The diary of a dead xbox 360 owner...

[danwalton]

Sunday 17th December

Dear Diary,
I had been playing on my xbox 360 all morning with no trouble at all, no crashes or freezing, and then began streaming some mp3s from my laptop. All worked perfectly as usual. Then I turned my 360 off. Minutes later I turned it back on... but there was no picture My 360 had died, with three flashing red lights. Nothing I tried could save her. She was dead. Bought 8th Dec 2005, died 17th Dec 2006 - 9 days out of warranty, or so I thought...

I then phoned MS who took the 360's serial number and arranged to have an email sent to me with a UPS collection label to print off. I asked if there would be a charge for the repair and was told my xbox was still under warranty... I took her name as evidence I was told to wait 48 hours for the email, although it took me nearly as long as this to spell. out. every. single. letter. in. my. address. and. email. address. to. the. foreign. call. centre. staff. It was a joke to be honest, I think my Indian is almost as good as their English...

I unplugged my 360 and began the 48 hour email wait.



Tuesday 19th Decemeber

Dear Diary,
after checking my email inbox frequently, around 50 hours had passed with nothing delivered . I called MS again and had to go though the whole process again only to be asked to wait another 24 hours...


Wednesday 20th December

Dear Diary,
26 hours after my second phone call, nothing. I phoned MS AGAIN to demand a UPS label now. This time I managed to speak to someone who could converse in English, who promised me that I would receive my email within the next 24 hours. She also offered me the option to have the UPS label delivered by post, which I declined due to the time of year. Again I waited...


Thursday 21st December

Dear Diary,
Finally received my email this morning, 5 DAYS after my initial phone call. Called UPS who said they will collect my 360 in its coffin before 5pm today (we'll see...)

I'll keep the diary updated throughout this process for all those people who will have to go through it during this most unfortunate time of year to have their xbox die.

And to think, I'd bought myself a couple of 360 games for christmas which I was looking forward to playing whilst off work. D'oh!

 

[Torment74]

Sorry to hear about your 360, may she RIP. I have had mine since January and have a feeling mines gona go the same way as so many people have had problems. Its has not put a foot wrong so far but how long can it last?

 

[wormvortex]

er....thanx for sharing that?

 

[pmonger]

sorry to hear about your xbox problems mate. can i take this opportunity to ask you and other 360 owners about their set up? i've had my 360 for a long time too and have always had it standing in the upright position and not in a cabinet and have never experienced any problems (knock on wood!)
where and what position was yours placed?

 

[mascot]

I was told to wait 48 hours for the email, although it took me nearly as long as this to spell. out. every. single. letter. in. my. address. and. email. address. to. the. foreign. call. centre. staff. It was a joke to be honest, I think my Indian is almost as good as their English...

I went through exactly the same painful and time-consuming chore when I spoke to MS recently, even having to use the phonetic alphabet to spell everything. Completely unacceptable. Mind you, a free wireless controller turned up a few days later. No idea why..!

 

[danwalton]

Thanks guys It was vertical with a lot of room around it in all directions so ventilation wasn't an issue. In face it didn't really get too hot or anything. I never experienced any problems beyond 2 or 3 crashes whilst playing PGR3 and accessing the guide button menu, but they were months ago...

I know some people will wonder what the point is behind this diary, but I just wanted people to know exactly what happens when your 360 dies, as its not happened to me before and I'm sure I won't be the only person it happens to over christmas.

 

[danwalton]

I went through exactly the same painful and time-consuming chore when I spoke to MS recently, even having to use the phonetic alphabet to spell everything. Completely unacceptable. Mind you, a free wireless controller turned up a few days later. No idea why..!

Hmm interesting! I had to use the phonetic alphabet too... MS sort this out!

Just as an aside, I noticed last night that my wireless controller (with the play and charge battery pack installed) was very feintly glowing in the upper right quadrant. Does this mean anything in particular? I've never noticed it before. Maybe its mourning the passing of the 360 too?

 

[PLJPlayer]

Oh, Its the Xbox thats dead not the owner.
This makes more sense!

 

[RizL4]

nm

 

[danwalton]

Oh, Its the Xbox thats dead not the owner.
This makes more sense!

Hehe, it'd be a short diary otherwise

 

[danwalton]

Thursday 21st December

Dear Diary,
Its 4.44pm and UPS have finally come to collect my 360. Its out of my hands now. Man its foggy out there...

 

[kingolympics]

I am interested in this if you can keep it updated.

Mine died at the start of the week as well, was about 6 months old. Pretty annoying seeing as I won't be able to play it over christmas now. I rang the support line, waited over 24 hours for my email with the labels, it didn't arrive. Rang again, took forever to spell everything to them and then was told to wait 24 hours again. 22 hours later I got the labels.

Had the 360 picked up by UPS this afternoon. I've emailed them to ask if there is any way they can speed the process up but I'm not really going to get one back any time near christmas.

It's pretty annoying when you don't get much free time to use the 360 and then when you do it breaks, made even worse by the fact that most people get new games this time of year.

I used to think it was a tiny minority who's consoles went wrong but my friend bought one a month ago and that has just broken.

This really isn't acceptable, I mean I have had a master system, snes, n64, playstation 2 and dreamcast, none of which have broken and all have lasted for years on end.

They really are poorly made and as much as I love the console, I don't appreciate the cheap design.

Will be interested to read when you get your console.

 

[danwalton]

Yeah I will do. It's really bad timing isn't it? I'm starting to really miss mine now, its been a week since it broke. If only I could get a Wii to fill the void!

 

[dave1de]

I'll Just add:

JESUS, how thick can customer support be? Got my points refunded for arcade games to be re-downloaded, just they refunded it to my DAVE1DE account so I CANNOT DOWNLOAD THEM AGAIN.

And im owed 3400, yet they refunded 2400

 

[kingolympics]

As of yesterday, my 360 status was 'origin scan'. Any one know if it's possible to track any delivery of the returned console?

 

[Ryanmixu]

Mines died last thurdsay(14th) called on thursday night finally got through to someone after about an hour . Had a conversation similar to the one described in the first post of this thread asked me if I had access to a printer I said no as it just so happens that my printers on the blink at the moment ( one thing goes and everything follows lol). The woman who I was speaking to said she would send out my labels and it would take about 5 working days. Not happy but there is nothing you can do about it. At work the next day my Mother calls to say UPS were at the door to pick up my Xbox? ?


Now as I had to wait for the labels I had not packed the xbox....SO que about 20 mins on the fone talking my mother through disconnecting it, removing the hard drivethumbsdow ) and removing a game from the disc tray. Then the Gentleman who was collecting it had to raid his van for a box that would house the 360....as I was going to pick one up during the five days I was expecting to wait for the labels to arrive.

Now at the minute the tracking info is showing returned to sender...who I assume is microsoft. This appears to have gone well so far as Ive nbot had to wait for labels and it was picked up the next day....just seems that everything is an absolute mess when dealing with microsoft .

 

[kingolympics]

Ryanmixu, don't suppose you know what the status message 'origin scan' means on the UPS website?

The call centre really is a joke. The first person I spoke to seemed to understand me ok but when I didn't receive my labels, I called back, the next person had terrible english but when they read back my email address as per the previous employee's record, they had completely mis spelled my name.

 

[Ryanmixu]

Ryanmixu, don't suppose you know what the status message 'origin scan' means on the UPS website?

The call centre really is a joke. The first person I spoke to seemed to understand me ok but when I didn't receive my labels, I called back, the next person had terrible english but when they read back my email address as per the previous employee's record, they had completely mis spelled my name.

think it means that it has been recieved at the delivery centre where the labels were produced (or where microsoft placed the instruction to pick up your xbox )....when it says returned to shipper it means that it is with microsoft ( I think lol)

 

[kingolympics]

I had this email yesterday:

Unfortunately, I am unable to give you any information at this time due to the fact that the repair center is closed at this time. We will be here at your convenience throughout the entire week. An request was initiated to send you an replacement but there is no available stock at this time. As soon as I've received further information on this issue, I will contact you.

 

[kingolympics]

Anyone had their console back yet?

 

[crown62]

Yeah I will do. It's really bad timing isn't it? I'm starting to really miss mine now, its been a week since it broke. If only I could get a Wii to fill the void!

My 360 went the way of the 3 red lights on 21st December last week.

I phoned microsoft customer service that evening. I did not expect an answer in the UK at 11pm, I thought it would be the USA call centre staffed by some sort of software agent.

Not flippin Calcuta or somthin' ! they could not understand me nor I them.

Sort it out Microsoft!! the money you saved on the cheap and faulty components should pay for proper staff in Europe or USA........

Used phonetic alphabet , got cut off twice, 3rd time lucky , although they insisted I completed the Q&A session of try this and that, I told them it would not work with 3 red lights on

Got my email with return label next day, collected next day 22nd. Its gone better be fixed and not some other guys refurb

As I have heard has happened. So make sure you know your serial number.

Had a go at the Wii I got for my daughter, at least I can finish Resi 4 off on that

 

[kingolympics]

It really is a joke. The thing that annoys me the most is that the year warranty isn't extended once you get a refurbished console back, so it's only covered for a little while longer. The consoles are so badly made they are bound to go wrong and how can they expect people to shell out for something that will probably smash?

My master system, dreamcast, snes, PS2 and n64 never went wrong once. They all took a few hits as well yet lasted for years and years. My 360 can\t even last a few months.

I paid for an xbox 360 console yet I have had to go without over christmas, the time it would be used the most.

This really isn't acceptable.

 

[crown62]

It really is a joke. The thing that annoys me the most is that the year warranty isn't extended once you get a refurbished console back, so it's only covered for a little while longer. The consoles are so badly made they are bound to go wrong and how can they expect people to shell out for something that will probably smash?

My master system, dreamcast, snes, PS2 and n64 never went wrong once. They all took a few hits as well yet lasted for years and years. My 360 can\t even last a few months.

I paid for an xbox 360 console yet I have had to go without over christmas, the time it would be used the most.

This really isn't acceptable.

Yah bang on Your right non of my other consoles ever let me down, ive had the lot right back to the NES.

I know the PS2 had a few drives go but nothing on the scale of this 360 problem. Even the original xbox was fine May be the same shower who answer the phones at the call centre assemble them too

There are strong signs a revised 360 will arrive at some point next year. If we all havent lost total faith in the system by then, I think they should at least give all present owners a massive discount on one. If you have registered a current machine they could easil identify who you are.
This updated version may be the only way to have a reliable 360 experience!

Its the least they could do .If you have too upgrade just to get something thats reliable why not?

 

[MWP1985]

Mine died on the 24th and I'm incredibly reluctant to get it replaced by Microsoft as I've no desire to spend an hour on the phone trying to speak in phonetics to some foreigner and, if I do, I'll no doubt end up with a half-knackered refurb with only a 60-day warranty. So I'm screwed if - or when - that one goes as well. I've isolated the problem as being a dry joint in the GPU area so am considering doing the heat-gun repair though I'm unsure of the success rate. Any thoughts?

 

[SNuRCHeR]

mine was picked up on the 19th, still not heard anything about it though !!!!

anyone who had theirs go around this time please keep in touch !!!!!

i've now got a sore shoulder from too much wii bowling (love the wii but it's no 360! )