GTA4 on the Xbox 360 - £25 to solve a known problem?

TonyTheSuperPerson

I was playing Grand Theft Auto 4 on my 360 when a error popped up saying 'Disc Unreadable'. The error message told me to take out and clean the disc so I ejected it. The game had a huge scratch on it, following the curvature of the disc that wasn't there when I put it in an hour before. After putting it back in, the game doesn't get past the loading screen before the error stops play.

I contacted the Xbox helpline and was told Take2 (the publishers) replace discs for the cost of post. I emailed them (couldn't find a number) and was told:

Your 360 has damaged the game. Your first priority is to call xbox to get the issue with the 360 resolved. We can replace your game however they will be a charge as this is system damage. Please provide your location so i can send the correct returns process.

All my other games work fine and always have since I bought a 360 Elite on release day (August 24 2007 says wikipedia) . I've had GTA4 for under a month.

After sending my location I was told they charge £25 to replace the disc. On their site, this is listed as '*B) Product damaged by customer.*'. After querying this I was told:

This is our replacement policy and we do not have a replacement service that just cost postage. As the game was damaged and is not a manufacturing they will be charge of £25.

I decided to phone Xbox support again and was told that this is 'a known issue' with the game and 'the discs are bad'. Indeed, a google search for 'gta4 disc unreadable' brings up lots of entries.

Does anyone have any advice? It seems they're charging people £25 to fix a known problem with their discs.

Bamber19

This is not only a GTA4 problem, there's been many games in the past with this problem, i've heard it comes from a subtle difference in the discs that most pulishers use as opposed to the discs being used by some others and the microsoft in-house developed games. I'm sure there was actually a thread on it at some stage ages ago. The problem is that there is nothing obviously wrong with the discs, the 360 just doesn't like them for some reason, realistically that means the discs are faulty as they're not capable of being used for the intended purpose, getting Take 2 to accept this will be a struggle, have you tried taking it back to the shop you got it from? That should be your first port of call.

Bamber19

From some light googling opinion seems to be that it is a hardware issue that microsoft has so far failed to admit blame for. There is a report of a law suit in the US over this issue but haven't seen the result or even if the case has been settled.

This guy offers a solution that seems to make sense. http://www.anetforums.com/posts.aspx?ThreadIndex=38040

TonyTheSuperPerson

Bamber19 wrote: »

This is not only a GTA4 problem, there's been many games in the past with this problem, i've heard it comes from a subtle difference in the discs that most pulishers use as opposed to the discs being used by some others and the microsoft in-house developed games. I'm sure there was actually a thread on it at some stage ages ago. The problem is that there is nothing obviously wrong with the discs, the 360 just doesn't like them for some reason, realistically that means the discs are faulty as they're not capable of being used for the intended purpose, getting Take 2 to accept this will be a struggle, have you tried taking it back to the shop you got it from? That should be your first port of call.

I see, sounds like a bit of a hopeless situation unless they suddenly decide to admit fault.

Closing in on a month since I bought the game, surely too late to take it back to the store?

TonyTheSuperPerson

Bamber19 wrote: »

From some light googling opinion seems to be that it is a hardware issue that microsoft has so far failed to admit blame for. There is a report of a law suit in the US over this issue but haven't seen the result or even if the case has been settled.

This guy offers a solution that seems to make sense. http://www.anetforums.com/posts.aspx?ThreadIndex=38040

I've seen a few solutions like this, from toothpaste to a banana. I think i'll wait to see if I can sort it another way before attacking my disc with household items.

c0c0nuts

Hi Tony

My OH had exactly the same prob-he'd waited ages to get his hands on both the xbox 360 and GTA4.
We had the Xbox 3 weeks and GTA4 9 days before the errors started popping up and then GTA packed up altogether.
He was told exactly the same as yourself by Microsoft and Take 4. We were lucky- took both the console and GTA4 back to Argos where we bought them from as part of a deal and they changed them as it was less than a month since purchase.
If you've got your receipt i'd defo try taking it back, it is a common prob with the xbox unfortunately. Worst they can say is no.
Good Luck.

TonyTheSuperPerson

c0c0nuts wrote: »

Hi Tony

My OH had exactly the same prob-he'd waited ages to get his hands on both the xbox 360 and GTA4.
We had the Xbox 3 weeks and GTA4 9 days before the errors started popping up and then GTA packed up altogether.
He was told exactly the same as yourself by Microsoft and Take 4. We were lucky- took both the console and GTA4 back to Argos where we bought them from as part of a deal and they changed them as it was less than a month since purchase.
If you've got your receipt i'd defo try taking it back, it is a common prob with the xbox unfortunately. Worst they can say is no.
Good Luck.

I'll give it a try, thanks.

C_Ronaldo

I had the disc unreadable screen but that was because my dvd drive was faulty

TonyTheSuperPerson

An update to this thread!

I took GTA back to HMV. After explaining what happened and showing it an employee, he replaced it without hesitation, and gave me a new receipt in case I have any further problems. We even talked about GTA while he did it.

Thanks for all the help and kudos to HMV.