Okay, two weeks ago. My 360 dies. I call MS and they say it's covered under the 3 year RROD warranty. Go onto the MS and it asks me to register the console. Then it comes back up that it's not covered. I get kind of heated and call MS support and say "what's going on here?" Lady says in her most accented Indian/English, "I"m sorry, but the console isn't covered past your original 3 years." "Huh?" Not what I was told when I got the refurb back after the first one failed.... Let me digress for a sec. This was the repalcement for the one I bought after I had sold my friend my first one that had frozen trying to play NCAA07. It ended up dying and I paid 120.00 out of the 200 he paid me, which was later refunded when they announced the warranty. So I'm actually on my third 360, having paid full price for two of them. So I'm already 200.00 in the hole on this gen's console.
I decide that I'm gonna call and complain and bemoan my lack of luck with 360's. Funny thing is I don't ever play for more than about 2 hours at a time. Can't really do the all-nighters with having the boys now. Run it horizontal, heard that vertical can cause airflow issues. Have done all I can to coddle the console along. So a couple of days later I plead my case to yet another MS rep. They assure me that the console is covered and to send it in ASAP. So off it goes. In the meantime I've sold all my extra gear, like my Hauppage, to finance my possible repair bill. Well, now it's covered, so I decide to try a different tactic. I'll buy a PS3. It comes and works great. Just only have The Show09 for it. And after a couple of days I come to the realization that I'm probably not gonna ever own much more than the Show for it. So I sell it. And I do break even.
Here's where it gets funny. I'm still waiting 5 days after my console is shown to be at the MS repar center to have the little icon on the support screen show that it has been received, (it's still showing shipped) I get a little impatient. Decide since I have the PS3 money back and know that 360 is where my heart lies, I'm gonna buy a backup, just in case for the next time one of them dies. So, I'm bidding away on Ebay, and, by a huge stroke of luck, I get a console with a wired controller for 58 bucks. (72 w/shipping) It's coming from the same store as I got the PS3 off of, which performed flawlessly. So here I sit today and it arrives!
I'm so happy I'm gonna finally be back in the game! Open up the box and , low and behold, there's a perfect looking console with a nice refurb sticker on it, and a brand spanking new WireLESS controller to boot! Man, I've made out like a fat rat! 58 bucks and all of this? Man! Hook it up, sync the controller, do the update and now it's finally Fifa time. Start playing and the graphics look a little fuzzy. Uh oh. Next the graphics freeze, OH NO! Console won't reset via the controller "X." Gotta reboot by hand. RROD! Pull the HDD, RROD. Change out the video cable that I was using for my PsyClone cable, RROD. Use the cheap standard def cable they sent, RROD. Switch the power brick of mine for the one they sent, you know what....
Here I am, in purgatory. MS has my stuff in a terminal loop. No PS3. Replacement console is junk. So I call them up (Ebay store) and then, finally, a spark of hope. They apologize and say they are sending out a tested replacement today. With a pre-paid return label in the box for this one. I asked them if they buy refurbs from MS or do have them refurbed? They said they use a third party refurb company. But, in spite of it all, I'm not mad at them. That was real class on their part. It really makes my console almost free, after shipping costs both ways. The wireless controller alone, sweetened the deal for me, in the beginning. So here's to hoping that Monday will be a brighter day. Hopefully, the end of next week will see me having 2 consoles that work. (for how long, that remains to be seen!) Brian
P.S. I had decided to give Madden another whirl, just to see how well Patch 2 turned out. I bought it off E-bay for 32 bucks today. Maybe I'll get a console to play it on eventually......
P.S.S. I do have PES2010 on PC and the Wii to hold me over, so the withdrawls won't be too painful. But, to Microsoft, I have but one thing to say: "COME ON SON!"
I decide that I'm gonna call and complain and bemoan my lack of luck with 360's. Funny thing is I don't ever play for more than about 2 hours at a time. Can't really do the all-nighters with having the boys now. Run it horizontal, heard that vertical can cause airflow issues. Have done all I can to coddle the console along. So a couple of days later I plead my case to yet another MS rep. They assure me that the console is covered and to send it in ASAP. So off it goes. In the meantime I've sold all my extra gear, like my Hauppage, to finance my possible repair bill. Well, now it's covered, so I decide to try a different tactic. I'll buy a PS3. It comes and works great. Just only have The Show09 for it. And after a couple of days I come to the realization that I'm probably not gonna ever own much more than the Show for it. So I sell it. And I do break even.
Here's where it gets funny. I'm still waiting 5 days after my console is shown to be at the MS repar center to have the little icon on the support screen show that it has been received, (it's still showing shipped) I get a little impatient. Decide since I have the PS3 money back and know that 360 is where my heart lies, I'm gonna buy a backup, just in case for the next time one of them dies. So, I'm bidding away on Ebay, and, by a huge stroke of luck, I get a console with a wired controller for 58 bucks. (72 w/shipping) It's coming from the same store as I got the PS3 off of, which performed flawlessly. So here I sit today and it arrives!
I'm so happy I'm gonna finally be back in the game! Open up the box and , low and behold, there's a perfect looking console with a nice refurb sticker on it, and a brand spanking new WireLESS controller to boot! Man, I've made out like a fat rat! 58 bucks and all of this? Man! Hook it up, sync the controller, do the update and now it's finally Fifa time. Start playing and the graphics look a little fuzzy. Uh oh. Next the graphics freeze, OH NO! Console won't reset via the controller "X." Gotta reboot by hand. RROD! Pull the HDD, RROD. Change out the video cable that I was using for my PsyClone cable, RROD. Use the cheap standard def cable they sent, RROD. Switch the power brick of mine for the one they sent, you know what....
Here I am, in purgatory. MS has my stuff in a terminal loop. No PS3. Replacement console is junk. So I call them up (Ebay store) and then, finally, a spark of hope. They apologize and say they are sending out a tested replacement today. With a pre-paid return label in the box for this one. I asked them if they buy refurbs from MS or do have them refurbed? They said they use a third party refurb company. But, in spite of it all, I'm not mad at them. That was real class on their part. It really makes my console almost free, after shipping costs both ways. The wireless controller alone, sweetened the deal for me, in the beginning. So here's to hoping that Monday will be a brighter day. Hopefully, the end of next week will see me having 2 consoles that work. (for how long, that remains to be seen!) Brian
P.S. I had decided to give Madden another whirl, just to see how well Patch 2 turned out. I bought it off E-bay for 32 bucks today. Maybe I'll get a console to play it on eventually......
P.S.S. I do have PES2010 on PC and the Wii to hold me over, so the withdrawls won't be too painful. But, to Microsoft, I have but one thing to say: "COME ON SON!"
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