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 When word finally slipped out this month that Microsoft's 360's have been running at a 30% failure rate, I was hardly surprised. Some of you may have heard me lament about this before, but I'm on my fifth console. That's fifth, with a 5. Instead of just throwing that number around like I usually do, I think it's time I give you all the hard facts.Console #1 - March 2006. The thing was busted right out of the box. When you moved the console you could hear loose parts rattling around inside. A trip back to the store led to... Console #2 - March 2006 (same day). Worked great until it started freezing, which took a little less than a month and led to... Console #3 - April 2006. Perfect console. Wish I still had it. Why don't I? Had a problem where during the playback of certain DVD's the video would freeze and skip while the audio was fine. Tech support said it was the console, but... Console #4 - June 4, 2006. Two days after this, on June 6th, Microsoft did a dashboard update that "repaired playback stutter during certain films." That's right. It wasn't my perfect but now departed console #3's fault, but their software. This in turn, stuck me with crapbox #4 which gave me my first glimpse of the dreaded red lights o'death in September. Which brings me to my current console... Console #5 - September, 2006. For the most part (until now), a problem free console. Now that I've gotten you all up to speed, back to the story!
The wife and I sat down last night to fire up the ol' HD-DVD Player, which we had picked up just before Christmas, and were surprised to find that the HD-DVD Drive option had vanished from the dashboard. A quick call later (and by quick, I mean 40 minutes on hold) and I discover that; A) The HD-DVD Player, a $200 item, is considered an "accessory" and as such comes with only a 90-day manufacturer's warranty, which I had clearly exceeded, and; B) Despite the fact that I was on my fifth console, I was still only entitled to the original one year of warranty. Not one year from the time of the replacement console being sent out mind you, but one year from the date of original purchase. Normally I try to keep my cool. I've spent a good portion of my adult life working in call centers and I know what it's like to deal with an asshole customer. I've also spent a good deal of time working in call monitoring and quality assurance, so I know an inept rep when I see one. Still, I couldn't help but blurt out "FINE! I'LL JUST SELL MY STUFF AND BUY A PS3 THEN!" When, rather than trying to make things right, she gave me the "sorry to lose your business sir" line, I hung up. Which led to me calling back. Which led to another 40 minutes on hold. Grrr.... The next representative, like the first, refused to offer me a free repair. On the bright side he did find out what the problem was. Turns out the USB port on the back of my 360 has crapped out. Why the first rep couldn't do these troubleshooting steps and save me an hour is beyond me. He bid me on my merry way with a USB cable hanging out the front of my unit, and that was that. Since that time I've done a little fiddling (ie jiggling the cables around, blowing in the port, the kind of fiddling your grandma would do with electronics) and have gotten the back port working again. For how long, who knows? Here's the thing. I've gone through five consoles, and still been loyal enough to drop 2 hunny on the HD Player. What have I gotten for this loyalty? I'd like to say zilch, but the rep who sent out console #3 was a peach and sent me a copy of PGR3. But it's damn near close to zilch. I've just reached a point where I'm absolutely fed up. Microsoft knows that, thanks to Live, Gamerscore, and the Marketplace, they have the #1 console on the market. The problem is that, even with a 30% failure rate, they're acting like they don't need to clean up their mess. They're treating their customers like we're all in H.Y.D.R.A. -- "Cut off our heads, and two more will take our place!" It's just bullshit, and I don't think I can stand for it any longer. So what am I going to do? That's a tough call. After all, as you can probably tell despite my negativity in this post, the 360 is my console of choice. Beyond that, I do write here -- which might be a little tough to do if I'm without the number one console on the market. So I think my plan is going to have to go as such. I'm going to keep using my slightly defective 360 (really, who's using all of their USB ports anyway?) until it craps out for good. At that time, I'm going to have to re-evaluate. As for the HD-DVD Player? That one's a little easier. I'm going to eat all the money I've thrown into it, trade it and my small but growing collection of HD-DVD's at my local trade shop, and put the money towards a Playstation 3. After all, since Blu-ray's built in at least I'll get a one year warranty. You can argue out the wazoo that it's Sony's success or Toshiba's failure that has lead to the growing dominance of BRD's, but for at least one movie-watcher it's the bullshit that Microsoft has put me through. When my 360 finally does crap out for the fifth and final time, at least there'll be a PS3 in the house. Maybe I won't need to make that repair call after all. EDIT: It's just been brought to my attention that both Dan and Kevin are on their second boxes, and Dan is about to make the call to move on to his third. For those keeping score, that's 3 writers, 10 consoles. Crazy. (Edit #2) -- Xav just dropped me a line to say he's on his third one and constantly gets the red ring. So that's 4 writers, 13 consoles (would be 14 if xav would get off his butt and replace that one!)
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