According to an article in GameDailyBiz, claims an EA employee said the failure rate of the 360 in their studio is from 30% – 50%. Microsoft has admitted the rates of failure are much higher than the original 3% – 5% announced by Microsoft prior. In fact, Microsoft has said it will compensate those that had bought a console prior to January, 2006.
My experience with hardware failure isn’t limited to the 360. I have had 2 Xbox's go down with bad DVD readers. In each case I had the extended warranty. I purchased a used game cube and got the PRP on it but as of today two years later – no problems there. I want to emphasize that I take great care of my electronics. The Xbox's and the 360 were in a cool spot and treated gently. The one I turned in looked brand new!
Since I bought the 360 online I had to call Gamestop. They were quite nice told me to head over to any Gamestop or EB store and grab a new one. So today I have a brand new 360. You can bet I bought a new PRP to cover the one I just got.
Let’s run a little calculation on what these PRPs have saved me:
Xbox #1 PRP - $39 New XBox - $199
Xbox #2 PRP - $39 New XBox - $199
Xbox 360 PRP - $39 New XBox - $399
That’s a total of $680.
I don’t buy PRPs on every electronic item I buy. I did on my iPod because they are flakey. I do on my consoles because I am an early adopter. If you can, grab a PRP on your 360 from Microsoft or your vendor. You won’t regret it.
Derf
