My Xbox 360 Console Nightmare!

b33r

donnajunkie wrote: »

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?

It is certainly a fact the older ones had an inherent fault, MS have admitted it and offer (3 years is it?) warranty on them. However you will find a lot of retailers now are selling newer ones, if you look on the sticker you can see the manufacture date and lot number, the newer lot numbers are 734 and 735 and if you get one with an HMDI port (see below) then you're likely getting one of the newer ones.

donnajunkie wrote: »

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.

There is actually another one too - the Halo 3 Edition

Basically:

Core & Arcade
The arcade is the replacement for the core, they've changed it slightly, comes with a memory card I think and the games on the xbox itself are different but basically the same thing. i.e. xbox 360 with a wired controller and no hard drive

Premium, Pro and Halo 3 edition
The Pro is the replacement for the premium, again practically the same thing however the Pro has an HDMI port, the premium doesn't. The Halo 3 edition is just a very ugly Pro console painted green. Xbox 360, wireless controller, a 20 Gigabyte Hard drive and a component cable for HD use (the core doesn't come with this cable).

Elite
Virtually the same as the pro actually, except it is black and has a bigger hard drive (120 Gigabyte) and includes an HMDI cable and a black wireless headset.


The deal from Woolies is a Premium/Pro but don't let them sell you a premium, look for an HDMI logo on the box and you're getting a PRO

beambeam

Idiophreak wrote: »

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...

Really?

After a long period of problems with my xbox between MS and Comet, who I bought it from, I was offered an extended warranty from Comet at £75+ for 3 years and took this because I didn't want to be run through the mill and jump through the hoops I had to to fix my problem(s) again. It's not the first time this week I've heard about this three years and I bought this extended warranty in March... should I go claim it back?

beambeam

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 is what happened to mine, I bought it and it remained in the same, well ventilated place - then in one week, it chewed up one game, and ruined another two though they still play, the rings are quite significant.

Took me ages arguing with the "not so good english" operators on the MS line and I kept riding my consumer bandwagon into the store I bought it from who eventually buckled under my pressure instead of passing the buck to MS and back again, and replaced the console under a gesture of goodwill.

MS' basic reply was this could not happen, well it did and has done to many people as I too did my research online across various resources and forums. The problems have become so chronic for some people that I know that many now buy brand new "core" consoles, open it from the bottom and replace the console themselves then return to the store for a refund. Dishonest I know but at the end of the day they argue why should they have to go without a product for extended periods of time just because MS rushed their product out before it was ready?

What bugs me now is that I have got 1000/1000 points on the games that still work, their sequels are out now and I can't even trade them in at a shop to save some cash and buy the new ones... Nice work.

beambeam

Edit: Rereading my thread I thought it may be useful to some to copy and paste my account of past experiences, with pics, from another thread I made at the time, elsewhere on the www. Hope it helps in some way.

Bought mine 9th Dec, played it pretty often, especially Pro Evo 6... over christmas, the two games I got from family (Gears of War and NFS Carbon) start going funny to the point that Gears of War's cinematic scenes inbetween levels start jumping and freezing like a poor pirate copy, and NFS just plain won't play anymore - select race, then select car and big black screen "Your disc may be dirty or damaged".

Discs are indeed damaged, NFS, Gears of War and Pro Evo all have perfect circled lines going around the discs, some more severe than others, PGR which I hardly ever play isn't damaged. None of these games played in any other console, all kept in game boxes when not in use, machine never left on when I leave flat or any of sort of ill treatment.

Went into Comet in first week before new year, less than a month since I bought it, they just give me Microsoft's number for complaints and stuff, called up and as I explain the laser or whatever inside seems to be damaging the discs, I'm pretty much put in my place upon consultation of the chinese call centre phrasebook's:

"Our engineers have simulated the Xbox in various conditions and situations and there is nothing that can alter the laser speed or damage the discs"

When asked if someone will take a look at the consoles, repair/replace it, I am told no.

Called a couple of times more hoping for someone helpful but nope, so went back to Comet who agreed the machine is damaging discs, and called Xbox on my behalf, only to get the same treatment. Upon comet's insisting there's a fault, they game me some email support address to send photos of the damage, no reply yet so have sent one again.

In the meantime, anyone have any advice on what I should do if I still get no more help, pretty poor to end up with a knackered machine and three ruined games, with no sign of replacement, after the cost of £350+.

Looking up google, doesn't seem to be a rare problem either across the world, just can't believe Xbox's complete bodyswerve when I try to get assistance.

The machine has never been dropped, kicked or swung around my head by the cables, in case someone gets smart!

Then someone suggest hassling Comet a bit more as it's their problem as they are the seller really?

This is what I was thinking, but they claim that Microsoft instruct them to get customers to deal with them directly.

If this was a telly, hifi or whatever, I'd be getting it sorted/replaced in store no problems and I'm close to going mental in the shop about it, the way I see it, Comet supplied it, it is their duty to take it and sort/replace it and chase up the supplier, not me.

And forgot to say, I have never moved the position of it during gameplay, no need to, I kept a space in the cabinet strictly for the incoming xbox I wanted for ages.

Nope, that didn't work either - update...

Still nowt happening, went in on saturday to have it out with Store manager who said he'd call Microsoft/get back to me sunday.

No word so went in (5 days later) yesterday, outside manager covering for the day, but basically fobbed off with Comet's complaints line and so called it and logged my beef, I've moaned about consumer rights and so on and it is quite clear that no one really gives a stuff.

I'm meant to hear back by monday what's going on, if nothing comes then, I'm going straight to Citizen's advice.

Then...

Right, the story so far...

Comet complaints sectioned called back and left a voicemail explaining that Xbox was getting replaced and I'd need the MSQ? number from them to go back to store and swap it.

Called them back to find its only the console getting replaced, and nothing else. Whatabout the games? Well, apparently microsoft still refuse to admit anything could be wrong and so Comet are replacing console as a gesture of goodwill... but because microsoft wont inspect it they can't confirm that the games were damaged by the console?

Yes, you've read this right - they accept the console is faulty and will replace it, but not the games? They can't determine if the games were damaged by machine? So if thats the case, why swap the console? Idiots...

Nevertheless, I took the replacement in case that offer is withdrawn later and I think I'll hit trading standards or something this week.

Joke.

This really annoyed me and to this day I never managed to replace the games, I'm impressed that the OP was offered such good titles or Xbox hardware as gifts... that would have been nice.

Picture of the damage: You should be able to spot one or two quite distinctive rings towards the edges on each disc.


And that was pretty much the end of it all, no problems with the Xbox since though it does sound rough a lot of the times and my spidey sense is often set to "Acting suspiciously..." just in case something else goes wrong.

Like I said, I hope this helps by charting my own personal experience of the problems I had with MS and my Xbox 360.

random456

when my warranty with cash converters runs out, is that it as far as any sort of cs goes as their warranty is only one or 2 months.

Little_John

pumpa phone microsoft even though it is 2nd hand they will deal with it as a product they produce and they have upgraded warrenties to 3 years.

I am always one for returning a faulty item the the seller, but should you buy 2nd hand then you should be able to go to the manufacturer and use the rest of the warrenty. they have a daabase of all serial numbers so know when each console was produced and shipped.

b33r

beambeam wrote: »

Really?

After a long period of problems with my xbox between MS and Comet, who I bought it from, I was offered an extended warranty from Comet at £75+ for 3 years and took this because I didn't want to be run through the mill and jump through the hoops I had to to fix my problem(s) again. It's not the first time this week I've heard about this three years and I bought this extended warranty in March... should I go claim it back?

Definatly, comet ripped you off, unless the 3 year announcement from MS came before March which thinking about it now it didn't. Also 75 quid? It's 38 from argos, still though not needed now either way.

MercilessKiller

teddyco wrote: »

but why can't they just come out and admit there was a design flaw

They did. It was all over the news for weeks a few months ago.

They've owned up tot he design flaw and thus replacing consoles that break within x years no questions asked basically!

donnajunkie

Idiophreak wrote: »

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.

do they all have the actual port for an hdmi cable then? i always got the impression that the core/arcade version was not hd and to get the hd experience form the games you needed to get the premium/pro version. without an hdmi port for an hdmi cable it would not be hd that i would be seeing on screen. i am pretty sure about that because to get the hd upscaling form our home cinema system it has to be connected with a hdmi cable. if it is connected in any other way then we dont get hd upscaling.

robp

I use a component cable on mine (360 -> 46" 1080p LCD) and the picture is very nice. I tried the VGA cable also and that was good too.

Can't see any need for HDMI unless it's required for the HD-DVD add-on which I don't have and don't intend to get.