Microsoft and Electronics

Today I had a busy day - I'll try to keep this short, so I don't lose anybody, but today was the day I had to deal with a dead 360.

Yesterday I got the 3-red-rings and I wasn't surprised, however, I was bummed that something Microsoft created had such a short life.  My computer is 4 years old, runs all-day, everyday, and it runs fine.

My born-on date of my 360 was Nov 3 2005.  It was a launch, and like so many before, it died of hardware failure.  With so many going down, you'd think there would be a generous return policy.  Uh... no.  I called xbox and was told I would need to pay $139.00 up front for them to service it.  To me this seems like I'm paying them for their inept ability to create something that would last.

So I called my nephew and we came up with a plan.  He'd done it once already, a few months ago, so it seemed like it would work.  We bought a core from wal-mart, and the plan was to switch them out and return it.  When it was purchased, they do not scan the serial number so they can't say that you brought back another unit.

I had my nephew help me because I'm not good with this type of stuff, I mean, if you ask me a question I'll tell you the truth, and this seems to need a bit of deception.

So we got the unit and took it home.  Another reason my nephew was involved was in case they did scan the serial number, he has taken 360's apart before, and we could change the shell.

Remember - this was a core unit, and when we pulled it out of the box it had a chrome disk plate.  When I plugged it in - guess what?  It had 3-red-rings.  Someone had beat me to this.

So - back we went and got another.  When I returned this one, I watched closely at how the person doing the return handled it.  She appeared as if she was looking to match the number on the unit with the box.  Since this was the one that came with the box, I wasn't worried, plus I was just exchanging.  Wal-mart does not have a way to track the serial number.

So, I got another one and took mine back.  We had a little problem getting the cash back because the receipt was an exchange receipt, but after a little discussing, all was good in xbox-land again.

I'm sure someone on the web site has done this - but if you want to do it here's my suggestions:

Pay with cash

Buy from a store that doesn't track serial numbers

Make sure the new unit works before you take the other one back

Don't wait too long to return it

So that's my adventure; and no, I don't feel bad for doing this.  I think it's BS to make a product that has been proven defective and still charge people(consumer) to fix their(Microsoft) mistakes