Xbox

Otis of Detroit, MI (09/03/06)
I purchased an xbox 360 6 1/2 months ago.  I got up one morning, went to turn it on and got the three rings of death. The xbox was no longer working. XBOX 360 cost 350 and I have purchased 11 games ranging from 45 to 60 a piece. I have all these games and no system to play them on.

XBOX refused to fix the system which has been an on going problem with a lot of their systems. In order for them to fix it they want me to send them 129 plus shipping and handling. Should this or should this not be a recall?

Justin of Albany, NY September 3, 2006

Justin of Albany, NY (09/03/06)
I bought an XBOX 360 in mid April, and about a month later I got those three red rings of death. I called cutomer support and they had me ship it to them for repair. After two weeks it came back, working fine, but then, about 6 weeks later, the same thing happened. This time I was told my 90-day warrantee had expired two days prior (these 90 days include the two weeks that they had my system for the first repair) and I would have to pay 129 this time for them to do the same repair they did the first time.

I paid over 600 for the system, two games and two controllers. I also did a three month subscription to XBOX Live just a few days before the second failure which has totally gone to waste.

Derek of Redford, MI September 2, 2006

Derek of Redford MI (09/02/06)
I bought an xbox360 system at launch and I have had it replaced 3 times. Twice with the store and once with Microsoft directly. They all had freezing,redlights and checker pattern issues.Now as we speak the 4th unit is having freezing problems

I spend more time shiping this system off for replacements than I actually play it. I didnt spent over 800.00 (with games, accessories and warranties)for this.

Jose of Chula Vista, CA September 1, 2006

Jose of Chula Vista CA (09/01/06)
XBox 360 Purchased: Nov 2005 Died : Aug 2006 Looks like a faulty built unit and now Microsoft wants 129.00 to repair. Xbox was not in a cabinet or near other electronics, I hardly played it. Looking at other complaints on Xbox.com, why is a high percentage dying at the 9 month point? I don't have Dead Rising which many are blaming.

Marshall of Baltimore, MD August 31, 2006

Marshall of Baltimore MD (08/31/06)
Joseph Enoch's article on the Xbox 360 comes in a very timely manner. I purchased a new Xbox 360 for my sons 34th birthday on June 10 2006. On August 30th we had a complete shut down of the system due to the dreaded Red Rings of Death. We attempted to immediately re-boot the system which also failed. After leaving the system sit to cool off, we were able to restart the system. Having experience this event, we called Xbox to find out how we could save the information on the Xbox Hard drive to a Connected PC as describe in my sons Volume 1 - Setup manual, Page 21 (US manual, Page 22 UK manual).

It is my understanding that on the early units this statement appears in the Hard Drive Manual. At first XB support could find no reference to this item. After more than 45 minutes they finally did find the reference only to tell us they had no documentation to tell us how to do this, and after further investigation on the part of XB support we were told it COULD NOT BE DONE. As I recall, this is one of the many features that were applauded in the gamer and PC magazines about this machine. Now we find out that it is another TOTALLY FALSE CLAIM on the part of Microsoft.

Pushing the point with XB tech support by asking for the MS Legal Dept contact to file a false advertising/statement complaint, they finally agreed to send us a memory card to meet what I felt was part of their obligation to be able to backup the drive based on their own Volume 1 setup manual. Obviously, a 64meg card can in no way fully back-up the Xbox Hard Drive. With over 1200 now invested in system and games, and many hours of play by my son, we immediately spent another 150 to purchase 2 memory cards and a XSATA adapter to be able to totally backup the systems HD. Today I happened across Mr. Enoch's article. It now appears that our Red Ring of Death may only be a warning of impending total failure.

I am retired after 25 years in computer hardware and networking and find this situation with the XBox 360 completely unacceptable. Further, knowing that less than 10% of the XB owners with these problems will take the time to file or document a complaint only makes the situation worse. Maybe it's time for a class action against Microsoft for their totally incompetent design of this system with its obvious false claims and high failure rate. I can only advise people to buy the extended warranty as they will certainly need it. Color me Red with anger and completely unhappy with the Xbox 360. And we won't even discuss the fact that after being on the phone with MS for the first hour we were cut off and I had to start fresh when I called them back. 

Carlos of Wilmington, DE August 25, 2006

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Follow us on Twitter.

Back to the top |

Terms of Use Your use of this site constitutes acceptance of the Terms of Use

Advertisements on this site are placed and controlled by outside advertising networks. ConsumerAffairs.com does not evaluate or endorse the products and services advertised. See the FAQ for more information.

Company Response Welcome If complaints about your company appear on our site, we welcome your response. Please see the Response Form for more information.

For more information, see the FAQ and privacy policy. The information on this Web site is general in nature and is not intended as a substitute for competent legal advice.  ConsumerAffairs.com Inc. makes no representation as to the accuracy of the information herein provided and assumes no liability for any damages or loss arising from the use thereof. 

Copyright © 2010 ConsumerAffairs.com Inc.  All Rights Reserved.    The contents of this site may not be republished, reprinted, rewritten or recirculated without written permission.