My Xbox 360 Console Nightmare!

teddyco

I am writing this thread for the benefit of anyone who has purchased an Xbox 360 or thinking of getting one for Christmas.

In December 2006, my wife purchased an Xbox 360 Console as my Christmas present. It cost around £300.00 and came with the 20GB hard drive and all the bells and whistles. Quite frankly, this was the Full Monty of the gaming scene.

I was thrilled and delighted as I unwrapped the box and set up the shiny, new system on top of my TV stand. I was, as you say, there dude! I was prepared to kill off any alien critter within a mile of my wireless controller.

Four month's later, the unthinkable happened; I was shooting my way through a host of enemy cretins and suddenly the screen froze and three red lights appeared on the front of the console.

I later learned that this was sounded the death knell for the Xbox 360, and had become a £300.00 'brick' that was now stuck on my TV stand. I contacted Xbox Customer Service and spoke to someone who didn't speak 'so good English'. I proceeded to tell him my woe's.

The next day I waved goodbye to my console as the UPS man carried it away under his arm and into his big, brown truck. That was March 2007.

Three weeks later the console arrived and I opened everything up and placed it back on my TV stand. Everything was right with the world again........until this past October when I inserted a disk in the system and it refused to recognize the disk.

I received a message in 14 different languages that clearly said "Please insert this disk into an Xbox 360 Console". Oh my goodness, I shouted with great joy because for a moment I thought that someone had replaced my Xbox 360 with a Sony Playstation 3!

No such luck! I contacted the friendly man on the 800 Microsoft helpline who didn't speak 'so good English' and told him my story. Again, I greeted the UPS man who scanned my package and drove away in his big, brown truck.

In the process of all my trouble, my wife convinced me to write a complaint letter to Microsoft head office and tell them my story.

Last week, I got a nice email from one of their 'escalation associates' who apologized for my trouble and offered to keep my questionable console and ship me a brand new model.

He also gave me a list of items and told me to pick two things that he would send me in the post. Here is the list that he sent:

Kameo
Project Gotham Racing 3
Viva Pinata
Gears of War
Forza Motorsport 3
Perfect Dark Zero
Crackdown
Wireless Headset
Wireless Controller
Live Vision Camera

I didn't recognize any of the games, so I picked the wireless controller and the Live Vision Camera. Those items should arrive in a few days.

Today, I received the Xbox Console back from UPS and again, and unfortunately, it was not the brand new one that had been promised, but repaired.

I got back on the phone with the 'escalation specialist' and told him the problem and he apologized again, issued me with yet another UPS return form and today I watched my package disappear with the UPS man.

I cannot say that I am totally disappointed with the customer service that I received from Microsoft head office in Buckinghamshire, but my advice to anyone who is experiencing problems with their Xbox console is to not contact the 800 number with the anticipation of getting something more than someone who will send you a UPS label for pick-up.

WRITE A LETTER!

I will post the results of my ordeal when the new console arrives by UPS hopefully by next week

southernscouser

To be honest I think the CS from Microsoft for the 360's is absolutely top notch.

Yes, these 'rings of death' should not be happening (only on the older models) but credit to them. Yes it's a pain in the @rse but they arrange and pay for collection and delivery, and then to offer you 2 items aswe;;.

They get a hats off from me.

sco0ter

These issues have been addressed by microsoft for some time with them replacing the older models with newer ones and giving games as a good will gesture. I have a friend who had returned 3 to Game before someone in the queue told him to e-mail microsoft and within 8 days he had a brand new version of the console and his games

teddyco

Yes, I am grateful that Microsoft has at least invested money to replace the faulty consoles, but why can't they just come out and admit there was a design flaw, do a recall and move on to better days?

I found this interesting article on Xbox failure rates:

http://www.dailytech.com/Retailers+Estimate+Xbox+360+Failure+Rate+High+as+33+Percent/article7892.htm

motorguy

teddyco wrote: »

Yes, I am grateful that Microsoft has at least invested money to replace the faulty consoles, but why can't they just come out and admit there was a design flaw, do a recall and move on to better days?

I found this interesting article on Xbox failure rates:

http://www.dailytech.com/Retailers+Estimate+Xbox+360+Failure+Rate+High+as+33+Percent/article7892.htm

Because it would probably cost Billions to replace any consoles and theres no way its effecting 1 in 3.

I've had about 8 of them through my hands since launch and none have had any issues.

random456

My son's 2nd hand 360 from cash converters has ruined a disc-when you look closely its put a ring around the other edges of the cd, and i also get a message saying insert disc into an xbox 360 (doh!)...it's still in warranty with cash converters but i know they don't have any more in, and as it was 2nd hand even if they refunded me i could not afford new. who should i be contacting, cash converters or microsoft?

fox2319

pgilc1 wrote: »

Because it would probably cost Billions to replace any consoles and theres no way its effecting 1 in 3.

I've had about 8 of them through my hands since launch and none have had any issues.

Just out of curiosity, if you've not had any issues then why have you had 8 consoles?

I had 2 over a period of 9 months, both died with a RoD and both were taken back to the shop for a full refund. After I took the 2nd one back, I got a PS3 and am extremely please with it. All it needs now are some games but they seem to all be coming out in the near future.

donnajunkie

i have been thinking of getting a new game console but havent been able to decide between the xbox 360 and the ps3. is it safe to assume that the potential faults are not likely to happen with a xbox 360 console if i bought one now? another confusing thing is while looking around shops today i saw 5 different types. i saw an arcade, premium, core, pro and elite version of it. there is a good offer on at woolworths at the moment where you get 3 games with it including halo 3 for £290 but it doesnt say which of the 5 types it is. i want the one that gives a hd picture whichever one that is.

just to add, if i went for a ps3 how do i know the same sort of problem wont happen in a years time. i dont like the way the discs load into that console, it is asking to develop a fault being designing like that.

superscaper

pumpa wrote: »

My son's 2nd hand 360 from cash converters has ruined a disc-when you look closely its put a ring around the other edges of the cd, and i also get a message saying insert disc into an xbox 360 (doh!)...it's still in warranty with cash converters but i know they don't have any more in, and as it was 2nd hand even if they refunded me i could not afford new. who should i be contacting, cash converters or microsoft?

Got nothing to do with Microsoft, your contract is with the retailer Cash Converters. As it's second hand I doubt MS would cover any manufacturer warranty anyway.

daymo

pumpa wrote: »

My son's 2nd hand 360 from cash converters has ruined a disc-when you look closely its put a ring around the other edges of the cd, and i also get a message saying insert disc into an xbox 360 (doh!)...it's still in warranty with cash converters but i know they don't have any more in, and as it was 2nd hand even if they refunded me i could not afford new. who should i be contacting, cash converters or microsoft?

This normally happens when the xbox is moved when a disc is inside it! My 360 had a warning sticker on the front saying not to do it. Most problems with the 360 are due to overheating and they should be kept well ventilated---I have been doing alot of homework on the subject while I was waitning for the thing to be delivered...

Idiophreak

teddyco wrote: »

Project Gotham Racing 3...Gears of War...Forza Motorsport 3 (2?)...Crackdown...

I didn't recognize any of the games

Blimey, those are some *mighty* recognisable games they offered you, would've done well to have got hold of a couple.

Back OT, the whole "ring of death" thing doesn't really bother me.

The 360 has a 3 year waranty. If it dies within three years, MS will pay for it to be picked up, fixed and sent back to you. That's far better than you'll get with most stuff like this...

And the red lights thing does happen. It's always happened. Anyone buying a 360 should know about it (assuming they don't just part with £300 without doing ANY research on the thing they're buying).

In a way I kinda like it. In my view the worst case is that your 360 actually lasts for 3 years - then if it dies after those 3 years you're screwed. On the other hand, if you have one die every year, you'll have a 360 for life (and over time you'll probably end up with a better console because of it).

It's just one of those things - and nobody I've spoken to has had any *real* problems through sending it back etc. You just lose your console for a couple of days.

donnajunkie - any of the 360s will offer HDs of sorts - they all have a digital component out. (although I'm not sure the core/arcade come with the right cable).

The elite (and pro maybe?) comes with a HDMI interface though, which is probably what you're talking about.