Peter Moore on Xbox 360 Warranty
Mr. Peter Moore, head of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business division, has graced the Xbox community with a heart-felt apology concerning the red lights of death. He also announces a 3 year extended warranty, bringing all console owners under a “free replacement/free shipping” umbrella that should quiet the raging masses for a while. I have to say from personal experience with my US launch system, although customer service reps had trouble with their english, they had no trouble getting my xbox back to me within 14 days and a refund check shortly after. Microsoft recently announced taking a hit on repair refunds - around a billion dollars actually, so they are at least taking the problem seriously. As far as I’m concerned, now Microsoft has the best repair policy of any console ever, so this may have worked out well for us in the long run. Here’s the letter:
Open Letter From Peter Moore
To our Xbox Community:
You’ve spoken, and we’ve heard you. Good service and a good customer experience are areas of the business that we care deeply about. And frankly, we’ve not been doing a good enough job.
Some of you have expressed frustration with the customer experiences you have had with Xbox 360; frustration with having to return your console for service after receiving the general hardware error message on the console.
The majority of customers who own Xbox 360 consoles have had a terrific experience from their first day, and continue to, day in and day out. But when anyone questions the reliability of our product, or our commitment to our customers, it’s something I take very seriously.
We have been following this issue closely, and with on-going testing have identified several factors that can cause a general hardware failure indicated by three flashing red lights on the console. To address this issue, and as part of our ongoing work, we have already made certain improvements to the console.
We are also implementing some important policy changes intended to keep you in the game, worry-free.
As of today, all Xbox 360 consoles are covered by an enhanced warranty program to address specifically the general hardware failures indicated by the three flashing red lights on the console. This applies to new and previously-sold consoles. While we will still have a general one year console warranty (two years in some countries), we are announcing today a three-year warranty that covers any console that displays a three flashing red lights error message. If a customer has an issue indicated by the three flashing red lights, Microsoft will repair the console free of charge—including shipping—for three years from the console’s purchase date. We will also retroactively reimburse any of you who paid for repairs related to problems indicated by this error message in the past. In doing so, Microsoft stands behind its products and takes responsibility to ensure that every Xbox 360 console owner continues to have a fantastic gaming experience.
If we have let any of you down in the experience you have had with your Xbox 360, we sincerely apologize. We are taking responsibility and are making these changes to ensure that every Xbox 360 owner continues to have a great experience.
This will take a few days to roll out globally, and I appreciate your continued patience as we launch this program. I’ve posted an FAQ that should address some additional questions, and we’ll update it over the next few days.
I want to thank you, on behalf of all us at Microsoft, for your loyalty.
Posted by Erick - July 6th, 2007 -
July 6th, 2007 at 5:18 pm
Well I for one am glad, 3 years guarantee is definately a bonus, and thats gonna have to be quite a lot of money to cough out to people who have payed. Seems their taking it seriously. Good show MS!
July 6th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
You know, I’m often puzzled by this 30% failure rate thats being banded about the media. Can it really be *that* bad?
I got my machine on launch day (luckily!) - I know of at least 5 others who did same. Not one of our consoles has been for repair. Are we lucky, or are the numbers just being blown out of all proportion by the media?
Admittedly, I do occasionally have a small problem with the DVD Drive - where the drawer just doesn’t want to go in. I just give it a nudge with the finger though and it spins to action.
My mum on the other hand got hers last Christmas. It’s not been used a huge amount but i believe shes starting to see black artifacts popping up now and then - Overheating me thinks.
I’d be really interested to hear how other gamers are getting on with their launch consoles. It’s true that very often those who speak up are those who have had problems. I’d like to hear how many launch consoles are still without any problems at all.
Of course, Microsoft should just come forward and say “look, we have an unusually large amount of first generation consoles which needed repair, the percentage is xx %”
PS - Ninja Gaiden still rocks
July 6th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
Well, I’ve had mine replaced once, the drive was knackered, wouldnt spin up discs at all, so could only play arcade.
Second fault I had was with the HDD, had that replaced and works fine, however the new HDD didnt have the standard preinstalled software, so had to go through a convoluted process to download the emulation software so that I could play older xbox games and I’m still without Hexic.
No huge gripes the service was fairly swift and phone operators were as polite as usual places, waiting times were silly tho! overall I aint had it too bad, know of a few others who’ve had issues, but then look after your hardware and surely it should last! MS have clearly had an issue with overheating etc, but there move to make up for it seems in good faith an gesture.
Stating a percentage will never happen tho, as that would be admitting there is a problem.