I have often heard of horror stories regarding the Red Ring of Death and other hardware problems with the system, I have yet to experience them...until now. The other day, I found a woodgrain faceplate I bought on a whim about a year ago, and wondered what it would look like on my XBox, so I snapped the old one off, put the new one on and...nothing. The unit bricked. Stopped working. No lights, no power. Nothing. I unplugged the power supply and let it sit. I replaced the old faceplate. Eventually, I brought the unit to G4's game-capture lab. Nothing worked. The machine was useless.
So, I decided to call Xbox Customer Support....
My first contact was a man named Juan, who took all of my information, listened to my story, and tried to troubleshoot the problem. Of course, this troubleshooting expo amounted to nothing more than "Did you unplug and replug the unit?" and "Are you seeing any lights at all?" You know, the stuff that you'd have to be a complete dips**t not to try on your own. He then informed me that it would be "no problem" for them to fix my Xbox, and that all I needed to do was pay them $120 to do it.
I countered with the philosophy that, since all I did was replace the faceplate on the unit with a Microsoft-branded replacement, and that I did it the way I was instructed, and, since nothing broke, came off, chipped, or moved on the box, it shouldn't be my responsibility to pay. After all, hardware trouble with the XBox 360 is legion. Why should I pay for something that breaks just because I attempt to do something that the unit is built to do.
This blew his mind.
He then stammered through essentially the same pieces of information he'd already given me, clearly attempting to stick to the script, and upset that I was assaulting the logic of the great customer service machine. I reiterated my point. The XBox should not have broken simply because I removed the faceplate. I did nothing wrong, and therefore, shouldn't have to pay a staggering $120 to fix something that was clearly manufactured wrong to begin with.
He put me on hold, and then came back, saying that the problem was clearly with my power supply, and that it would cost me $120. I countered by telling him that I'd brought it here, to the office, where I am surrounded by XBox units on a daily basis, and that I unplugged a working unit, plugged mine in, established that it wouldn't turn on, and then replugged the other unit, which worked as always. So, there's no way it could be the power supply.
He put me on hold again.
When he came back, he told me that since my problem was not a Red Ring of Death or an E74 error, there was nothing he could do but offer to take my Xbox and charge me $120 to have it fixed. I asked to speak to his supervisor.
After being placed on hold, and told that Juan was explaining the situation to his supervisor, I was connected with Ron Mark, the man in charge. He told me that there was nothing that they could do, since what happened to my Xbox wasn't part of the two things that were covered in their extended warranty, and that no other electronics company guaranteed their products for more than a year.
I then explained that I know about their hardware problems, and that they should want to take care of their customers, since, according to an article in a recent US News and World Report, they had a failure rate of 68 percent, and that no other electronics company had nearly that kind of fail rate, so covering their products for a year would take care of the lion's share of their difficulty.
Microsoft, on the other hand, rushed their product to market, and misrepresented the readiness of it, so they should try and take care of their customers, since they have a vested interest in selling software and getting good word-of-mouth for its console, especially given that the gaming community thrives or dies on such things.
He told me that the fail rate of the Xbox was "my opinion."
I then told him about the article I'd just read, and that, in the past three and a half years I'd been in the gaming journalism business, I had not only read thousands of articles about their faulty hardware, but written tens of them myself. He essentially laughed me off, and said that the problem with my Xbox could be attributed to 'normal wear and tear,' and that all electronics break down eventually...
...I digress for a moment to list a number of the other, similarly priced electronic equipment I own that has not bricked as a result of 'normal wear and tear.'
* A first generation iPod that still works just fine (seven years old)
* A Samsung Blackjack phone that I use on a daily basis (three years old)
* A Dell computer that I use, and have done horrible, terrible things to over the years (eight years)
* A PlayStation 2 console (six years)
So, how old is my XBox? A year and a half. 18 months. Not a good candidate to stop working as a result of 'normal wear and tear.'
When I asked to talk to a supervisor, he got surly, and told me that they would have to call me back within three to five business days, and tried to get me off the phone. He was then evasive when I asked the supervisor's name and for his direct telephone number. Now, I could be wrong, but I'm guessing that they have no intention of calling me for any reason. I told him that I would talk to Bill Gates if I had to (in fact, I believe the actual quote was "I will wake him from his slumber to talk to him about this if I need to.") and he hung up the phone.
If they should call me back, you can bet I will be recording that call.
more here
that is a fail.
So, I decided to call Xbox Customer Support....
My first contact was a man named Juan, who took all of my information, listened to my story, and tried to troubleshoot the problem. Of course, this troubleshooting expo amounted to nothing more than "Did you unplug and replug the unit?" and "Are you seeing any lights at all?" You know, the stuff that you'd have to be a complete dips**t not to try on your own. He then informed me that it would be "no problem" for them to fix my Xbox, and that all I needed to do was pay them $120 to do it.
I countered with the philosophy that, since all I did was replace the faceplate on the unit with a Microsoft-branded replacement, and that I did it the way I was instructed, and, since nothing broke, came off, chipped, or moved on the box, it shouldn't be my responsibility to pay. After all, hardware trouble with the XBox 360 is legion. Why should I pay for something that breaks just because I attempt to do something that the unit is built to do.
This blew his mind.
He then stammered through essentially the same pieces of information he'd already given me, clearly attempting to stick to the script, and upset that I was assaulting the logic of the great customer service machine. I reiterated my point. The XBox should not have broken simply because I removed the faceplate. I did nothing wrong, and therefore, shouldn't have to pay a staggering $120 to fix something that was clearly manufactured wrong to begin with.
He put me on hold, and then came back, saying that the problem was clearly with my power supply, and that it would cost me $120. I countered by telling him that I'd brought it here, to the office, where I am surrounded by XBox units on a daily basis, and that I unplugged a working unit, plugged mine in, established that it wouldn't turn on, and then replugged the other unit, which worked as always. So, there's no way it could be the power supply.
He put me on hold again.
When he came back, he told me that since my problem was not a Red Ring of Death or an E74 error, there was nothing he could do but offer to take my Xbox and charge me $120 to have it fixed. I asked to speak to his supervisor.
After being placed on hold, and told that Juan was explaining the situation to his supervisor, I was connected with Ron Mark, the man in charge. He told me that there was nothing that they could do, since what happened to my Xbox wasn't part of the two things that were covered in their extended warranty, and that no other electronics company guaranteed their products for more than a year.
I then explained that I know about their hardware problems, and that they should want to take care of their customers, since, according to an article in a recent US News and World Report, they had a failure rate of 68 percent, and that no other electronics company had nearly that kind of fail rate, so covering their products for a year would take care of the lion's share of their difficulty.
Microsoft, on the other hand, rushed their product to market, and misrepresented the readiness of it, so they should try and take care of their customers, since they have a vested interest in selling software and getting good word-of-mouth for its console, especially given that the gaming community thrives or dies on such things.
He told me that the fail rate of the Xbox was "my opinion."
I then told him about the article I'd just read, and that, in the past three and a half years I'd been in the gaming journalism business, I had not only read thousands of articles about their faulty hardware, but written tens of them myself. He essentially laughed me off, and said that the problem with my Xbox could be attributed to 'normal wear and tear,' and that all electronics break down eventually...
...I digress for a moment to list a number of the other, similarly priced electronic equipment I own that has not bricked as a result of 'normal wear and tear.'
* A first generation iPod that still works just fine (seven years old)
* A Samsung Blackjack phone that I use on a daily basis (three years old)
* A Dell computer that I use, and have done horrible, terrible things to over the years (eight years)
* A PlayStation 2 console (six years)
So, how old is my XBox? A year and a half. 18 months. Not a good candidate to stop working as a result of 'normal wear and tear.'
When I asked to talk to a supervisor, he got surly, and told me that they would have to call me back within three to five business days, and tried to get me off the phone. He was then evasive when I asked the supervisor's name and for his direct telephone number. Now, I could be wrong, but I'm guessing that they have no intention of calling me for any reason. I told him that I would talk to Bill Gates if I had to (in fact, I believe the actual quote was "I will wake him from his slumber to talk to him about this if I need to.") and he hung up the phone.
If they should call me back, you can bet I will be recording that call.
more here
that is a fail.
