Xbox away on repair too long.

jackso_2

I purchased an Xbox from Argos (March 08). I also paid £40 for an extended 3 year guarantee.

Console had a 1 red light issue in the middle of Jan. So phoned up the number in the "breakdown cover" details I was given at the time. It says Argos on it, but I was put through to Allianz.

They arranged a pickup on the 20th Jan (5 days after I had phoned them. As they didn't have a pickup available sooner).

It was taken to their repair company. On the email I got from them it said that if it was away for 3 weeks or more you can call them to check on it's progress. So I did & they said that because it was still under the 3 year Microsoft warranty for the red light issue that they sent it back to them to be fixed.

This is my first main issue. I paid £40 extended cover to them should any issues arise with the console so that it didn't have to go through Microsoft as through previous experience, they take too long on repairs. Yet at the first sign of a problem, they throw it back to Microsoft. I could have done that myself for nothing & saved the £40.

So I phoned them up last week to take issue with this. However Allianz have outsourced the work to an Indian call centre & they just don't seem to get why I have a gripe with this. Paying money for their company to fix a problem, only for it to be shifted to Microsoft & them fix it for nothing.

I phoned them again last week. Lady gave me a call back on thurs. Said Microsoft had fixed the console & I'd have it back on fri. Phoned Allianz a few mins ago after getting back in from work. Told me that because of the weekend, I was to give them a call back on wed if it had not been delivered. Guy says delay was due to weekend & if I need to phone back on wed, they'll give me the Microsoft contact number.

So my 2 issues here are:

1) Paid for breakdown cover. Xbox was sent back to their repair company. They had the respoinsibility to fix the console, but they chucked it back to Microsoft under their warranty. As I said, I could have saved £40 by simply leaving the breakdown cover & phoning Microsoft to fix the console for free.

2) Console was picked up on 20th Jan & is still not back.

In the 'break down' cover thingy (inside page) they gave me, it specifically states "we'll fix the problem quickly", "If 'we' cannot repair your item, we will give you Argos vouchers, to the value you paid for a replacement". They haven't fixed the problem quickly, nor have they even been the ones who have carried out the repair!!!!

So I was wondering is there anything I can do about this whole mess? Surely they have failed to stick to the agreement since they didn't even make the repair but shifted it off to Microsoft under their 3 year red light warranty.

Thanks, James..

Chambece

Usually with these policies, it is just the 'extended' part that is dealt with by the cover - in the first year, you have the standard warranty, and in years 2 & 3 MS will still support the *3* red light issue, so the policy gives an extension to the warranty where one does not already exist. As the MS warranty does (or may) apply here, they've sent it to them, which is probably buried somewhere in the small print.

I am guessing that they sent it back, but if its a *single* red light issue, this won't be covered by the MS Extension, so has probably been returned or they are still trying to figure out what the problem is - you don't say if you have actually got it back, so they might be fobbing you off, or it might be here tomorrow.

Will be interesting to see what happens, if it has gone to MS, you'll ether have a recon'd one, which will be fine, or the serial sticker will indicate a repair. I am guessing if its come back as not a 3 red light issue, they will have sent it to their own repairers, so will still have your original serial sticker.

djb215

jackso wrote: »

I purchased an Xbox from Argos (March 08). I also paid £40 for an extended 3 year guarantee.


So my 2 issues here are:

1) Paid for breakdown cover. Xbox was sent back to their repair company. They had the respoinsibility to fix the console, but they chucked it back to Microsoft under their warranty. As I said, I could have saved £40 by simply leaving the breakdown cover & phoning Microsoft to fix the console for free.

2) Console was picked up on 20th Jan & is still not back.

In the 'break down' cover thingy (inside page) they gave me, it specifically states "we'll fix the problem quickly", "If 'we' cannot repair your item, we will give you Argos vouchers, to the value you paid for a replacement". They haven't fixed the problem quickly, nor have they even been the ones who have carried out the repair!!!!

So I was wondering is there anything I can do about this whole mess? Surely they have failed to stick to the agreement since they didn't even make the repair but shifted it off to Microsoft under their 3 year red light warranty.

Can't help you much with them taking too long to repair the item, but the breakdown cover in addition to extended warranty covers accidental damage.

The reason that consoles have to be sent back to Microsoft directly is because (and this is the case of every single major retailer in the UK) Microsoft won't allow retailers to use repair agents, it has to be Microsoft who repairs them or they will claim it invalidates any guarantee that retailers have in terms of standard warranty or extended warranty contracts.

Have you spoken to Argos Direct rather than Allianz at any point?

Give them a call on 0845 640 2020 with your policy number (your Argos Direct order number) and they may be able to liase between yourself and Allianz.

HTH :beer:

jackso_2

Chambece wrote: »

Usually with these policies, it is just the 'extended' part that is dealt with by the cover - in the first year, you have the standard warranty, and in years 2 & 3 MS will still support the *3* red light issue, so the policy gives an extension to the warranty where one does not already exist. As the MS warranty does (or may) apply here, they've sent it to them, which is probably buried somewhere in the small print.

I am guessing that they sent it back, but if its a *single* red light issue, this won't be covered by the MS Extension, so has probably been returned or they are still trying to figure out what the problem is - you don't say if you have actually got it back, so they might be fobbing you off, or it might be here tomorrow.

Will be interesting to see what happens, if it has gone to MS, you'll ether have a recon'd one, which will be fine, or the serial sticker will indicate a repair. I am guessing if its come back as not a 3 red light issue, they will have sent it to their own repairers, so will still have your original serial sticker.

It's marketed as: "Breakdown cover for your product following the expiry of the manufacturer’s guarantee."

In the pamphlet it simply says 1 years manufacturer's + 2 years extended cover. 4 year has it split between 2 & 2. While the 5 year has labour only with manufacturer's parts warranty.

As standard Microsoft give 12 month's guarantee on the console. It used to be 3 red light was only 3 years, but they have since changed their policy & now 1 red light with the E74 error message (which was what I got) denotes hardware failure. So that is also covered for 3 years:

To get this link to work, you'll need to delete the space between the // & support.

http:// support.microsoft.com/kb/969905

I have looked at the terms & conditions & can't see anything specific regarding them allowing the use of throwing it back to the manufacturer after the initial 12 months are up.

I tried to post a link to a pic of the terms, but it's coming up with an error message not allowing me since I'm a new poster & it may be that I'm a spammer. To view it, you'll need to delete the space between the // & img155.

http:// img155.imageshack.us/img155/4971/termsm.jpg

As to the console, I don't have it back. They simply said if it hasn't been delivered by wed, I was to call them back & they'd give me the Microsoft phone number to check on it's whereabouts.

jackso_2

djb215 wrote: »

Can't help you much with them taking too long to repair the item, but the breakdown cover in addition to extended warranty covers accidental damage.

The reason that consoles have to be sent back to Microsoft directly is because (and this is the case of every single major retailer in the UK) Microsoft won't allow retailers to use repair agents, it has to be Microsoft who repairs them or they will claim it invalidates any guarantee that retailers have in terms of standard warranty or extended warranty contracts.

Have you spoken to Argos Direct rather than Allianz at any point?

Give them a call on 0845 640 2020 with your policy number (your Argos Direct order number) and they may be able to liase between yourself and Allianz.

HTH :beer:

The accidental damage on the pamphlet is marked as for the first 12 months.

Allianz's repair company definitely repair them because I spoke to one of their engineers & he told me that they were swamped at the time & because my console still fell under the 3 year Microsoft warranty for the red light issues, they simply sent it back to them.

I haven't spoken to Argos because I was initially waiting to see what happened to my console. When I phoned Allianz 2 weeks ago, I told them the maintenance company had sent it back to Microsoft because I heard it directly from one of the repair company's engineers. They didn't believe me because they say said repair company had to ask them for permission first & there was no report of it. As of thur last week, Allianz lady phoned me back & said that Microsoft had fixed it & it was to be with me on fri. Phoned them today & someone else now saying wait till wed before calling them back.

There is nothing in their terms & conditions which said that Microsoft would fix it after the initial 12 month warranty had expired. Simply that they would take care of it & it was sent to their repair company, who then decided it was simpler/quicker/less hassle or whatever to throw it to MS. If that was the case, then why did I need to spend £40 on 3 year breakdown cover. Especially since if it broke down, I could simply have sent it off to MS myself to be repaired for nothing!

tomwainwright

i had the exact same problem, they took 3 days to pick up and its been 4 weeks and they still haven't fixed my xbox yet. we rang after 3 weeks and they said it still hadn't been fixed and was STILL waiting for parts to repair the xbox. just a quick question though, how long did it actually take for them to fix your xbox?

also if you would please email any advice on how to get them to hurry up with the repair etc. my email is [EMAIL="tomwainwright999@hotmail.com"]tomwainwright999@hotmail.com[/EMAIL]

LJM

did it go through argos ? my nephews mobile went wrong last year took it back to argos they said they would sort it out after nearly 2 months my sister discovered it was still at argos and had never been sent for repairs.

rl290

Sorry, very confused with what you expect OP:

1) You are unhappy that it was sent to Microsoft. Who else did you honestly think would fix this? With a TV or DVD player that is broken, the retailer may have a registered repair expert on hand, but with a known problem that Microsoft have said that they will fix for free (and are the most experienced at fixing) surely the best result is to have it sent to them? Even if Microsoft were not doing this for free, if there was no registered Xbox repair service close at hand, it may still have been sent back to MS. Does anything about the extended warranty indicate that it would NOT be the manufacturer who solves the problem? (To be pedantic, the wording "extended warranty" actually implies that you would get an extension of the warranty service: i.e. that the manufacturer would fix the problem)

2) Regarding the delays, this is more unacceptable. I would write to them demanding that some of the £40 charge is refunded, as this is hardly satisfactory service.

R

sw67

Microsoft pick up and send to Germany for repair - mine was only away for just over a week

jackieb

sw67 wrote: »

Microsoft pick up and send to Germany for repair - mine was only away for just over a week

We did the same. It was picked up from the house and back in 5 days - except they never repaired my son's console - they replaced it with a brand new one and a new 1 yr guarantee. It did cost us £80 though, for what we thought was going to be a repair. Microsoft said they decided to replace the console as repairing it would have taken too long!

rl290

sw67 wrote: »

Microsoft pick up and send to Germany for repair - mine was only away for just over a week

Should have also said, that this happened to me, and MS were very quick