Consumer Rights - O2 replacement for faulty Xbox Series X

Dubzlove01

Hi everyone,

First time post so forgive me if I get anything wrong

I got an Xbox Series X on a device plan agreement from O2 in December 2022, I will finish payments in December 2024.

The Xbox has recently started crashing frequently, no matter which game I am playing. Unfortunately it is outside of the 12 month manufacturer's guarantee from Microsoft.

I've done some reading and found that I may be entitled to a repair or replacement under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. I have contacted O2 and they have asked me to provide proof that the Xbox was faulty at the point of sale. My question is how am I supposed to do this? I feel as though they are trying to fob me off and get out of their responsibility as the retailer.

Does anyone have any advice or guidance for this situation? Many thanks.

powerful_Rogue

Dubzlove01 said:

Hi everyone,

First time post so forgive me if I get anything wrong

I got an Xbox Series X on a device plan agreement from O2 in December 2022, I will finish payments in December 2024.

The Xbox has recently started crashing frequently, no matter which game I am playing. Unfortunately it is outside of the 12 month manufacturer's guarantee from Microsoft.

I've done some reading and found that I may be entitled to a repair or replacement under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. I have contacted O2 and they have asked me to provide proof that the Xbox was faulty at the point of sale. My question is how am I supposed to do this? I feel as though they are trying to fob me off and get out of their responsibility as the retailer.

Does anyone have any advice or guidance for this situation? Many thanks.

As the xbox is over six months old, O2 are correct that the onus is on you to show the xbox had an inherent fault when purchased which has now caused it to fail.

A report from a console repair shop?

Dubzlove01

powerful_Rogue said:

Dubzlove01 said:

Hi everyone,

First time post so forgive me if I get anything wrong

I got an Xbox Series X on a device plan agreement from O2 in December 2022, I will finish payments in December 2024.

The Xbox has recently started crashing frequently, no matter which game I am playing. Unfortunately it is outside of the 12 month manufacturer's guarantee from Microsoft.

I've done some reading and found that I may be entitled to a repair or replacement under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. I have contacted O2 and they have asked me to provide proof that the Xbox was faulty at the point of sale. My question is how am I supposed to do this? I feel as though they are trying to fob me off and get out of their responsibility as the retailer.

Does anyone have any advice or guidance for this situation? Many thanks.

As the xbox is over six months old, O2 are correct that the onus is on you to show the xbox had an inherent fault when purchased which has now caused it to fail.

A report from a console repair shop?

I found a local repair guy earlier in the week, I'll ask if this is something he could do. But no guarantee O2 will accept that as what is he meant to do exactly.

If the console works day 1 you think great, you don't expect to check for faults that may occur 18 months later. The situation seems impossible and I feel like I am resigned to paying for repair/replacement myself.

eskbanker

Dubzlove01 said:
I found a local repair guy earlier in the week, I'll ask if this is something he could do. But no guarantee O2 will accept that as what is he meant to do exactly.

He's meant to examine the device and identify what the fault is, which should then in turn determine whether or not it was a manufacturing flaw present at the time of purchase.  If it is, then the retailer is liable under CRA, but if it isn't then you're on your own, unless you can persuade Microsoft to contribute to the repair.

Presumably frequent crashes are more likely to be a software issue, so you might want to research the problem on other sites?

Aylesbury_Duck

Dubzlove01 said:

powerful_Rogue said:

Dubzlove01 said:

Hi everyone,

First time post so forgive me if I get anything wrong

I got an Xbox Series X on a device plan agreement from O2 in December 2022, I will finish payments in December 2024.

The Xbox has recently started crashing frequently, no matter which game I am playing. Unfortunately it is outside of the 12 month manufacturer's guarantee from Microsoft.

I've done some reading and found that I may be entitled to a repair or replacement under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. I have contacted O2 and they have asked me to provide proof that the Xbox was faulty at the point of sale. My question is how am I supposed to do this? I feel as though they are trying to fob me off and get out of their responsibility as the retailer.

Does anyone have any advice or guidance for this situation? Many thanks.

As the xbox is over six months old, O2 are correct that the onus is on you to show the xbox had an inherent fault when purchased which has now caused it to fail.

A report from a console repair shop?

I found a local repair guy earlier in the week, I'll ask if this is something he could do. But no guarantee O2 will accept that as what is he meant to do exactly.

If the console works day 1 you think great, you don't expect to check for faults that may occur 18 months later. The situation seems impossible and I feel like I am resigned to paying for repair/replacement myself.

By the same token, how would you get it fixed if the problem can't be identified, anyway?  Whoever fixes it is going to have to understand what parts need replacing if it's a hardware problem.

Get it inspected, get a report in writing, and go back to the retailer with it.  They should repair, replace or partially refund the value of the unit so you can buy a used replacement, or top up the partial refund and buy new.  They should also refund the cost of the inspection.

Dubzlove01

eskbanker said:

Dubzlove01 said:
I found a local repair guy earlier in the week, I'll ask if this is something he could do. But no guarantee O2 will accept that as what is he meant to do exactly.

He's meant to examine the device and identify what the fault is, which should then in turn determine whether or not it was a manufacturing flaw present at the time of purchase.  If it is, then the retailer is liable under CRA, but if it isn't then you're on your own, unless you can persuade Microsoft to contribute to the repair.

Presumably frequent crashes are more likely to be a software issue, so you might want to research the problem on other sites?

I still don't know how anyone is meant to know whether ot not the fault was present at the point of purchase 🤣 he didn't examine it on day 1 so how would he know?

Regarding the crashes, I think I have done everything I possibly can to resolve the issue myself having followed advice and guidance from other sites and YouTube etc so this really was my last resort.

Aylesbury_Duck

Dubzlove01 said:

eskbanker said:

Dubzlove01 said:
I found a local repair guy earlier in the week, I'll ask if this is something he could do. But no guarantee O2 will accept that as what is he meant to do exactly.

He's meant to examine the device and identify what the fault is, which should then in turn determine whether or not it was a manufacturing flaw present at the time of purchase.  If it is, then the retailer is liable under CRA, but if it isn't then you're on your own, unless you can persuade Microsoft to contribute to the repair.

Presumably frequent crashes are more likely to be a software issue, so you might want to research the problem on other sites?

I still don't know how anyone is meant to know whether ot not the fault was present at the point of purchase 🤣 he didn't examine it on day 1 so how would he know?

Regarding the crashes, I think I have done everything I possibly can to resolve the issue myself having followed advice and guidance from other sites and YouTube etc so this really was my last resort.

He's supposed to be an expert.  It doesn't require forensic evidence, just an informed and reasonable opinion that something about the design or manufacture of that particular unit or component made a premature failure inevitable.

If it were a washing machine, an example might be a belt pulley with a dodgy bearing that works perfectly for a few hundred cycles but then fails, causing the belt to jam and other damage to be caused.  It's not apparent on day one, or day 101, but early failure was inevitable because there was an inherent fault.  With something like a console, with few moving parts, the problem is more likely to be a poorly soldered joint that has started to come away, or a board mounted incorrectly so it's overheating, etc, etc.  Probably trickier to nail down, but someone knowing what they're doing should at least be able to identify in which components the problem lies.

Dubzlove01

Thanks all for the advice so far. I've found someone who said he will have a look at the console and we'll go from there. Fingers crossed

MattMattMattUK

On a slight side note, have you factory resent the console and then reinstalled the games etc. to make totally sure that it is not a software issue?

Does the game crash to desktop (console front end), or does the entire console crash and reboot?

400ixl

The other thing to be aware of is that the choice to repair, refund or replace is with the retailer / manufacturer and if it is a refund then they can reduce that value to take into account the use you have had from it.

Dubzlove01

MattMattMattUK said:

On a slight side note, have you factory resent the console and then reinstalled the games etc. to make totally sure that it is not a software issue?

Does the game crash to desktop (console front end), or does the entire console crash and reboot?

Yeah I have tried the full reset and reinstalling everything. It crashes with pretty much every game I play now.

It usually will just crash to the Xbox home page. But has on occasion frozen completely and I've had to power the console off