What's inside the Big Box Project?
by Ludwig Kietzmann 
{ Jan 19th 2007 at 9:45PM }
A malfunctioning Xbox 360, that's what. After being bathed in the dreaded red lights of doom for the second time, one Xbox 360 owner was decidedly unimpressed to learn that his second return would not enjoy the same level of service that the initial one did. Customer support informed him that a recent change in Microsoft policy did away with round-trip shipping boxes -- instead, he would have to provide his own packaging and pay for the shipping to the repair center. Irked by the policy change, our protagonist saw the opportunity for revenge when he was told of another Microsoft policy. It dictates that when the repairs are completed, the console is sent back to the customer within the same box it arrived in, at Microsoft's expense. Thus, The Big Box Project was born.
"The mission is simple; to raise enough money through donations to send the largest box possible... a shipping container. I want a 40 foot solid steel shipping container with nothing in it but my poor little xbox 360."
The site's creator suggests that if enough Paypal donations come through, the shipping container will be taken on tour, gathering up broken Xbox 360s across the country. Joystiq can't verify what happens to donations, but if you're going to lose money to a scam, at least make sure it's an amusing one.
[Thanks chEv3lle.]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
rdj75 @ Jan 19th 2007 9:54PM
This is very funny, I would definitely donate something just to see it happen.
slacker @ Jan 19th 2007 9:57PM
whats with all the dead 360's? does the ps3 have the same problem? i see frozen PS3's at the stores. but i have met plenty of people with brick 360's. myself included.
icelandman @ Jan 19th 2007 10:01PM
I want this too work... I want them to drive a shipping container around. Imagine the logistics that would have to be created to support returning all of the Xboxes. It could be awesome.
~PEACE
footlong! @ Jan 22nd 2007 7:16PM
not funny. infantile. does he really think it's any more fair for microsoft to have to pay round trip shipping for every 360 that broke 'all by itself'?
jay @ Jan 19th 2007 9:59PM
I usually hate internet shenanigans. but this is incredible. I'd donate, but I wont.
Friggin brilliant!
Frosty22 @ Jan 19th 2007 10:05PM
This guy is profiting off of this, no question.
ATOMIC @ Jan 19th 2007 10:07PM
M$ has balls bro....
no other console has ever been put together so cheaply and broken so bad... and then when it breaks, what? lets be an ass about it....
if your console broke early, lucky you but if it broke after DEC7 fuck you says M$....
DBX00 @ Jan 19th 2007 10:15PM
This will probably go nowhere...Microsoft will get the kid a new XBOX360, kill the momentum, and quietly go back to selling broken XBOX360's to the rest of the world. I guess the saying, "you get what you pay for" is really applicable to the durability of the system. How can a system be on the market for over a year and still face the same malfunction? You think they would have solved the problem by now.
soccerdrew17 @ Jan 19th 2007 10:15PM
Nicely done. If all else it shows how badly MS has handled the 360 early systems (and people are saying the PS3 feels rushed) and that they are jerks about it.
If all I heard was this then it would be hysterical anyways. What a great way to a ship the 360's back MS.
Blink @ Jan 19th 2007 10:20PM
How about throwing your money at something that's actually worth something:
http://www.redcross.org/donate/donate.html
Anyone who gives money to this moron is an ass.
omgJOHN @ Jan 19th 2007 10:32PM
This guy is a total douche. He gets no sympathy from me for the way he acted in the phone conversation. Anyone who puts money towards his "mission" is putting it to a worthless cause.
BklynKid @ Jan 19th 2007 10:32PM
I'd have to strongly agree with #9.
Zachary Hinchliffe @ Jan 19th 2007 10:52PM
I disagree, Blink. While Red Cross is nice (and yes, I've donated substantial sums to them in the past), we don't pay bloated prices for malfunctioning electronics, just to get ripped off even more. Sure this is a publicity stunt, but it's an anticorporate one, which I am hugely FOR.
anonsupportguy @ Jan 19th 2007 10:49PM
dammit i wish i thought of that. My box died while the free round trip shipping was still offered. Then the replaecement box arrived and it was dead too - and I was informed I would have to pay to ship their dead box back to them.
Complaints did no good (and I work for another support group - its great being lied to while you are reading the notes they put in your case, really :). So I was out shipping to fix their mistake.
DAMMIT i wish I had thought of this. And if MS fast tracks him a new box, i want one too (the #3 replacement they sent only works about half the time now and they say warranty is up), and the shipping i paid to fix their fugups
Jeff @ Jan 19th 2007 10:49PM
Another one: http://savethechildren.org/
That's the one my wife and I donate to regularly.
Do something useful with the money you plan to waste on this.
otakucode @ Jan 19th 2007 10:50PM
I hope nobody at MS sprains their pen changing the policy to set a maximum return fee they will cover.
SIP YEK NOD @ Jan 19th 2007 10:54PM
they will return it in a new box, throw the shipping container in a lake, no question about it.
Sylvain Gagnon @ Jan 19th 2007 11:05PM
#16, this is not China ;-)
rick @ Jan 19th 2007 11:10PM
this guy must have been a total ass on the phone. when i called them my waranty had already expired and without me even bitching at the dude he backdated a new waranty for me and then my 360 got a free ride. by far the best experience i have had on the phone with a rep. thats just me i guess
SIP YEK NOD @ Jan 19th 2007 11:20PM
"17. #16, this is not China ;-)"
oh, you are right. they will carefully pack his new 360 in the shipping container and bill gates will personally carry the container from wherever they get repaired to this guys house wearing flip-flops, a spedo, and a "who farted" hat. you are correct.
soccerdrew17 @ Jan 19th 2007 11:25PM
if they dont give a free replacement this should be covered under law.
An easily detected defective product must be covered under any circumstances. Since it was such a defective product Microsoft must replace all broken ones that are designed the same as the ones that are know to get the ring of death.
Goodlogic @ Jan 19th 2007 11:42PM
Next time you all get a console get it from Best Buy and get the PSP warrenty, (not playstation portable) Ive gone through 7 Xbox 360's. Bad luck I guess but fuck it as long as Laquwanda Jackson or Shamika or whoever works in customer service keeps replaceing it, Im happy.
ZRX @ Jan 19th 2007 11:44PM
MS knew about the problem with the caps / termination resistors. They shipped anyway. Can't say how I know but I know.
Zak @ Jan 19th 2007 11:45PM
The amount of time some people have to earn douche bag points astounds me.
F**k this guy.
Reapz @ Jan 19th 2007 11:59PM
Don't you Americans have something like us Australians, such as a Department of Fair Trading? The gist of it is that if you buy a defective product, and the company won't exchange it or help you, you can go to the DFT and they will investigate it further. It's a pretty decent system that gets things worked out, and I can guarantee if you said to Microsoft, "Well, I'll be seeing the DFT", they will shit their guts through their nose.
It happened when I bought a Compaq laptop a few years back, and no more than 2 months into it the CPU burnt out. I took it in for replacement, it took 4 weeks and then 1 week later the screen died. I took it back, another 3 weeks, then got the laptop back only for the network card to die. Things sort of ran smoothly until the warranty ran out and then the harddrive had a massive failure - I lost all my files that I didn't back-up (thankfully I backed most of them up last time the laptop died). The strange thing is I take very good care of my things, especially that laptop, it was never dropped, moved whilst turned on or anything, and it died every other week. Calling tech-support did nothing, just got me on the phone to out-sourced barely English-speaking people and they would not replace the obvious lemon I bought for AU $2500. Cheap, crap hardware from a company I will never buy from again: Compaq.
So back to the story, if you Americans have something like the DFT, you should get them to investigate.
Psaakyrn @ Jan 20th 2007 12:15AM
You know, MS can always change their return policy again..
Logic Bus @ Jan 20th 2007 12:30AM
I'm on my 4th Xbox 360 and I think this one is legitimately fine. When I called MS about getting the second one fixed, I, too was told that I would have to provide my own box. Frustrated, I ended that call without starting a repair service. I called again a couple days later and was told that MS would provide the box. I asked about the discrepancy. The fact is that by paying for the initial repair, I had also gotten a service agreement good for 18 (?) months. Under the service agreement, MS sent me an empty box. I sent in three machines and MS provided me with a box for each. It's possible that policy has changed, but when you're on the phone with a rep it's worth asking if you've got a service agreement that provides you with a box. Apparently it's not immediately obvious on their screens -- though you'd think it would be.
Joe @ Jan 20th 2007 12:39AM
Here is a list of consumer protection agencies for each state. http://consumeraction.gov/state.shtml
Call them up and ask what they can do for you.
Dan @ Jan 20th 2007 1:14AM
I just had a 360 repaired last week. I sent my own box in to the McKinney office in Texas (don't know if all repairs go to the same facility), and the 360 was sent back to me in a different box than the one I shipped it to them in.
This project is just a waste all around. Suck it up and pay the $8 it takes to get your $400 piece of equipment repaired. Seriously, it's an insignificant amount compared to your initial investment.
On a side note, it only took 6 days to get a replacement, and I got what looks to be a brand new 2006 box. As this was a replacement for a launch box, I really was quite impressed with their service. I even got a English-speaking American on the phone, actually residing in the US!
Spasm @ Jan 20th 2007 1:18AM
I hate to be a buzzkill here, but I sent my 360 in after the policy change, at my charge, in my own box, and MS sent me back a new unit in a *different* box. The supervisor pulled that second little policy out of his nethers to sate our protagonist (antagonist?) and get him off the phone.
Besides, if you send a 360 to Texas rattling around loosely in the back of a cargo container, your warranty is instantly void.
Bilgin Ozkan @ Jan 20th 2007 1:30AM
donating money to charity is a good cause guys, but come on, sometimes in life you have to let a little bit of the sense of humour enjoy the light of day.
good for him, i think this is a brilliant idea. and i'd love to see it take off.
FinalDelerium @ Jan 20th 2007 1:37AM
Ergh, i hate this guy. "something isn't working, and the company are doing everything they are legally obliged to do, yet i feel i deserve stuff for free, even though the only thing i've done to earn it (and i use the term 'earn' very loosely) is be mildly inconvenienced."
I hate that mentallity. Things break, it's getting fixed. You gotta buy a box and pay for postage. Deal with it. You agreed to accept the conditions of that warranty when you bought the product. You didnt have to buy the product if you didnt like the warranty conditions.
GAH.
Sorry, i work for the abovementioned Department of Fair Trading. I hate it when people expect shit for free, or they complain when they've already accepted the terms and conditions of the warranty (by purchasing the product) without actually reading it.
Corvin @ Jan 20th 2007 9:38AM
Cute.
The guy should have just called back and spoke with someone else. I just sent my 360 in for its second repair last week. How did I ship it? In a box they shipped me. They even paid for the shipping.
This guy is a moron.
Rubang B @ Jan 20th 2007 2:21AM
I would just like to point out that at least this guy is telling us what he'll do with the money, which is more than I can say for Red Cross. To everybody who mentioned Red Cross, I'm not sure if you know where their money goes. After the World Trade Center bombing, people donated their asses off to Red Cross, and with good reason. They wanted to help the injured survivors, the families of the deceased, and the search and rescue efforts to make sure nobody else was lost under the rubble. But where did the money go? Red Cross gave the money to the U.S. government to invade Afghanistan. Those Red Cross donations didn't help those in need. The money went to revenge.
Also, after Katrina, I knew somebody who volunteered with Red Cross, and they gave him hundreds of dollars for nothing. He spent most of the time in a hotel eating expensive food, maybe helped for 5 minutes, and came home and bought a NINTENDO DS. Yes, Red Cross donations pay people to help... to help themselves to video games and food.
Fuck Red Cross.
Dirk Dorkelson @ Jan 20th 2007 2:32AM
"But where did the money go? Red Cross gave the money to the U.S. government to invade Afghanistan."
Uh, wanna provide a source for this?
itsbrandon @ Jan 20th 2007 3:37AM
This won't work. Best case scenario is Microsoft's repair depot, which is likely outsourced to a 3rd party, will simply refuse the box and send it back to him. Worst case, his Xbox doesn't get returned. And I laugh.
The kid here acted like a real jerk to the phone people. I used to work as a T2/manager for a major computer company, and jerks like him were what made the job awful. The people paid to answer the phones ONLY GET PAID TO ANSWER PHONES. They don't make the policy, and they don't receive the damaged goods, and they don't care WHAT he does. They just want him off the phone as soon as possible.
If you have money burning a hole in your pocket, donate it here: http://www.childsplaycharity.org/
Plus, it's tax deductible.
If he's unhappy with the service, he should write MS exces and complain, or go buy a Wii. This guy is a moron, plain and simple.
PMOOORELOVESJOYSTIQ @ Jan 20th 2007 4:12AM
WOW Joystiq posted a half negative comment about Microsoft. I thought after officially declaring the PS3 dead after two months of launch (funny Joystiq didn't hammer on the 360 when it wasn't available for months, or the fact that its so damn loud?!?) Well the only question is................will Joystiq post this, because the last comment I made (albeit 360 critical) was never posted..........funny I thought Joystiq was multi. Oh well I get my point out anyways. HELL even IGN is less biased than you guys. I loved your site once, when it covered all news without biased. When did you guys kiss Microsoft and Nintendos ass?
XboxGuru @ Jan 20th 2007 4:55AM
Seriously, how old is this kid and when is he getting out of short trousers?
Fully agree with #31 - whenever you buy a product, you agree to the terms and conditions within. If you didn't like what you read, then you don't buy it.
They are offering to repair/replace the unit. All he has to do is get a box for it. Someone explain what's so difficult about this situation?
All the while, he's without an Xbox - had he just sent it in, he'd probably have it back already.
FWIW, those of you who continually have problems with consoles and other electrical goods, get an electrician to check your mains power.
gok @ Jan 20th 2007 4:49AM
Yes, this is a great great idea! I'd donate but its too much trouble :p After reading phone conversation I think that this guys an idiot but this is still funny :)
Rubang B @ Jan 20th 2007 5:01AM
@Dirk Dorkelson, dammit. I swear I've read that about the war-funding before, but now I can't find it. So, I fully retract the first half of my comment. I swear I've read it, and from a reputable source, but since I can't find it now, I'll assume it never happened.
But while looking for that, I found this other dirt on them anyway. They took way too many blood samples for 9/11, and had to destroy thousands of units of excess blood, and then used $50 million of the donations to start a new blood-freezing program so their blood donations would last longer than 42 days. Also, they had so much extra money that they just started passing it out to families in Manhattan, rich or poor, whether 9/11 affected them in any way or not. When people found out about this, all they did was fire the woman in charge at the time, Dr. Bernadine Healy, and GIVE HER A 1.5 MILLION DOLLAR SEVERANCE PAYMENT. She got paid $1.5 million to take advantage of everybody's charity. Here are links.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Red_Cross#September_11_controversy
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/WTC_red-cross.htm
http://www.counterpunch.org/scaramella2.html
Brian @ Jan 20th 2007 6:06AM
This guy is a complete waste of time. He's put no logic into his mission (if MS has changed a policy once, it can easily change it again to circumvent such a strange cost) and was a total douche on the phone. I'd imagine that customer service representatives have to deal with idiots like this all the time, and the fact that he expects to make money off of his jackassery even worse.
Honestly, some people have such an inflated sense of entitlement, it's scary.
Contra666 @ Jan 20th 2007 8:09AM
They sent mine back last week in THEIR box. I had to provide my own and put a label on it but it came back in a cardboard box designed for the 360.
StalkerB @ Jan 20th 2007 7:59AM
When I returned my xbox the guy specifically said NOT to use my original box as it would be returned in a DIFFERENT box, which it was.
I sent my old Xbox (not 360) box back and got a lovely brown box back.
pattyblades @ Jan 20th 2007 10:00AM
donate to the Darfur Charity if anything, there is a genocide going on and we refuse to acknowledge it and go on with our oil war
Calvinball @ Jan 20th 2007 10:09AM
To all above who suggested charities, SHUT UP. People don't need you telling them what to do with their money.
Phillip @ Jan 20th 2007 11:16AM
Sheesh. The dude payed more for the domain name and hosting than he would have payed to just buy a freaking box!!! I mean, he payed like $300-$400 for the Xbox and he just refuses to buckle down and pay a couple of bucks for a box from USPS.
We American's live in such a great country and yet some of us just have soooo much free time and want to make a big deal out of everything just to get recognition, make a statement, be jerks, ...whatever the reason may be. It's people like this that sue McDonalds for giving them hot coffee.
Alex C. @ Jan 20th 2007 12:06PM
This is cool. I would love to donate just to see the look on Microsoft's faces!
Stevedroid @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:54PM
What a petulant child. Even if the guy sends a shipping crate what will that accomplish? Does he actually think they'll respond to his idiocy in order to enforce some policy? Does he think he's going to "teach them a lesson" when all they would do is just turn the truck away at the door?
This sort of petty whining and overdeveloped sense of entitlement that pervades the US today is worrysome.
Troy @ Jan 20th 2007 12:25PM
What the hell? Microsoft just sent me a box to ship back to them. I'll be sending it back to MS Monday. They did the same for a friend just a week earlier. This guy must be outside the U.S. or something.
Glenn @ Jan 20th 2007 1:33PM
It cost me $11 dollars to send a friends Xbox 360 in second day at the UPS store last year. Hell, they provided the box and the bubble wrap.
Shipping the box yourself is much better then waiting on MS to ship you a tiny empty box and a UPS Select Ground shipping label. With the discount Microsoft gets, that stuff is probably worth $1.
Microsoft was great about my warranty when my Xbox died a couple weeks ago. My Xbox had a manufacture date of October 17 2005, all I did was tell them I bought it in February (which I did, it was an unopened returned Christmas present) and they accepted the warranty. Honor system.
They also have the shipping box back in place, which in my opinion is a waste. I could've had my 360 there in 2 days for a reasonable sum, but instead I had to wait 7 for a box to arrive (MLK + bad weather screws up 3 day shipping) then I still had to drive to the UPS store to send it for a total of probably 11 days to get to Microsoft.