Getting Microsoft To Fix Your 360?

[Pirate]

A friend of mine is giving me his "bricked" 360, free of charge. He had already replaced it with an Elite and didn’t want to bother with the hassle of getting it fixed. The problem is that the 360 isn’t totally dead. My friend says it works sometimes and doesn’t always give the dreaded circle or ring or whatever.

So, my question is this: how hard is it to get Microsoft to fix these things under their extended three year warranty? Are they going to make me jump through hoops? Also, how quick is the turnaround.

This is a great deal for me if I can get this thing working.

[brian]

Just tell them you saw smoke coming out the back of it and I'm sure they'll at least take a look at it.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by piratehunter

A friend of mine is giving me his "bricked" 360, free of charge. He had already replaced it with an Elite and didn’t want to bother with the hassle of getting it fixed. The problem is that the 360 isn’t totally dead. My friend says it works sometimes and doesn’t always give the dreaded circle or ring or whatever.

So, my question is this: how hard is it to get Microsoft to fix these things under their extended three year warranty? Are they going to make me jump through hoops? Also, how quick is the turnaround.

This is a great deal for me if I can get this thing working.

1-800-4MYXBOX. Tell them you keep getting the three red rings and you are aware of the 3-year warranty repair coverage. If they try to give you stupid solutions, tell them you've tried everything already. If they hassle you about proof of purchase, inform them that the system was released in Nov 2005 so even if you bought it on the very first day it was available it would still be covered under warranty through Nov 2008. You will likely have to pay shipping from you to them. Have fun

[Pirate]

Thanks guys.

[MooglePorn]

"Yessir... have you tried the... oh, how you say... the pooware button? Try that and tell me what happens please."

[umainebearman]

Yep just what Ruined Said. I got my ship back box in like 2 days. Sent it in. They got it Oct. 23 and it is on its way back to me now. Should have it on the 8th. They must be having a diffent situation with Elites though. My best friends Elite bricked and sent his in 3 days before mine and his isn't on its way back yet.

[SilentBob]

My friend has had 2 system die on him so far. His first system took about a month to get repaired and the 2nd one that died on him last week was replaced in a week. So they are getting much better in their response time and i believe they just replace with a refurbished one from stock (that is what my friend got)


Congrats on the new system

[umainebearman]

I put small distinguishing sharpie dots on the bottom of mine before I shipped it off to see if thats the one I get back. I know not very inventive and utterly pointless but hey lets see if I get back what I paid for.

[Ruined]

I'm interested to see if people start getting back units with HDMI ports.

[Pirate]

I got the red lights of doom 4 times last night, so I hopefully I can get this fixed quick. I do have a few questions for you 360 owners, though.

1. Is it normal for it to be so noisy? It sounds like a jet engine.
2. The HDD attachment feels like it’s going to fall off at any second. Is that just poor build quality or should the previous owner be scolded.
3. Does the 360 have wireless or do I have to buy an adapter?

[umainebearman]

Originally Posted by piratehunter

I got the red lights of doom 4 times last night, so I hopefully I can get this fixed quick. I do have a few questions for you 360 owners, though.

1. Is it normal for it to be so noisy? It sounds like a jet engine.
2. The HDD attachment feels like it’s going to fall off at any second. Is that just poor build quality or should the previous owner be scolded.
3. Does the 360 have wireless or do I have to buy an adapter?

1. Mine wasn't real noisy but the one you have might be due to the fact that its bricked.

2. Previous owner

3. If you are talking about to connect to xbox live, you need the adapter. If you are talking controllers no adapters you just need to push the 2 link up buttons and they are locked in.

[littlebib]

Originally Posted by piratehunter

I got the red lights of doom 4 times last night, so I hopefully I can get this fixed quick. I do have a few questions for you 360 owners, though.

1. Is it normal for it to be so noisy? It sounds like a jet engine.
2. The HDD attachment feels like it’s going to fall off at any second. Is that just poor build quality or should the previous owner be scolded.
3. Does the 360 have wireless or do I have to buy an adapter?

1. Most of the 360s out there are pretty loud. The newer ones have a quieter DVD drive, but they're still not quiet.
2. I'm going to go with scold the previous owner. I pretty much don't touch mine, but its on rather firmly. Maybe the connection gets loose if you take the drive off a lot.
3. You'd have to buy one. I think there's a lot of different ways to skin this particular cat, but I can't tell you the best one as mine is wired.

[Pirate]

Thanks for the info, guys.

[Ruined]

For 360 wireless ethernet, simply buy a linksys/d-link wireless bridge (sometimes called wireless game adapter) and a 5 port switch. That automatically gives you wireless for 360, your HD DVD player, and 2 other devices of your choosing.

[umainebearman]

Also to clarify its red lights of DEATH not doom. Doom just means bad things are happening but you are still in the game baby! Where as death... yeah theres no game happening there. Just to make sure it's fully understood.

[Pirate]

Gotcha.

[Pirate]

Originally Posted by Ruined

For 360 wireless ethernet, simply buy a linksys/d-link wireless bridge (sometimes called wireless game adapter) and a 5 port switch. That automatically gives you wireless for 360, your HD DVD player, and 2 other devices of your choosing.

I think I'll just stick with the wire for now. I'd rather not spend $100+ until I know I have the thing working.

[Pirate]

I had to lie through my teeth, but they're sending me the shipping box next week.

[umainebearman]

Originally Posted by piratehunter

I had to lie through my teeth, but they're sending me the shipping box next week.

Just pray you don't have a problem like this if you have a PS 3!

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/10/go...ps3-with-dust/

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by umainebearman

Just pray you don't have a problem like this if you have a PS 3!

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/10/go...ps3-with-dust/

No kidding, check it out:
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=102071

[Wirehed]

We'll be in the same boat Pirate, my 360 just lit up like a Christmas tree. gah.


Why did you have to lie? I just filled out the form online, there were no questions outside of "three red lights."

[MooglePorn]

That PS3 dust thing was debunked...

http://consumerist.com/consumer/audi...nty-321288.php

[umainebearman]

Originally Posted by MooglePorn

That PS3 dust thing was debunked...

http://consumerist.com/consumer/audi...nty-321288.php

Doesn't sound like a debunk. Sounds like they got caught with there dicks in there asses and couldn't come up with a standard corporate canned answer for there customer service reps. Which means that the supervisors decided to interpret the warranty one way and the csr to interpret it on the fly. I would LOVE to actually find out Sonys actual stance on this is. Sounds like a :::: gasp ::: piss poor design to me.

At least MS is willing to admit there issues where there fault.

[MooglePorn]

Yes yes, let's praise the company with the huge failure rate over the console with an extremely low one, with maybe a small mistake in their warranty info.

[SilentBob]

Well when i had to send my PS3 in for repair/exchange. I got a brand new system sent back in return with the billing info saying it was free and all. Still they made note that i did have 2 very faint but visable scratch marks on the front of my original system. So the dust thing wouldn't surprise me too much if they made sure i would remember not to faintly scratch my system before going in for repair. Who knows they could of busted my system itself.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by MooglePorn

Yes yes, let's praise the company with the huge failure rate over the console with an extremely low one, with maybe a small mistake in their warranty info.

It does make a shits worth of difference what the "failure rate" of a console is if you are the one stuck with a broken console and the company refuses to fix it because you USED IT (gasp).

Also, XBOX 360 has been on the market a year longer than PS3 and 360's design has subsequently been revised & fixed. Lets see how PS3 consoles are doing in a year... Great build quality doesn't mean jack if the fans get clogged with dust and die, letting the console roast itself.

[MooglePorn]

Maybe you have to own and use both consoles to get the joke, but insinuating the PS3 will suffer from hardware problems anywhere near the 360's is pretty laughable.

You can argue the warranty thing, that's fine... seems like it was a random CSR issue and not a policy, but whatever, yes, it was shady.

But arguing the hardware is equal or worse to the king of all overheats? Laughable.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by MooglePorn

the king of all overheats?

Since when did the original upside-down Playstation enter into the conversation?