Repair Firm Won't Service Ring of Death 360s

[Dacalo]

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A Micromart representative said that the company felt the problem was an inherent fault relating to the motherboard in 360 consoles. He also stated that Microsoft had neglected to respond to requests for support from the company.

?We were getting a phenomenal amount of these things coming through. We were seeing about 30 a week coming in with the same problem which we identified as a fundamental motherboard fault."

During the weeks in which the problem was at its peak, the Micromart rep indicated that an "abnormally high proportion" of faulty 360s were suffering from the problem, even as many as 90% of all consoles sent in for repair.

"It is our belief that the only sensible way to repair it is to replace the motherboard with a new one without the inherent problems,? said the Micromart employee.

?We made a request to Microsoft for support, information and availability of replacement motherboards but didn?t receive a reply.


?We decided it wasn?t in anybody?s best interests to continue the sham that this fault is easily repaired.?

Microsoft reiterated its official line in an email sent to Next-Gen, stating that there is no single cause of Xbox 360 failures.

?There is not a single root cause of problems or systemic issue with any of the Xbox 360 consoles. The nature of the console itself is very complex, as it?s a consumer electronic product that contains more than 1,700 different components and 500 million transistors,? read the statemen.

?There are obviously many things that can malfunction at any given time ? but the majority of customers who own Xbox 360 consoles have had a terrific experience from their first day, and continue to, day in and day out.?

The statement echoes comments made earlier this month by Microsoft?s corporate VP of gaming and Xbox products group, Todd Holmdahl, who denied that there are systematic issues with defective Xbox 360s and refuted claims that there was a high defect rate relating to the console.

Remember, focus on service!

 

[erwos]

Here's how it works: the public's perceived failure rate of the 360 is less than the rate that the insurer expected. Therefore, they cannot raise the price of the insurance to make it financially viable, because the public will perceive it as overpriced, and not buy it.

Their only chance would be for Microsoft to release the real numbers - which they'll never do.

 

[Queasy]

I'm still of the opinion that the issues are related to MS's manufacturing partners. They dropped one recently I believe and this may be part of the reason why. The issues just seems so sporadic. Some drives work perfectly while others bork up discs. Some 360s last forever while others die within a couple of weeks use.

The other issue is MS sending refurbs out to replace customers that sent broken ones in. Is it any wonder that some customers end up having to send their 360s back in multiple times?