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The Genius of Robert Walser
The Robber
Jakob von Gunten
On Christmas Day, 1956, the police of the town of Herisau in eastern Switzerland were called out: children had stumbled upon the body of a man, frozen to death, in a snowy field. Arriving at the scene, the police took photographs and had the body removed.
The dead man was easily identified: Robert Walser, aged seventy-eight, missing from a local mental hospital. In his earlier years Walser had won something of a reputation, in Switzerland and even in Germany, as a writer. Some of his books were still in print; there had even been a biography of him published. During a quarter of a century in mental institutions, however, his own writing had dried up. Long country walks—like the one on which he had died—had been his main recreation.
The police photographs showed an old man in overcoat and boots lying sprawled in the snow, his eyes open, his jaw slack. These photographs have been widely (and shamelessly) reproduced in the critical literature on Walser that has burgeoned since the 1960s.1 Walser's so-called madness, his lonely death, and the posthumously discovered cache of his secret writings were the pillars on which a legend of Walser as a scandalously neglected genius was erected. Even the sudden interest in Walser became part of the scandal. "I ask myself," wrote the novelist Elias Canetti in 1973, "whether, among those who build their leisurely, secure, dead regular academic life on that of a writer who had lived in misery and despair, there is one who is ashamed of himself."
Robert Walser was born in 1878 in the canton of Bern, the seventh of eight children. His father, trained as a bookbinder, ran a store selling stationery and notions. At the age of fourteen Robert was taken out of school and apprenticed to a bank, where he performed his clerical functions in exemplary fashion. But, possessed by dreams of becoming an actor, he ran off to Stuttgart. His one and only audition proved a humiliating failure: he was dismissed as wooden and expressionless. Abandoning the stage, Walser decided to become—"God willing"—a poet. Drifting from job to job, he wrote poems, prose sketches, and little verse plays ("dramolets"), not without success. Soon he had been taken up by Insel Verlag, publisher of Rilke and Hofmannsthal, who put out his first book.
In 1905, intent on advancing his career, he followed his elder brother, a successful book illustrator and stage designer, to Berlin. There he enrolled in a training school for servants and worked briefly as a butler in a country house (he wore livery and answered to the name "Monsieur Robert"). Before long, however, he found he could support himself on the proceeds of his writing. He contributed to prestigious literary magazines, was accepted in serious artistic circles. But he was never at ease in the role of metropolitan intellectual; after a few drinks he tended to become rude and aggressively provincial. Gradually he retreated from society to a solitary, frugal life in bedsitters. In these surroundings he wrote four novels, of which three have survived: The Tanner Children (1906), The Factotum (1908), and Jakob von Gunten (1909). All draw for their material on his own life experience; but in the case of Jakob von Gunten—the best known of these early novels, and deservedly so—that experience is wondrously transmuted.
"One learns very little here," observes young Jakob von Gunten after his first day at the Benjamenta Institute, where he has enrolled himself as a student. The teachers lie around like dead men. There is only one textbook, What is the Aim of Benjamenta's Boys' School?, and only one lesson, "How Should a Boy Behave?" All the teaching is done by Fräulein Lisa Benjamenta, sister of the principal. Herr Benjamenta himself sits in his office and counts his money, like an ogre in a fairy tale. In fact, the school is a bit of a swindle.
Nevertheless, having run away to the big city (unnamed, but clearly Berlin) from what he calls "a very, very small metropolis," Jakob has no intention of giving up. He does not mind wearing the Benjamenta uniform; he gets on with his fellow students; and besides, riding the elevators downtown gives him a thrill, makes him feel thoroughly a child of his times.
Jakob von Gunten purports to be the diary Jakob keeps during his stay at the Institute. It consists mainly of his reflections on the education he receives there—an education in humility—and on the strange brother and sister who offer it. The humility taught by the Benjamentas is not of the religious variety. Their graduates aspire to be serving men or butlers, not saints. But Jakob is a special case, a pupil for whom the lessons in humility have a deep personal resonance. "How fortunate I am," he writes, "not to be able to see in myself anything worth respecting and watching! To be small and to stay small."
The Benjamentas are a mysterious and, at first sight, forbidding pair. Jakob sets himself the task of penetrating their mystery. He treats them not with respect but with the cheeky self-assurance of a child who is used to having any mischief on his part excused as cute, mixing effrontery with patently insincere self-abasement, giggling at his own insincerity, confident that candor will disarm all criticism, but not really caring if it does not. The word he would like to apply to himself, that he would like the world to apply to him, is impish. An imp is a mischievous sprite; an imp is also a lesser devil.
Soon Jakob has begun to gain ascendancy over the Benjamentas. Fräulein Benjamenta hints that she is fond of him; he pretends not to understand. She reveals that what she feels is perhaps more than fondness, is perhaps love; Jakob replies with a long, evasive speech full of respectful sentiments. Thwarted, Fräulein Benjamenta pines away and dies.
Herr Benjamenta, initially hostile to Jakob, is maneuvered to the point of pleading with the boy to be his friend, to abandon his plans and come wandering the world with him. Primly, Jakob refuses: "But how shall I eat, Principal?… It's your duty to find me a decent job. All I want is a job." Yet on the last page of his diary he announces he is changing his mind: he will throw away his pen and go off into the wilderness with Herr Benjamenta (to which one can only respond: God save Herr Benjamenta!).
As a literary character, Jakob von Gunten is without precedent. In the pleasure he takes in picking away at himself he has something of Dostoevsky's Underground Man and, behind him, of the Jean-Jacques Rousseau of the Confessions. But—as Walser's first French translator, Marthe Robert, pointed out—there is in Jakob, too, something of the hero of the traditional German folk tale, of the lad who braves the castle of the giant and triumphs against all odds. Franz Kafka, early in his career, admired Walser's work (Max Brod records with what delight Kafka would read Walser's humorous sketches aloud). Barnabas and Jeremias, Surveyor K.'s demonically obstructive "assistants" in The Castle, have Jakob as their prototype.
In Kafka one also catches echoes of Walser's prose, with its lucid syntactic layout, its casual juxtapositions of the elevated with the banal, and its eerily convincing logic of paradox. Here is Jakob in reflective mood:
We wear uniforms. Now, the wearing of uniforms simultaneously humiliates and exalts us. We look like unfree people, and that is possibly a disgrace, but we also look nice in our uniforms, and that sets us apart from the deep disgrace of those people who walk around in their very own clothes but in torn and dirty ones. To me, for instance, wearing a uniform is very pleasant because I never did know, before, what clothes to put on. But in this, too, I am a mystery to myself for the time being.
What is the mystery of Jakob? Walter Benjamin wrote a piece on Walser that is all the more striking for being based on a very incomplete acquaintance with his writings. Walser's people, suggested Benjamin, are like fairy-tale characters once the tale has come to an end, characters who now have to live in the real world. There is something "laceratingly, inhumanly, and unfailingly superficial" about them, as if, having been rescued from madness (or from a spell), they must tread carefully for fear of falling back into it.
Jakob is such an odd being, and the air he breathes in the Benjamenta Institute is so rare, so near to the allegorical, that it is hard to think of him as representative of any element of society. Yet in Jakob's cynicism about civilization and about values in general, his contempt for the life of the mind, his simplistic beliefs about how the world really works (it is run by big business to exploit the little man), his elevation of obedience to the highest of virtues, his readiness to bide his time, awaiting the call of destiny, his claim to be descended from noble, warlike ancestors (when the etymology he himself hints at for von Gunten—von unten, "from below"—suggests otherwise), as well as his pleasure in the all-male ambience of the boarding school and his delight in malicious pranks—all of these features, taken together, point prophetically toward the petit-bourgeois type that, in times of greater social confusion, would find Hitler's Brownshirts so attractive.
Walser was not an overtly political writer. Nevertheless, his emotional involvement with the class from which he came, the class of shopkeepers and clerks and schoolteachers, ran deep. Berlin offered him a clear chance to escape his social origins, to defect, as his brother had done, to the déclassé cosmopolitan intelligentsia. He refused that offer, choosing instead to return to the embrace of provincial Switzerland. Yet he never lost sight of—indeed, was not allowed to lose sight of—the illiberal, conformist tendencies of his class, its intolerance of people like himself, dreamers and vagabonds.
In 1913 Walser left Berlin and returned to Switzerland "a ridiculed and unsuccessful author" (his own self-disparaging words). He took a room in a temperance hotel in the industrial town of Biel, near his sister, and for the next seven years earned a precarious living contributing feuilletons—literary sketches—to newspapers. For the rest he went on long country hikes and served out his obligations in the National Guard. In the collections of his poetry and short prose that continued to appear, he turned more and more to the Swiss social and natural landscape. He wrote two more novels. The manuscript of the first, Theodor, was lost by his publishers; the second, Tobold, was destroyed by Walser himself.
After the World War, the taste among the public for the kind of writing Walser had relied on for an income, writing easily dismissed as whimsical and belletristic, began to wane. He had lost touch with currents in wider German society; as for Switzerland, the reading public there was too small to support a corps of writers. Though he prided himself on his frugality, he had to close down what he called his "little prose-piece workshop." He began to feel more and more oppressed by the censorious gaze of his neighbors, by the demand for respectability. He moved to Bern, to a position in the national archives, but within months had been dismissed for insubordination. He moved from lodgings to lodgings, drank heavily. He suffered from insomnia, heard imaginary voices, had nightmares and anxiety attacks. He attempted suicide, failing because, as he disarmingly admitted, "I couldn't even make a proper noose."
See, for instance, Robert Walser: Leben und Werk, edited by Elio Fröhlich and Peter Hamm (Frankfurt am Main: Insel, 1980).↩
See, for instance, Robert Walser: Leben und Werk, edited by Elio Fröhlich and Peter Hamm (Frankfurt am Main: Insel, 1980).↩


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At a glance: Geography
The Geography Minor provides students with the ability to apply geographical concepts to their majors. Area Studies emphasizes the exploration of cultural systems from around the world.
Degrees offered
ONU offers a minor in geography with options in Area Studies and Geographic Information System.
Distinctive features
Faculty who teach in the minor have their PhDs in Geography, History, or Political Science.
Faculty teaching and research interests include practical use of GIS, Russia and the Soviet Union, Water and Conflict in Asia, and Historical GIS.

subset: commoncrawl


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I agree with you on a lot of this. I want to just add my 2 copper on a couple points:
-Timeless Isle- Love everything about it except for the rep grind. I was happy to leave that kind of grind in Silithus where it belongs! An extra daily or even some turn ins would have been nice, I just hit honored on my main after spending an hour AOE farming the Yaungols.
-Rep Grind- It was a little ridiculous and alt-barring. Though when I finally got my 1 alt to 90 2 months ago, Cloud Serpents took 2 days with all the eggs that were left up! Yay me!
-Linear Raids- I liked how Naxx was set up in wings of 3-4 bosses that were in and of themselves linear, it was nice to be able to pick which wing to do next and have all 4 complete to move on to Frost Wyrm Lair. Ulduar did it fairly well as well. Overall I enjoyed MoP raids, but I only did non-LFR in MSV and SoO. Had to take a break after the guild I was in at the beginning fell apart.
-Tillers- Overall it's great, though I wish you didn't have to grow the portals and take up precious farm space for a port to Silvermoon which would just get deleted. A single port in the farm house with a dialogue box to choose which city would be fine. Just make the grind to own the farm a little harder to get, IMO. However, this brings up a point about cooking. Raid food is best in MoP if you cook your own and bring it. You can't get the stamina from Spring Rolls from a noodle cart or a feast. Now, that doesn't effect me, I bring my own food and flasks always. But my guild provides for its lazy ass members too, and they're never made to have to bring the better food. That irritates me, but I guess it's more their fault than Blizz's, trying to force people to do better.
-Professions- Utter failure. I'm not into learning random patterns for doing daily stuff. Give me my choice of which one to learn daily if you want to gate me, but making it random so my warrior is getting int/spirit/haste gem patterns before crit/str/stam/avoidance is just crap. The bonuses to raiders are pretty stale at this point too. I think it could use a second look. Also, as a JC who's now facing a failing gem market, F YOU FOR NOT PUTTING EPIC GEMS IN, BLIZZ.
-Legendary- I agree with you on this. Interested to see what they'll do for legendaries in the next expansion! The cloak was my first ever (still waiting for the 2nd binding to drop, with 10 elementium bars in my bag).
-LFR Loot- Meh. I hate the LFR system as a whole. Glad to be doing normals again so I don't feel obligated to sit through that trash.
Again, excited for the next adventure, wherever that may be.


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Employee Relocation Management Policy
GSA's relocation management policy seeks to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the federal government in providing or obtaining "best value" relocation services through the implementation of governmentwide policies and tools. The Relocation Management Policy's goal is to improve management of the federal government by effectively developing polices in the following areas:
These efforts involve:
- Implementation of the Governmentwide Relocation Advisory Board's Findings and Recommendations;
- Continuous evaluation of relocation programs and policies; and
- Analyzing the impact of current and proposed regulations, laws executive orders.
Mileage Reimbursement Rates for Using a Privately Owned Vehicle (POV) for Relocation
GSA is responsible for the mileage reimbursement rate for using a POV for relocation purposes. The GSA mileage rate for using a POV in relocation will be equal to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Standard Mileage Rate for moving purposes. Any change to the IRS rate will be made to the GSA rate and be valid for the same time span.
|Current Privately Owned Vehicle Reimbursement Rates
|Effective Date
|Rate per mile
|Personally Owned Vehicle (POV)
|January 1, 2014
|January 1, 2013
|January 1, 2012
|July 1, 2011
|January 1, 2011
|January 1, 2010
|July 1, 2008
|January 1, 2008
|September 25, 2007
Access the Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) and Travel/Per Diem Bulletins.
The shortcut to this page is www.gsa.gov/relopolicy.


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mouse over photo to zoom click for larger image
Ornamental Scroll Lace Short Robe Oracle Floral Black
Wrap yourself in luxurious softness with a touch of feminine lace. Short robe adds an elegant layer to your evening ensemble.
- Attached sash. Inside tie for secure closure.
- Side seam pockets.
- Elastic at back waist.
- Approximate length: 34.5" from shoulder.
- 93% rayon, 7% spandex. Machine wash. Imported.
- Cool Nights breathable knit keeps you cool and dry and retains its shape and silky drape, even after countless washings.
- From the luxuriously soft Oh My Gorgeous Collection.


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Starring: Kevin Pearce, Shaun White, Mason Aguirre
Running Time: 109 minutes
Director: Lucy Walker
Languages: English
Rating: PG
Genre: Documentary
Years of footage is used to tell the story of U.S. champion snowboarder Kevin Pearce who suffered a massive head trauma as he was training to compete against Shaun White at the 2010 Winter Olympics.
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Socks by Sock Dreams
We offer FREE USPS shipping on all US orders!
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by Zaffie
July 7th, 2014
GearCon 2014!
This past weekend, Sock Dreams was the proud sponsor of GearCon 2014.
What a weekend of wonders! From classes on actually executing your own version of Around the World in 80 Days, to intricate devices, there was truly something for everyone. Here's just a little taste of what our neighbors were offering in the Market Room:
While we did not vend this year, Dreamer Rae and myself were standing by with a truly special discount card and a fun raffle for socks and gift cards. Congrats to all the winners!
Be sure to check out our Victoriana section for theme-appropriate socks. Clockwork additions not included. Always remember, responsible Steampunks smartly wear Sock Garters whenever possible.
by Zaffie
June 30th, 2014
Ahoy! Nautical Stickers
Our newest sticker is ready for a day at the seaside! She's all dressed up in her red, white, and blue finest, complete with Navy and White Extraordinaries. She's even brought along her own sailboat, drifting happily among the peals of her ocean-blue lotus. We can almost smell the sand and saltwater taffy from here!
As always, to receive one of our special stickers, please request a Nautical Sticker with your next order.
by Zaffie
June 16th, 2014
PDX Pride Recap & San Francisco Pride News!
We've come to the end of another wonderful Pride celebration here in Portland, and our hearts are just bursting with love and rainbows.
Saturday saw a lot of action—and a couple of product re-stocks, since it was chilly and just the perfect weather for socks!
Sunday, our last day at Pride, was a big one. The local parade started up at 11am, which is when the Oregon weather decided to show itself. Even though it rained on our parade, it couldn't dampen the spirits of our LGBTQ community or its allies.
Just look at all these colourful outfits and socks! You can check out more in our Pride 2014 Gallery.
The end of Pride is always so bittersweet for us, but this year we get to prolong the moment because in just a few short days, we're heading down to San Francisco Pride! If you'll be in San Francisco June 28-29, we invite you to stop by and join the fun. Sock Dreams will be at booth #10554, and we're stocking up on new Radiant Rainbows, Water Bottles, exclusive Pride swag, and so much more!
by JenDub
June 10th, 2014
Portland Pride 2014
Sock Dreams has been a supporter and vendor at NW Pride for the past eight years, and we're proud to say we'll be at booth L-12 this coming weekend!
On May 19th, 2014, Oregon law-makers struck down the Oregon constitutional amendment making it illegal for persons of the same sex to marry. Since then, people in same sex relationships have had the choice to make their partnerships official- this makes us very happy Dreamers.
Just in time for the occasion, Gumball Poodle has extended it's line of Pride socks to include some more colorful, as well as shorter selections. They have also added other bridal party member socks to their line such as Bridesmaid, Best Men, Maid of Honor, etc… These will be available at our Pride booth, and in our Sellwood Shop only!
Speaking of what we're selling at pride, we're bringing all our new Harvest Rainbows, from thigh high, to knee high, to crew.
We're also premiering our BRAND NEW Radiant Rainbow Thigh Highs, which come in bright 1980's rainbow colors.
Additionally, we will have the new Sock Dreams water bottles on-hand, in case you need to quench your thirst in style.
Of course we'll have all of the classic Dreamer Socks and Dream Stockings, at their special event price as well as tons of other rainbow styles, buttons and our famous stickers. We are thrilled to see what this year's NW Pride has in store. See you there!!!
by Rosalind
June 1st, 2014
Department Spotlight: "Downstairs" Stock Room Team
When you hear the words, "Sock Dreams", chances are the things that spring to mind are a crazy variety of socks and accessories, great customer service, and fast, free shipping within the USA. For those of us behind the scenes, though, it's our house brands that really stand out! That's Dream Stockings and Dreamer Socks, and together the two brands take up nearly half of our stock room! It's a whole lotta sock, and many of them need folding, labeling and testing before we can sell them, so we actually have twice as many dreamers in this part of our stock room as we do in the "upstairs" area.
As previously mentioned, the phrase "downstairs" is a holdover from the beginnings of Sock Dreams, when the company operated out of a multi-story house, with house brands in the basement, non-house brands upstairs, and offices and such in between. While our Dream Stockings manager, Rachel hasn't been with us all that time, she started in fall of 2011, and was here to help us move from our last headquarters building. As a long-term customer prior to joining our ranks, her favorite part of the job is getting to shape the direction that our house brands take — and seriously, who wouldn't be excited about that? Despite being instrumental in bringing in new styles, her favorite sock is actually an old staple – The Cotton InkLined knee socks in lilac. As she puts it, "they're fun and classy at the same time."
Stephanie is essentially Rachel's right-hand Dreamer, and is currently finishing her second year with us. She's also been involved in the evolution of our Dream Stockings, which she says "feels a bit like Hocus Pocus, except our cauldrons are full of yarn." She also does a lot of the work of organizing and getting the socks on the shelves for all of your orders. Because she spends lots of time testing each new batch of socks for fit, she suggests that you write in to email@example.com if you ever need sizing help – we're always happy to provide it. Her favorite socks happen to have been her first pair of Sock Dreams socks, from a few years before she started working with us. Nowadays she has a whole dresser just for socks, but the O Rayons in paprika remain her first pick.
Since most of our house brand socks come unfolded and unlabeled, we also have a resident sock folding expert, Matt. He started with us back in September of 2011, so if you've bought our socks since then, there's a good chance that they were carefully folded and labeled by Matt. His are the feet wearing the shorter version of our Cotton Inclined OTKs: Boy Socks. His favorite part of working here at Sock Dreams is being around his fellow coworkers. Isn't he a gem?
The newest member of our "downstairs" department is Arion. She will have been here for one year in August, and our chants of "We accept her, one of us!" still hang in the air… it's just how we greet our new hires. As a long-time lover of scrunchy socks, our Super Ms are her favorites (pictured above in dark red): "They're comfy and simple like the O Basics, but long enough that I can scrunch them all the way up my legs, or fold them over my boots to look like cuffs." Despite her relatively short time with us, she had the same advice for our customers as her department manager, Rachel: Don't Panic! We get new socks in all the time, so if it's out of stock when you go looking for it, just sign up for an automatic notification on the product's web page, and we'll let you know just as soon as it's back!
As you can see, it takes quite the team effort to keep our house brands in stock and ready to ship, and luckily for our customers, this is quite the team!
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Reliability really is the main focus for Bahrain according to Kamui Kobayashi, while Marcus Ericsson is just looking to have a trouble-free weekend.
Kamui Kobayashi: "Next it's back to Bahrain for race three, back at a track we've already spent a couple of weeks at this year in the pre-season test where we managed to build up some pretty good mileage at a time when our reliability was good, something that will be really important this weekend. We also now have something to build on, both in terms of performance and from where we are now, in tenth place in the championship and with targets ahead that we know we can race with."
"Reliability really is the main focus for Bahrain. We need to have three good practice sessions so we can go into qualifying and the race with an optimised setup giving us the chance to really find out what the real performance level of this car is. On my last day of the test in Bahrain we weren't able to do the final performance run because of a clutch issue, and we really haven't had a chance since then to run the car in full quali spec with optimised setups because of the reliability problems we've had, and the wet quali sessions we had in both Australia and Malaysia. Yes, we performed well in Malaysia for much of the race, but that was with a car that had almost no meaningful setup work done on it and with more still to come from the power unit. It's vital we have a full weekend so we can pick up where we left off in Sepang and continue to improve across all areas of the car's performance."
"Our ability to develop is what will be crucial this year. Our development program is starting in Bahrain with the first new parts coming from the work we've been doing in the TMG wind tunnel and it'll be good to see how they perform."
Marcus Ericsson: "I left Malaysia feeling pleased that I'd finished my first full race, and excited about what we achieved on Sunday at Sepang. It was tough - even though we'd completed quite a few laps on Friday and Saturday, we still went into the race without an optimised setup due to the issues we had on Friday and the work we had to do overnight to rebuild the car on Saturday and Sunday, so the most important thing in Bahrain is to have a trouble free weekend. Also, the Bahrain circuit characteristics should suit our car better than Sepang so we may be stronger here than in Malaysia, relative to the competition."
"I obviously know the Bahrain circuit well after the tests and, like Malaysia, that means we can get on with the program right from the first laps in FP1. We have a lot of data that's helping us go to the race with a much clearer idea of where we want to go with setup than we've had in either Australia or Malaysia, but it would also be really helpful if we can have the sort of reliability we had in the second pre-season test - mileage is what will help us unlock the full performance of this year's car, and I know how hard both Renault and our team are working to make sure we can do that."
Robin Frijns, driving FP1 in Kamui Kobayashi's car, and driving in the Bahrain test (day TBC): "I'm excited about being back in the car for my first FP1 of the 2014 season with Caterham, especially as I already have experience of the car at Bahrain from the day I did in the pre-season tests. It'll be interesting to see how much progress we've made across the whole car since I last drove it, but my focus will be on helping the team prepare for the race weekend, something I know I can add value to, assuming we have a problem-free session!"
"After the race weekend we're staying on for the first of the in-season tests and I'm doing one of the two days of that test. Obviously that's a different proposition to an FP1 - quite a lot less pressure, more time on track and a much bigger runplan, but it's still really important to approach that day with the same focus and determination to do as well as I can for the team. It's another chance for me to continue to learn as much as I can about operating efficiently with the team on track, building on the work I've been doing with them in the simulator back at Leafield, and I can't wait to get back to work!"
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by Jonathon Ramsey (RSS feed) on Nov 30th, 2012 at 7:57PM
"This is not a return of the Pontiac G8." Yesterday on a stage on the Encore Theater at The Wynn Resort in Las Vegas, Chevrolet revealed its NASCAR SS, the race car that will contest next year's Sprint Cup series. A lot of people are talking about this car, and doing so well beyond the NASCAR fraternity – we were told that 30 minutes after it began the car became the number one trending topic on Twitter. The car looks great, Jeff Gordon showed up for some banter, everyone who was there applauded, the assembled drivers said the the right things. But it was at lunch after... Read More


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Enjoy Volumizing Mousse 7 oz.
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SueFloridaHairFine or Thin HairGreat Mousse!I have fine hair and this gives me a clean lift to my hair. I put it on (not much - it lasts a long time!) after washing and before blowdrying. It does the best of everything Ive tried and it is not crunchy or stiff.2 out of 2 shoppers thought this review was helpful.
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I recently bought a new Xbox-360 w/ Kinect for our family. After buying a 2nd cordless controller, games, etc...gaming gurus will agree that this is no chump change.
My son educated me on the versatility of the unit, i.e. live gaming with others on-line, Netflix, Facebook, Youtube, and a host of other really cool facets. The only requirement is an Xbox Live card. It's basically a prepaid card that allows you to access all the aforementioned features and many more.
We are a family of four. We all took turns creating our individual user accounts, and then entered the 25-digit pin from the Live card. Imagine our chagrin when we found out that it only covers one user, and not the entire gaming unit. You would think that a card activates the unit as a whole, but that couldn't be further from the truth.
My complaint isn't in false advertising or fine print, since I later found out that there are family packs available on the Live cards. Microsoft is in fact being upfront and honest, but it still doesn't "feel right". I have since read numerous complaints on various forums about the general disdain for this tactic. JMHO, but I think that there shouldn't be anything that charges for each individual account user profile on the system.
I found myself in the dilemma of classifying this as an informative or a complaint. I chose the latter because it just doesn't sit well with me as a consumer. Whether it's right or wrong, or regardless if I had known about it beforehand, it still just doesn't seem right.
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Anonymous on 03/14/2012:
It just seems like another way to bleed a little more money out of the consumer. But the game and all its bells and whistles ROCKS!
MDSasquatch on 03/14/2012:
I love my PS3 and have deep admiration for my WII; we have an X-Box, but hardly ever use it because of the nickel and diming.
Anonymous on 03/14/2012:
I don't understand why this is titled a scam when you state you later found out that Xbox sells family packs.
I imagine they do it this way because not every household would want the the entire unit to be have Xbox live which could then expose young children to interactions with strangers. I might be wrong. I have an Xbox but I don't play it, and don't let my daughter have a Live account. For that very reason.
MRM on 03/14/2012:
I don't own a gaming console since I have short attention span to finish the game. Look at the PC games I've played, I just played the first few levels and never play the game again.
Anonymous on 03/14/2012:
Justcuz> Actually, your account isn't always live. You have to sign-in to the live mode. In addition, you can also have a normal profile without making it a live account...if that makes any sense...lol!
Racket would have been more appropriate than scam. Good call.
Kris10 on 03/14/2012:
Did you call Microsoft to see if they would credit that money to a family account? If they get enough complaints about this, they might change it. Meanwhile, I'd call and ask if they could do that for you.
Tezrien on 03/14/2012:
Just be glad your son hasn't ventured into the world of Massive Multiplayer Online games such as World of Warcraft or Star Wars: The Old Republic. If the Xbox Live business model surprised you and doesn't "feel right", imagine how you would feel buying the game for $50 and paying $15 a month to continue to play it.
Anonymous on 03/14/2012:
Yes, that kind of makes sense...I think!
XBox Racket. I like it
Anonymous on 03/14/2012:
Only time I play Xbox Live is when they have the free trials. Other wise I just play the regular campaign.
I haven't played my old school 360 in a year or so.
madconsumer on 03/14/2012:
I would try to see if MS will upgrade your single card to a family card for free.
Alain on 03/15/2012:
Good review, J4A. Madconsumer & Kris have some good ideas there!
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Too Big to Care
Posted by
Wow. Dealing with Microsoft on an Xbox repair is about as much fun as plucking nose hair. My first Xbox failed after 3 years and would cost too much to fix. Being loaded down with expensive Xbox games, I pretty much had to get a new one. Bought it from Amazon on October 23rd of 2012.
December of 2012 and my Xbox heeded the Mayan calendar and ended its world. Not even 3 months old.
Researched on the web and found it's a fairly common problem with the power supply being a POS and it would have to be replaced. Sounds simple, right? Hardly...
The only recourse offered by Microsoft was to send the Xbox to Laredo, TX (where it evidently runs across the border to Mexico) so they can fix it. Instructions specified NOT to send the power supply or any other accessories. I knew if I did send that in I would get back an Xbox that possibly now works, but has no power supply. So I followed instructions.
4 weeks later I get it back. With the neat little note inside that says they didn't do anything to it because it wasn't broken. A little fact here.. I had put a note in the box saying that it was the power supply and I would need that replaced. I assume this was thrown away without even being looked at.
So, 5 days ago, I actually got a kid on the phone from Microsoft support. He agreed that I have been jacked around for weeks on this and a little customer service might be in order. He said he would TRY and get them to drop ship me a new power supply without me sending in the old one. Admittedly, he did say TRY when I called him on it.
Today I get email from them pretty much telling me their policy is not to do nice things for anybody and if I wanted this POS fixed that I had to send in the old one first. They then told me that they were doing me a giant favor and including a return shipping label so it wouldn't cost me to ship. While that is somewhat helpful, it doesn't address any of horrible customer service issues they've handed me up to now. This guy even had the audacity to imply that I should be going through Amazon to get this fixed? Really?
Do yourself a favor. Get a PS3. I have no idea if Sony is any better, but they darn sure couldn't be any worse.
Last Microsoft product I will ever buy.
UPDATE: Got an email from MS today saying they were sending me a new power supply and that it "would ship within 10 days". I have already used their truly magnanimous offer of a free shipping label and sent the old one in, but they couldn't have known that just yet (I only sent it about 20 minutes before I got the email). We shall see...
Resolution Update 01/24/2013:
MS finally came through with the power supply after 6 weeks of me already knowing that I needed one. Works as is supposed to for now.
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clutzycook on 01/16/2013:
My husband's 360 augured in over the summer. Since he didn't have a huge collection of games (he mostly plays the PS3), we just let it be. So 6 months later it's still sitting on my living room floor in about 4 or 5 pieces from his attempt to repair it, lol.
At Your Service on 01/17/2013:
Exactly Why I wouldn't give up Your Atari.
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Long on promise short on delivery (literally)
Posted by
After purchasing a XBOX 360 ( the newer S version) I started having problems with the power brick losing power and displaying a red light ( according to the folks at the retailer the internal breaker was going off). Needless to say the retailer didn't have any to swap out and recommended that I contact Microsoft. I did so and the support representative informed me that I would have to send in the brick so they can send me a new one. I was hesitant, seeing that I had only been using this unit for less than a month, but I was ready to to do so. Right before getting off the phone I inquired about some options that would minimize my downtime, I was told that they could send me a new brick and a box as well in order to ship the old one back ( hey I figured I just shelled out some money to get the console it didn't make sense that I pay more to get it fixed...kind of like going in for a warranty repair on your vehicle and them charging you money to drive it to the dealership...but I digress)
Being satisfied with my encounter I resigned myself to waiting... Well five business days go by and still nothing. Thinking to myself that the ice storm we had may have slowed down the shipment I waited another day or two. Well then I followed up via the website (ref# 1148933177 in case you're curious) and promptly received a call that they were still waiting for my power brick. Thinking to myself that I could call and they could look up my transcript from the previous support representative and get all this cleared up in a juf. Well I couldn't be further from what was to happen, the first representative decided to not only put me on hold X3 ( politely I may add) then he begins to spout policy like it was canonical scripture. I informed him that I was aware of the return process in place but I was also informed of there ability to replace the broken item as well ( which I was promised).
Not being satisfied with the answer I informed him that this is not a personal attack but I wanted to escalate this issue to his manager. I was informed that he was in a meeting and would return my call within the next 2-4 hours. Well surprisingly enough a gentleman named "Micheal" who was alleging to be a manager basically told me that that is the process in which they do things. When pressed about the sending power bricks to users I was told that as of January they no longer did such things ( convenient huh...that's what I told him.) He then proceeded to tell me that he could investigate by reviewing the transcript, "if they are available" it but it would take longer and I might as well just send it in... In other words "tuff $H*T". At this point it was no longer about getting what was promised to me it was about customer service. Hey I don't live in a glass house I have been involved with Tech support and been around a lot of call centers so my initial expectations were low. But this was a true slap in the face and I feel I owe it to all the people out there to realize that no matter how they spin the idea of having great support the only thing they are interested in is the all mighty dollar ( no surprise there huh?). So I told Micheal that rather than sending one in I was going to purchase another unit ( I know that's what they want me to do...but I have too much invested in games ...for now at least ) and asked him to escalate it further. We'll see if they will bother calling. Unit then I have a few hours to burn, Google to use and I can cut and paste this.) caveat emptor...
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Whiteduck on 01/16/2013:
Sounds like my same exact story. Right down to being promised one thing by the initial tech and being told just the opposite when the work had to be done.
I can add to my story that MS sent me an email today (after I had already boxed and shipped the brick this morning) that they are sending me a new one. And it will ship within 10 days... (not that it would arrive, but that they MIGHT find time to ship it to me within that time frame).
All this was after a major melt down on my part when on the phone with these guys. Called them everything but a nice guy when they started to tell me that sometimes they just "guess" when deciding if your Xbox is still covered by warranty. At this point, that was the stupidest possible thing you could have said to me...
I love your "canonical scripture" line. After all, these anti-customer policies are handed down by higher powers and NO ONE can change them...
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Complete and total lack of customer service
Posted by
TUCSON, ARIZONA -- This whole ordeal started at the end of March, I located on a forum that I visit an Xbox 360 for sale with the red rings of death. I understood that there was a chance that the sticker would be removed and Microsoft would be unwilling to repair it, but I looked into it and the warranty had never been voided and everything was good. I received my 360 from the person that I purchased it from, and all seemed to be well. I called Microsoft's Xbox Repair line the moment that I received the console, I spoke with a gentlemen there and was informed that despite that I had bought it second-hand everything would be alright and the console could be repaired no problem. I was overjoyed, my purchase of $65 seemed to be a godsend. After that, I received the box to ship the console back to Microsoft and sent it away immediately. The service center received the console on April 5th, again, everything seemed to be flowing smoothly. I noticed something weird when on Apr 10th, I received an email from the service center saying that I had never sent the console, I doublechecked the UPS tracking number from the box and saw that it did indeed arrive and wondered what was going on. I checked their website, service.xbox.com and found the status had not been updated; I was concerned, no information had changed and everything seemed like it didn't happen and so I called their service department.
The first time that I called Microsoft, they told me that they had indeed received the Xbox and it was under repairs. Feeling elated, I dismissed it as just technowizardry not working the way in which it was supposed to and went along. I waited until 4/18 to call again, not having heard anything back from Microsoft and not seeing the website ever updating was cause for concern. I spoke with a representative there, whom this time could not find any information about the console. I gave him my reference #, and nothing had ever been updated in the system despite what the first agent had told me. I started to get a bit upset at this point, things were starting to get kind of sketchy. The agent ended the conversation by telling me that he knew nothing about anything that was going on, and they would have to contact the actual service center. The agent then informed me that there would be a 3-5 business day wait until the service center replied and then they would know more. I asked the agent why there would be such a long wait to which he gave the eloquent answer of, "I don't know." He seriously said, "I don't know." I pushed further, to which his only response was that he honestly had no idea how the system worked. After speaking to a supervisor and receiving the exact same answer, I was frustrated. It appeared that in some strange twist of feline quantum mechanics, I had been sold Schrodinger's Xbox.
I called the service center again on 4/23, figuring that would be plenty of time for them to locate the console and figure out what's going on. The agent whom I spoke with that day was kind enough, she never gave me an answer of I don't know but instead was never even able to locate the order in the system. I gave her the repair number, which she could not find and I gave her the UPS tracking number (which as of right now, still works). The order was again escalated to the repair center and I was told that it would be taken care of. She informed me that I was likely to receive my console this week and nothing would be wrong, they had just not yet determined whether to send me a new console or repair the old one. Again, Microsoft lead me to believe that everything was okay. During this entire time, I had made no mystery of the fact that the console was purchased second hand.
Yesterday, on 5/02, I had not received my console. I had received no word from Microsoft, and no contact. Again, I contacted the repair center. I spoke with a gentlemen there, and was informed that they had again received no information as to the whereabouts of the console. He informed me that it had been "esclated to the highest level" and that a supervisor would be calling me within the next 24 hours. Despite being angry, I agreed that this would be okay. 24 hours later, I had received no call. I called them. I originally spoke with an agent at the center with the pseudonym of Louise, he found that the service center had finally responded but escalated the call to a supervisor. The supervisor, Jose, proceeded to inform me that the Service center was now requesting a proof of purchase from me and if they did not receive it they would be returning the console unrepaired. I was livid. I had made no secret that the console was purchased second hand, being so far as to be outright about it at the first call. I told Jose about what his original agent had told me, but he remained unpersuaded, I would be shafted and given a broken console in return. It took this department 28 days from the date of reception to go so far as to merely request a proof of purchase, I offered them the proof of purchase of secondhand but obviously, they would not accept this. I asked to speak to Jose's supervisor and was told that despite that they were indeed there, they did not accept calls and I would not be allowed to speak with them. I asked Jose if there was anybody else whom I could contact for an alternate opinion who would be above him, and was told that my only option was to call the service center again and hope to speak to another supervisor. I asked Jose for a list of information regarding the console and was denied. Jose made absolutely no effort to help, their entire company strung me around with absolutely no help. It took me 28 days just to get an answer from them.
28 days of being told that everything was okay, being told that repairs were underway. Because of this call center's approach, and their assurance that it was indeed being repaired, I went ahead and purchased games and accessories for the console none of which I will be able to use. As of right now, everything that I have purchased for the console is a total loss.
Microsoft's complete lack of customer service is a flagrant disregard for the responsibility which they hold as a large corporation. As for me, their products will not be being recommended to anyone.
Thanks for reading,
Nelson Jay Smith
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Anonymous on 05/04/2008:
You might think about removing your name from your post. This sounds like a Microsoft Gone Wrong problem. My advice would be to start a letter bomb campaign to Microsoft corporate. The dullards at the level your at don't seem to know their left from their right. Good luck!
Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052-6399
Attn: Customer Service
Steve Ballmer, Chief Executive Officer
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Failure to provide extended warranty.
Posted by
THE COLONY, TEXAS -- I purchased an XBOX 360 on Sept. 1st, 2007. On or around November 25th, I contacted XBOX to let them know that it was not working and they agreed to fix it. The turn around time was excellent and that is not my complaint. I thought my mfr warranty was up in 90 days but it was actually up on March 3rd per the XBOX customer service rep. When we received the repaired console back(in Dec.) it was still not working so we called again. We were told to call back in 3 to 4 hours because their computers were down which was fine even though this is Microsoft. So when we called back we were told that the cable we needed would not be here for 6-8 weeks(looking at Feb) which was a very big problem considering that this machine broke only after two months and now we were told we would have to wait another month to month and a half for a part. My son would have a system that worked less than half the time we had it. My husband took issue with this and somehow they were able to get us a cable in a week so why they said 6-8 is beyond me. I told my husband to verify with this tech if our warranty was really March 3rd and he re-confirmed this. He told us not to mail the $49.90 until then because we would be wasting money if we did it sooner. I was prepared to mail it in December when I talked to him.
Here is where I have a problem. I wrote the check and mailed it first thing in the morning on February 27th. It was picked up at 9AM that morning. This would allow 6 days 5 of which were business days to get from Texas to Washington.
Yesterday (April 24th) I get my check back telling me that they can't process it because the warranty was up. When I called and talked to Customer Service they told me that it probably didn't get there until March 3rd or later. I told them that first of all, they need to pay attention to the post marking and second of all, they can't deny me based on an assumption on their part. My next question to her was why did this letter dated April 21st, post marked April 22nd land in my mailbox on April 24th. I asked to talk to her supervisor. The supervisor told me the same thing... the letter "probably" didn't get their until too late. I asked her how could she argue a couple of days that may or may not have happened when it was the Microsoft people who told me to wait the additional 3 months and she also didn't know what to say to me when I told her that I received their letter in 2 days but they are trying to tell me that they couldn't get mine in 6 days. Then when I asked to talk to her boss she told me that I couldn't talk to anyone else and that the warranty group made the decision so I asked for the warranty groups phone number. She said she wasn't allowed to give it out so I asked to be transferred and she said that they didn't have a phone number, only an address. I then hung up on her. This is unacceptable. I have all of my reference numbers including the one for this call and if they really do record messages they can look it up and confirm that this is all accurate. I will never buy another MS gaming product again and I should never have strayed away from Playstation. My son used his Playstation from the age of 11 until 16 with no problems at all and he was very rough with it. Xbox can't even last 2 months, barely played, never moved from it's position, and only touched by a 16 year old, no children.
I'm also really sick of having to talk to someone in another country who I can't hardly understand whenever I have to call most companies about anything.
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Do Not Buy An Xbox360 Ps3 Is The Way To Go
Posted by
k oz
I got an Xbox360 on 1-30-07. It only worked for about 4 months then the three red lights happened. I sent it in got it back without the games. I downloaded two of them then it stop reading the games. I did not want to send it in once more because it took them four weeks to get it back to me. After getting tired of trying to get it to work disc after disc new game after new game I called back. They had told me the first time when the red light problem happen that I had a three year warranty on the Xbox. When I get on the phone with them they tell me that it only applies to the red light problem and they will only fix it for $99.00 When they should have fixed the problem the first time and now the Xbox360 is only $200.00. What kind of crap is this? I also talked to john a supervisor at Xbox and he hung up on me like I was not going to be pissed off after spending $437.13.
Ps3 is the way to go I might be know body and I always let things go not this time I also talk to shane a representative who was known help then another sup named ken who was known help so if I want my $437.13 Xbox360 to be fixed it will cost me $99.00 When now they are all ready $200.00 So I can pay another $100.00 And get a new one or give them 99.00 Xbox 360 is a pice of crap do not buy on PS3 is the way to go how many people have been fby the Xbox 360.
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KCRovert on 04/07/2009:
Wow....that last paragraph is one heck of a messy run-on sentence. You state that Microsoft should have fixed an unknown (or non-existent) problem when they corrected the "red ring of death" issue. How exactly are they supposed to fix a problem they don't know about, or based on your post seems to have not existed when you sent it in for the "red ring" error??
And yes, you could buy a 360 for $200, but it would not be comparable to the one you purchased for $437...it would have no internal memory to allow you to download games through Xbox Live...so that is an invalid comparison.
And as for PS3 being better than 360, do some online research....the market would seemed to contradict your assumption. When you look at many games sold for both platforms, 360 has killed PS3. But it's a personal decision.
Anonymous on 04/07/2009:
What grinds my gears about the X-Box 360 is that initially Microsoft intentionally and with prior knowledge shipped many defective Xbox 360's to market with the thought it was cheaper to warranty repair than to tighten up quality control and do 100% inspections on manufacturing runs that produced unacceptable defect rates in order to get to market on schedule. That's just bad mojo.
Microsoft has corrected some of the manufacturing problems but since they didn't issue a recall one can still purchase off the shelf new 360s that are the product of their quality junked "get it to market fast" manufacturing process. If you must buy a 360 then I'd highly recommend only buying the elite model which are all a product of microsofts revamped manufacture & supplier processes.
Good Review!
Soaring Consumer on 04/07/2009:
I think the issue is that while fixing one problem, they created another and are refusing to fix it without payment.
Microsoft should take responsibility and fix this free of charge.
I suggest that you contact Microsoft's Corporate office, at 425-882-8080, and see what they can do for you.
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Why Do We Only Have Ours Last 10-11 Months?
Posted by
ILLINOIS -- This is the third Christmas that I will have to either ship back and pay for repairs or go out and start over and buy another new one and get a replacement warranty on it. Does Bill Gates think that if they make a product that lasts two or three years perhaps they will go broke? I feel a game system should last longer than a year. Here I have gifts wrapped for my son (games) just like last Christmas and again our Xbox broke tonight.
This is a teenager not a younger child. He is not abusive to it. I am furious about this and Xbox doesn't seem to care.
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madconsumer on 12/13/2008:
is it over used?
Principissa on 12/13/2008:
Mad, we use ours maybe once or twice a week for a few hours each time, and it's been sent out for repair 5 times in the 2 years we've owned it.
Anonymous on 12/13/2008:
[admin snip - user-directed comment not necessary] The OP has stated it is used by a teenager and not abused. There has been an obvious problem with the XBox 360 for a while now. Who can define what "overuse" is? It's a video game. It is intended to be used and the OP is well within their rights to expect the game to perform.
Anonymous on 12/13/2008:
I agree John. Something so expensive should be made to last a lot longer--with few or no problems. Princi--That's not a very good track record and really backs up the poster's complaint. I rest my case, lol.
GenuineNerd on 12/14/2008:
I heard that the Xbox 360 sometimes has overheating problems; some companies make add-on cooling fans for them. If your Xbox is repaired or replaced, you may want to look into buying this cooling fan, which snaps on the back of the console.
Principissa on 12/14/2008:
GN, we have one, didn't help. Even got the one MS itself put out. It's actually certain games causing it to do this. Halo3 especially.
Sparticus on 12/14/2008:
I have the original Xbox. Never had any problems with it. But I have heard the 360 model is plagued with issues. Sounds like then skimped on the quality control for the new version.
Anonymous on 12/14/2008:
My original comment was snipped, but it was directed at the person two posts above my original comment. Who cares how often it was used so why push it back on the OP? That is what is what the device is for.
madconsumer on 12/14/2008:
john you back at it??
when will you give it a rest?
besides, it was a legitimate question.
losinsusan on 12/14/2008:
Oh he uses it everyday for sure! He is heavily into it on weekends mostly. But again it is meant to be played. There is nothing stating it can only be used one hour a day etc. If that was the case then they have to say so. We don't even use it as a DVD player either which will shorten the life span even further. Rather than give microsoft the money to yet repair it again and take a month to do that. We went to Best Buy, bought a new one and took out a two year replacement warranty on it for only 30.00. That seemed like a great deal to me since when it breaks again next winter, we can walk in and they just hand me a new one and at that time we can again purchase the warranty again on it. I felt it seemed like a good protection on it. I only pray that doing that is as easy as Best Buy claims it will be! I won't dare look up if anyone had trouble doing that.
Anonymous on 12/14/2008:
Yes I am back at it and I will keep at it. It was not a legitimate question. It does not matter how often it is used, if it used appropriately and not abused. Something you pay that much money for should work longer than 11 months. Microsoft knows there is a problem that is why they keep replacing the units. Not a hard concept to grasp if you choose to use common sense.
losinsusan, I hope that your next machine lasts longer. You paid good money for a machine and for the games that go with it. You have every right to expect that it will work for longer than 11 months.
Principissa on 12/14/2008:
I agree with John. As long as the console is being used properly and they aren't using it as a door stop or a coaster, it should last longer than 11 months. I have a PS2 upstairs that we got when it first came out, haven't had a single issue with it. And I can honestly say that me or my son play it almost every day.
You do not drop close to 500.00 bucks (199.99 now) on something to have it break after normal play.
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Hardware And Customer Support
Posted by
INKSTER, MICHIGAN -- The Xbox 360 is the greatest manufacturing failure since the Edsel. I bought a 360 in June and had to replace it in September. When the piece of crap broke down again in November, I simply returned it for a new one and traded it to Gamestop for a Playstation 3.
All the while, I was treated with disrespect and incompetence when dealing with Microsoft customer service. I bought 1600 live points, tried to activate them, and was informed that the points had already been used. I called customer service and, after being put on hold several times for 30 minutes (the last time with the phone hanging up on me,) I was finally told to "go &%$# myself" by the service staff.
It's too bad, really. I enjoyed the games and Xbox live experience, but your historic failures in quality control and customer service training have solidified my lifelong allegiance to Sony and Nintendo. Oh, and go $%$$ yourself, too.
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Anonymous on 12/05/2008:
I think we are not hearing the whole story, here.
Anonymous on 12/05/2008:
A spoof, perhaps. Or this person has a vivid imagination. Raise of hands--How many of you have called a business and had them say this? Come on now--fess up.
Ponie on 12/05/2008:
Not me!
old fart on 12/05/2008:
I've said it TO businesses...
Anonymous on 12/05/2008:
Well, OF, that is an entirely different scenario!
cherpep on 12/05/2008:
Every day, diane. I fill my car up with gas, pay the attendant, he says it as I walk away. I pick up my coffee, and I hear it in Arabic. As I drop my child off at school, the principal shouts it across the parking lot. People really want me to be satisfied.
Principissa on 12/05/2008:
LOL cherpep!!
You know, I've never heard anyone say something bad like that unless they were provoked. Something tells me this isn't the whole story.
Trust me, I've had my fair share of calls to customer service for my husband's 360, four times to be exact, and I've never been told to do that. Maybe I got the wrong reps?
Anonymous on 12/05/2008:
I heard a little different version of this while I was buggy ramming Asian women at Costco this morning. You kind of get used to it.
I'm glad to have discovered this new game, but some guy still holds the distance record of 3 feet over in San Fran.
I just can't get them to fly that far.
Principissa on 12/05/2008:
Anonymous on 12/05/2008:
when my xbox360 broke down twice (three red lights of death) the customer service was great....It was a gift,and I didn't have the receipt(lol),they looked everything up by the serial number and found that the unit was manufactured a month before I received it....
The person on the phone was super nice,and knew how to take care of the problem
Principissa on 12/05/2008:
TW we had the same experience with them. The second time we had to send it out, they lost hubby's 360, sent us a new one and gave us 1600 live points. I've never been cursed at by the reps. Ours too was red ring of death, we think from halo 3, every time we play it we get rrod.
Anonymous on 12/05/2008:
Your not alone I got the red rings as well. I sent it back they sent me a refurbished peace of shat. that keeps freezing when Iâm playing games. that's what happens when you try to beat the other guys at launch without testing.
Anonymous on 12/05/2008:
I just got that Shaun White Snowboarding game....its OK,not what I was expecting.....I still play the hell out of Brothers in Arms Hells Highway.....good game.
Anonymous on 12/05/2008:
Hey Train is shaun white that ginger that snowboards.
Principissa on 12/05/2008:
I got him Fable 2 and the new Prince of Persia for presents. He's been playing the crap out of Bioshock and UT.
Anonymous on 12/05/2008:
ginger? If you're referring to long red hair..yes that's him...
The tricks are fun...there's avalanches and junk.. you can throw snowballs at people....
Anonymous on 12/05/2008:
fable 2 is good...I was married in the game,and started hitting on other village women in front of the wife.....she divorced me and took the kid....lol
Anonymous on 12/05/2008:
Meh I skip on the sport games. Gears of war, Fable 2, call of duty. my kind of stuff
Anonymous on 12/05/2008:
I,m playing fable two now I got my girl a ring I,m trying to get cash to buy a house so I can get laid already. shes being a tough cookie all picky about the houses.
Anonymous on 12/05/2008:
I need to get the new COD....Far Cry 2 looks pretty good too.
My buddy has "Mirrors Edge" that game is too cool
Principissa on 12/05/2008:
Hubby goes to gamespot dot com and gets reviews on games from them. Or watch xplay. They're usually spot on on those reviews.
I want to get that new raving rabids game for Wii, but you have to have one of those Wii fits to play with your butt.
Principissa on 12/05/2008:
I saw the previews for Far Cry 2, I want that game for me. I'm playing Assassins Creed right now. It's a pretty good game so far. Hubby beat it already.
Strange as this sounds there's a new Naruto game for 360 that I want to check out and I'm fuming mad that Little Big Planet is only for PS3.
Anonymous on 12/05/2008:
you have a choice of protected sex or unprotected sex....but you must have a condom for protected....
My fable character is growing horns because I rob houses and businesses....
Anonymous on 12/05/2008:
Assassins creed is a good game....the graphics are awesome.....a little repetative,but good....
Anonymous on 12/05/2008:
I have just about jacked everyone in bowerstone. and I,m still short to buy a house so I been playing poker most of the day to get some cash.
Anonymous on 12/05/2008:
I made some decent cash bartending,and doing blacksmith jobs......I like selling people into slavery....lol
Principissa on 12/05/2008:
My dude was evil in the first game. I couldn't stand being called chicken chaser so I just killed anyone who said it.
You're right about the graphics on that game, they are wicked. I should have it beat by Sunday.
Anonymous on 12/05/2008:
Skate is a great game as well.....
Skate 2 comes out soon....
Way better than the Tony Hawk skateboard games IMO
Anonymous on 12/05/2008:
One of those bandits started beating on my woman the other day. Dang cowards
Anonymous on 12/05/2008:
Is your woman Chinese wally?
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XBOX 360 Wireless Adapter DIED Within 6 Months
Posted by
DALLAS, TEXAS -- I purchased an two XBOX 360s plus the two $100 XBOX 360 Wireless Adapters. Within 6 months one Wireless Adapter died (and this has been verified by trial and error by simply attaching a working adapter and by trying the bad adapter on another machine.) Microsoft only claims a 90-day warranty. This little adapter was $100!!! And within months it just died. Now considering the game console wars I would think Microsoft would simply exchange my defetive product for a new one...well they won't...nor will the retail store I purchased it from. I understand warranties but when a $100 little adapter dies within months that is total cr*p!!! I also have two XBOX Live accounts that I pay for to play online and now cannot do that unless I go out and spend ANOTHER $100 for a new adapter. This is a horrible policy...I think 12-months should be a better warranty period. This makes me wonder about whether or not to continue with Microsoft or switch over to Sony Playstation 3. If anyone has had bad experiences with the XBOX 360 (or the accessories) please speak up in this forum. My issue is primarily with the QUALITY of a product that dies within months and secondarily the warranty period being so short. I have purchased two original XBOX consoles and replaced both with XBOX 360 consoles (plus a total of four wireless adapters, tons of games, xbox live accounts and this is the support I get when I have one little defective product (they tell a heavy supported of their platform to blow off.) Playstation 3 comes with wireless built-in plus a high-definition format DVD drive internal (both of which XBOX 360 does not ship without of the box.) Or I could get a Wii next time around...gee thanks Microsoft you have now really pissed off a former heavy supporter of you and the probem could have been solved very simply by exchanging the adapter.
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Anonymous on 02/20/2007:
If the adapter has any lights showing you might want to try some troubleshooting as posted by Microsoft. I use a Linksys Gaming Adapter and it works beautifully. It's also cheaper.
adzidek on 02/20/2007:
FYI any brand-new factory-sealed piece of electronics equipment sold in North America has a mandatory minimum 12-month manufacturer warranty period against defects. 90 days, on the other hand, sounds like a refurbished/open box warranty. Did you buy this item refurb? If not, contact the FCC. The equipment has an FCC ID on the back of it. Microsoft is legally obligated to repair the device if it is defective, within 1 year of the date of sale. You will need the original receipt. If you bought it open box/refurbished, you're out of luck past 90 days.
Anonymous on 02/20/2007:
Adzidek, where you did find the info on a mandatory minimum warranty on electronics? I searched the FCC web pages and elsewhere and found no reference to it. Seriously I would like to know because it would be useful knowledge that would help people.
Hugh_Jorgen on 02/21/2007:
Adzidek - sorry, but the FCC ID just insures that the device has been tested and meets FCC emission requirements. There is no federal requirement of a 12 month warranty on electronics.
techer on 05/11/2009:
These adapters can be repaired now p/m me and I will send you a link to there website.
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Disgusting Fraudsters
Posted by
On the 23rd December 2008 my bank account details were hacked into through the Xbox 360. Microsoft are just not interested, they wouldn't even speak to the police officer involved in the case. I am now many pounds out of pocket.
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Anonymous on 02/18/2009:
This is interesting. Can you expand a little and tell us how the fraud was perpetrated?
KCRovert on 02/18/2009:
I agree with Ken, I too would like additional information. We have a 360, but I don't know how someone could get our bank account info, since there is nothing strored on the 360.
DigitalCommando on 02/18/2009:
Maybe there is something to this guy's claim. According to Panda Security, an antivirus software company:
Panda Software: Xbox 360 May Be Target For Trojans, Viruses
>> From techweb.com:
Panda Software said that over the last several days, it has tracked a trio of Trojans that aimed to reduce Sony's PSP (PlayStation Portable) and the Nintendo DS game consoles into expensive bricks. In order for the malicious codes detected so far to reach one of these consoles, users would have to voluntarily run applications from unauthorized sources.
Xbox 360 is much more Internet-centric than other consoles," argued Patrick Hinojosa, the chief technology officer of Panda, in an interview. "It has a lot more online capabilities, and because of that I think that malicious code will be more prevalent than on other systems."
While he doesn't see a risk in the Xbox 360-Windows XP Media Center connection -- the two devices don't share a similar operating system -- Hinojosa expects that hackers will post code online disguised, for instance, as a game crack. "It may not happen in the immediate future, but I think it's a potential danger," he said.
In part, the fact that xBox has a Microsoft nameplate will draw attackers. "There's a certain segment of people who just don't like Microsoft, and the numbers in the black hat [hacker] community are even greater."
Soaring Consumer on 02/18/2009:
I am thinking that the OP probably used his bank account information to buy something through XBox Live.
I suggest you go to a branch of your bank and notify them of the fraud. If they have the transaction records you can contact the companies that charged you to get the charges removed and possibly get information about the person that used the information. Withdraw the rest of your money out of the attacked account and put it into a new account, and have them close the old account in the process.
Mtn453 on 02/18/2009:
SOunds like you need to secure your netowrk a little better
bounty on 09/07/2009:
xbox is nothing but junk they don't last long I think they need to pull all the xbox junk off market game and all they are a rip off cheap maid
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Steve Sunu
Articles By Steve Sunu
Showing results 1010-1029 of 2644
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