We asked just last week if the seemingly escalating Red Ring of Death issue was coming to a head. Now that Microsoft has changed the Xbox 360 warranty policy and even offered a public apology, it appears that the answer is a resounding yes. The timing for the announcement couldn't be better, as Microsoft would have undoubtedly been barraged with questions about the issue during next week's E3 media event. Such questions are likely still to be asked, but this act gives Microsoft some ammunition. Whether the act will be seen as an act of generosity or an outright admission of faulty hardware (or both) remains to be seen. Rather than put up a standard poll about the new policy, we're just going to open up the comment threads for discussion. What do you think of all this? For those of you that have shelled out for repairs, will refunds affect your opinion of Microsoft or the Xbox 360? If you've been sitting on the fence about an Xbox 360, will a three-year warranty convince you to buy with confidence? What else can MS do to improve the image of the Xbox?
New 360 warranty: is it enough?
We asked just last week if the seemingly escalating Red Ring of Death issue was coming to a head. Now that Microsoft has changed the Xbox 360 warranty policy and even offered a public apology, it appears that the answer is a resounding yes. The timing for the announcement couldn't be better, as Microsoft would have undoubtedly been barraged with questions about the issue during next week's E3 media event. Such questions are likely still to be asked, but this act gives Microsoft some ammunition. Whether the act will be seen as an act of generosity or an outright admission of faulty hardware (or both) remains to be seen. Rather than put up a standard poll about the new policy, we're just going to open up the comment threads for discussion. What do you think of all this? For those of you that have shelled out for repairs, will refunds affect your opinion of Microsoft or the Xbox 360? If you've been sitting on the fence about an Xbox 360, will a three-year warranty convince you to buy with confidence? What else can MS do to improve the image of the Xbox?
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Reader Comments
(Page 2)22. I don't get why people are saying "It's about time" and such.. They've extended the warranty before, so it's not like this is the first time they've addressed it.
Posted at 7:19PM on Jul 5th 2007 by DeadPlasmaCell
23. I was really excited to hear the news about this. This is a huge gesture by MS to it's loyal customers worldwide. Unfortunately it's still not enough. Even if it costs them a billion dollars.
I got the other common issue of the video disappearing and just had sound back in Feb/Mar while I was beta testing Shadowrun. The colors got disorted and I tried reseting the system. When I rebooted I noticed I had lost all video. I forked up the $140 for repairs since I was out of warranty and two day fedexed it becasue MS stopped giving out boxes at that point. Plus I wanted to speed up the process. All they did was send me a replacement (probably refurbised) console and ship it back snail mail. The one they sent me has a glich where the lights keep flickering back and forth between the 1st and 2nd lights when it's trying to ientify the controllers when it's in the vertical posistion It seems to go away when laid horizontal. I never complained about it til now becasue I was just happy to have a working system again.
With this announcement today I decided to call Xbox to see if my problem was covered under this new warranty and to find out if I would be reimbursed for my repairs I had done earlier this year. Unfortunately I found out that just becasue I didn't get the f'ing red lights of death I get shafted and get nothing.
That's total BS MS and uncool. Way to half ass it. It makes sense why Peter kept say the 3 red rings.
When are people with my problem going to get our due.
Congrats to all the lucky red light winners winners.
Posted at 7:43PM on Jul 5th 2007 by Tebok 10000
24. I just arranged to get my coffin :)
Good call, MS, good call.
Posted at 7:43PM on Jul 5th 2007 by Anonymous
25. They still need to address the resigning/unlocking of content to move purchased games to a new 360. Going offline and losing your access to the games you buy is pathetic. They need to get their act together and smooth things out, pronto!
Posted at 7:46PM on Jul 5th 2007 by Mister2zx3
26. I got my first 360 a month after launch. I've had to send it in twice since. Both times happened after they extended the warranty to one year. I've been out of that one year warranty for about 7 months now. I will say I've been very nervous about my 360 dying on me and having to get a new one.
I will say that today's news is very good. It doesn't cover everything that can go wrong, but it does cover the thing I'm worried about most. I had planned to buy a new 360 with the cooler chip when it came to market. Now, I'm not in as big a hurry to get one.
Posted at 7:52PM on Jul 5th 2007 by Hoffer
27. For anyone who has not read the story, I'm the guy's that Joystiq.com did a story on about MS not having enough Boxes to sent out for Red Ringed systems!! I had paid for the 2 warranty and am glad to be getting the $60.00 back!! I for one appluad this move from MS, I think that the Xbox 360 (When working!!) is still the best system going!! It has all the games I want to play and the LIVE service is second to none. I LOVE the achivement system and think that this move will let people know that MS does in fact care about the consumer!!
Posted at 8:27PM on Jul 5th 2007 by Mr BoomStck XL
28. This is a great solution to the problem, in my opinion. Standing by one's product is the hallmark of customer service.
Posted at 8:28PM on Jul 5th 2007 by snsr
29. I've got my 360 on US launch day. Never had 3RL but had the DVD player diying on my original 360 and Microsoft replaced my console within 18 days with no cost to me on october 2006.
This change wouldn't help me if the DVD unit dies again.
I'm not afraid of the 3RL as I never saw it happening on me but I'm afraid that my DVD player would die again and I would have to pay US$140 to get my 360 fixed...
Posted at 8:38PM on Jul 5th 2007 by T Ghost
30. @Mister2zx3
Actually they just did address this. I bought an Elite (my premium was away for repairs)and couldn't play my content offline. They had me create a silver account and totalled up my points (just over 79,000). They called me 4 days later (they called me!) sent me an E-mail with codes for points. Everything works offline now...everything!! I even ended up with an extra 20,000 points. You just have to call them. They really went above and beyond. I was getting annoyed with that problem. Seriously, I have bought so much more shit then I had before. They have one extremely satisfied customer here.
Posted at 8:48PM on Jul 5th 2007 by Spitkicker
31. It's a great move. I'm very happy with the services and products I've bought from Microsoft.
Posted at 8:57PM on Jul 5th 2007 by Daryl
32. A little bit too late if you ask me...
If there is 1.5 million bad units out there, half of them has been opened by there owners trying to repair them and telling M$ to go to hell with asking for $140. Of course the owners could'nt fix it and they voided the waranty by removing the void sticker. So now you can't send it in for repair under the waranty.
How do you void the waranty of something if the waranty does not exist yet?
This is good news for some(mostly future buyers), most fustrated people were the ones who felt M$ did them wrong and decided to find alternative methods(cheaper) to repair there systems, that still don't work. Way to go M$!
Posted at 9:03PM on Jul 5th 2007 by jay luv
33. My Xbox 360 is currently in for repair. So I called MS to find out more about this.
It is ONLY 3 years for the 3 red ring of death.
It cover no other problem.
It is 3 years since purchase as well, not repair. Meaning launch console owners have a little will November 22nd, 2008 under repair from 3 red rings of light.
Posted at 9:22PM on Jul 5th 2007 by tobin92
34. @jay luv
You honestly think 750,000 people have tried to open their 360 to fix a red ring problem?
Posted at 10:29PM on Jul 5th 2007 by Hoffer
35. My 360 had a red ring on a thursday, and by tuesday I already had a new one in my house, along with a 1 month xbox live gold card :)
Posted at 10:47PM on Jul 5th 2007 by Xtor
36. Another keen way to stave off modders for longer. Think about it for a second. By the time the modding community breaks the security, most people will still have their systems under warranty. I know Microsoft is confident in their security measures on the system, but a lot of modders start modding their system as soon as its out of warranty.
Posted at 10:57PM on Jul 5th 2007 by RogueStorm
37. http://money.cnn.com/2007/07/05/technology/microsoft_charge.reut/index.htm?cnn=yes
Interesting article. I hate CNN but when I saw it I had to read it. How do you send emails to the xbox360fanboy staff?
Posted at 11:04PM on Jul 5th 2007 by CJ
38. I'd say it's about time, thanks to a little oblivion abuse i'm on my third xbox, but i was lucky enough to buying extendent warrenty's from eb, so i guess my question is do i get my money back(about $140)
Posted at 11:37PM on Jul 5th 2007 by OmegaDraco
39. Yes yes yes. A resounding yes. This is Moore admitting the problem and Microsoft backing him with a BILLION in the hole to make it stick. If ever someone had justifiable distrust of Microsoft, this should go a LONG way to winning them over.
Seriously, if people STILL gripe about MS, it's not really their opinion of the situation... they just have it in for MS and nothing you can say will change that.
"You can't please everyone" but this should make everyone happy.
Posted at 11:57PM on Jul 5th 2007 by EdgeofBlade
40. I guess im lucky, the only problem ive had is that i cant download the newest Halo 2 maps, oh well
Posted at 12:10AM on Jul 6th 2007 by Spartan_agr
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21. I hope that eventually they just extend ALL warranty (three red ring or any other problem) to three years. It would show they have faith in the console and are going to stand behind it.
I might buy a second for upstairs if I wasn't so afraid of getting one of a dozen problems that might not be covered past a year.
Posted at 7:14PM on Jul 5th 2007 by malren