Microsoft must face Xbox 360 class action lawsuit claims

[MightyJordan]

 

Microsoft Corp must face class action claims by Xbox 360 owners who say the video game console has a design defect that causes game discs to be gouged, a federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday.

 

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle said a lower court judge misapplied the law in finding that Xbox owners in the United States could not sue for damages as a group. It did not decide whether a class action should be certified.

 

Class actions can lead to larger damages or broader remedies than individual lawsuits, which can be costly to pursue.

 

Microsoft has sold tens of millions of Xbox 360 consoles since their Nov. 2005 launch.

 

But owners have claimed that the console's optical disc drive cannot withstand even small vibrations. They said this causes game discs to spin out of control and become scratched even under normal playing conditions, rendering them unplayable.

 

Microsoft countered that class certification was improper because just 0.4 percent of Xbox owners reported disc scratches, and that misuse was the cause.

 

In March 2012, U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez in Seattle dismissed the class-action claims. He relied on a 2009 ruling in a similar case in which another judge said the dearth of complaints ruled out class certification.

 

But the 9th Circuit reversed the decision underpinning that ruling in 2010, in a case addressing whether a suspected defect caused premature tire wear in Land Rover vehicles.

 

The appeals court said Martinez did not properly take this reversal into account when he deferred to the 2009 ruling.

 

"Plaintiffs

[Showan]

Well that sucks...

[GotBored]

Well that sucks...

 

Why does it suck?

 

If they win everyone who owned a faulty Xbox 360 would get some form of cash back. (Maybe a MS store voucher or XBL extension)

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

Like $0.02 if it was everybody who owned a 360, even if it was just people who actually damaged disks it's still only be a few dollars.

[GotBored]

Like $0.02 if it was everybody who owned a 360, even if it was just people who actually damaged disks it's still only be a few dollars.

 

I don't see why it would be so little, dvd's and 360 games aren't $0.02 to buy for the end customers and its the end customers who were affected by it so they should get back whatever it cost them in damages.

[Torolol]

is there any pictures of said dvd about before & after it was inserted to XBOX 360?

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

I don't see why it would be so little, dvd's and 360 games aren't $0.02 to buy for the end customers and its the end customers who were affected by it so they should get back whatever it cost them in damages.

Because most class actions don't end in everybody being being compensated for exactly how much they lost, it's more about how badly the company handled it.

http://www.consumer-action.org/lawsuits/by-status/open

Look how much the settlement amounts vary there, somebody who bought some beer might get $50 back, while somebody who bought a washing machine might only get $55 back.

[George P Global Moderator]

After two 360s (original and S) I've never had a disc mess up or get scratched, this is news to me.

[remixedcat]

my lil bro has been thru 8 xbox 360s!!!

[George P Global Moderator]

Both of mine still work, I just wanted the S as well so I got it. My sister now has the original.

[FloatingFatMan]

my lil bro has been thru 8 xbox 360s!!!

 

Maybe he should stop abusing them...

[Showan]

my lil bro has been thru 8 xbox 360s!!!

 

 

He was willing to buy a product that kept failing on him 8x?

 

Or is this 8x during the "Full Warranty" period of the 360's life cycle...

 

i went through 2 RRoD's but they were fully covered by Microsoft.  Shipping, repair, and ship back to me, all covered.

 

If I had to of purchased the 360, 8 times due to failure, Microsoft would of lost me as a customer.

[remixedcat]

some were covered some weren't.

[MightyJordan]

i went through 2 RRoD's but they were fully covered by Microsoft.  Shipping, repair, and ship back to me, all covered.

 

If I had to of purchased the 360, 8 times due to failure, Microsoft would of lost me as a customer.

Similar story; I think it was four, in my case, but again, all covered by the warranty (all RRoDs). Never had any disc issues, myself, although the disc drive on my now-old 360 takes quite a bit of effort to get open. Thankfully, I replaced it with a newer one a while ago (the Halo 4 edition), so no issues there, and it doesn't sound like a jet engine on takeoff with a disc in.

[McKay]

Maybe he should stop abusing them...

 

It's not always that. Why is that always the default answer? I got through 7 PS2's at launch all due to laser reader problems. All people say is "Stop abusing them!". I pondered how having the PS2 sat on a spacious shelf, being played for a few hours on weekend qualified as "abuse". Whenever I point out I've had the rubber on my PS4 thumbsticks tear and peel away Im accused of "abusing" them, yet I treated them no differently to my PS1,2,3 Xbox,260 or XB1 controllers, which not a single one had this issue.

 

360's destroying discs was a widespread issue, especially prevalent when people had their consoles vertically, (a flaw in many consoles would cause the disc to wobble as it span). My friends 360 destroyed so many discs this way until Microsoft sheepishly admitted that consoles being vertical increased the chances of perfect circles ground into the discs themselves. He also had 3 360's RROD on him in 2 years, I saw where he kept his 360, it was sat on top of the entertainment system next to his TV. It was pure luck of the draw my 360 lasted 3.5 years.

[FloatingFatMan]

It's not always that. Why is that always the default answer? I got through 7 PS2's at launch all due to laser reader problems. All people say is "Stop abusing them!". I pondered how having the PS2 sat on a spacious shelf, being played for a few hours on weekend qualified as "abuse". Whenever I point out I've had the rubber on my PS4 thumbsticks tear and peel away Im accused of "abusing" them, yet I treated them no differently to my PS1,2,3 Xbox,260 or XB1 controllers, which not a single one had this issue.

 

360's destroying discs was a widespread issue, especially prevalent when people had their consoles vertically, (a flaw in many consoles would cause the disc to wobble as it span). My friends 360 destroyed so many discs this way until Microsoft sheepishly admitted that consoles being vertical increased the chances of perfect circles ground into the discs themselves. He also had 3 360's RROD on him in 2 years, I saw where he kept his 360, it was sat on top of the entertainment system next to his TV. It was pure luck of the draw my 360 lasted 3.5 years.

 

1 or two failures for one person could be attributed to faults, but 8 in a row? That's really starting to look like something other than manufacturing faults as a cause, unless something is REALLY screwed up in the factory.  That's why people say "abuse" rather than design flaw.

 

I've had precisely TWO 360's. An original release model bought just after launch, which finally RROD in 2013, and the 360 S I bought to replace it. Other than the RROD, never had a single problem. Never move them, don't stand them on their side; they just sit in the TV cabinet with lots of ventilation around them and kept well dusted.

[LaP]

Both of mine still work, I just wanted the S as well so I got it. My sister now has the original.

 

It was a very well known and documented problem just search on google.

 

http://www.instructables.com/id/Keeping-your-Xbox-360-from-scratching-discs/

 

I personally had 2. Halo 3 and Forza 2. As soon as you moved the console while a disc was spinning it was over. And by moving i mean slowy moving it a centimeter was enough sometimes. Pretty much all people i know who did xbox 360 lan party with me had a couple of scratced disc by their 360. It was kind of hard to avoid it in a lan party. The original xbox did not have this problem as far as i know.

 

Luckily Halo 3 broken part was the single player and when it happened i was done with it and was playing the multi only. As for Forza 2 it happened just before the 3 got released so i just threw the damaged disc away and waited for the new one.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

I take immaculate care of all of my electronics, consoles even more so, and I went through 4 360's myself. 2 RROD's. 2 GPU issues. 3 of them were under warranty, one was not since I had altered it.

 

One of my consoles also started developing issues very similar to those mentioned in this lawsuit, however when they started developing I got the RROD shortly after, and when I sent it in for service I did mention the disk issues I was starting to see, so my replacement was fine.

 

The 360 for myself was the most disappointing consumer electronics from a quality standpoint ever. I personally never had a device come close to giving me so many quality issues as the 360 did. It was just crazy to me how they had a product with so many issues. However what was even crazier was the lack of acknowledgment and/or a downright refusal by so many people to admit it had these issues. If you did not have any issues with yours the rational thing to do would be to consider yourself one of the lucky people. However what people did was take the fact they did not have any issues and project them onto others. The old "it does not affect me personally so it does not affect anyone else" stance that seems so prevalent in our modern times. 

[McKay]

1 or two failures for one person could be attributed to faults, but 8 in a row? That's really starting to look like something other than manufacturing faults as a cause, unless something is REALLY screwed up in the factory.  That's why people say "abuse" rather than design flaw.

 

I've had precisely TWO 360's. An original release model bought just after launch, which finally RROD in 2013, and the 360 S I bought to replace it. Other than the RROD, never had a single problem. Never move them, don't stand them on their side; they just sit in the TV cabinet with lots of ventilation around them and kept well dusted.

 

And my friends 360 was on a cabinet with plenty of ventilation. It got maybe 6 hours of use a week (always on the weekends). Yet he had 3 die in around 2 years. Meanwhile mine got played for 4-5 hours a day, constantly thrown in a backpack and taken to friends houses. Mine lasted over 3.5 years. My 7 PS2's that broke were mostly left on the TV cabinet too yet they all failed with laser reader issues. 

 

Is it inconceivable to you that someone could have a console fail 8 times when it was well publicised that the failure rate for Xbox 360 was over 30%? Especially when usually MS just fixed what had broke, but not what was causing the problem until several iterations of console redesign? A launch 360 sent back with RROD usually died because the RAM de-soldered. MS would resolder the RAM and send it back fixed, which usually resulting in the RAM desoldering again. 

[xTdub]

my lil bro has been thru 8 xbox 360s!!!

How? I have had two: a launch console that lasted 8 years, and the slim one that I still use.