Watchdog Has Received Over 250 complaints About The X360 Breaking Just After The Warranty Expired

Watchdog (BBC) writes on their site:

"The Xbox 360 was a global phenomenon when it was launched in the UK in December 2005. The world's richest man and Microsoft boss Bill Gates called it the Ferrari of home entertainment. But we've had nearly 250 complaints from people who think it's more of a clapped-out old banger.

Worse still, you've been telling us that some of the problems with your faulty Xbox 360 consoles occur when the one-year warranty has run out. That means you have to fork out to get it fixed.

Alex Ainsow had no problems for a year. But, just after the warranty ran out, his Xbox 360 wouldn't stop crashing. He had to pay £85 for the repair. His second Xbox 360 lasted three days before it got the 'three red lights' - a hardware failure known in the gaming community as the 'ring of death'. Once you see them, the box can't be fixed."

[OutLaw]

I wrote about a problem with my 360 last weekend and here is what I wrote.

My xbox360 just got the red rings today after having it for a year and 3 months. I got it on release day. So I called them about the problem and at first you get a recording taking you step by step about how to troubleshoot the damn thing. I did that and still the three red lights. After the whole waste of time with the recording they connect you to an agent. Told the person about the problem and of me trying to troubleshoot the damn thing and the agent said well I have some bad news for you, it maybe something wrong with your 360. "No, really?" After being on the phone for a little while he then told me I have to pay $139.90. Now at the moment I have no choice but to do this because I also have the HD-DVD add-on with alot of HD movies. But if I had a choice I wouldn't do it because from day one, people have been complaining about the original shipment and I feel that MS knew about it and should have made a recall for those systems. Now I know that people feel that the PS3 isn't worth the price. But with the price of my system, the HD-DVD add-on and the repair I have to pay for, for a system I had for less than a year and a half, my 360 is costing me more than my PS3.

Now I'm waiting for the box to send it out to MS.

[eques judicii]

so... let me get this straight... 250 complaints out of how many units in britain? wow, doesn't seem newsworthy

[marionz]

why do sony fans take so much pleasure in digging for bad MS news?
i dont buy consoles till the problems from the first batch have been fixed, we in New Zealand usually are about 6mths to a year behind in even getting the consoles, its good in a way cos we dont get dodgy products, and no i havnt had any problems with my 360, had it about 9mths now.
this story is just little people trying to do damage to MS over a problem that is OLD and was sorted out ages ago, and the fact MS is continually refineing the 360 with new dvd drives etc is actually a good thing!
im going to get another 360 once the new drive is released here, old one can go in the bedroom, to me its better to have 2 360's then a ps3 or wii!
sony can try all they like but i dont want a movie player, i want games, and the wii is just a toy.

fanboys keep digging for bad news, it just shows how pathetic you really are.

[True Gamer]

Why do MS fans take so much pleasure in covering up bad news for the xbox 360?

Look I just found this interesting and decided to post it.

This news story came out today so its brand new.

BTW I own both the xbox 360 and PS3 so I'm not a fanboy, but by the looks of things you are definitely a fanboy.

I also find it interesting that you still have all 5 bubbles.

[eques judicii]

however, i think the whole busted 360 news reports are getting a bit stale. not because they aren't valid, and not because it didn't happen... but because it IS old news.... yes I know this report talks about launch 360s that stop working after the warranty expired... i understand that... but come on!! this bush has been beaten to death already... what should be pointed out is that none of these reports have to do with the newer consoles.. the ones that have been manufactured in the past 6 months (and no, when you purchase it != when it was made... i'm trying to find one manufactured after nov 2006 so i can get the benq drive)

so while you are correct about the fanboyism... this is like bringing up the fact that motorstorm doesn't look like the cg trailers... again... its been beaten to death... so can we stop posting these stories????? there are more exciting things happening in the gaming world

[marionz]

nope im not a fanboy sorry, but as eques judicii pointed out the story is a bit stale, and the fact some programme has waited till now to report it! LAME! and i have 5 bubbles yes, because im not abusive like some of the people on here, again im not a fanboy, i like games, unfortunatly neither sony or microsoft is exactly trustworthy, its a shame console wars get so dirty!

[XboxDavey]

I cant belive people who have a 360after launch are laughing at us who thought ms would produce console that did not need to be repaired..Sorry i got had and am not defending the pirates of silicon vally anymore

[TheMART]

250 complaints

250

How many 360's got sold in the UK?

Right... If I remember how many PS2's had a drive that stopped working just after a year

[Arkham]

My launch PS2 died after 2 years -- the DREaded Disc-Read-Error problem. After one 15 minute phone call, I sent it back and got a fully repaired unit returned to me in 4 days. For free. Free shipping both ways.

No problem there. Esp. after 2 years. Sounds like good service to me.

[Dusk]

That's because Sony got sued. Sony refused to even admit there was a problem until they got sued. Your 'great Sony customer service' as you call it was the direct result of the lawsuit. If you don't believe me, the settlement website is still up where you can read if you are entitled to money from Sony because of the mass amounts of defective PS2s.

[Arkham]

No, it was before the settlement. I was told the same thing, that I could return for a replacement, a year earlier but I lived with it (thanks to frequent drive-head cleaning) until it got bad enough.

[Booneral]

Well my 360 has been working fine and there is no need to jump to Sony side now, my PlayStation 2 has been working fine for years too. So it's a matter of luck I guess.

The the most important thing is, this is truly old news.

[hongthay]

This is not an old problem by any means. I am one of those who did get a launch xbox 360 along with my friend, and it did fail in May 2006. It got repaired. And I suffered the red rings 3 more times. The most recently was a little over a month ago, January 9. My friends have similar stories to tell. The one that stood in line with me at WalMart to get one at launch had to get it replaced; it was faulty brand new. He ended up getting it replaced twice, the last time was in June, and--lucky for him-- it is still working.

Another of my friends is even luckier, he has a launch unit that has been working since day 1. On the other hand, my best Halo 2 buddy, is on his 7th console, and when he got one manufactured in December, he thought his problems were over. Well, they're not. It is in for repairs now. I would really like to know just what the failure rate is on these consoles. Granted, I will always have one, I am a Halo 2 and Gears of War fan. GRAW and Burnout Revenge are a lot of fun on the 360, too. But it would be nice if the console was a little more reliable. This problem is a little more widespread than Microsoft lets on that it is.

[xbox360migs]

I got a new 360 out of warranty and it cost nothing, brilliant and quick service!

[OutLaw]

That they send back refurbish systems to people not brand new ones if you don't believe me just give them a ring.

[xbox360migs]

It works and the service was quick, what more do you want.

[Icryo]

Just think about other people who haven't complained to Watchdog about their broken 360's. I think the figures are much higher than this.

[Anerythristic26]

I read somewhere that if you counted all the complaints on the internet about broken 360s it would be under 100'000 individual complaints. Now subtract PS3 and Nintendo fanboys from those complaints ( we all know they are in there.) It's a non issue it's likely 1 to 2% of 10 million.

It has literally become a right of passage to complain and post on line when your 360 breaks. Some of these people have real faulty hardware and I know it must really suck. Some of these people couldn't properly care for an electronic piece of equipment if there life depended on it , some are plain liars.

[assjacket]

I actually just got off the phone with MS support to tell them my 360 is toast.
I got a console on launch day and after a few months it gave me the red ring salute. I sent it in and got a new console, although judging by the date on the back it was still made within that first launch batch. I haven't had a problem until a couple of days ago games started freezing and I would have to restart. I could tell something was going to happen because the console sounds slightly different when it's running. Yesterday I got the red rings again so I called MS today, went through all the crap, and the guy says its going to cost me $167 (I live in Canada) because the warranty is expired. He asked if I'm sure that I want to issue a repair order so I told him I guess so cause I have games I want to play. After that he puts me on hold for 30 secs and comes back saying that for some reason I don't have to pay, and they will repair/replace the console for free.
So after all that I have to say that it is disapointing to have a broken console but I have had nothing but good experiences with MS when I've had to deal with them.

[Arkham]

Both/all three companies will make you happy if you push them hard enough over the phone. Persistence usually pays off.

[LuminousAphid]

That's exactly why I bought an extended warranty. Don't be stupid; you can't complain about a manufacturer because a product that they gave you a free one-year warranty on (much longer than most products) breaks after the warranty is up. To me, that's like complaining that your car broke down after your 5 year warranty was up because the dealer charged you to fix it.

[Bathyj]

Dudes, its easy to say, Its old news, move on. Unless you've got a broken Xbox. I guess when it actually happens to you, you give a damn. For the record, I'm on my 3rd machine, like a lot of stories I've heard. My first never worked at all. Bought it launch day and it was broken out of the box. The second lasted 8 months and died so hopefully my third was manufactured well after that launch period and should be ok, if I am to believe what you guys are saying. I've never actually checked the date on it.