trikster Posted December 10, 2006 Share Posted December 10, 2006 I bought my Xbox 360 off an eBay auction last June and was very satisfied with the system. However, some months later (October 8, 2006 to be exact), my system broke. Apparently, it was one of those systems that was made in 2005 and had problems with overheating and three red lights on the front of the console, meaning that there was a hardware failure. I called Microsoft, and after telling the first customer service rep that I was NOT paying $130 to get my console fixed, her supervisor alerted me that Microsoft was fixing this problem for free and that I did not have to pay. So I get my new console in the mail. I play it for a few weeks, play Gears of War, and all is great. All of a sudden, the console starts getting real loud during a GoW session - to the point where I felt it was necessary to save my game, turn off the console, and see what was going on. Turns out my Xbox completely scratched my game up. Luckily, I had only bought it a week ago from Best Buy, so they quickly exchanged it without any hassle. A few weeks later, I buy College Hoops 2K7. I'm excited to get another game going (probably my third time ever playing the game) when the game freezes. "Not again..." I think to myself. I turn the system off, turn it back on, and three red lights flash again. Same problem I had before. So I call Microsoft. After getting hung up on the first time I called, I waited till I had some free time before calling again. Not surprisingly, the conversation took forever, and the supervisor tried to explain to me that my warranty had expired since it had been more than 30 days since I received my replacement console (Technically, she was right. It had been 35 days). I refused to pay the $130 replacement fee, stating that Microsoft had replaced my broken system with yet another broken system. They hadn't done their job, and there was no way I was paying money to potentially see them screw up again. She brought down the cost to $65. I still didn't budge. Finally, she waived the entire repair cost, saying I only had to pay the shipping costs. I agreed. Now, the interesting part is that the supervisor recommended I buy an extended warranty (costing $90 for one year, $180 for two years) when I receive my replacement Xbox in case the problem happens again. "Now, I don't mean to be a pain, but it shouldn't happen again, so I shouldn't have to buy the warranty, correct?" I asked her. She said it was safest to buy the warranty in case anything ever happened again. So, my question to all of you is: Do I buy the extended warranty or not? And if my Xbox breaks again (for a third time), what do I do? Do I have a right to plead my case or am I going to end up paying for the repair costs again? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+dnast Subscriber² Posted December 10, 2006 Subscriber² Share Posted December 10, 2006 I was going to tell you to get the replacement plan, but the price seems way too steep. I think I paid around $40 for my two year replacement plan, although it was from Best Buy. However, I don't recall anyone here saying their replacement plan from Microsoft cost them nearly as much as the MS reps are asking you to pay. I'll just have to let others chime in on this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shthead Posted December 10, 2006 Share Posted December 10, 2006 Not to hijack the thread or anything but can you purchase a replacement warranty if you purchased the console about 5 months ago? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+dnast Subscriber² Posted December 10, 2006 Subscriber² Share Posted December 10, 2006 ^ From what I've read you can only extend your warranty if your current one hasn't expired. The US only gets a 90 day warranty, but it seems that most other countries get at least a year. If you're talking about a replacement warranty as opposed to their standard warranty, I'm pretty sure that doesn't exist. There's no guarantee that you'll end up with a brand new 360 if something goes wrong with your current one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodrigo Posted December 10, 2006 Share Posted December 10, 2006 ^ From what I've read you can only extend your warranty if your current one hasn't expired. The US only gets a 90 day warranty, but it seems that most other countries get at least a year. Yeah, at least here in Mexico I got a one-year warranty for free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meshuggah Posted December 10, 2006 Share Posted December 10, 2006 i think they are lieing to you about the price, because i bought an extended warranty on mine, and there is no way in hell i would ever pay anything higher than 50 USD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trikster Posted December 10, 2006 Author Share Posted December 10, 2006 I still think it's a little ridiculous to pay for a warranty - regardless of the price - when I know I am not doing anything to harm the useful life of the system. By keeping it on a floor, stationary, and never touching it except to eject the DVD tray, how the hell could the system just stop functioning after a few months? To me, that sounds like a manufacturer's problem, not mine, and there's no way Microsoft should ethically make me pay for the warranty in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadrack Posted December 10, 2006 Share Posted December 10, 2006 i didn't get an extended warranty and kinda wish I did now. I hear strange "grinding" noises from my xbox 360 on particular discs (not all discs)...and that bothers me. It usually happens when I go from the game back into the xbox console and the game disc is slowing down to a stop. I purchased my 360 back in April, so it is out of warranty here in the states. Games still read ok, and things are still working..so i'm not going to complain too much. But if things stop working, I won't hesitate to call Microsoft on the issue. Still.. $50 is cheap compared to a new xbox+piece of mind. Some tips - The optical drive appears to be the most fragile part of the system. Pay a lot of attention to dust that accumulates around the 360. Keep the area as dust free as possible. Dust is bad for the mechanical aspects of the drive, as well as the optical parts of the drive. Dust is also responsible for scratching the game discs. Check out the bottom of game discs before putting them in the drive. Especially if you have rented the disc! (Game rentals are notoriously dirty). Keep something handy to wipe the disc before inserting (or use a can of air if it is just some dust that has accumulated) the disc. Use a can of air in the optical drive occasionally. Every game console has had the potential to having lots of problem after about a year. Last generation of consoles was probably the worse when it came to console failure. -shad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TokyoKiller Posted December 10, 2006 Share Posted December 10, 2006 I personally wasn't going to buy extended warranty from Futureshop (A subsidiary of BestBuy Canada) but when the games section rep at the store told me of stories about system failing and Microsoft only giving 90-days warranty I got worried since I am spending about $550 or so for a game console. So I purchased 2 yr extended warranty for $69.99 + tax which covers everything from power surges to shipping the console to Microsoft which to me is a GOOD deal. I mean all I have to do is drop off the console at my local store and it's been done, no arguments and managers and all that other bull****. And if it is not fixed in 60 days they'll give me a brand new system. Kinda sweet! BTW is Canada included in those countries that get 1 year warranty instead of 90 days? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S.MULLA Posted December 10, 2006 Share Posted December 10, 2006 dont u get 12 months warranty with the xbox?!?! if u got a new one then the warranty would start from the day it was exchanged since its a new console.. cant believe they are charging u half the price of a new console.. in the uk- if its faulty it gets swapped instantly for a new one- be it 1 day old or 360days.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrCheese Posted December 10, 2006 Share Posted December 10, 2006 I brought mine yesterday and in the box was an offer to extend the warrenty for two years for ?54... I'm kinda tempted to do so based on the horror stories like the one above of them failing. Its kinda interesting that they make you pay $180 in the US and you only get 90 days in the first place :wacko:: The reason we have by law 1 years warrenty is prevent the kind of screwup's with new kit that happen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham51 Posted December 10, 2006 Share Posted December 10, 2006 Buy the warrenty! That has happend to my 360 numerous times, and now it scrathes nearly every disk I put in there:(.. Plus 360's are prone to mess up. So, better be safe than sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smashing Pumpkin Posted December 10, 2006 Share Posted December 10, 2006 Is there a 1 year warrenty option? That's probably what I'd go with since I'm poor! Yay! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoadorable Posted December 11, 2006 Share Posted December 11, 2006 trikster is right, a manufacturer should warranty workmanship and the standard 90 days is just too short, after all these years i still don't know why it's an "industry standard" in N America. shadrock, what are you talking about, the PS2 was built like a tank. never had problems and i bought it on release day. never managed to get it to play DVD's, either, but then... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yusuf M. Veteran Posted December 11, 2006 Veteran Share Posted December 11, 2006 I personally wasn't going to buy extended warranty from Futureshop (A subsidiary of BestBuy Canada) but when the games section rep at the store told me of stories about system failing and Microsoft only giving 90-days warranty I got worried since I am spending about $550 or so for a game console. So I purchased 2 yr extended warranty for $69.99 + tax which covers everything from power surges to shipping the console to Microsoft which to me is a GOOD deal. I mean all I have to do is drop off the console at my local store and it's been done, no arguments and managers and all that other bull****. And if it is not fixed in 60 days they'll give me a brand new system. Kinda sweet! BTW is Canada included in those countries that get 1 year warranty instead of 90 days? I bought the exact same extended warranty plan. And the rep told me the same story. Maybe we saw the same rep. :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgtLENIN Posted December 11, 2006 Share Posted December 11, 2006 Pay for warranty? I'm pretty happy that here in Norway we have three years warranty and five years total to plead our case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TokyoKiller Posted December 11, 2006 Share Posted December 11, 2006 Futureshop @ Dundas/Dixie? :shiftyninja: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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