Xbox 360 broken again!!!

[strawberry blonde]

My son's XBox 360 has broken down for the 3rd time. It's one of the original ones and Microsoft extended the warranty to 3 yrs as so many were breaking down.
The 1st breakdown was covered by the extended warranty for 3 rings of death.
2nd time was a different error and my sons had to pay last year but a couple of months ago a cheque arrived reimbursing them.
Now 3rd time, we have the 3 rings again!!
Have phoned help line only to be told they will have to pay £80.
Surely as this is such a big problem worldwide with the Xbox, there must be something that they can do. As far as I am concerned, the goods were faulty from day 1 . Spoke to the supervisor who wasn't interested.
This makes me so mad. My boys have spent so much money buying the games for it and now have a remaining 11 months of their XBox Live Subscription being wasted.
Thought of phoning Trading standards. Am I being unreasonable?

 

[scottishgirl87]

Ok, lets just say I work in retail involving consoles. Unfortunately, yes, the 3 red lights is a common 360 fault. I even experienced it myself with my dad's 360, which died JUST 1 month after the 3 year warranty (we got it close to release). However, the newer 360 models have a Jasper chip in it which is to prevent the 3 red lights.

I don't really think Trading Standards would do much to be honest, but I'm not 100% sure. Microsoft only extended the warranty for an extra 2 years because of all the press surrounding the 3 red lights. I think that Microsoft are "in line" with TS as they extended their warranty and are offering to repair it for a fee. We get alot of people who just buy a new console as if they're charging you £80 to repair it's only £129.99 for an Arcade (on which you can put your hard drive you already own) and obviously with that you'll get another year's warranty. You can pick them up preowned even cheaper than that.

Have you tried the machine again since? Have found many times before that 3 red lights can be caused by say a power failure, turn it off for a few hours and try again and it's fine (although not always).

You could go down the Sale of Goods Act but it'll be up to you to prove that the machine was faulty from the beginning.

 

[strawberry blonde]

Thanks for the help. Yes, the boys have tried it several times this week. They actually phoned the support number earlier in the week and were told it would be £60 to repair. They eventually decided to go ahead with my older son saying he would pay most of the cost but when they went on line the price was £60 plus another charge.

It just annoys me as they're only 17 and 14 and £80 is a lot of money to them. I'm tempted to go and get a new one and they can have it as part of their Xmas present but use it now.

As you're from Glasgow you'll understand why DH is lying on the couch ignoring the matter.......Celtic are playing!!!

 

[scottishgirl87]

Thanks for the help. Yes, the boys have tried it several times this week. They actually phoned the support number earlier in the week and were told it would be £60 to repair. They eventually decided to go ahead with my older son saying he would pay most of the cost but when they went on line the price was £60 plus another charge.

It just annoys me as they're only 17 and 14 and £80 is a lot of money to them. I'm tempted to go and get a new one and they can have it as part of their Xmas present but use it now.

As you're from Glasgow you'll understand why DH is lying on the couch ignoring the matter.......Celtic are playing!!!

Hahaha, my dad will be doing the same thing!

I just looked on GAME's website and a preowned Arcade is £99.99, but then you'd obviously get a new 1 year warranty with that. The arcade is the one that doesn't have the hard drive but you could use the one you already have from your broken machine. An Arcade brand new is around £130. Have a look online though you may be able to find some better deals. I mean if it's gonna cost £80 to repair, you won't get a new warranty with that, whereas for an extra £19.99 you could get another one which will obviously give you a warranty!

£80 is a lot to repair! Last I heard it was £50, must have went up! Typical!

It's just your luck really, I think. Like I said my dad had his for 3 years, then 1 month later it died with 3 red lights. Then there's people like you who've had 3/4/5 different machines and same thing keeps happening!

 

[paulh]

we got 1 red light today on it the box,eldest says its a faulty connection.contacted xbox yes its £81to repair but when done you get 12 months cover and one months gold to compensate the down time of repair.might just buy a new arcade box
Paul

 

[scottishgirl87]

we got 1 red light today on it the box,eldest says its a faulty connection.contacted xbox yes its £81to repair but when done you get 12 months cover and one months gold to compensate the down time of repair.might just buy a new arcade box
Paul

I didn't think they offered the 12 month cover But maybe that's because of the fault you have, I assume it's the E74 graphics card error being that it's 1 red light?

 

[Dimplenose]

DS just decided to cut his losses and bought a new one. He'd had the last one repaired and it lasted quite a while before going wrong again. But he's decided that it will be cheaper (and hopefully less frustrating) in the long run to have the newer model.

(He was seriously tempted to replace it with a PS3 but he's invested so much money in the games he was really tied to another xbox.)

 

[strawberry blonde]

Thanks for the replies. I think we'll probably end up getting a new one. I don't fancy paying £80 to repair one that's been 'supposedly' fixed twice already. Even if we get a 12 month warranty, I bet it would break after 13 months!!

Looks like tomorrow I'll be doing this looking at all the present deals. What better way to spend my week off

 

[Kevin Stringer]

Lets be clear about this - any warranty does not affect your statutory rights under the Sale of Goods Act.
You can claim any time within 6 years. If within the first 6 months, the manufacturer has to prove there is nothing wrong with the equipment. After 6 months it is down to the purchaser to prove there is an inherent fault. This can be done by getting a report from a qualified technician. However, in this case there has been so much publicity about the fault with the X Box that I doubt you would have to prove anything other than that your machine has that fault.
Of course, if the manufacturer refuses to repair or replace, then you must take them to the Small Claims Court. Any costs incurred should be met by the manufacturer.
I would try contacting them again and quote the Sale of Goods Act. Tell them the fault was inherent in the equipment when bought (as Microsoft have admitted) and that you will take them to the Small Claims Court unless the equipment is repaired or replaced.

It annoys me that manufacturers will treat their customers so poorly.

Kev

 

[strawberry blonde]

Thanks Kev. I contacted Consumer Direct who advised me to send a registered letter to the MD of Microsoft in Reading. This way they have to acknowledge the letter and can't say they never received it.
Just pees me off that I've got 2 teenagers with numerous games they can't play and an Xbox Live Gold membership which is expiring. I also mentioned that in the letter.
Will let you know the outcome.

Didn't realise you could get serious. Always laugh when I see your name as I think of your trip report and the comment about the T Rex's extra bone!!

Still makes me laugh

 

[Kevin Stringer]

Didn't realise you could get serious.

Oh, I can get serious when required.
For instance:

When going to the fridge only to find it bereft of beer.
When Swindon Town lose. (Unfortunately I have to be serious quite often regarding this).
When shopping. (this is more full on grumpy than serious)

Hope the X Box gets sorted.

Kev

 

[strawberry blonde]

Just sent the letter recorded delivery. Will let you know the outcome.

If you want your fridge to be full of beer, then you need to go shopping!! Can't expect Tammy to be buying beer when she could be buying clothes

 

[Tammy Stringer]

If you want your fridge to be full of beer, then you need to go shopping!! Can't expect Tammy to be buying beer when she could be buying clothes

Well said!!!!

Seriously though I hope you get a satisfactory result

Tammy

 

[paulh]

Just sent the letter recorded delivery. Will let you know the outcome.

If you want your fridge to be full of beer, then you need to go shopping!! Can't expect Tammy to be buying beer when she could be buying clothes

Always thought shopping was for beer,what are clothes?
Paul

PS,we have had our xbox360 for 4 years so we have decided that we will get a new one.were going to get it from argos arcade version get a £10 off voucher then buy a game and charging dock using the £10 voucher then get a £5 voucher for other Xmas things.this way the new box will cost £120(or so DW says i am always uable to understand her shopping logic ie bought 2 its cheaper)

 

[strawberry blonde]

Xbox support team have just phoned me to say they will repair Xbox free of charge and pay for courier. They will only give a 90 day warranty but that's better than nothing. They will also repair it quicker than the usual 2-3 weeks and send a months membership for Xbox live.
Considering I only sent the letter yesterday, I'm quite happy with the result and hopefully the boys don't need to have a new Xbox for Xmas.

Thanks everyone for your replies.

 

[Kevin Stringer]

That's excellent.

I'm pleased it got resolved happily.

Kev

 

[strawberry blonde]

Very impressed with Microsoft. The X box came back today. That's 1 week from the courier picking it up, sending it to Germany and then back to us.

My son opened the box and the letter says ' we are sorry you have been without your console for so long, so we decided to send you a new one.'

I think we can safely say that is a result!!

Thankyou Kevin.
Until you posted I was ready to get another one which would have been part of the boys Xmas presents.
It cost £1.14 to send my recorded letter of complaint and now 1 week later we have a new console. Apparently the new ones have a different chip in them which hopefully stops the old problems.

Thankyou to everyone who posted.

 

[Pinky166]

That is fab news! Well done Kevin!

 

[Kevin Stringer]

My son opened the box and the letter says ' we are sorry you have been without your console for so long, so we decided to send you a new one.'

Blimey, that is a result.
We'll have to move you up to number one complainer.

Kev

 

[thelittlemermaid83]

Thats fantastic!