that is really messed up, and quite frankly I think I would be calling a lawyer to see if there was anything that could be done about it.

At first I was like "Eh whatev... no big deal" but then I thought about it....

If I had Kratos or Ratchet in silver permanent marker on my Ps3 (Silver Kratos is more badass than black Master Chief) I'd be pissed.

Thats is a disaster.... I imagine all the anger on this guy... a lot of effort lost

I wish there was a way to find out which tech fixed it, so he could be held resonsible.

Wow, I can not find this situation funny at all. It's too tragic. I would be on the phone every day with a Microsoft Rep until someone found out what happened and I received an apology or If I was reimbursed. But how can a person be reimbursed for something that had sentimental value? Whatever, this is sad.

Sounds like a breakdown in communications between departments at wherever the console was refurbished. There is likely someone (or some people) who's job is to simply clean all the consoles since most consoles get returned to different users. It's a shame that happened to his console and hopefully Microsoft does something to try to make up for it.

Honestly that is the kind of treatment you should expect when sending in consoles. It is likely that it is standard procedure to clean every 360 they repair and this was just one in the line. The person who cleaned it likely never saw the note, and the people who could read the note likely could not do anything but follow procedure. It would probably happen to anyone who sent an electronic device in for repair to any company.

Was he really expecting that they would send the console back with the drawings? It was obvious something bad was going to happen.

I know this is big "PR" for gaming entheusiasts, but I'm gonna play the devils advocate.

The people working for MS are techs, not gaming entheusiasts, necessarily. They see millions of 360's, and the cleaning process could possibly even be automated.

I'm fairly certain that there are policies and practices when repairing consoles and they include a checklist upon which clean outer coverings are denoted.

I also maintain the probability that it is unlikely "don't clean the unit" was imbued upon the "notes" section of his case, and instead "repair original unit" was the note.

If the system held such sentimental or monitary value, it seems to me, inplausable to send it in, and ludicrous to expect it back in pristine condition.

I think minor and personal stories like this hold a lot of weight when presented to the average person, but to a realist, obviously the person who sent in the console cared more about getting his console repaired than protecting its sentimental value.

Yeah MS sucks, but you should be smart enough to realize that, before you send them your cherished and fragile possessions. They ain't running a historical console preservation service. You get unlucky, you lose your data. That's how warranties work. Isn't the important thing that he can play his 360 once again?

That royally sucks.