My Very First Rant - Topic: Microsoft/Xbox 360

whereiswally78

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Okay, so here's the story:

July last year, I bought an XBox 360. And I loved it.

But I had two problems with it - which happened rarely to start with, but then became more frequent. Firstly, with a brand new game disc (no scratches, dust or finger prints of any description) it would randomly lock up saying that it could no longer read the disc (ie. dirty disc etc.). Additionally, the drive would not always open, and when it did open, when you put the disc in and closed it, the drive would pop open again 3 seconds later.

So I rang the customer service idiots located who-knows-where, and after half an hour answering such questions as "it is sitting on a flat service" and "have you moved it whilst it was turned on" and "have you tried cleaning the disc", I eventually sent it back for repair.

When I sent it back, my BRAND NEW NBA Live 07 was stuck in the drive.

I received the disc back scratched to all f**k (I've never seen a disc this bad). I called Microsoft about this and got the standard "its Microsoft's policy that we do not replace discs, but we understand the frustration you must be experiencing". Additionally, it came back with the same problems, only they happen less frequently. As I've been quite busy/travelling, and put off by the first experience, I delayed sending it back again until today when it jammed up completely, only to be told that it is now out of warranty and will cost me $150 to be repaired.

Don't worry about the fact that their technicians didn't fix it properly the first time!!!!!

I had a big spat at them and they told me they'd give me a 25% discount on the repairs. Suffice to say, I told them to stick it.

Obviously, this is a somewhat abbreviated version, however, the moral to the story, avoid Microsoft products wherever possible as customer service/satisfaction is not in their vocab. and after sales service does not exist! Having said that, I don't know whether Sony or Nintendo are any better.

I'm thinking of buying another Xbox 360, which I really hate doing, but I have about 10 games and it would be a huge waste to switch to a Playstation 3, which I can't really afford anyway.

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:
 
Only for the "Ring of Death" problem ... already had that conversation. All other faults are under the standard warranty (1 year).

Thanks anyway.
 
Microsoft have made a habit of screwing over the little guy.

I'd just always go Sony or at the very least a Wii.

Sorry to hear your troubles...
 
I was tossing up whether to get a 360 or a Wii (PS3 is just too pricey for a game system and a sub-standard Blue Ray player) and after seeing my bro in law buy a 360 and get royally screwed over, firstly by the store (The Good Guys... yeah, right) and then by Microsoft, I went with the Wii, and bought a DS as well.

I have kids, so the Wii is great. They absolutely love it.

Hope they develop a good BBall game for it though.
 
Sounds like you've had some trouble. You should have pushed them more, especially on your scratched disc.
Now it's out of warranty, if you are game you could open it up yourself and try and find the problem. I did this with my PS2 recently, some discs would stop and not read,so I opened it up, de-dusted it inside and carefully cleaned the laser lense and it worked perfect afterwards.
You wouldn't have much to lose if you're carefull with it. May just be a mechanical problem with rather then an electrical problem.
 
Trust me, Brad, I took the pleasant, patient approach for about twenty minutes over the scratched disc and again, today - then I spoke to a supervisor (pleasantly), then I blasted the sh*t out of 'em.

Totally against my nature as I've worked in retail, and people that are rude and abusive, get nothing from me. But enough is enough; these guys (and/or the company they work for) are just a*sholes!!!
 
I know what you mean, it only goes so far being nice, when you stuff around for a prolonged period and get nowhere controlled abuse is the only way to go lol.
 
Thanks for the warning Matt, i was thinking of getting a 360, but i think i will just wait till PS3's drop in price to a reasonable level...
 
My son has had a 360 since the day they were relaesed. It has been moved about every 2 months (brothers room and back), stays in a room where the windows never get opened unless I do it, and all the other stuff that you should not do to it, and it still works fine. You must have got a lemon and really they should just replace those boxes as we all know you can never fix a lemon.
 
go to the small claims court and suggest that the goods weren't of merchantable quality and their repairs not carried out with due care and skill. might be hard to get any $ out of them but i'd be fun to have a court order against microsoft (if you won) and it'd only cost you about 30 bucks :)
 
I know what you mean, adhunt - was thinking of going through the Dept of Consumer Protection but then I thought about it. By the time you spend the time writing the letters, telling you story on the phone etc. etc.; I work on a $$$/per hour basis ... I could earn enough in that time to pay for a new one, which works out much less stressful.
 
it really stinks doesnt it...Im sure Billy Gates is going to come and slam the manager of the department if he refunded you $100 bucks to replace your game....NOT!

you know what would really kill them - in this day and age with myspace and email and such...you can get your message across to a bucket load of people really fast - if you know how to do it, setting up a webpage and sending it to everyone you know, who then tells everyone they know...and it ends up on messageboard etc - would be very interesting!
 
im very happy with my sony's, my original playstation (purchased back in 96) has taken an absolute thrashing over the years and still works like a charm. my ps2 is still working perfectly too with all games. nintendo gear is all very well made too. microsoft suck ass!
 
Well, I bit the bullet and bought a new Xbox 360 Core Pack from K-Mart for $388. Interestingly, EB Games will give you $100 credit for your stuffed X-box 360. So a new one ended up costing $288. Given the f****rs wanted to charge me $150 to repair the old one (if they did if properly, this time), I reckon I got a decent deal (and another 12 months warranty). Hate the fact they got more money out of me, but I couldn't afford a PS3 and the thought of "giving away" 10-12 games on ebay (or to ebay games) irked me.
 
Well done Matt, good to see you're going again.

I would have gone to either EB or Harvey Norman and gotten an extended warranty.
 
Scotty: I was going to but they only stock the pack for $580-ish and I didn't need the HDD and cordless controllers etc. I think there is some kind of extended warranty that you can get through Microsoft, so I might look into that.
 
next time buy a new one then replace the old one in the box and ask kmart for a refund saying it didn't start, i know it is the wrong thing to do but hey if your paying $300+ for something you expect it to work right first time.
 
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