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.