Microsoft has had a whole lot of Xbox 360′s returned to them for repairs. This is not news to anyone in the gaming community, from the hardcore to the casual fringe. If your Xbox 360 hasn’t died (yet), you almost certainly know at least a few people whose machines have been KIA.
I only dredge this old news up because I was reminded of the prevelance of 360 hardware issues when somberly laying my Elite to rest in its coffin and dropping it off at The UPS Store nearest to my house. Here is how my exchange with the clerk began, almost verbatim, keeping in mind the coffin Microsoft sends out for your return is a completely nondescript white box:
Me: (Setting white box on counter) “Hello. This is paid for, but I was hoping I could drop it off here. It’s an…”
UPS Store clerk: “Xbox 360. Yeah we see a lot of those. You can just leave it here and I’ll take care of it.”
Me: “Wow, I knew Microsoft had an epidemic on their hands, but I thought the problem was more or less taken care of.”
Clerk: “Yeah, I normally work at the University Plaza location, where I usually see at least one of these a day.”
Me: “Still?”
Clerk: “Still.”
And… scene. This concludes our dramatic reading from “Fallout 3 Killed My Xbox 360 Elite” by Yours Truly.
I was sending my machine back due to an E74 error (finally covered under the extended warranty), but when I turned it on the night before sending it back to make sure it was still giving the error message, it was working again. I figured I better make it give the error before I sent it back, so I started playing Halo. As I was about to enter a Team Slayer match the screen froze. When I restarted the console I got the full on Red Ring of Death for the first time.
I actually wrote a note to whatever Microsoft technician opens the box letting them know the situation in hopes that they take care of ALL the hardware failures instead of sending me (or some other poor sucker) a half-fixed still-broken machine. Why is it I can’t shake the feeling the technician won’t care much for my pleasantly worded note, and why do I have a strong suspicion it won’t be long before I’m packing up whatever refurbished 360 they “fixed” for me after another premature death?
I know you’ve got 360 horror stories much worse than mine… let’s hear’em.
By Tim Graffam
Eerily similar to my own story when my second-hand 360 went RRoD on me. And like you, the dude at the UPS store knew EXACTLY what I was shipping right away.
The guys who receieve these systems don’t even so much as test them. They are opened, sorted, and shipped out, probably to the same place the refurbs come from.
The reason you’re hearing about so many repeat death is because of the nature of Microsoft’s exchange program. Microsoft is basically replacing the dead with the undead, and the vast majority of people are getting these “zombie” systems that are running on borrowed time. I thank Crom that my launch unit red-ringed just before they extended the warranty – so i was given a brand spanking new machine as my replacement (and got my repair cost refunded when the warranty was extended – but that’s a whole other story.
I managed to screw myself out of two months of XBOX 360 usage due to a stupid slip-up.
Basically I had gotten the RRoD while attempting to play Braid for the first time. When it happened, I was sorely disappointed but not angry. My XBOX was part of a wave they said had a stronger fan to prevent the issue. But regardless, I send out a repair request. Two weeks later I still haven’t received my box, so I cancel the request and plan to do the Electronic Label method they had on the website. The box arrives the next day, null and void because I canceled it.
So on my new repair order, I find I can’t check the status, so I call up Microsoft after navigating their absolutely HORRIBLE machines (It took me nearly an hour to figure out how to talk to an actual person). For some reason, the system actually can’t use my home address, to which they attribute this recent error on the website. So they scrap it and tell me to get a friend’s address to send the XBOX to. I do this. So basically I had to get the box sent to my friend, pick it up, send the XBOX off and wait for it to get to my friend’s. An agonizing month or so later, I finally pick up the XBOX from my friend.
I’m honestly very skeptical about the one they sent me. It’s much louder than my previous 360. But I’ll game on it until the system breaks, or I do.
I run the Print Shop at a local UPS Store, and while I don’t normally have anything to do with the shipping, I’ll still give a hand to anyone who needs it. We take in on average, 4-5 Xbox 360s a week. On an average work week that’s pretty much 1 per day, and there are weeks when we see far more. I have to wonder how much profit is being generated via Xbox Live accounts, because that company has to be leaking like a sieve with all these hardware failures.
Beyond what the shippers see, the store does repairs on 360′s, and we average two drop-offs a day.
insanity!
Evadrion, that sucks dude. So many similar stories out there. It’s amazing how popular such a flawed piece of hardware remains… I guess people will put up with a lot of crap to play some really amazing games.
When my Elite died, I was sooooo pissed, but there were so many games I wanted to play that two days later I went to then-liquidating Circuit City and bought an arcade system for $180. I felt sick doing it, but I had to. I guess I could recoup some of the cost selling the Elite when it comes back, but I don’t know if I could sell it in good conscience, knowing full well it’ll almost certainly break again.
Xbox death stories are turning into the new bad beat stories in poker or 1/2-point losses in fantasy football.
How does it work with the warranty after a machine is fixed? Is it still three years from the date of purchase of the original failed Xbox? Theoretically they could keep sending you garbage refurbs until the warranty runs out, then charge you to repair those garbage refurbs…
Microsoft is an evil organisation that plan to take over the world….
when microsoft first came out it was free for 10 years then when everybody was used to only there program the put huge price on there product making the whole world one big sucker.
now they bring despair on us, again xbox being the light side is a cover – up, ps3 will always be the best straightforward give you the full price of a great product, instead of microsoft who makes it seem cheap but by the time u deal with all the nessecary accessories and repairing the console over again or having to buy new ones. We realise the quote -like stealing candy from a baby – should be placed on our forheads.