Rock Band tried to burn my house down
Written by Jim Squires   
Monday, 20 October 2008 08:29

So there we were, sitting on the couch playing a quick round of Buzz, when I start to smell burning plastic.  My friends thought I was nuts.  Five minutes later, they saw smoke.

The 4-port USB hub that shipped with Rock Band?  It was smoldering.  We had hooked up the instruments and turned on the 360 not ten minutes earlier, but decided to play one more round of Buzz before getting our rock on.  Maybe the rock gods were frowning on us, maybe EA released a product with a serious safety hazard.  Who can say?  All I know is there was a small electrical fire, and had I not been in the room my house would have likely burned to the ground.

I don't really know what I'm going to do about this yet.  I'm certainly not going to sue.  Nothing was damaged (asides from my hands when I rushed to unplug it).  Besides, I'm Canadian.  We don't do that.

I'm absolutely going to get in touch with EA.  I'm just not really sure what the best avenue for that would be in this situation.

And I'm going to write this post.  If nothing else it'll help spread the word of a potentially dangerous situation that might warrant a product recall.

UPDATE: I've contacted EA via their support site.  Their advice?  I should plug it back in and try again.  Congratulations EA, your form letter just killed me.  Hit the jump for the full back-and-forth;

 

Jim to EA;

 

My Rock Band 4-port USB hub started a small electrical fire. It was being

used as it was intended. It had four instruments plugged in for about ten

minutes and was connected to both the AC-adapter and the Xbox 360.

I would like to see it replaced. I would also like to know what EA intends

to do about this, as clearly there is a serious safety hazard involved with

the USB hub included with Rock Band.

Pretty straight forward and to the point, right?  Here's the reply;

EA to Jim;

 

Hello Jim,

Thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding your Rock Band

purchase. It is always a pleasure to assist our customers in any way that we

can.

The USB Hub comes with 4 USB ports that the peripherals can be plugged

into.

Check to see if the customer has plugged the AC Power Adaptor into the USB

Hub and a wall outlet in order to provide power to the USB Hub.

Power Down Xbox 360, and unplug everything, but the USB Hub, AC Adapter.

Plug in One Peripheral to a port on the USB Hub.

Turn on the Xbox 360 to see if it is working.

If the problem still persists follow these steps.

1)Power down the Xbox 360

2)Plug the AC Adaptor into another wall outlet.

3)Plug in a working peripheral into a separate USB port on the USB Hub

4)Turn on the Xbox 360 to see if it is working.

If the problem is continues try a final step.

1)Power down the Xbox 360

2)Unplug the USB Hub from the Xbox 360 and plug it into the other USB port

on the Xbox 360.

3)Plug in a working peripheral.

4)Turn on the Xbox 360 to see if it is working.

If there is anything further that we can do for you, please don't hesitate

in contacting us. Additional support can be found on our help site located

at http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/ea.cfg/php/enduser/rockband.php.

Sincerely,

Sonam,

Rock Band Support

Electronic Arts.

If you read the site, you know I can't just leave it at that.  More updates as they come.

UPDATE #2: I'll give them this -- they're prompt. I'll just keep updating this post with new communication as it occurs;

 

Jim to EA;

 

Sonam -- I'm not sure if you understand what an electrical fire is.

Following your advice could have actually caused me serious bodily harm or

killed me. I understand that form letter replies save a lot of time, but by

not actually reading my email before responding you could have been

responsible for my death.

Please escalate this ticket to a supervisor as there has been a serious

issue with a faulty device provided by your company, and it requires a

serious response.

EA to Jim

 

 

Hello Jim,

Thanks for contacting EA Technical Support. I do apologize for the

difficulties which you have encountered with the game.

To better assist you try to call our Rock Band warranty. The automated

warranty service is now up and running. You can process your replacement

there, or you can call us at (650) 628 1001.

Should you require further assistance about this or any Electronic Arts

games in the future please visit our website and review our extensive Self

Help knowledgebase (http://support.ea.com).

Thanks,

Javed

EA Technical Support

Jim to EA

 

 

THERE WAS A FIRE. YOUR PRODUCT STARTED A FIRE. I DO NOT NEED AN AUTOMATED

WARRANTY REPLACEMENT. I NEED TO SPEAK WITH SOMEONE WHO WILL ADDRESS THIS

ISSUE.

FIRE = BAD.

YOU = UNAWARE OF FIRE.

It's that glowy orange stuff. If you touch it, you die. Understand?

F-I-R-E.

I'm not trying to be demeaning here, but your product started a fire and so

far you have brushed me off twice. That is so far beyond unacceptable that

you'd need a rocket just to get there. Please address the situation or

provide me with the contact information of someone who will.

UPDATE #3:It looks like EA trying to kill my children in their sleep has certainly gotten some legs, as we've received hundreds of comments across the interwebs about it. Sadly EA's email response team must have lost their fingers in a freak ginzu-sharpening accident as we've gone 24 hours without a reply. This means either one of two things -- they've escalated it to an appropriate division and are taking their time to carefully work out a response or they've completely abandoned the idea of helping me.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to clarify a few things. A lot of people have asked why I don't just call the 800 number. There's a reason for this. The first is that without a documented record I can't back up any of what I'm saying should things get ugly down the road. The second? Prior to my career as blogger extraordinaire I spent nearly a decade in the call center industry. If I call the number I'm going to get some guy that makes $10/hr and reads from a script -- he won't be able to help me. He'll escalate it to his supervisor -- who won't be able to help me. Eventually I'll jump through a dozen hoops until I finally reach someone who gives me an email address of someone who might help me. Realistically, dealing with email support is no different than dealing with telephone support, with the exception of having a complete document of our conversation for my records.

Also -- a lot of people are saying what happened is impossible. To those people I say this: I hope your children die in a gasoline fire. It may sound harsh but that's pretty much what you're saying to me. After all, I have two kids. Had this happened while we were all sleeping, they'd be dead. Many of you have also called bullshit on this saying that the instruments wouldn't function afterwards. First off, I've never claimed that they did. As a matter of fact until I read those comments, I hadn't even thought to check. Turns out they do work, so whether you like it or not, you're wrong. Time to revisit that 10th grade electronics class that made you an expert in all things electrical (the one I more than openly admit to having never taken -- my shit was burning, that's the extent of my knowledge on the subject).

To those of you that suggest I sue as money is the only language EA understands, let me explain to you why I can't. While I agree with you that unless there's the threat of a lawsuit nothing will change, I have no real reason to sue. Neither property nor person sustained serious enough injury to warrant it. Given the situation on what grounds can I sue? The laws in Canada are a little different as well. I can't just get a lawyer who'll work for his share of the settlement up here. I'd need a mountain of money to afford the costs up front, which is something I simply don't have. So while I understand the power of the almighty lawsuit, it's simply not a power I can use.

I'm glad that word has spread and I hope EA does something about it. But I feel I've done all that I can do without an ongoing dialogue, so unless I actually hear something from EA we'll have to consider this matter closed. I'm going to take commenter Utopaline's suggestion and buy a decent USB hub that won't put my life at risk.

 

Comments

avatar Mike
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Wow pretty scary stuff! and classic customer service. Perhaps if you did mention legal action you'd actually get a real response.
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avatar Hershey
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FIRE = BAD.
YOU = UNAWARE OF FIRE.

Ok, Jim. You win.

On a side note, I just got an email from a friend requesting a get-together for some Rock Band session this weekend. May have to rethink that (or at least keep an eye on the peripheral hardware).
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avatar Xerxes3rd
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So the USB cable itself started burning? If there's no warranty sticker on it, I'd be curious to see what's going on inside the housing of the hub itself.
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avatar Faith
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That is not good. Those stupid automated reply email are crappy. Someone needs to pay attention to this. Hopefully other sites will pick this up too and bring attention to it.
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avatar Katana
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You should totally send this in to Consumerist as well.
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avatar MC
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I put this on Stumbleupon. It probably won't get the play the Muppet Band Rickroll got, but it should spread this story a little further than the Digg audience.
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avatar Dan
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I don't think this needs to be escalated beyond EA, but clearly their automated response system needs to work out a few kinks.

Now that this is getting picked up by the gaming websites, though, I'm sure you'll get a better response soon.
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avatar Coral
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I can not believe this happened to you Jim...that goodness you were in the room. It scares me to think about what could've happened to you and your family and that they take this issue as if it is just some trouble shooting issue....Good Luck
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avatar Jay
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Whoa... EA Support is showing amazing ineptitude here. Thanks for documenting the experience so carefully. Keep up the updates!

I'm going to have to check my RockBand USB hub for that "add pyrotechnics effects" toggle (make sure I haven't set mine to blow up as well).
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[...] under: News, Rock Band 2 Blogger at THEBBPS Jim Squires was in for a rude awakening while playing Rock Band when the included 4-port USB hub [...]
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[...] under: News, Rock Band 2 Blogger at THEBBPS Jim Squires was in for a rude awakening while playing Rock Band when the included 4-port USB hub [...]
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avatar bob
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Now you know why "america" sues... :D
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[...] under: News, Rock Band 2 Blogger at THEBBPS Jim Squires was in for a rude awakening while playing Rock Band when the included 4-port USB hub [...]
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avatar Rohit
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Sonam and Javed? Sound like Indian names. Im guessing their tech support is in India?
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avatar Xav
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Wow. Look how many auto-blogs copied my link to this story. Assholes.
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avatar OddyOh
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Funny stuff (aside from the whole near-death thing of course)...good luck getting a response from those meatheads.
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avatar utopaline
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wow...i'm all good...your all bad...hehe..is that trolly enough for ya Jim.....

kidding dude. that is scary...glad i don't use mine too often im gonna buy a PC one just in case though. You want one?

Uto
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[...] Squires, a blogger at The BBPS recently experienced quite the scare with his Rock Band USB hub. While the unit was plugged into [...]
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avatar Dr. Cossack
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Stupid auto-replies. What happened to "customer service"?

+1 to the "thank God you were in the room". I tend to leave my videogame stuff connected all of the time, so I sure hope that I don't run into a similar issue. Thanks for the clear pictures, too: with those, there's no doubt as to what happened.
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[...] Here we have a story about a man, a Rock Band USB hub, and a big ‘ole four alarm F-I-R-E. That’s right, Rock Band tried to burn his house down. (That won’t stop us from playing it, though) As extraordinary as that story is, it gets even more kooky when Jim sends EA Customer Service an E-mail… Jim to EA; [...]
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avatar Jordan
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That is just sickening that EA would do that. They're asking to be sued.
Also found this on Stumbleupon, thanks MC for putting it up.

Hope Those EA Meatheads listen Jim, good luck Fellow Canadian, and remember, if they keep it up, it's your duty to threaten them with Legal Action, there's nothing wrong with a little suing, as long as we don't get ridiculous like our southern neighbours.
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[...] Sq­uires, a blo­gger at­ T­h­e BBPS r­ec­en­tly ex­per­i­en­c­ed qu­i­te the [...]
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avatar meneame.net
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El hub USB de "Rock Band" se ha quemado. Respuesta de EA: Reinicia la Xbox [ENG]...

Un usuario de "Rock Band" ve como el hub USB para enchufar los periféricos se quema, y emite una reclamación a EA recibiendo una mas que curiosa respuesta....
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[...] at THEBBPS Jim Squires was in for a rude awakening while playing Rock Band when the included 4-port USB hub [...]
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[...] at THEBBPS Jim Squires was in for a rude awakening while playing Rock Band when the included 4-port USB hub [...]
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avatar Andarko
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This isn't nearly as bad as starting a fire, but one of the ports on my Rock Band USB hub completely broke off as I was trying to unplug the microphone. The small white piece inside the hub broke off and got stuck inside the plug of the mic. We had to take a pocket knife and pry it out of the mic, and of course, the port on the hub is now totally useless. I think it's clear the Rock Band USB hub is totally shoddy.
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avatar PAPO
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I'm actually looking forward to EA's next response, so far they have been terrifyingly incompetent and at the same time hilarious in their incompetents, I do feel bad for you tho
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[...] at THEBBPS Jim Squires was in for a rude awakening while playing Rock Band when the included 4-port USB hub [...]
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avatar Eric
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Sounds like you need to record a phone call to this warranty hot-line. Would be both entertaining and useful later, should you decide to pursue legal action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmpDSBAh6RY.
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avatar Cory
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Wow, they are not taking you seriously, dude. You need to at least threaten them to get them to pay attention to you. Telling you to plug it back in, and then giving you an automated service to speak with is bs. Send a threat at least.
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avatar rdaneel72
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Look at all the blogs linking to this story. BBPS thrust into the online spotlight, and all it took was a near-death experience. Your documenting of this exchange does us all a great service. Keep it up.

I wonder if EA's failure to address this issue has changed your mind about lawsuit, Jim. The threat of legal action would get you some serious customer support. And EA (and MTV) have deep pockets.




Of course, this never would've happened if you were playing on Wii!!!





That was immature, but I couldn't resist. Still glad you avoided deadly fire.
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avatar Monso
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Inside that hub is probably a bunch of 0's and 1's slaving away at the daily grind, making their way through whatever challenges e-life throws at them, finding meaning.

Until one day a 1 tried to mate with another 1 (damn homosexuals, running around starting fires in my apartment), the resulting zero division caused a local atmospheric compression, and started a fire.

Consider yourself lucky, you could be ripped molecule by molecule to another dimension through a black hole.
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avatar Tim Bruhnke
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I hate to say it, Squires, but corporations ONLY pay attention to one thing; MONEY. MOOLAH. DINERO. WAMPUM. Call it what you will, that's all they give a shit about. So, as distasteful as you may find it, suing them may be the only way to get them to do anything about it.
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avatar Giglio
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Ok, this is downright pathetic. I hope they address the issue accordingly :\
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avatar Tim
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Obviously a fault in the cable. Still, the power from the wall-wart should not be enough to start a fire even with a dead short, should not be feeding back into this portion of the hub at all; power from the 360's USB port should not have enough power to start a fire either.

I know the 360's got a UL mark on it; the wall-wart power adapter probably does too, and maybe the hub (you'd have to look). You should think about reporting it to UL --> https://www.ul.com/consumers/conproddb.cfm
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avatar Dante
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Dude, have you tried CALLING them?

When I had to get my guitar replaced, I called them and got through immediately. I had to call back a few times because there were problems with shipping, but every single time I got a person on the line immediately who was very nice.

If you decide to keep e-mailing them instead of calling, my assumption will be that you're more interested in getting funny form replies to blog about then actually finding a resolution to your issue. You can't expect an automatic e-mail reply system to resolve a complex problem, they're only intended to weed out the simple stuff.
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[...] pensate che sia impossibile??? Invece no, è quello che è successo a Jim Squires il link vi rimanda direttamente al suo articolo, contiene la lettere che ha inviato alla EA e la [...]
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avatar minkus
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Even though mine never set on fire, my friends and I have a similar situation. We literally played for about ten minutes, went to switch to another game, and noticed the hub was hot as hell. So I unplug and and my 360 turns off, I go to turn it back on and lo and behold red rings of death. I contact msoft cust service they are saying they can't repair my box because it's only 2 RROD not the 3 covered under the extended warranty. Ended up having to pay the repair fee, contacted EA and got the same blanket response.
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avatar CPSC
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Please report any and all unsafe products to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.

http://www.cpsc.gov/talk.html
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avatar Gratch
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I'm having similar frustrations with EA customer service. For some reason on the website every time I try to log in it says my password is wrong. I reset it and log in, but as soon as I log out it quits working and has to be reset. I was worried that my account security had been compromised and since I had just purchased a game through EA's store I was worried about identity theft or a hacked account or something. I got the same canned and decidedly foreign email from their customer support that said I should make sure my password is correct before logging in - Even though to even view that response I had to be logged in in the first place. I ended up getting absolutely no resolution. EA has the worst customer support I've ever dealt with.
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avatar BakaTanuki
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This is a hilarious read, I'll be keeping up with further updates.
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avatar Travis
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JIM = WIN
EA = GG
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avatar earnest
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I've been using that same hub at work because the AC adapter was situated sideways. I just replaced it and set it aside to wait for the recall.
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avatar Casval
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"Hey, hey boss, come look at this e-mail..."

"What is it, lowly EA drone of mine."

"This guy says that our USB hub almost started a fire and that we should replace it."

"..."

"...We should certainly replace it, right? I mean, this is serious."

"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA AHA HA HAA HA HA HA AHA HA LAWL!"

"Sir?"

"That's not possible!"

"Sir...Pardon my free words, but he's got pictures..."

"Why do you think you're the inferior drone and I am the boss, huh?"

"Sorry, sir."

"Since our products are the most 100% best things ever crafted by human hands in the history of the universe, it is certainly not possible for it to simply 'catch fire, ha ha...It's probably his 360...You know, they are always failing and over heating, so that's what he probably means...Tell him to unplug it and re-plug it back in."

"Okay, sir..."

"Good job, inferior worker slave of EA. What was your name?"

"Sonam, sir."

"Sonam, eh? Hmmm...Maybe after this, I'll bump your wage up to minimum wage."

"Oh happy day!"

(Starts to type)

'Hello Jim,'...
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avatar Ickis McGee
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At risk of not being believed and linched for praising a powerhouse:
I've had to use EA's 1-800 customer support line before and I was really pleasantly surprised.

I had a situation that was pretty out of the ordinary and I was on the phone w/ a live person who fixed it for me w/in 5 minutes.

That was a few months ago, but I hope they're smart enough to keep up w/ the support that I was so pleased w/.

Oh, did I mention it was after 9:00 PM? Thanks EA.
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avatar Kellwolf
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Last time I had to use EA's customer "service" site, I got the automated reply. When it didn't solve my problem and I sent another e-mail, I go the form letter telling me to call the 1-800 number. I think that's standard EA response. Can't solve it on two form letters with computer generated Indian names, tell 'em to call the number. If they don't call, either they don't care enough or the problem fixed itself.

That being said, I broke down and called the number (hey, my drums were broken and I wanted them fixed). The Rock Band support is staffed with breathing individuals that speak English, which shocked me. The guy was reading from a script at first, and he pretty much apologized saying "Look, I know this isn't gonna work, but they make me do this anyway."
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avatar ror
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Pretty sure the email is sent off from a bot. You're obviously not going to get anywhere. The last email you sent must not have fitted in with any automatic categories which had "FIRE=BAD" tags. Write a hand written letter to the head of the company, this actually works. A complaints adviser on TV said that if you go through call centers, you'll not be taken seriously, as you've pretty much said. Letter to the CEO will be taken seriously and will be received by someone who has the power to do something about it.
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avatar vhold
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You can't say for certain the hub caused the problem. That USB port may be intermittently faulty, there may be a short elsewhere. EA should definitely be aware of this, but you should also be aware that you may still have a serious hazard elsewhere.
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avatar David
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I got to back up the other guys who've already said this. I've had to deal with the Rock Band support people a couple of times now, and they've always been nice, professional, and English-speakin g. Really amazing considering the bad things said about EA and modern phone support in general.
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avatar Utopaline
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I feel that I need to make this comment to all those people that have said that this can't happen. If they knew anything about how electronics work they would know that this can and does happen. Here is why/how.

1. there is a 120v outlet that it is plugged into (yes I know the adapter brings it way down, but my point will come) "that's what she said"

2. the USB hub is plugged into the adapter as well as the 360. (2 power supplies) Adapter about 500-800 mA and the same as the 360.

3. All it takes is for the adapter to pooch out and start pumping more volts and amps through it and then any small crack or fray in the wire would heat up and eventually melt. and where there is heat smoke and fire come next.

on the other side, I know Jim very well, and he would never be this passionate about something that did not scare or endanger him or his family. I know this was freaky, and yes Jim, I will pick up a hub for you tonight or tomorrow, can't have you going without Rock Band

Uto
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avatar Barfo
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While i agree that those automated replies are hilariously inept, the second one is giving you the correct advice, if you want to get the USB hub replaced then you have to go through the warranty service, not the automated support system, just like you would if it (or any of your other peripherals) stopped workign in some non-conflagrato ry way. And not to say that the USB hub is some fine piece of hardware, but you cannot evaluate from just one incident whether there is a systematic propensity for manufacturing defects of a fiery nature, there are plenty of people obviously who are using them without incident so the question overall becomes what is the actual defect rate for this method? thats an open question, im not trying to cover for them or anythign but its a data point that is simply not known.

Obviously any piece of electronic equipment can have random defects during manufacturing, and the company should be liable for any damages to your property (EA would probably try and go after the company that they buy the hubs from or the cabling supplier for their loss after they restituted your damages to you). But if you arent interested in suing to recover property loss caused by their faulty equipment (which would not be a frivolous ridiculous suit unless you tried to gouge them for bullshit stuff like mental anguish, etc etc), and you are not interested in trying to get he equipment replaced - which they should do considering the nature of the failure regardless of how long its been since you purchased that, then i'm not fully understanding exactly what further reply you are expecting to get from them. Though i can see how just an apology and a spontaneous offer to replace the item (rather than jsut a link to the correct page to place a warranty replacement request) would have been a much more intelligent customer service strategy on their part, i can also see why due to the beaurocratic BS that probably didnt happen. Note that ive used the warranty service on broken/faulty guitar, drum pedal, and drum pads on three separate occasions and they have always been prompt and easy to use.
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avatar matt
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Why do people think the hub lacks the power to cause a fire? If you put a penny on a 9 volt battery, then surround that penny with cheap flammable plastic, it will get hot enough to start a fire.

A USB port is only 5V but its still powered by a wall adapter putting out constant amperage. Far more than a little dry cell smoke alarm battery. USB amperage might not be a lot but you'd be stupid to think a dead short wouldn't heat up enough to melt plastic.

Best of luck to you.
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avatar matt
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Barfo - he was alerting EA to a potential problem. There's only about 11 billion of those hubs in existence, and EA may not know there is a problem with them. While it could be an isolated incident, EA is hardly handling this correctly. Their responses indicate that they aren't even reading the problem being reported. How will they administer a safety recall if they aren't even paying attention to the problem?
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avatar Matt
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OK, it sucks that this happened and it sucks that EA's response has been well below subpar, but you are overreacting a bit.
This would not have happened while you were asleep or out of the room because presumably you would unplug the 4 port adapter from the wall when you are not using it. Sounds like you got an adapter with some bad wiring and since these stories aren't all over the place, you should just accept your warranty replacement and move along. If this were a bigger issue, I'm sure there'd be a lot more stories on the internets like yours and EA would be working on a recall.
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avatar Matt
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I would report this to the better business bureau. It's understandable that you don't want to sue or take any sort of legal action but they should not just brush off the issue and reply to everything with an automated response.
I had issues with my xbox a year or two ago and it took about three months of calling countless times to get nowhere. I constantly got rerouted as well as disconnected. Microsoft's support is useless and apparently theirs is too. Once I called the Better Business Bureau Microsoft was the one calling me back to finally tend to all of my needs.
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[...] Band nearly burns down house; EA suggests plugging USB back in again. TheBBPS.com (Bits, Bytes, Pixels & Sprites) ? Rock Band tried to burn my house down h0h0. [...]
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avatar Old Games
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What were you trying to play? "Burning Down the House" by Talking Heads? :)
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avatar The Suffering
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The way it burnt in the middle makes me think there was a short circuit caused by harsh twisting...
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avatar Made Man
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I think the problem could be form ur console i mean most problems are usually are.
Former Owner of 3 xbox360 now saving for a ps3
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[...] El usuario consternado contacta con el  soporte técnico para informarles del hecho y ni cortos ni perezosos le responden la típica lista de los pasos a seguir para enchufar un adaptador. El usuario muy alarmado le contesta que si no han leido que el cacharro “esta en llamas!”. Podeis seguir la bizarra conversanción (en inglés) en TheBBPS.com. [...]
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[...] Read Jim’s story here. [...]
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[...] you like to play Rock Band.. TheBBPS.com (Bits, Bytes, Pixels & Sprites) ? Rock Band tried to burn my house down SiD __________________ ______________________________________________ Leave it all on the [...]
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avatar Alt-Strum
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[...] RB USB Hub: Fire Hazard? - Jim from TheBBPS’s unit caught fire on him. EA from letter absurdity ensued. [...]
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[...] time I have used the PS3 I have never had anything remotely close to this EVER. Read Jim?s story here. Xbox 360 Rock Band USB hub catches fire: oops - PS3 Daily [...]
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avatar dgenerate
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Hey Jim, I totally understand where you're coming from.

One thing I would suggest, if you really do want a response is a trick I learned over at the Consumerist: The EECB, or Executive Email Carpet Bomb.

http://consumerist.com/consumer/complaint-lette rs/how-to-launch-a n-executive-ema il-carpet-bomb-259713.php

I have a feeling someone will reply pretty damn quickly.

If this was a simple broken peripheral it really would not be the same issue, but a product you purchased from EA started a fire in your home! Obviously it's up to you, but I think it's worth pursuing.
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avatar Jon Hansen
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"Also — a lot of people are saying what happened is impossible. To those people I say this: I hope your children die in a gasoline fire"

That sure is some emotions you got there! psycho

Its a game, get over it. go to the store where you bought it. Now you have had your 15 minutes of fame--congrats.
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avatar Dan Zuccarelli
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@Jon Hansen

I love the It's a game argument.... we're not debating between Rock Band and Guitar Hero here.... the thing caught on fire. I fail to see how that has anything to do with it being a game

But thanks for stopping by and offering such wonderful insight!
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avatar Matthew
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Hey Jim. Good read! This mirrors all to well my experience with customer service. Do any customers actually receive service from a CSR? Or do they just siphon hope and intelligence from all living things?
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[...] at THEBBPS Jim Squires was in for a rude awakening while playing Rock Band when the included 4-port USB hub [...]
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avatar Nick
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Why didn't you do as they said and contact them for a replacement? That's what you want, right? They have a system set up for you to get hardware replaced. You're not special just because you have a blog; get in line with everybody else and at least try to get your stuff replaced before you have a hissy fit.
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avatar lightsup55
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And here is another link:

http://www.ulc.ca/

That goes to Underwriters' Laboratories of Canada (ULC) website, UL's Canadian affiliate.
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avatar lightsup55
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Jim,

Does the USB hub have a sticker on it that has an icon with the text "UL" inside a circle? If so, you might want to contact Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. (UL) about this and see what they say.

Here are some links if you want more information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwriters_Laboratories

http://www.ul.com/


Looks like my first comment didn't go through. Posting this again.
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avatar NathanB
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Nick- i think your missing the point. Sure, his hub is fried, and he needs a new one. The problem is that the piece of equipment nearly caught fire. This is something that needs to be addressed by the company to prevent possible property damage or lose of life to it's customer base.
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avatar MC
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Nick... this isn't about getting a replacement or a mere ... this is about a widely distributed peripheral STARTING A FIRE!

You remember a few years back there were all those laptop fires caused by defective lithium-ion batteries.

And there were those PS2 adapters that were recalled because they started fires.
http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/6824.cfm

That's what the issue is here.... that's always been what the issue has been here, and the fact that the company isn't acknowledging that there may be a problem that is worth investigating on their end.

This wasn't just a hardware failure... this is a matter of public safety.
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avatar Tokamak
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Wow, so you mean you actually got a response from EA!? I contacted them and all I received was a customer service survey two months after I mailed them!
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avatar RyanLN
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You have done two very, very important things: 1) you put them on notice as to the existence of a problem and 2) you put *the world* on notice that you PUT them on notice to the existence of a problem. That way, when some poor unfortunate soul has his Rockband hub catch fire and burn him and all of his children to death, some rich, extremely fortunate trial owner will walk away with a sizable amount of EA's ass. At least they can't now deny that they aren't aware of this problem. However, it does speak to an abysmal corporate culture that they can't address this issue. Shame on them.
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avatar Mr. Cow
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Well, as an industrial designer, and avid gamer, I can tell you that there are a 2 departments at fault: EA's manufactures' in China making crap like this, and EA's product development buying OEM crap like this from China for about {comment_text}.03 a pop

You think with a multi-million dollar corporation like EA they can hire some decent designers to design decent hardware. Honestly, EA's quality in games has gone down the drain too, don't really trust them to provide quality entertainment any more.
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avatar John
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You mean you actually RECEIVED a reply email from EA? You lucky bas***d! Sometimes I lay awake at night dreaming of what my life had been like if I had gotten great customer support on Generals, Battle for Middle Earth 2, and Crysis. "Enough of this" I said. I then vowed to move away from EA even if I had to miss playing some good games. "Ahh" I thought, "here's Warhammer Online, sweet, not EA." I bought it, installed it, then glanced at the back of the game and in the corner do you know what logo I saw? EA. DAAAAAAAAAM IIIIIIIT!
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EA Technical Support...

So I was surfing around the Internet when I came across this awesome example of EA (Electronic Arts) trying to kill one of it's customers via it's support system and a little thing called Fire. Lets......
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avatar Lol
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"FIRE = BAD.
YOU = UNAWARE OF FIRE.

It’s that glowy orange stuff. If you touch it, you die. Understand?
F-I-R-E."

Your killing me here, great stuff.

Also sue the fuckers for saying use it again (And that's coming from a non-American btw) you could have been seriously hurt and possibly would have killed a lot of your equipment.
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avatar Mark
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You could sue for negligence, especially after the first e-mail where they advised you to continue using a USB hub that had caught fire. Even if you don't have the money, you have the grounds.
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avatar Jon Hansen
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@Dan Zuccarelli

You are absolutely welcome... i simply just dont believe thís silly story
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avatar Dan Zuccarelli
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Doesn't matter if it's a video game or a cruise ship, if it catches fire when it's not supposed to it's a problem.

As for you not believing this "silly" story, there's nothing I can do for you.... and I'm not going to try and convince you. That's your problem
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[...] This story comes just days after consumer Jim Squires reported problems with his Rock Band USB hub. Apparently, after a few games Squires started smelling burning plastic. He thought no more of it and carried on playing. Five minutes later the hub was throwing out smoke and had begun to smoulder. He immediately turned of his console and contacted EA. Their advice? Plug it back in and try again. Helpful huh? Understandably, Jim isn’t too happy about the whole thing. You can follow his quest for justice in his blog ‘Rock Band tried to burn my house down’. [...]
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avatar Mark
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Hi,

Apparently this sort of treatment is not uncommon for EA. Please read this thread, you might find it helpful:

http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/crysis-series/334592-why-ea-should- exchange-my-dig ital-copy-crysi s-physical-reta il-copy.html

This guy had a problem with his pre-ordered crysis game, and got the exact same cookie-cutter responses from EA... however, he eventually got a hold of *someone* at EA and got a proper response. Emailing the tech support won't help you though, no matter how long and hard you try it seems. No one reads those emails.

This is really disappointing and actually rather disgusting how EA treats their customers. Actually, they treat their employers like crap too from what I hear. Boo EA.
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[...] pero siguiendo el enlace LEER podrás ver las actualizaciones en su blog.[Vía Joystiq]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Puedes seguir lo que se comenta [...]
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[...] pero siguiendo el enlace LEER podrás ver las actualizaciones en su blog.[Vía Joystiq]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Posted in Gadgets | Leave a [...]
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[...] pero siguiendo el enlace LEER podrás ver las actualizaciones en su blog.[Vía Joystiq]Read | Permalink | Email [...]
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avatar Kilroy
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That's what you get for having the 360 version, honestly. Microsoft was stupid and didn't allow enough power through the USB ports to power an instrument for some amazing reason.

Also, EA's call support isn't THAT bad, they actually speak English. They're probably going to tell you to send it in, and they'll give you a year warranty, but it's better than, say, Microsoft's or Sony's.
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avatar Jon Hansen
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@Dan

I agree that EA is bullsh.... him, but he didn't purchase it directly at EA, but through a store. Why he should get the store to "take the case" onwards. According to the law, this is the right way.

sorry for my spelling, i am Danish:)
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Vos si que sos rudo.
sos tan malo que escupis para arriba y no te corres.
chau salamin
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avatar douggie
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"Photoshopped"....Hahaha, had to say it. I'm kidding. That's crazy though, and I bet if you threaten them with the lawsuit word, I bet they would actually listen.
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avatar Tech support
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well being on the other side here, ie the person that gets these emails, the first was an automatic response. very quick skim for key words, usb port, trouble, etc get you you reply via the troubleshooting. standard these days everywhere you email.
next we see the second reply. the warranty., seems that the system recognized you email as being sent in again and bam, you get the warranty reply. be prepared for a battle, and you may get closer to your goal via phone.


where i work, emails get the shove off. its really not an urgent matter, they will call, if not they will email and most places have 24 hour response times. canned of course.

i feel your pain......
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avatar Xerxes3rd
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@Kilroy: If the Xbox 360 does not allow for a draw of 500 mA, which is the USB standard, then why did it catch fire if it was unable to draw the proper amount of power, especially since a powered USB hub does not draw power from the host. This really has nothing to do with the USB port on the 360, unless it put out more power than it should have- even still, USB subsystems should not allow any device to draw more than 0.5A in any case. Furthermore, plugging a controller directly into the 360 works fine, which is not the issue here. The reason Harmonix included a USB hub is because the 360 doesn't have enough physical USB ports to handle four wired controllers. In fact, the Wii and the 40GB PS3 have even fewer USB ports than the 360, and require USB hubs for Rock Band as well.

The 360 has plenty of hardware issues, even without you making up fake ones.
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Hey Jim
Call me and I'll call EA and get them on the record about this via recorded statement
This would be a story for us to follow up with @ TWIG and for the radio station
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avatar Brent
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You should burn down there building while playing rock band.
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avatar Wolf
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You could potentially own EA if you were to bring this to your insurance company and have them investigate it. If there does happen to be a provable fault with this thing they'd be a lot happier to make EA pay for the damages to people's homes than have to pay it themselves. It may end up saving lives getting this thing recalled, I urge you to pursue this.
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avatar the dude
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ea support - gotta love em. there are a lot other complaints in different forums about ea not helping customers at all (remember spore and drm - ppl without internet cant play it).
i avoid this company.
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avatar Oguz
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I have read lots of things about EA customer support but I think they crossed the line with this one. You may not be much helpful with the DRM problem, we can live with that, but what the f*ck is that? Someone could get hurt EA, do you understand this? In real life, I mean?
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avatar stumblehitandrunner
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That's what you get for buying that piece of crap rock band, or an EA product for that matter. Down with rock band and guitar hero!
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avatar ManlyJack
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all those previous posters trying to explain how this caught fire.. wrong..
the fire started inside the cable coming from the xbox, it has nothing to do with the power adapter, looks to me like the insulation on the +5v wire has been either broken down or was a bit thin in one spot, causing a short between it and the grounded shielding causing it to heat up and eventually set the insulation on fire.

this wont be a recall issue, it will be a rare one-or-two off occurance

but EA... sort out your support, actually every company sort out your support indians are shit.. you get what you pay for
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avatar Edison
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Row Row Fight da Powah!
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avatar Andy
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Jim,
Have you heard back from them again yet? Because if they *are* just ignoring you, then it becomes bigger than the original story - one of the companies involved has put your entire family at risk and THE DANGER MAY STILL BE PRESENT FOR OTHER FAMILIES.
Regardless of your current thoughts on the situation, I feel that this matter is worth pursuing further - how would you feel if a similar fault caused someone to be seriously injured (or worse) and you hadn't followed up?
Keep us posted - I'm checking back every day or so in the hope that they either a) order a recall or b) give you some guarantee that they are safety-testing these products as we speak.
This entire story is disgraceful. Well done for bringing it to the world's attention.
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avatar Wolf
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Yes, because if a handful houses burn down as a result of a defect in only a few items, it's perfectly acceptable.

Manlyjack you dip, that's the whole purpose of a recall like this, they don't know how many defective items there are, the one you may have at home may carry the same defect, but it has yet to show itself. The fact of the matter is this would be different had it actually been left alone long enough to involve other property or the house itself or the people therein, it would have been in the national news by now and in the courts, but he was fortunate enough to catch it in the act.

And no, you don't know what happened with it either, while anyone here might pose a likely possibility at what happened, you haven't investigated it personally or professionally, so you aren't empirically correct yourself.
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avatar zero-kill
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You wasted your time contacting Customer Service in the first place. Your proper course of action would have been to first contact Customer Service in notification of you filing lawsuit at the potential loss of life and faulty product, as well as damages to home/company. If you worked in a Call Center that was probably before they started outsourcing the majority of it, you have to call someone locally first and work your way up.

I've worked in retail for years now, this is the ONLY way to get a problem completely solved and your compensation.
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avatar Dexie
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@Edison:

Do the impossible! See the invisible!
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avatar Evildm
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Just on more reason I avoid EA like the plague.
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avatar Rick
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My suggestion? Call the corporate division, ask to be put onto someone who can help. That way you can actually talk to someone who might give two shits, and they'll replace it for sure, and maybe even give you some loot while they're at it ;-)

As someone who took that 10th grade electronics class, it looks like some sort of overload on the hubs part, it might be feeding too much power through that cable, I'm unfamiliar with the product, but I'm fairly certain it would have something to do with the extra power it has to suck from that AC converter.

As for the people who think it's impossible, you know the drill, gasoline fire, die, etc. This is how a lot of house fires are started, dickwads.

Best of luck Jim, and I'll be watching for updates to see how you go.
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avatar Jason Harris
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If you go through the Rock Band support web page and click that the USB hub is faulty, they basically send you a new one no questions asked.

What exactly are you trying to get from EA? You seem to be ranting aimlessly at an e-mail chat line. Great, I guess it passes the time for you and everyone needs a hobby. But if you want something from the company you should clearly state so in your contact with them. Do you want your hub replaced? Because you could have it already. Do you want a big bag of loot? Good luck, you're not going to get that short of suing them.

It doesn't seem like you want anything but attention for your rant. Which I am hurting the cause by providing you.
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avatar Jebus
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well, i know what your problem was....you're canadian. lol jk

but honestly that sucks. i never had any problem with my hub that i got with mine, but then again i got the game for the wii :D
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avatar dangrymidget
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I no longer use my hub because of your problem and I can't believe how much trouble your having with EA. Maybe you should consider suing.
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avatar Jon Hansen
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@ Jason Harris

Well put sir! i totally agree...
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avatar bloodred
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haha i wouldn't be surprised if EA came back and said "well, it looks like you were jamming a lil too hard and this is your fault, next time don't rock so hard"
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avatar TheGreatDL
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My USB hub also almost caught fire. My first one, anyway. I had it plugged in for about 3 minutes before I smelled smoke and traced it to the source: the USB port. It was one of the original USB hubs handed out with the game (ie: the same style as yours.) I had it replaced for free via the warranty, and they sent me a different version of the USB hub - it worked flawlessly. I would think that EA realized pretty quickly that not all their hubs were up to snuff, and thus changed the design to prevent over-heating. This did not damage any of the peripherals as it was more than likely just the over-heating that caused the smoke/fire.

I guess, the lesson here is, just go through with the warranty - it is quick, painless, and free.
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avatar Chris
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Hi, I have just had a similar problem with my sons usb hub. I phoned the UK support line for Rock Band and was offered another hub of the same make... no thanks i said i wish to take this further. To do this i had to register with EA before i could ask for some help. I copy the text i sent to EA and links to my photos.

'Hi, my son has just bought Rock Band for PS3 which came with a VIPowER 4 port USB hub. He set this up as instructed and has used it for about 10 days. Last evening he thought he could smell burning and on closer investigation found the hub to be smoking. He immediately switched everything off and disconnected the power. We live in a wooden house and are very mindful of leaving electrical items connected in case of fire and was very disturbed to see the state of the hub and the fire it may have caused. I attach photos to show the damage. I have contacted the help number (ref XXXXXXXXX) and spoke to a very nice lady who offered a replacement hub of the same type which i refused as there are other accounts of this hub melting and burning and do not want another in the house. I work in the It support sector and deal with USB hubs and many other electrical items and do not expect this to happen. Please respond with your solution to my problem and the greater picture of a faulty and potentially life threatening product.

Link to another faulty hub
http://www.thebbps.com/blog/2008/10/20/rock-band-tried -to-burn-my-hou se-down/

I look forward to your timely response.

Chris'

http://support.electronicarts.co.uk/cgi-bin/eauk_new.cfg/php/enduser/fattach_get.php?p_sid=jsAyKthj&;p_li=cF9saV9wYXNzd2Q9JnBfbGlfZXhwaXJ5PTEyMjUyMTMzNjg mcF9jY2ZfMz0mcF9zdGF0ZS5jc3M9MSZwX3Bhc3N3ZD0mcF91c2VyaWQ9anVuZ2xlamltQGRzbC5waXBleC5jb20mcF9jb3VudHJ5X2lkPTMmcF9jY2ZfPQ**&p_accessibility=&p_redirect=0&p_id=10770815&p_tbl=1&p_created=1225207206&p_file_id=656584

http://support.electronicarts.co.uk/cgi-bin/eauk_new.cfg/php/enduser/fattach_get.php?p_sid=jsAyKthj&;p_li=cF9saV9wYXNzd2Q9JnBfbGlfZXhwaXJ5PTEyMjUyMTMzNjg mcF9jY2ZfMz0mcF9zdGF0ZS5jc3M9MSZwX3Bhc3N3ZD0mcF91c2VyaWQ9anVuZ2xlamltQGRzbC5waXBleC5jb20mcF9jb3VudHJ5X2lkPTMmcF9jY2ZfPQ**&p_accessibility=&p_redirect=0&p_id=10770815&p_tbl=1&p_created=1225207206&p_file_id=656585

http://support.electronicarts.co.uk/cgi-bin/eauk_new.cfg/php/enduser/fattach_get.php?p_sid=jsAyKthj&;p_li=cF9saV9wYXNzd2Q9JnBfbGlfZXhwaXJ5PTEyMjUyMTMzNjg mcF9jY2ZfMz0mcF9zdGF0ZS5jc3M9MSZwX3Bhc3N3ZD0mcF91c2VyaWQ9anVuZ2xlamltQGRzbC5waXBleC5jb20mcF9jb3VudHJ5X2lkPTMmcF9jY2ZfPQ**&p_accessibility=&p_redirect=0&p_id=10770815&p_tbl=1&p_created=1225207206&p_file_id=656586
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avatar Chris
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avatar Wolf
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That's rather worrying actually. I think you're missing the point of him contacting them. It's not simply because he wants a replacement, but because the thing started on fire. Fire has the tendency of starting other things on fire, such as your home, and maybe even you yourself.

Does anyone know if EA replaced these old style hubs in the later releases of rock band or if they keep selling them as they are?
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avatar Wulf
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Working in support (although Enterprise software products) i can feel your pain.

Some supporters are just to thickminded.... especially if their names suspiciously subcontinental if you catch my drift.

This is a very unpleasant support experience... but thats EA for you.

There is only one thing an american corporate will take notice:

SUE THEM.

Sue them for conspiracy for murder in the first grade, demand deatch penalty for everyone one of their directors. They tried to kill you, your wife AND KIDS.

Get all media, especially the cheap stuff for the ppl on it.

Otherwise they will brush you off.

Thats corporate america for you.