I purchased 2 systems in late January; both were manufactured on 12/17/05. I gave one to my son-in-law as his belated Christmas gift and kept the other. His system occasionally makes a screeching/grinding noise and has caused minor scratches on a several of his game disks, not the death to the game disk type scratches that have occurred when moving the Xbox while a disk is in the tray. My system was performing fairly well; I had the occasional freeze or lockup which generally resulted in a reboot. The lockups began to increase during the first couple weeks of November; I was mostly playing Lego-Star Wars and G.R.A.W. On 11/21 my son-in-law gave me an early (he just couldnt wait) birthday gift, Rainbow Six which I played that evening and most of the next day. On November 22, 2006, (early evening) I booted RB-6 and as the game was loading I experienced a lockup. I rebooted the 360 and in the middle of the Xbox 360 splash screen it locked up again, this was odd because I had never had it lock up when powering up. I powered down and when I turned the power back on to reboot I got the Three Red Flashing Lights of Death. I called Xbox support and was told by a well trained, polite individual that I would be sent a prepaid shipping box and, upon my receipt to package the 360, without accessories and return it for repair. Well, if it werent for bad luck, I would just be shit out of luck. As it turns out 11/22 is Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, and guess what, the service center is closed until Monday, 11/27. The empty box is sent on 11/27 (UPS Ground) and I receive it on Thursday, 11/30, I quickly package the dead 360 and take it to a local UPS store. I track the delivery process and it makes it to Houston, TX., the following day Friday, 12/01 where it sets until late Sunday, 12/3 and is finally delivered to the repair center (they are closed on weekends, there is no 24/7 in Microsofts repair center) in McAllen, TX., at 12:52 p.m. on Monday, 12/4. I think, all right, from what I have heard and read, turn around is 4 or 5 days, I should have a replacement by the end of the week. With this thought in mind, on 12/05 I call Customer Support to get the return tracking number, but there is no information and Im told to call back the following day, there should be an update because the service center enter the update late in the day. I call on 12/06 and get the same information, but the Customer Service (CS) Rep tells me he will fire off an email requesting a status update and to call back tomorrow. I did and I also called on Friday, 12/8, there was no updated information, but wait, the CS is closed on weekends, so Im advised to call back Monday. I call again on Monday, 12/11, and Tuesday, 12/12, I ask to talk with a supervisor, boy, are these CS Reps trained well, I am told by the supervisor that they are sending an email to the Service Center and that it usually take 24 to 48 hours to get a response. I call again on 12/13, and 12/15, (skipping Thursday) and after a dead end conversation with a CS Rep. I again ask to speak with a supervisor, Im placed on hold for about fifteen minutes and then given the same dead end answers to my questions. Did you know that the Service Center in McAllen, Texas does not have any telephones, the only way they can communicate with the outside world is via email, which, they dont respond to? This supervisor tells me she is going to send another email request to the service center and they should have a response in a couple of days, but wait its Friday and the service center is closed on weekends. Further, she is the top dog at customer service, she does not report to anyone else, there is no one else I can call for assistance and there are no telephones outside of CS. Needless to say I am not happy with CS and I am abrupt with her, I fire off questions that she has no intention of answering. Therefore, if you have a problem there is no course of immediate action that you can take, CS is your only remedy. I even logged on to Xbox Live and sent an email to customer support and received a quick reply directing me to Customer Service, its a catch 22. So, I didnt call on Monday 12/18 and I waited until early evening to call on Tuesday, 12/19 still no word, the service center has not responded to any of the messages sent by CS. Well, if you think that the squeakiest wheel is the first one to get the grease, think again, I think the emails that CS is sending to the service center are telling them to put this guys 360 at the bottom of the pile. On 12/20 it will be a month since my 360 died, I can live with the bad timing of its demise right at the Thanksgiving holiday. What I am having a hard time accepting is the fact that the service center has had my box for 16 days and nobody knows what the status is. If the service center has been flooded with an enormous amount of repairs then Microsoft needs to address the problem. Microsoft should step up operations at the service center and go to 2 shifts or possibly around the clock 24/7. They are failing miserably in customer service and customer satisfaction. Why do they have only one service center in the United States, the country where the majority of the 360s have been sold?
Sorry, but I had to vent this somewhere besides CS. If you have been fortunate enough to send in a dead unit and get it back repaired or replaced within 5 to 10 days within the last month, I envy you, consider your self very lucky. Whether or not I am to blame for the delay in service is neither here nor there, the fact is, nobody should have to wait 2 to 3 weeks for a repair/replacement from the date it is received at the service center. In September, Microsoft made a press release stating that because the failure rate for systems manufactured in 2005 is greater than what the average (less then 5%) should be, they are going to extend and honor the warranty for those units. Thing is, I purchased an extended warranty from Microsoft, either way my warranty or their warranty I am not receiving customer service and Im still waiting for my 360.
The wireless steering wheel, wireless headset and games I put on my Christmas wish list, at this rate, probably wont get any use this year. Hell, Microsoft is so generous, I would almost bet that the service center will probably close early this Friday, 12/22 and not reopen until January 2, 2007, like I said If it werent for bad luck. Oh, and I have been on vacation since 12/06. So much for enjoying RB-6, G.R.A.W. and finishing up Lego Star Wars. And Merry Christmas to you too Microsoft
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