My Elite controller recently shit the bed. The left stick pulls up slightly, which is enough to ruin every game. I contacted Microsoft support, hoping to pay a service fee for repair but they recommended me to the a Microsoft retail store. Went there, waited 2 hours, and the dude told me tough noogies. Completely boned, no options, shit sucks. I take really good care of my stuff, to the point that I've never had this issue with cheaper controllers. I loved that controller but jeeze, I don't think I can swallow a whole new purchase. Any suggestions?

The issue you have with it is not unknown. I'm not sure that they are legally obligated to help you. They would be in the EU, I don't know where you live. In my country we have a website for public complaints. People post public complaints, that the website sends to the companies, and the companies are shamed for not solving problems by making it public. As a result, half those problems actually get resolved. Maybe there is such a website for your country? I'm sorry I think you're in the USA so I can't really help much cause I don't know how things work there. I'm surprised nobody has responded to you yet.

Ultimately my suggestion is to not buy MS controllers.

Doesn't it come with software to fix your deadzones?

My Elite Controller's left stick started drifting just last week. I've had it for about 10 months. Very annoying in some menus. Glad I got two months of warranty left. I'm gonna send it in next week.

Mine had the loose stick problem and after a couple of months it didn't want to connect via usb at all. I brought it in and got a full refund. Bought a wireless 360 controller for pc and a steam gift card for 100€.

Seems like the controllers are garbage tbh. I got one as well that has a couple of problems. It frequently losing sync with the official Xbox dongle thing. I thought the dongle was bad until I tried another xbox controller. But no, it's the elite controller. And now the Y button sticks really bad to the point where it's almost unusable.