For once, I am angry enough to post about it

The HD-DVD add-on for our Xbox 360 broke down last night. It has been flaky for some time, but last night it finally gave up. It freezes, in the middle of a movie, and after keeping the image frozen for a few seconds, it crashes to the 360 dashboard, and after that the only thing to do is take out the DVD, close the tray, turn off the console, and reboot it. Put the DVD back in, and hope and pray the movie will play all the way through. It rarely does.

Last night we finally had enough, and called Microsoft to see if they could help us. After all, when the 360 broke down they replaced it for us without arguing, a response we still remembered fondly.

Not so much anymore, not after last night's conversation with Microsoft Tech Support. It seems the HD-DVD add-on is out of warranty since a month, which means we cannot even get it repaired for a fee. This would be fine and understandable, if we didn't buy it on December 17 of 2006. To rephrase slightly, we are stuck with a $200 piece of hardware that failed after four months of playing three or four movies per week.

I will spare you my deep contempt for the insult and bad joke a three-month warranty is. I'd have more respect for a company that would be honest enough to print "we know this product is crap, and we're over-charging you for it anyway" on the first page of the manual.

So this is what being ripped off feels like. I've been wondering.

/Mimsy

 

Surely you have a case against them using Customer Rights Legislation? May be worth googling 'customer rights' and see if you have anything. The item is faulty and not broken, so have a look.
Best of luck

For example a county in England have this site: http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=6171
To give you an idea of your rights.

 

Sorry about your problem, Mims. I mega-corp like Microsoft should stand behind their products.

 

Those are rights in the UK, sure, but will not help you one bit in the US. Different laws.

Sorry to hear of your plight Mimsy - maybe you have some recourse through the phrase "fit for purpose" which this particular box obviously wasn't. I would be tempted to take it to the top and copy as many bigwigs in as you can to a polite but firm letter. Also copy the store manager of the store you bought it from and his/her immediate supervisor. I have found this the only way to get some satisfaction and compensation in these situations.

 

Welcome to the "Red ring of Death"

gotta love Micro$haft and all other M$ products

I know of people that have had to have 5 or 6 xBoxes replaced and they still preach the awesomeness of M$.

 

I refuse to buy the Xbox 360. I refuse for one reason: a 90 day warranty. MS can rot in hell on this one. I went through two Xboxes and they had 1 year warranties!

Buyer beware. If a company can't stand behind its product for longer than 90 days, its probably a piece of crap.

 

I'v posted this as a read albeit not an interesting one as I cant find anything useful at all,there must be some retail legislation in the US,the UK and US are very similar where the law is concerned,it seems as if your contract in the US is with the manufacturer and not the retailer as in the UK though

http://www.ftc.gov/be/index.shtml