360's "3 Lights of Death" + 90 Day Warranty = $140

http://www.turnto10.com/northeast/jar/news.apx.-content-articles-JAR-2006-12-14-0010.html

My Local News wrote:

Greg Lowe is staring at a blue screen instead of his Xbox 360.

He bought the $500 game system with birthday money in February, but he said that last month, a glitch caused it to stop working.

Internet forums refer to the alleged glitch as the "three lights of death."

"You hit the power button and these red lights shine, and nothing happens," he said.

Greg’s mother, Karen, called Microsoft and learned that the Xbox 360 only came with a 90-day warranty.

Microsoft wanted $140 for repairs.
...continued..

The Xbox is the first item I bought an extended waranty for. $30 buys me an extra 1 year. MS used to have a 1-year waranty for the 360 at the beginning, but cut it down to 90 days. The weird thing is you dont hear so much about heat issues -- or red light of death -- anymore.

blowdart wrote:

In the UK you get a statutory 1 year guarantee

Uh huh.

£274.99 = $538

A statutory markup

Minh wrote:



blowdart wrote: In the UK you get a statutory 1 year guarantee

Uh huh.

£274.99 = $538

A statutory markup

Ooooh, snap.

That's gotta hurt

I still can't believe that it costs that much...

I dunno, I got my XBOX 360 via an offer for my MSDN subscription. So... I guess I am gonna be screwed when my 90 days pass by.


-Sashidhar

Lucky SOBs. I've had nothing but hell trying to get my new (and recently broken) 360 fixed.

First they're telling me that my 360 is out of warranty less than a month after I bought it; then they tell me I need to fax them a receipt, so I do, and call back an hour later, and I'm told I need to wait 24-78 hours to see if they actually received my receipt...

God, I wish there was somewhere I just just ship it with a note that said "Fix it, you" + a copy of my receipt.

I got mine with an extended warranty, but the point is this shouldn't be necessary.  Both the PS3 and Wii have a standard one-year warranty, and MS should follow suit.  90 days is rather pathetic.

Nitz Walsh wrote:



I got mine with an extended warranty, but the point is this shouldn't be necessary.  Both the PS3 and Wii have a standard one-year warranty, and MS should follow suit.  90 days is rather pathetic.

Maybe the expected lifetime of an Xbox 360 is only 90 days? That would explain why so many machines break within ~6 months.

Yeah, it is a rather shoddy policy.

I sent my original xbox in for repairs twice, then bought a brand new one because the original broke again...

I have since replaced the DVD drive 3 times on my second xbox.

That's why I haven't bought a 360 yet, I am scared that it will be a wasted $700 (I need the wireless thingy too).

phreaks wrote:


Yeah, it is a rather shoddy policy.
...

When something has a short time warranty, the manufacturer is in fact saying that the product is crap.

In the Netherlands it doesn't matter what the warranty is. Within the reasonable expected lifespan of a product, a manufacturer or retailer is required to fix it for free.

Although it can sometimes be hard to determine what exactly the reasonable expected lifespan is, but I'm sure even a judge would rule for more than 90 days on an XBox.

That sucks.  My Xbox (the first one, not a 360) is one of the "1.0" kind and it's never acted up.  Hardware seems to be so complex these days.