Kotaku

That sucks...

Ouch. That won't go over well, I imagine.

This is true. I sent my console back mid-June. I've still not gotten it back. Microsoft was kind enough to send me a free game due to it's delay, but man alive, I wanna play Bioshock!

Is there a reference to this rumour or is this idle forum gossip?

Mine went in for repair last week, they said 20 working days on the phone but I think the email says 25 working days. Not really fussed about Halo 3, I want to play Bioshock!

@aurahack: So you have another game that you cant play on your non present xbox, do they to hit to hurt you even more ;).

This is why I believe that console gaming is dying.

I am still waiting on mine, so I probably won't get it back until I return from vacation. It's been four and a half weeks so far (graphics card burned out on this one.)

So... Yeah, sounds about right. I don't even care anymore, I'm about ready to pitch the damn thing.

Kidding.

...and I STILL haven't sent mine in yet.

@aurahack: Really? What'd they give you?

@Shoitaan: It's, like many of our stories that turn out to be 100 percent accurate, a "sourced" story. Meaning that one of my many inside sources told me about it and I checked it out. Also, look one comment up from yours.

What I would really love is that Microsoft would now REMOVE those faulty system from circuation, and replace them on the spot by falcon models instead, at least it would make it so people with "refurbs" don't get stop in the current never ending cycle madness caused by Microsoft pigheadedness of keeping those system in the wild.

Ha. Mine just died last week (launch day box) :(

@PapaBear434: I've shipped in two, and both took about two weeks.

Then, #3 started to glitch out on me, and I did pitch the whole thing.

Mine RROD'd last week. They said it would take 3-4 weeks. That was 7 days ago, but I still have not received the box to send it back to Microshaft yet.

@nonpareiI:

You might want to invest in a secondary system if you haven't already, then. You'll be in gamer withdrawal by the time you get it back.

Yeah, I'm aware of this. If mine breaks again around the time halo 3 hits, I'm just going to buy another 360. There's no way I could wait on the side lines for six weeks. You hear that microsoft, if your system breaks down on me again (for the fourth time) I'm going to buy another one!

Honestly, this is why after the last send in (which took at least 5 weeks before I saw mine back) I sold my box back. That and my accurate guesses that the price would drop and we'd start seeing new hardware. Figured I'd trade mine in before that happened. Do I miss my 360 while I wait it out? Yes, oh god yes. But it's worth it I think to own a machine that doesn't mess me over every three months. Honestly the part of me that's pissed enough at Microsoft to cry thinks they should just give everyone who has sent theirs in more than twice a box with new hardware and be done with it.

Is everyone returning theirs, hoping to get a new HDMI model?

I'm crossing my fingers with my 360, I bought it when I lived in the states and now I'm back in Britain lord help me if it goes tits up...

Damn. And I actually got interested in the 360 last night with Halo Wars...

God help us! Miss the Halo 3 launch? We're doooomed! But, in all seriousness, a six week turnaround, on principle, is completely unacceptable.

Lol so now everybody who was Halo3 pre orderd have to stop using your 360 untill release so youre sure youre 360 works ;)

right....

@ChickenOfTheSea:

This is my fourth unit I'm waiting on.

First one red ringed.

Second one ate a groove into my Crackdown disk.

Third one overheated my graphics card, and made vertical artifacts appear all over any game I was playing.

I'm pretty much done with Microsoft consoles after I get this one back. I'll just keep it around to play Dead Rising. When it craps out, the multi-platform sequel will hopefully be out and I won't have to worry about it.

P.S. I less than three the fact that in tags it says "red ring of stupidity." The Tags are my favorite part of this site I swear. I've been drunk and randomly put in strange words, it's really amusing to see what you come up with.

Quoted return time has been over 6 weeks for a while now in the UK. I figured it has been like that in a lot of places.

That said, people seem to be getting theirs back faster than that and also getting new machines in a lot of cases.

In concerning 360 repairs taking up to 6 weeks I am betting it depends on the type of repair they have to do. I sent my 360 in for repair 2 weeks ago and already have it back. With albeit a cheap thank you for patients of a 1 month xbox live Gold Subscription card.

@ChickenOfTheSea: Project Gotham Racing 3, which isn't so bad since I'm a huge fan of racers. That also means I've already played the game, but I sold it, and hated myself for that decision. It's nice for it to be back on my games shelf ;)

@ConstantCupcake: Search for the "Transfer Cable" article.

@PapaBear434:
Man PapaBear, Microsoft HATES you. Are you a mac person or something?

(Please no flaming me, I'm typing this on one of my two macintoshes as I speak)

Yeah I had to send mine back in for repair today (second time it's happened). Customer support said, "Up to 25 working days from the day we recieve the Xbox from the courier".

Luckily I managed to complete Bioshock before it happened! But damn I hope I get it back before Halo launches

@lbregitzer: You should call them...

@ChickenOfTheSea: Edit, the "Free Elite Transfer Cable" article.

Sent mine at the beginning of July, came back about 10 days later. Maybe the problem is in the US only?

I've heard of some long waits but I sent my console in recently (the end of July/beginning of August) and they sent me a brand spackin' new console 3 days after my broken one reached the repair center. I wasn't getting the RROD, my games were freezing with a checkerboard pattern that was so perfectly illustrated by Brian Ashcrafts image of Gears of War a couple weeks back. The red rings were probably coming shortly. I think it's a your-mileage-may-vary situation.

My DVD drive just failed on my 360 and is not covered by the 3 year warranty. And my one year warranty just ran out 2 weeks ago. I was wanting one of the new HDMI premium models with the quiet DVD drives and extra cooling anyway, so I just bought a new one.

I switched from a Sony PS2 fan to a 360 fan due to...well..obvious reasons. However, my PS2 went though a TON of abuse and its still kickin. Granted it wasn't a launch like the ones with the bad lasers and such, but still. Stuff like this makes me think I made the wrong decision. PS3s are built like tanks. Tanks with airconditioning. Ever see the smash PS3 and smash 360 videos. A 360 explodes in a million pieces and the ps3 takes like...4 hammer swings.

Granted mine hasn't RRoD (knock on wood) but the DVD drive has broke, but I took it upon myself to repair it (super glue). Release a new fan or something, and for our trouble make it an LED one that fades or does something shiny to distract us from how PO'd weve been.

@PapaBear434: I was thinking the same thing. If the one I'm about to get craps out on me again for some, utterly shitty reason like this one did (Killed itself, along with my Forza 2 disc while booting the game) then I'm going to sell the repaired 360 and just get a damned PS3.

In Canada, Xbox 360 repairs are lightning quick. They just send a new console back to you.. I don't even think they bother tearing anything open on the old ones to be honest. I got mine back in a matter of days.

The guy over at XBox 360 Fanboy had a 2 week turnaround when he got his 360 back on August 22nd.

Link:
[www.xbox360fanboy.com]

I'm so glad I waited (was too broke) to buy a 360. I'd be furious at this. I can't understand you people who keep getting your system replaced. It's like they are building loyalty out of defective products. If I own anything that I had to replace more then once (which even then would make me angry) I would just hate the company forever and never buy from them again. They got you guys like cigarettes or something.

Yeah, I've had my console replaced three times already and it's never taken more than a week to get it back. Due to the rumored high influx of broken 360's though, the fear of a six week wait does make me want to buy a backup 360. That new halo 3 edition 360 is starting to look mighty tempting.

@Amsterdaam:
btw man, since the warranty is out anyway, if your disk just isn't spinning, a lot of the time its a little white spindle piece that pops off. You can usually just open the drive up (its usually stuck to the top due to it being magnetic) and glue it back on as I said I did. Don't just brick it. You can at least go down fighting.

@ConstantCupcake:

Actually, no. Been a loyal Windows user since 3.X. Tried Macs, but there's not enough personal control for me.

But I have had some harsh things to say about Vista. Maybe they heard me?

Tell me about it. I knew my console needed repairs cuz it was scratching my discs (my first 3 were RROD'ing) so I sent it in 3 weeks ago, began the process about a week before that. Got a message on my phone yesterday that UPS is gonna deliver it today, im hoping im awake when they get here or that someone else is present (I work nights). But the reason I sent it in when I did was because I figured it would take a while, and I wanted to have it for Halo 3, hell I took a week of vacation the week Halo 3 comes out.

I called about RROD on August 2nd and my console will delivered today. So that makes it a 3 1/2 week turnaround from call, repaired, then in my hands.

They are not sending my original console back so I have WRITE A LETTER to the warranty dept and have them transfer my purchased warranty to my new (refurb) console.

Mine broke the day before Bioshock came out... but luckily the retailer I got it from has a 12 month like-like exchange if any of their hardware explodes.
So I got to play Bioshock on time. But if it breaks again after October I'm as subject to the tides of fate as anyone else.

@mr_dimsum: I beg to differ. Montreal resident for 18 years and running, sir.

Isn't there a lemon law in the U.S that might help consumers? I mean reading where people spent their hard earned money on a console to have 3,4, 6, 9 replacement units - it's a bit crazy. And then to have to wait 6 weeks or so while they prep replacement console no. 5 to send to you. X\

This issue is going to really start digging a deep hole into their games business, I wonder when investors will finally say 'enough'?

It's like Microsoft is the Netflix of consoles. You get one and send it back when you are done for another. You're still payin' for LIVE membership all the while....

I got two ring'd systems waiting to be shipping in. One that has been busted for a while and a new one that Bioshock killed. I'm considering just selling it all when I get repaired ones back.

Good thing Persona 3 showed up from Amazon the day the 2nd box died, lessened the pain.

Mine died on July 23, and from the day I called Microsoft to the day UPS brought my console back, it was 23 days.

The one I sent in was manufactured on May 31, 2006 and the one they sent back was manufactured on August 3, 2007. Included in the box was a letter apologizing for the long delay to fix my console / please accept this replacement console instead.

I was elated to have a less-than-two-week old 360 and, for the record, it did not have HDMI. The only two differences I notice are: 1. The fan runs at full speed for about two minutes after I shut off the console, and 2. The play and charge cable will not charge when the console is off (on my original 360, it would).

@aurahack:
A free game to play on what?..

@MJDeviant:
They send you a one month Xbox Live card. It absolutely sucks but in my experience they do what they can to make the best of a bad situation.

Got mine back two weeks ago.... took about 5 weeks for the return.

Was pissed too that they sent me a refurb from June 06

@FuNkYbOsS: MS internal memo - "zap funkyboss' xbox360 thru XBL so we can boost our sales figures!"

Just got mine back a week ago. Had a nice two week turnaround.

Every time someone says "not so much", I think of Jon Stewart. Thanks, Kotaku!

Oh boy I hoe these rumors aren't true. I lent my 360 to a buddy whose 360 died the day before Bioshock released. I said he could have it until the 4th when Medal of Honor comes out. If he doesn't get his box by by the time Halo comes out, we're gonna playing co op.

@MJDeviant: What would you have us do? NOT replace the console? It's not like they're charging us to do so, it is covered by the guarantee. And I don't know in the US but in Canada they're sending us a card for one month of Gold Membership to cover for the time we paid for the service when we couldn't take advantage of it.

Don't get me wrong, it is pissing us off and it shows poor quality in the manufacturing and even in the whole engineering process, but it's not like it would be a better idea to just put it in the garbage and sell the games as used, and then what? Buy a PS3 that has no games? Buy a PC that will be obsolete as far a new games are concerned in two years, not counting in the f