XBOX 360 R-I-P 04/06/06

[christianscott27]

keep plugging,

 

Trust me, I'm a call centers worst nightmere. Go straight to microsoft itself and ask for customer relations, dont waste any time talking to people who are dedicated to supporting the 360. They have people whose job it is to satisfy angry customers, they just keep em insulated behind all the branching phone options, keep pressing your case and you will get to them. Like I said in my last post, the guys in the Indian XP support center gave me the brush off, basically said "sorry we'll make a report of it BYE" So that was it for them then I went back to MS USA and got the American XP support techs, they were happy to talk hard drive stuff with me but didnt have the authority to compensate me.... So I got their manager on the phone and went off on her. Once they understood in no uncertain terms that I would keep calling and passing their names up the chain of command their whole tone changed. It went from "not our fault" to "let me speak with my supervisor sir".

 

You have a clear case that any reasonable adult could understand, if you can reach such a person in US MS you'll be taken care of.

[jsoper]

Again, I have nothing but praise for their Japanese competition who reside on the other side of the road from MS. They have always been friendly and provided a personable approach to consumer support. MS doesn’t make me feel at like they are a caring corporation. You’d think with the billions that MS invested in this market that would get a clue as to whom and why folks buy their products. They don’t, and their arrogance is going to bit them in the arse someday.

 

-Lee

Sorry you went through all that Lee, there are hordes of people who hate Micro$oft with a passion.

[Atariman]

Reading through this thread made me wonder to myself, "Hey... I *wonder* what Microsoft's better business bureau track record is looking like..."

 

http://www.thebbb.org/commonreport.html?bid=501264

 

It seems like they have a surprisingly small amount of complaints there for the size of the corporation, but then again, maybe they're managing to murder people who complain before they can get to the bbb...

 

And kind of off-topic... while I was searching around, I DID happen to come across the report for my (and your!) "pals" at Buy-Rite Video Games... Browsing through it, I read that they finally went out of business. (They went out about a year ago) I noticed that there was a topic started about them going out of business awhile back, but it was surprisingly short. I thought there were more buy-rite haters than that.

 

http://www.bbbenc.org/commonreport.html?bid=19394

[GrizzLee]

Again, I have nothing but praise for their Japanese competition who reside on the other side of the road from MS. They have always been friendly and provided a personable approach to consumer support. MS doesn’t make me feel at like they are a caring corporation. You’d think with the billions that MS invested in this market that would get a clue as to whom and why folks buy their products. They don’t, and their arrogance is going to bit them in the arse someday.

 

-Lee

Sorry you went through all that Lee, there are hordes of people who hate Micro$oft with a passion.

 

 

I'm trying my best not to hate either. Living down the street from both Nintendo and MS, I have many friends at both MS and Nintendo, including my wife, who works for MS occasionally. It is a night and day experience in dealing with Nintendo and MS support. I've been told that my MS buddies are posting my story to the internal MS newsgroups.

 

-Lee

[moycon]

On topic? What?

 

Anyway, to get back off-topic-on-topic, you don't have to know basic automotive repair to buy a used car.

 

I know nothing about fixing cars, why would I get an extended warrenty to fix my car if I did? LOL I think Nova was smoking crack when he made that "automotive repair"comment or got temporary retarded.

 

Back on topic:

 

That sucks Lee that you had to go through that.

I have a UPS store like 2 miles from my house and just took it within an hour of getting the cardboard coffin from MicroSoft. I can definately understand you frustration though, because my instructions also I could schedule a pickup. It took me like 2 weeks from the day I shipped mine out to get it back. I've heard stories of people getting it back in like a week.

[jsoper]

I've been told that my MS buddies are posting my story to the internal MS newsgroups.

 

-Lee

Uh-oh now you've done it, the black helicopters are gonna come abduct you and your family tonight.

[galaxy warrior]

last time i heard this kind of breakdown from a new system was ps1. but thats what they get for rushing.

[Starscream]

Point taken. For me, it is a matter of principle and also a matter of over the past 6 years I bought 2 new cars, a washing machine, a dryer, a pricey microwave, 2 refigerators, a dishwasher, a stove, and a heating system. Chances are good nothing would fail on any of them after the initial 90 day warranty. The chances of all those products going wrong are non-existent. I would have spent nearly $500 on extended warranties on them that would have been wasted money. I wouldn't have been able to buy the 2nd fridge for the basement had I been overly cautious.

 

Alternately, I have bought 2 tv's (around $12000.00 for both), a new washer, a few HDD, a few car batteries that have all failed to some degree within the first year of purchase recently. I don't buy crappy stuff, and will spend whatever to have good stuff. I also bought extended warranties on everything but the batteries and all have already paid for themselves. I normally never buy them, but with mass production, writeable eeproms, plastic gears, and new technology, I realistically understand that problems may happen. Of course, I don't view an extended warranty as a lack of confidence in what I am buying, I see it as a reasonable plan to not have a potential unrealistic repair bill at the most unopertune moment.

 

I also bought an EW for my 360 through Gamestop. It was $40. A new controller would be $50. How much ya wanna bet I need a new controller in 6 months?

[cimerians]

360 Units were\are being sold at a discount in Japan. Thats how bad it is.

 

Selling well here though but take into account the amount of units actually being manufactured.

 

My unit so far is ok. Oblivion is very cool. Just wish the power supply didn't take up half my garage.

 

Edited April 14, 2006 by cimerians

[moycon]

360 Units were\are being sold at a discount in Japan. Thats how bad it is.

 

Selling well here though but take into account the amount of units actually being manufactured.

 

My unit so far is ok. Oblivion is very cool. Just wish the power supply didn't take up half my garage.

 

 

I keep my power supply behind my entertainment center.

It's nice because even if it was thrice the size that it is now I would not care because....

it would be behind the entertainment center.

[sku_u]

Point taken. For me, it is a matter of principle and also a matter of over the past 6 years I bought 2 new cars, a washing machine, a dryer, a pricey microwave, 2 refigerators, a dishwasher, a stove, and a heating system. Chances are good nothing would fail on any of them after the initial 90 day warranty. The chances of all those products going wrong are non-existent. I would have spent nearly $500 on extended warranties on them that would have been wasted money. I wouldn't have been able to buy the 2nd fridge for the basement had I been overly cautious.

 

Alternately, I have bought 2 tv's (around $12000.00 for both), a new washer, a few HDD, a few car batteries that have all failed to some degree within the first year of purchase recently. I don't buy crappy stuff, and will spend whatever to have good stuff. I also bought extended warranties on everything but the batteries and all have already paid for themselves. I normally never buy them, but with mass production, writeable eeproms, plastic gears, and new technology, I realistically understand that problems may happen. Of course, I don't view an extended warranty as a lack of confidence in what I am buying, I see it as a reasonable plan to not have a potential unrealistic repair bill at the most unopertune moment.

 

Man, that blows. In your case, it sounds like those warranties paid off. My feeling on them is that if a retailer is offering an extended warranty, they are fairly confident nothing will go wrong with the product (or they paid a lawyer $$$$$ to make sure no one can collect on the warranty).

 

You're a well informed Xbox guy. What is the actual failure rate on these systems? I've heard between 8% and 100% and get a different figure everywhere I look. I have a hard time believing it is over 20% myself, but I am not following MS' news all that closely.

[Hyper_Eye]

MS claims the official number to be 3%. I don't think there is any way to know the actual numbers.

[Starscream]

You're a well informed Xbox guy. What is the actual failure rate on these systems? I've heard between 8% and 100% and get a different figure everywhere I look. I have a hard time believing it is over 20% myself, but I am not following MS' news all that closely.

 

I have no clue. I remember, I am not sure though, that if any product has X amounts of failures/returns, that it does have to be reported and then classified ( such as, defective, recall, preventive replacement, etc). That's why class action suits are very rare as most ones that are submitted don't meet the amout of consistant complaints/problems to have a suitable liability for those responsible. I also don't know what to consider a failure. Would a corrupt download update that makes the system useless be considered a failure? It's not so much a hardware issue as it is a software problem. And, that has happened in a few instances I read. It also was a problem on the original Xbox. It is on computers. That's why I mentioned writeable eeproms. Any storage that can be written to constantly can experience a problem at any given time. One of my TV's had that problem. Again, I don't know if this is something to consider a failure. Even though most writeable storage devices have been proven reliable, they will always allow a chance for failure to write correctly at any given time but it's usually the data causing the issue.

 

I do consider overheating a failure. I don't think it is a design issue. Any electronic device should technically fail very soon in it's life it has an initial defect. That's why almost any electronic product has a year or less warranty from the manufacturer because if they will fail, it will be in a short period of time from it's initial use.

 

In Lee's case, it is Microsofts responsibility to take care of the issue with the product. From what I have read, and I know 2 people personally that have had to send for a replacement, they have taken care of every issue with no questions asked. I don't know what the deal is with the pick-up for return shipping. MS pays the shipping costs completely, but who knows what the deal is with a UPS pick-up. I have had great service from the CS reps. In fact, they called me about 2 weeks ago wondering why I never called them back for a code I requested. Honestly, I was shocked that they remembered but it seems it's luck of the draw now.

[GrizzLee]

Update: 04/25/06

 

I recieved my "NEW" XBOX 360 from UPS today. Looks like it all works... so far.

 

They included a customer feedback card. I will include a summary of my posts here and submit it. The turn around time was about 2.5 weeks. Not as bad as the month long experience that they orginally told me

 

I wish they would have sent the new replacement box so that I could've swapped it out without all the return shipping hassle, etc.... We all knew that was going to happen anyways. I will see how long this one works.

 

Funny thing is, when I put in Burnout Revenge, it stated that I needed to update the box to play it. I wasn't hooked up to the server. Yet it did something and re-booted. I don't recall it behaving like this the first time I played BO on my original box. So I am baffled by this.

 

Oh well, I will resume my regular scheduled gaming program.

 

-Lee

[Godzilla]

Personally, I think your 2600 snuck out in the middle of the night and did the dirty deed, killing your xbox 360. 2600 is the king, baby and it will make sure you don't forget it, see?

[GrizzLee]

Personally, I think your 2600 snuck out in the middle of the night and did the dirty deed, killing your xbox 360. 2600 is the king, baby and it will make sure you don't forget it, see?

 

That must be it.

 

OK, so I get home for lunch today and MS calls me to do more beta game testing. I've been a beta tester since day one on th XBOX and XBOX 360. I told them that I will not perform anymore beta testing pending my review from customer service. They asked about my experience and I told them what I think about their offshore operation and the long lead times AND the percieved failure rates I read about.

 

We will see how it goes

 

-Lee

[darklord1977]

Knowing my luck with consoles, I'll be one of the few to get a working 360.

None of my Sony consloes have ever had any trouble, and some of my other consoles have survived things they shouldn't. (e.g., Gameshark for the Saturn, Supercharger used regularly with the 7800, Gameboy thrown on a steel deck, etc.)

 

Regardless of what you see online there are well more then a few 360's that work. As matter of fact, this unlucky person got one of the few that dosn't work. People who are mad scream louder then people that are content. That is the entire reason for what appears to be a high failure rate. I have had my console since launch night and I have had 0 problems with it. It works perfectly.

 

It sucks that this support experience went so badly. I have not had to deal with the support so I can't comment on the quality of it. A month turnaround?!? That is crazy.

ive had my 360 since launch night ..and have had no problems at all...its a well built system..i even got a cooling fan attatchment to protect from overheating (just in case) all my friends have 360s as well and no defects there as well..

[darklord1977]

Lately, I am starting to think that it is worth getting those pricey 2 year warranties from places like Best Buy and Circuit City since they will just replace the unit on the spot.

 

Actually, I wouldn't count on that. I discussed that with the MS rep and with Fryes electronics support (where I bough the unit). I would still be out a month. They still don't have them in stock to do a swap. In fact Fryes told me that I would have to send it to MS for repair since it is still under MS warranty. I wonder how faithful those extended warranties are. Call me paranoid, but I suspect there is some fine print in there that they can wiggle out of.

 

-Lee

those "store warranties "are gimmicks i dont trust them either its just more money for the stores thats all

[shadow460]

I've only ever had one system fail on me. It was about a month old. Of course, that hard impact didn't help matters very much, either.

It wasn't a 360, though.

 

Lee, I've got a gob of games consoles around here (plenty to do), but I'd be up in arms every hour a $400 game system was out of order.

 

I hope your new 360 works because $400 is a lot to spend on a speed bump.