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[Giallo Corsa]

What 'm about to post is purely based on my personal experience :
Never had a problem with Xbox (or MS) support, in fact, i'd go as far as to say that they always went above and beyond their (proverbial) duty as to leave you satisfied as a customer.
- game refunds ? Sure, no problem - even if played them for a couple of hours.
- hardware problems ? 2 years ago, they sent me a refurbished XONE X joypad even though my faulty one was out of warranty for 6 whole months.
- horribly built XSX/XSS controller(s) broke down (yet again) ? No problem, they would just keep sending you/exchanging you a refurbished one.
I kid you not when i say that this was one of the reasons i became again a member of the green rat army for this gen.

Which brings me to : My pulse red controller which has already been exchanged 2 times (1st one had had faulty vibration motors out of the box, 2nd one had its Right bumper dying on me after 2 whole months) has developed - you've guessed it - the dreaded analogue stick drift to a point were it has become pretty much unusable - oh yeah, headset input has also become faulty.
Tried the direct support chat link which used to work 5-6 months ago and...they've taken it down.
Tried my current country's xbox support site...there's no chat support (just FAQs) when it comes to faulty/broken accessories.
Long story short, i finally managed to get in touch with them via phone call - dude on the other end of the line told me that nothing can be done about it since it's out of warranty (1 month and a half) - that was yesterday, today, i contacted them again via chat (chose a different type of problem form the drop-down menu) and the guy told me that it could be fixed...for a price.(they'll get back to me regarding the repair price).

So now, i'm left with a - pretty much - new controller which is...unusable.
i don't know gents/ladies but is this what's expected from us ? to shell out 60$/€ every 12 months for a terribly built product ?
Now, this is in Euroland, i know that American users have it worse since the controllers are covered by a 3 month warranty period only - and let's not mention the Elite controller, a 170-180$/€ product which has the typical problems of the XONE/XSX/XSS controllers like : stick drift, LB/RB buttons breaking/stop working, mushy ABXY buttons that sometimes they don't register inputs properly, triggers that break down etc etc.

Let's be honest, the new MS controllers are built like shite, it's either this or that (problem) with them, meanwhile , my Xbox 360 joypads still work Ok after almost 15 years (those things were built like tanks), heck, so does my gamecube one , my OG xbox's one and my Dualshock 2.
I know, that other platform users have had problems with their dualsense and the Joycons (especially when it comes to drift problems) but these newer MS one are really something else, never in my life i had to change/swap so many controllers in a 2 year span, it seriously hampers the whole "xbox experience since®" since i'm now constantly preoccupied with the controller breaking down.

Color me disappointed, both with the build quality and the support.
Don't get me wrong, i'm not expecting a company to keep repairing a faulty product for eternity but since they do know that the build quality is absolutely horrible they could be more - how shall i put it - understanding (?) of the whole situation, plus, it wasn't always like this - their return/repairs numbers must be so high though that they most probably stopped being "forgiving" for this exact reason.

i'd be curious to hear what's your experience with them..
cheers

 

[Hendrick's]

You shouldn't expect a company to keep repairing your stuff outside of warranty. Be happy they did that for you several times already.

 

[prinz_valium]

This topic sucks a little more than the Xbox repair service

 

[Giallo Corsa]

You shouldn't expect a company to keep repairing your stuff outside of warranty. Be happy they did that for you several times already.

i understand that Hendrick, what's to be done though when a specific product is proven to be badly built with even worse QC ? Don't take my word friend, you can have a look at the myriad of posts every other day on reddit/the internet/forums etc about it.

Stick drift is a well documented problem (not only for MS joypads) as are LB/RB buttons breaking down, A,Y face buttons not registering, triggers getting stuck , faulty/badly mounted vibration motors that result in a terrible, loud plasticky buzz whenever the joypad vibrates etc etc.

These things are not well built man, that's all

 

[RoboFu]

Sucks that your controllers keep breaking . You sound like you have had a very unlucky streak.

 

[Hendrick's]

i understand that Hendrick, what's to be done though when a specific product is proven to be badly built with even worse QC ? Don't take my word friend, you can have a look at the myriad of posts every other day on reddit/the internet/forums etc about it.

Stick drift is a well documented problem (not only for MS joypads) as are LB/RB buttons breaking down, A,Y face buttons not registering, triggers getting stuck , faulty/badly mounted vibration motors that result in a terrible, loud plasticky buzz whenever the joypad vibrates etc etc.

These things are not well built man, that's all

All controllers have this problem. Maybe you are unlucky or maybe you abuse them, but ultimately, game pads are disposable devices at this point. I think a year is reasonable life expectancy for a heavily used pad.

 

[01011001]

god damn you are really unlucky with your controllers it seems.

 

[Rykan]

What 'm about to post is purely based on my personal experience :
Never had a problem with Xbox (or MS) support, in fact, i'd go as far as to say that they always went above and beyond their (proverbial) duty as to leave you satisfied as a customer.
- game refunds ? Sure, no problem - even if played them for a couple of hours.
- hardware problems ? 2 years ago, they sent me a refurbished XONE X joypad even though my faulty one was out of warranty for 6 whole months.
- horribly built XSX/XSS controller(s) broke down (yet again) ? No problem, they would just keep sending you/exchanging you a refurbished one.
I kid you not when i say that this was one of the reasons i became again a member of the green rat army for this gen.

So let me get this straight: You have a record of having to replace controllers several times already and now you're wondering why they won't keep repairing your controller for free outside of warranty? Idk mate, but maybe the fact that you have a history of breaking controllers (The XSX controller is far from "Horribly built") that they kept repairing/replacing for you had something to do with it.

 

[ahtlas7]

Playing a lot of Souls like games? Because that will do it.

 

[Banjo64]

Son’s Xbox Series pad has been abused to high heaven since launch. Still in 100% working order.

He has had a few bumpers go on his old Xbox One pads but I suspect, despite his protestations, that he was bashing them when he was wrecked online.

My Elite 2 has worked for 2 years now, but the first one had to go back to Amazon due to a faulty A button. My One pad worked for 2 years no issues.

Never had a QC issue with PS pads apart from the rubber pealing on my DS4 analogue sticks, that I replaced myself with metal sticks.

In short, sounds like you are unlucky in the extreme mate.

 

[Corndog]

What 'm about to post is purely based on my personal experience :
Never had a problem with Xbox (or MS) support, in fact, i'd go as far as to say that they always went above and beyond their (proverbial) duty as to leave you satisfied as a customer.
- game refunds ? Sure, no problem - even if played them for a couple of hours.
- hardware problems ? 2 years ago, they sent me a refurbished XONE X joypad even though my faulty one was out of warranty for 6 whole months.
- horribly built XSX/XSS controller(s) broke down (yet again) ? No problem, they would just keep sending you/exchanging you a refurbished one.
I kid you not when i say that this was one of the reasons i became again a member of the green rat army for this gen.

Which brings me to : My pulse red controller which has already been exchanged 2 times (1st one had had faulty vibration motors out of the box, 2nd one had its Right bumper dying on me after 2 whole months) has developed - you've guessed it - the dreaded analogue stick drift to a point were it has become pretty much unusable - oh yeah, headset input has also become faulty.
Tried the direct support chat link which used to work 5-6 months ago and...they've taken it down.
Tried my current country's xbox support site...there's no chat support (just FAQs) when it comes to faulty/broken accessories.
Long story short, i finally managed to get in touch with them via phone call - dude on the other end of the line told me that nothing can be done about it since it's out of warranty (1 month and a half) - that was yesterday, today, i contacted them again via chat (chose a different type of problem form the drop-down menu) and the guy told me that it could be fixed...for a price.(they'll get back to me regarding the repair price).

So now, i'm left with a - pretty much - new controller which is...unusable.
i don't know gents/ladies but is this what's expected from us ? to shell out 60$/€ every 12 months for a terribly built product ?
Now, this is in Euroland, i know that American users have it worse since the controllers are covered by a 3 month warranty period only - and let's not mention the Elite controller, a 170-180$/€ product which has the typical problems of the XONE/XSX/XSS controllers like : stick drift, LB/RB buttons breaking/stop working, mushy ABXY buttons that sometimes they don't register inputs properly, triggers that break down etc etc.

Let's be honest, the new MS controllers are built like shite, it's either this or that (problem) with them, meanwhile , my Xbox 360 joypads still work Ok after almost 15 years (those things were built like tanks), heck, so does my gamecube one , my OG xbox's one and my Dualshock 2.
I know, that other platform users have had problems with their dualsense and the Joycons (especially when it comes to drift problems) but these newer MS one are really something else, never in my life i had to change/swap so many controllers in a 2 year span, it seriously hampers the whole "xbox experience since®" since i'm now constantly preoccupied with the controller breaking down.

Color me disappointed, both with the build quality and the support.
Don't get me wrong, i'm not expecting a company to keep repairing a faulty product for eternity but since they do know that the build quality is absolutely horrible they could be more - how shall i put it - understanding (?) of the whole situation, plus, it wasn't always like this - their return/repairs numbers must be so high though that they most probably stopped being "forgiving" for this exact reason.

i'd be curious to hear what's your experience with them..
cheers

I’m not a fan of the new controllers. I like Xbox one controllers better. Hopefully they learn a lesson here and come out with a new model.

 

[pasterpl]

The only time I have used ms support was in RROD times, since then I never had issues with their hardware and accessories. My Xbox one x controllers still work without any issues. My launch Xbox series x 2 controllers both look and work great. This is one of the reasons I stick with Xbox and only buy other consoles when pro versions releases. Had 2 DS4 that died on me within 18 months since purchase.

 

[Larxia]

I'm in the same boat, I absolutely hate the current state of gaming controllers, they are terrible and I keep having problems with them.

My first Xbox Series controller got stick drift after 6 months, I sent it back and they sent me a refurbished controller of a different color, which has a mushy dpad and makes weird analog noises.
I bought a new controller, but after only 1 month the sticks started doing the same weird noise with the analog sticks, and the sticks also feel very bad when moving them around / up and down, like if there were some... grain, or obstacle, you can feel some bumps when moving the sticks, not sure how to explain it but it doesn't feel smooth at all.

That's also without talking about things I personally don't like about them, like the xbox led logo being way too bright at night, I had to put tape over it because it was too distracting for me, and also how loud the controller is, making it not really usable at night or without headphones. My latest controller has also this issue where, outside of the default noise the controller make, the right stick started being really loud when moving it / tapping it against the edges, it sounds kind of hollow, it resonates and it's very loud and annoying, not sure how to describe this either. Maybe opening it and tighten the screw would help since the volume is lower if I hold the controller very tight.

But yeah, these controllers are really, really bad. I'm sad I can't buy a brand new wired 360 controller anymore, if I knew future controllers would be like that I would have bought several 360 controllers in the past.
I don't know what controller to get for my pc now, all the options seem bad, I was thinking dualsense but it seems to have the same problems, with additionnal issues on PC with vibrations etc.

 

[Relique]

While I agree with you on build quality as I've struggled with multiple elite 2 controllers, I can't really say that you are being reasonable with wanting constant repairs out of warranty. They've given you a couple of courtesy repairs before, but no... your 13+ month old controller is not "new" and you aren't entitled for another free repair. The reason you can buy them separately is because they are meant to be disposable. A year for 60$ is okay if you are rough with your controller and use it heavily.

 

[Giallo Corsa]

So let me get this straight: You have a record of having to replace controllers several times already and now you're wondering why they won't keep repairing your controller for free outside of warranty? Idk mate, but maybe the fact that you have a history of breaking controllers (The XSX controller is far from "Horribly built") that they kept repairing/replacing for you had something to do with it.

- One X controller : got the console used alongside the controller, that was to be expected since i don't know what kind of use the previous user did - i didn't complain about it, in fact i did mention it in 1st post that it was nice/polite of them to fix it.

- XSX controller that came with the console (new) : D-pad faulty out of the box
replacement one - faulty vibration motor out of the box
2nd replacement is still fine.

- Pulse red controller which i got last year : faulty vibration motor out of the box and right trigger sticking (cheap rubber stop which sits on top of the chassis underneath the triggers)
replacement one : faulty mic input, faulty LB out of the box.
2nd replacement : RB died after a month - for the sake of the discussion , let's say that this could be user problem.
3rd replacement : developed stick drift after 5 months, again, for the sake of the discussion let's pretend that it was my fault, not that it matters though since if you take a gander online you'll see cases of one-month old joypads (if that) developing the same issues.

Listen gents, i know that it's easy to put the blame on users but for every "my controller has worked fine for 2 years straight" comments like mine are also to be expected.
i'm pretty sure that there also users that never encountered the RROD during the X360 era but statistics say otherwise.

Also, when you have established facts like this and this there has to be something wrong with a specific product, not everything in life is due to user error.


This topic is 2-fold and has to do both with the questionable build quality of a product and the general experience with CS.

 

[Mr Reasonable]

I have never had a problem with a controller. Until the Elite 2 I have now, which has problems with the left bumper.

 

[The Eradicator]

All controllers have this problem. Maybe you are unlucky or maybe you abuse them, but ultimately, game pads are disposable devices at this point. I think a year is reasonable life expectancy for a heavily used pad.

Nah, I think the OP has a point. The new Series controllers definitely feel like a cheaper product in your hands than the older controllers. I don't even use mine at all, I am still using my old One X controllers every time I play. New one is garbage

 

[Larxia]

Idk mate, but maybe the fact that you have a history of breaking controllers (The XSX controller is far from "Horribly built")

That's really unfair, maybe you're lucky with your controllers but like OP I've been dealing with a lot of issues since using Xbox Series controllers. Controllers in the past used to last me years, I usually wouldn't even buy replacement controller and just use the default one that came with the console during the whole life of the console. My 360 controller lasted me about 8 years.

Now? My longest controller without too much issue was 6 months. And I never drop them, I use them on my PC and don't even play that much.

These controllers are low quality and have frequent issues.

 

[SoloKingRobert]

What 'm about to post is purely based on my personal experience :
Never had a problem with Xbox (or MS) support, in fact, i'd go as far as to say that they always went above and beyond their (proverbial) duty as to leave you satisfied as a customer.
- game refunds ? Sure, no problem - even if played them for a couple of hours.
- hardware problems ? 2 years ago, they sent me a refurbished XONE X joypad even though my faulty one was out of warranty for 6 whole months.
- horribly built XSX/XSS controller(s) broke down (yet again) ? No problem, they would just keep sending you/exchanging you a refurbished one.
I kid you not when i say that this was one of the reasons i became again a member of the green rat army for this gen.

Which brings me to : My pulse red controller which has already been exchanged 2 times (1st one had had faulty vibration motors out of the box, 2nd one had its Right bumper dying on me after 2 whole months) has developed - you've guessed it - the dreaded analogue stick drift to a point were it has become pretty much unusable - oh yeah, headset input has also become faulty.
Tried the direct support chat link which used to work 5-6 months ago and...they've taken it down.
Tried my current country's xbox support site...there's no chat support (just FAQs) when it comes to faulty/broken accessories.
Long story short, i finally managed to get in touch with them via phone call - dude on the other end of the line told me that nothing can be done about it since it's out of warranty (1 month and a half) - that was yesterday, today, i contacted them again via chat (chose a different type of problem form the drop-down menu) and the guy told me that it could be fixed...for a price.(they'll get back to me regarding the repair price).

So now, i'm left with a - pretty much - new controller which is...unusable.
i don't know gents/ladies but is this what's expected from us ? to shell out 60$/€ every 12 months for a terribly built product ?
Now, this is in Euroland, i know that American users have it worse since the controllers are covered by a 3 month warranty period only - and let's not mention the Elite controller, a 170-180$/€ product which has the typical problems of the XONE/XSX/XSS controllers like : stick drift, LB/RB buttons breaking/stop working, mushy ABXY buttons that sometimes they don't register inputs properly, triggers that break down etc etc.

Let's be honest, the new MS controllers are built like shite, it's either this or that (problem) with them, meanwhile , my Xbox 360 joypads still work Ok after almost 15 years (those things were built like tanks), heck, so does my gamecube one , my OG xbox's one and my Dualshock 2.
I know, that other platform users have had problems with their dualsense and the Joycons (especially when it comes to drift problems) but these newer MS one are really something else, never in my life i had to change/swap so many controllers in a 2 year span, it seriously hampers the whole "xbox experience since®" since i'm now constantly preoccupied with the controller breaking down.

Color me disappointed, both with the build quality and the support.
Don't get me wrong, i'm not expecting a company to keep repairing a faulty product for eternity but since they do know that the build quality is absolutely horrible they could be more - how shall i put it - understanding (?) of the whole situation, plus, it wasn't always like this - their return/repairs numbers must be so high though that they most probably stopped being "forgiving" for this exact reason.

i'd be curious to hear what's your experience with them..
cheers

You're probably Microsofts worse customer.

Refund, exchange, refund, exchange, exchange...

 

[CatLady]

I don't know anything about Xbox repair support. Fortunately, I've never had to use it.

 

[Roberts]

Never had the problem with Xbox controllers. One of my six (including Elite 1), only the original Xbox One controller has a tiny bit of stick drift, but that's it. I play a bit more than a casual gamer (around 180k worth of gamer score since 2013), but I don't abuse them, don't throw them, don't squeeze like my life depended on them. Maybe I'm lucky, but I never heard any of my friends complaining about the quality of controllers either.

 

[Topher]

I don't know anything about Xbox repair support. Fortunately, I've never had to use it.

Same here

 

[Giallo Corsa]

You're probably Microsofts worse customer.

Refund, exchange, refund, exchange, exchange...

Corporate worship is real.
It's actually amazing the zeal some people display.
Won't somebody think of the poor multi-trillion companies please

 

[NeonGhost]

i understand that Hendrick, what's to be done though when a specific product is proven to be badly built with even worse QC ? Don't take my word friend, you can have a look at the myriad of posts every other day on reddit/the internet/forums etc about it.

Stick drift is a well documented problem (not only for MS joypads) as are LB/RB buttons breaking down, A,Y face buttons not registering, triggers getting stuck , faulty/badly mounted vibration motors that result in a terrible, loud plasticky buzz whenever the joypad vibrates etc etc.

These things are not well built man, that's all

Then stop buying it

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

Replace xbox controller in your post with the last two gens of PS controllers and that's my experience with PS controllers.

Last two gens Xbox controllers haven't given durability issues.
I have had synch issues, although rarely.

 

[Rykan]

- One X controller : got the console used alongside the controller, that was to be expected since i don't know what kind of use the previous user did - i didn't complain about it, in fact i did mention it in 1st post that it was nice/polite of them to fix it.

- XSX controller that came with the console (new) : D-pad faulty out of the box
replacement one - faulty vibration motor out of the box
2nd replacement is still fine.

- Pulse red controller which i got last year : faulty vibration motor out of the box and right trigger sticking (cheap rubber stop which sits on top of the chassis underneath the triggers)
replacement one : faulty mic input, faulty LB out of the box.
2nd replacement : RB died after a month - for the sake of the discussion , let's say that this could be user problem.
3rd replacement : developed stick drift after 5 months, again, for the sake of the discussion let's pretend that it was my fault, not that it matters though since if you take a gander online you'll see cases of one-month old joypads (if that) developing the same issues.

Listen gents, i know that it's easy to put the blame on users but for every "my controller has worked fine for 2 years straight" comments like mine are also to be expected.
i'm pretty sure that there also users that never encountered the RROD during the X360 era but statistics say otherwise.

Also, when you have established facts like this and this there has to be something wrong with a specific product, not everything in life is due to user error.


This topic is 2-fold and has to do both with the questionable build quality of a product and the general experience with CS.

I worked as a Customer representative for a very large store chain that sells Apple products. It's one of the largest chains in the world and it's pretty unique because it is also a licensed Apple Repair center. In fact, the repair center was by far the largest Apple repair center in the country it was located in. The repair center was my specialty, so I can kind of see where the customer rep was coming from.

The fact of the matter is that you are on your 5th repair/replacement already and that's going to raise alarm bells no matter what. At that point, improper use is going to be a reasonable suspicion regardless of whether you actually caused it or not. This is different when the issue you have is very common (Stick Drift or Xbox Elite situation, for example) but that doesn't appear to be the case in most of the cases you've had.

It also begs another question: You mention that you've had several issues with controllers outside of the box. Why didn't you go back to the store where you purchased it from? That should always be your first point of contact.