Newsweek Says 3 Year Warranty For Xbox 360 Is Not Enough
By William on Wednesday, July 11th, 2007 at 2:19 AM PST In Microsoft, Microsoft
One of the most heated topics in the past few weeks is the widespread “red ring of death” issue with Xbox 360 units. I am not sure if the problem is as extensive as some claim, but I do think it needs to be more seriously addressed by Microsoft. I have to mostly agree with N’Gai Croal of Level Up (hosted by Newsweek) that Microsoft needs to either come clean with the problem or recall defective units. Simply extending the warranty is really not enough.
I’m not sure if a recall is realistic at this point. I do believe that Microsoft owes the consumers more than simply extending the warranty on something that may not make it much past 3 years anyway. I do also believe that many failures reported are due to the users, but that’s tough to prove. There some obvious hardware flaws that need to be taken a little more seriously.
N’Gai Croal of the Newsweek hosted Level Up blog has touched once again on the Xbox 360’s hardware woes, the mysteriously secretive and deadly “red ring of death” that has plagued the console since its release and ultimately resulted in a new three-year manufacturer warranty. Croal writes that the recent extended warranty policy change simply does not reach far enough in addressing the issue. He contends the company must come clean on the specifics of its failure rate or issue a recall on the product.
I have had my xbox 360 since Jan 2006 and have had no problems whatsoever. Thankfully my xbox 360 experience has been a good one. Even though Msft has set aside $1bn for xbox 360 repairs, this does not mean there are $1bn worth of xbox 360s needing repair, this is Msft planning ahead. I do also believe in a rush to get the console out some corners must have been cut but this always catches you outm especially if there is a major design flaw, this should have been fixed first before releasing the console. Im sure Msft with all its billions and R&D resources could have fixed this before releasing the console, but in the rush to get the console out for christmas 2005 some issues must have been overlooked. On the plus side Msft needs to make the best of the situation and build on the xbox 360s strenghts like its games libray and on line features. Also I live in the UK and very rarely do i see an xbox 360 advert advertising the hardware or the games, but if i go to my local cinema you are bound to see a Sony or Nintendo Wii advert. So come on Msft, if you want to sell more xbo 360s, advetise the bleedin thing and tell people about its features like xbox live and MSN messenger features!!!!
That is good that microsoft are stepping up and taking care of their product and customers concerns. I used to work at Bestbuy and i did see many 360s go out for repairs, but it was like any product, Ipods, computers etc.. I hear of some people having multiple red rings of death on their systems and i would be ticked off if i was on my 3rd or 4th xbox. This is a desigin problem so its good they can realize their mistake and fix it.
When i purchased my xbox 360 at futureshop i did but the extended service plan. So i guess futureshop would eat the cost. But its good to know microsoft will have one also. either way i cannot loose. I hope i never have to use either warrinty.
I agree!! I bought the XBOX 360 for my son who is a straight A student and I felt he deserved it. Lot more money than I wanted to spend but what the hec. Had it for around 8 months and OH NO, dreaded rings of death. Sent it in, listened to my son complain for about a month and finally got it back right at a month later-same unit serial # matched. Everything was going fine until…OH NO, dreaded rings of death again!!! Now to a 11 year old this is the end of the world, especially at Christmas when 90% of his Christmas list was XBOX games. Called up support and they are sending us a box AGAIN and this time I demanded to talk to someone so I could vent. Spoke to a Matt, id# 6708 who asked me a question right away…is your unit plugged into a surge protector? I immediatley said yes, because it is and he informed me that that is the problem. Well, needless to say I got a little upset because as usual, somebody is blaming someone else for their problem. I asked why hadn’t anyone told me this before and why isn’t that on any of the sites I have looked at for suggestions on what to do and he informed me that it is in the manual. I proceeded to tell him “you mean to tell me that all of these millions of blogs of people like me complaining about this piece of crap product have all caused it themselves by using a surge protector” and he said yes, that most of them probably were. Well, I owe it to the world to let them in on this secret- that it is your fault, you the consumer who spent your hard earned money, you who wasted hours talking to XBOX support and weren’t told this secret, you, you are the problem!!! When I get this next unit back I vow to not plug it into a surge protector, I vow to leave it in a well ventilated area and I vow to read the owners manual as I was so smartly reminded by the XBOX support man, Matt id# 6708. This isn’t XBOX’s fault, this isn’t an inferior product, this isn’t a huge waste of money since they don’t send you a new unit, they just “fix” the one you have…which by the way, breaks again 3 months later…This is my fault and I accept responsibility…now its your turn!
I think microsoft needs to own up to their mistakes & stop being little bitches & just own up to that their consoles r defective & shity so come on microsoft stop being bitches & do something about the problem!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
my xbox 360 has broken down once :cry:and now its broken again as i turn off my xbox and a hour later i wanted to play my game it wouldn’t let me :evil:. i think they make them do that
I have had my xbox 360 since very early 2006 and am now today experienced the red ring of death
i am trying deperatly to find a way to fix it. Me and my family would be devistated if it broke plus i had gotten many new xbox games for christmas. so if you no any way to fix it without having to take it to the repair shop. PLEASE reply!! 
