so. 


I am running Windows XP and Windows Vista at home (along with Office 2003 and 2007), and I have machines that will continue to run XP even after Vista SP1 is released. This not an issue of faith in our new OS, but being practical Ias I have written here previously, we have older client machines at home that run XP, namely older PCs with smaller than currently average memory footprints and hard drives. These are PCs that our kids are happy to use for various games (many running under Win98 compatibility mode!), and one of the computers I use at home is running XP SP2 (Media Center Edition, acually) along side two PCs running versions of Vista.


At the office all machines in my office are running Windows Vista Enterprise edition. At some point my PCs at home will be retired and we’ll move them to a new Vista PC, but at home for me it is not a sprint to Vista. 


Is more info needed on these updates? Sure, IMHO.  And it will come.


There are many millions of customers in the same situation, looking to Microsoft to release another free update for Windows XP that offers offers improved security and the features touted in Windowsx XP SP2: protection against viruses, hackers, and worms, and features like Windows Firewall, Pop-up Blocker for Internet Explorer, and Windows Security Center.


Of interest:


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Believe it or not, customers want to talk to real people when they need assistance

Richard J. Dalton reports in Newsday this past Sunday that customer service industry experts report the “inability to reach a live representative is one of the top complaints of consumers calling customer-service centers.”

I’m sure that it’s right up there with “I waited for I-don’t-know-how-long on the phone to get a problem solved or get an answer to a question and I didn’t.”

Reports Mr. Dalton…

“Norma Freedman received notification in May that a movie from the Columbia House mail-order DVD company would be sent, but she didn’t receive the usual code used to cancel the order. So she did what many people would do: She called the company.

“And, like many consumers calling a customer-service number, she reached an automated service that couldn’t resolve her problem and wouldn’t provide a agent.”

I’ve run into a couple of similar circumstances where I’ve placed a customer service call and not once spoken to a live person. In such cases, I’m doubly sure to note any confirmation numbers I may receive as a result of the call (particularly if I am completing a transaction), as well as the time and date.

For more on contacting support at Microsoft, see this past post. And to contact Microsoft Customer Service, visit http://support.microsoft.com/.

Other support options:

  • Contact your PC manufacturer first if you’re having an issue with your PC. Similarly, contact your peripheral manufacturer for support with one of your computer peripherals (such as a printer, camera, router) if you purchased it separately from your PC. I’ve had great support from Dell and HP as well as other manufacturers. But not, so far, had good success with Samsung’s customer support in the States (‘though I have found that Samsung monitors perform very well).
  • Contact Microsoft – Phone Numbers, Support Options and Pricing, Online Help, and more.
  • Customer Service – For non-technical assistance with product purchases, subscriptions, online services, events, training courses, corporate sales, piracy issues, and more.
  • Newsgroups – Pose a question to other users. Discussion groups and Forums about specific Microsoft products, technologies, and services.

If one of these links don’t address your issue, please visit the Microsoft Online Support Page to start an email support incident.

Tags: Customer service, customer feedback

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Missing Samsung screws, poor customer service and fake blogs (with CNBC’s Jane Wells)

I enjoy Jane Wells’ blog and live reports on CNBC. 


This week she looks at poor customer service (sorry, she labels it “hellish “). A friend of Jane’s Andy signed up with satellite internet service provider WildBlue.net…


“Barnett signed up in May of 2006, and the equipment was guaranteed for a year. Eleven months in, it died. Thus began one of the most mind-numbing attempts to get repairs that I have ever heard. He’s made repeated calls to the company only to learn that the piece of equipment he needs is no longer in stock. A company rep told him over the phone they’re completely out.



“Yet they continue to charge him for monthly service THAT HE NO LONGER HAS. And, according to Barnett, during this time WildBlue sales reps continued to tell prospective customers they could get service within a few weeks, even though the company allegedly didn’t have the necessary equipment.”


That’s amazing. Many consumer companies I have worked with throughout my career prescribed to the notion to keep spare parts on hand (or reasonable replacements and alternatives) available to customers for five to seven years. This means that, as a customer, you should be able to find replacement parts long after the latest gizmo has gone the way of the dodo. I found this to be true with major firms such as Canon, Dell, Toshiba, Sony, Panasonic and Samsung.


Wait a sec… hold that thought on Samsung for a moment.


Let me be clear on one thing: in order to get good customer service, you also have to be able to get through to the company. Lately, I had a heck of a time reaching Samsung, to obtain a replacement part for a monitor. I like their LCD monitors, having several at home (from an old SyncMaster 770 TFT to the latest 19″ widescreens). Turns out that a mounting screw (connecting the base to the bottom mount of the monitor) was too short to make the connection. No problem, I thought, a quick call to their customer service centre should solve that problem.


Not so fast.


Several calls to their “customer care” 800 number resulted in being disconnected while I waited on hold. And when I dialed their offices on both coasts (on my dime), I left messages and never received a response. And my emails sent to the company were never answered.


Sheesh.


Let’s just say that due to the lack of support, I resorted to my own devices. I hopped in the car and shot over to Lowe’s hardware, where I met a retired contractor now working in hardware customer service. In less than a minute, he found the replacement part (a metric screw, M4 .70 x 16) that solved my problem. I’ll let you know if I ever hear back from a live person in Samsung’s monitor division.


Thank you, Lowe’s.


Also this week, Jane takes a look at all of the fake blogs popping up (such as fake Steve Jobs)…



“With all the talk about the “Fake Steve Jobs” at www.fakesteve.blogspot.com, (including on this blog), followed by the “Fake Gene Munster,” the Piper Jaffray analyst who covers Apple, at www.fakegene.blogspot.com (Jim Goldman alerted us to this one yesterday), it seems to me all the attention goes to the fakes.”



Jane also spend time last week reporting on LinkedIn… which I’ve found is a great way to reconnect and stay connected with friends and close business associates.


On CNBC, I also read Jim Goldman’s blog – I enjoy his reporting style, watching him originally reporting on Bay Area news channels.


 


Tags: Samsung, Jane Wells, customer support

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Your questions: “What do you think about the Xbox 360 warranty extension?”

OK, I’m officially on vacation (I’m lousy at that) but the weekend has been ripe with questions since the press coverage and Peter Moore’s letter on Xbox.com.



“What do you think about the Xbox 360 warranty extension?”


If you missed it… see the Wall Street Journal coverage or the coverage on PC Magazine. And if you have seen the three flashing red lights of death, you have no doubt called into customer service to get help with your Xbox 360.


First off, IMHO, this is an example of how the Xbox group focuses on doing the right thing by customers. I have had it happen to one of our systems at home, and had a good experience to get the system exchanged (without noting my employer and pulling the “hey, I’m an employee” card). The announcement last Thursday to take a charge and extend the warranty period to three years (and to refund customers who previously paid for a related warranty repair) was a decision in the interest of the customer, IMHO. (All of this is IMHO, of course.)


Here’s what has been announced, from Peter’s messages: we’re providing a specific warranty coverage extension to three years for any console that displays the three-red-light error message. If you get that, we’ll repair the console, free of charge, including shipping, for three years from the purchase date. And if you already paid Xbox to get your unit fixed outside of the warranty period, Xbox will retroactively reimburse you if you had that problem and had paid to fix your box. There’s a good interview with Xbox’s Peter Moore by N’Gai Croal from Newsweek in which Peter said…



“Business is strong; we’re going to have a good E3, but to cut to the chase, there’s something we haven’t done so well, and that’s that the rate of repairs that have been coming in showing the three-flashing-red-lights error message has been, quite frankly, unacceptable to us. So we’ve decided to take some steps to take care of that.”


That’s a pretty plain approach to the topic.


To me, three years seems like a reasonable extension. I recall the only products I own with longer warranties are much ‘simpler’ products, such as the lifetime warranties on my computer memory and SD cards. My wife’s Dell laptop at home has a four year warranty but I paid for that extension, and the actuaries out there estimate that I’ll replace the computer with a new one before the warranty expires. Our cars have three and four year warranties. But I don’t know of another consumer electronic product with an out-of-the-box warranty longer than a year.


We have a couple of original Xboxes at home — one that the kids use and truly hammer — still running strong (knock on wood). My expectation is that the Xbox 360 should last as long as these old units given we use them for so much more (DVD playback and Media Center Extenders) and probably longer. Our TVs and ReplayTV DVRs are still going strong long after their initial one year warranties, with some units on their sixth year of life. (Disclaimer: the DVRs all have new, larger hard disc drives.) 


If you need help with an Xbox 360 hardware failure in the US, call 1-800-4MY-XBOX for customer support, or dial 425-635-7180. (See http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/contact for more details.)


More info:



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