Did you hear about that guy who skipped all the bureaucracy of customer service and instead opted to go straight to Microsoft's main man, Bill Gates, for his Xbox 360 problems? Er... at least, the former main man.

Apparently, the Xbox 360 owner emailed Mr. Gates personally about his console gripes (all gasp together now). But what's even more amazing is the fact that Mr. Bill Gates himself acted out on the complaint, pulling his ever powerful strings to get it fixed. And fix they did - in a record time of 24 hours! The complainant got a brand new unit because of his audacity to email the richest man alive.

But while that's a certain cause for jubilation to all Xbox 360 owners out there, Microsoft, so it looks, wasn't as ecstatic about it. To clarify that Bill Gates is not exactly the proper channel to air your console issues, they have released an official statement regarding who you should contact if anything unfortunate happens to it:

Bill Gates or Microsoft executives are not an appropriate escalation point for customer service issues. Customers experiencing issues with their Xbox 360 console should contact Xbox Customer Service. Our customer service team is well equipped to ensure that the repair process goes smoothly.

That said, Microsoft stands behind its products and takes responsibility to ensure that every Xbox 360 console owner continues to have a fantastic gaming experience. We are continually improving the design and performance of the Xbox 360 consoles to decrease the likelihood that a customer will experience the three flashing red lights. In the event they do, they are covered for three years under our extended warranty.