The 3-Red-Light Club: Join Up!

This past Monday I woke up to find that my 360 has now joined the "3-Red-Light" club.

But that's not my real problem.

My real problem is with feeling as though I have been pushed outside of my warranty. I had called customer service roughly five-ish months ago to ask about a "Cannot read disk" error I had been seeing sporadically with a few different games that I own, to see if it was some sort of problem. They assured me it was due to the fact that the saved game files created by the system were corrupt, but the fix was easy: just delete the saved game file and restart the game. Now erasing all my progress didn't seem like the best fix, but it did work. Another month goes by and again and after the same error persists I call customer support and receive the same solution in response, but after asking if my console should come in for repair I was told it didn't, and that it is a pretty common problem. Rise and repeat same problem/conversation two more times.

Now fast forward to just after Windows Media Player 11 is released my 360 will no longer connect to my PC (since its availability I had been using Windows Media Connect, which now cannot be used as it is now integrated into WMP11) and after two and a half hours speaking with customer service the answer to my problem is that "some PCs just aren't able to connect with an Xbox 360". Ok, fine, I guess I'll just stream my music from an iPod. Again it is not a huge problem and again it is not a problem with the hardware, just a sort of user error.

Jump back to the NOW.

At this point I have a non working 360, at just two months outside of my warranty, which now requires a repair. And the thing is, I don't have a real position to defend. I am outside warranty, and I will have to pay whatever repair costs are asked of me. I realize that. It is a better deal than having to buy a new system, and I do get one exciting month of Xbox LIVE Gold.But that's not the thing. My real problem is that I shouldn't have to pay this much. I wanted to get it fixed before my warranty was up, I was worried about my investment; $400 initially is a pretty big chunk of change, now another $130 a year later is kind of steep ($126, if you take into account the one month of free Xbox LIVE Gold). Now here's the other problem with my argument; you can't have people getting free elective repairs on their 360s, I mean if you could why not send it in every six months for a good old tune up; its just not cost effective. So here I am again, without a real solid argument besides how I "feel" I've been treated.

And I can't get mad at customer service, they're doing their job, and they were nice and accommodating each time I talked with them even when I was getting frustrated.

I'll wrap this up with again saying: 'I feel like I was pushed outside of my warranty'.

Please if anyone else out there has had an experience like this let me know, let everyone know just throw it up here. If it is just me that's not bad; considering how many people play this thing. I hope it has been just me, but if not this type of situation shouldn't be tolerated. The idea of an Xbox community sounds like a good thing, but it has to be worked for; from both sides.

Signed,
New College Grad/Summer/Rain Outside/No 360

PS. The games I initially had the "Disk Error" problems with were: 'Gears of War', 'Viva Piñata', 'Saints Row', 'Marvel Ultimate Alliance', 'Madden '07', 'Oblivion'.I had also been connected to my PC since I purchased the console in the middle of March of 2007.

sorry to hear about that man =/ im on my 3rd xbox now and not once did they ask about my warrany or anything..they just fixed it for free everytime. personally i dont think people should have to pay for repairs..its not thier fault that the 360 breaks down. we just want to play our games...the red light problemis ridiculous, the 360 breaks down like no other system. i dont think there has ever been such a huge % of console failures since the 360 really. if my 360 breaks down again which then ill be on my 4th! i cant see myself having to pay for repairs..i wont..ill argue as long as i have to for my 360 to be repaired free of charge because its not our fault its theirs.

good luck wih your future consoles..i hope you dont have anymore prolems with it.

Sucks, man. I am so scared this will happen to me some day but fortunately my 360 has been ok for over a year now.nooblet69

Ya it is scary. I thought everyone else just had bad luck and such and then one day my perfectly fine 360 up and died out of the blue. No warning just died. Threw in fight night and not even 5 seconds into the match the system froze. Reboot and 3 lovely red lights.

Go through the error code guide. If you have error code 0102, then try the eraser fix. My 360 received the three red lights last week and I nearly killed myself (not really). However, I called MS and since I got my 360 in December 2005 I was off the warranty. They wanted me to pay 140 bucks! After looking online I found the eraser fix (just look up 360 eraser fix in Google) and it works perfectly now. It does require you to open up your 360 though.Volodnikov9

I don't get how the eraser fix actually works. I know what you do but i don't see how this corrects the problem. Actually i don't get why those little gum like squares are there in the first place. If someone knows the answer to that let me know because i'm curious how adding rubber to the back of the ram i believe it is helps. I would think it would increase the amount of heat

I just got 3 red lights aswell. Do't remember if they were flashing though. I can still turn on the console and so forth. Are there different 3red lights?

I just got 3 red lights aswell. Do't remember if they were flashing though. I can still turn on the console and so forth. Are there different 3red lights?

Szminsky

That would be the red lights we speak of. You're just lucky currently although that may change down the road. At times they will work right after but fail not too long after the fact.

Had it since January aswell, so it's quite new.

There's a club?

Hmmm

Interesting....

I wonder why there's not a website dedicated to broken consoles....

Oh wait!! Gamespot?!

Ill join the club, but its on its way back repair so does that count?

ok well a couple of moths ago, mabye march, end of february, on xbox.com, i read that all 360's boutght from when this new thing affeTED. WEL, THE THING IS, ALL 360'S AGET A EXRTENDED 1 YEAR WARRANTY, SINCE MANY 360'S ARE STILL BREAKING, FOR REASONS THAT THEY CANT FIGURE OUT, AND SOME THEY CAN.

Even if, this "club" you call, is a stupid idea, this should be posted on www.xbox.com , not gamespot, fr this is somehting thta xbox.com should be haveing. you ppl just post your anger for no frigin rasona dn dnot e even realize what the hell you ARE postig.

if your 360 is broke, buy a ELIte, even if its nother 80 bucks or so more then the non cofrre version, its made wiht the newest things, so your guarenteed to not have any problems. my cousin had his 360 sixed twice, and was tolsd to buy a new one ecause it would keep breaking.

SO GET A LIFE AND BY A NEW ONE, OR GIVE UYP VIDEOG G GAMES FOR GOOD!

ok well a couple of moths ago, mabye march, end of february, on xbox.com, i read that all 360's boutght from when this new thing affeTED. WEL, THE THING IS, ALL 360'S AGET A EXRTENDED 1 YEAR WARRANTY, SINCE MANY 360'S ARE STILL BREAKING, FOR REASONS THAT THEY CANT FIGURE OUT, AND SOME THEY CAN.

Even if, this "club" you call, is a stupid idea, this should be posted on www.xbox.com , not gamespot, fr this is somehting thta xbox.com should be haveing. you ppl just post your anger for no frigin rasona dn dnot e even realize what the hell you ARE postig.

if your 360 is broke, buy a ELIte, even if its nother 80 bucks or so more then the non cofrre version, its made wiht the newest things, so your guarenteed to not have any problems. my cousin had his 360 sixed twice, and was tolsd to buy a new one ecause it would keep breaking.

SO GET A LIFE AND BY A NEW ONE, OR GIVE UYP VIDEOG G GAMES FOR GOOD!

Super_Kid_999

Yup, keep spending money.

I just called tonight and a box is being shipped out to me. It is ridiculous how big of a problem this is. My second console broke and I keep wondering why this happens. This is such faulty hardware.

I always vent on Xbox.com, though.

Thanks for the feedback so far. I'm looking into the Eraser fix, but am a little worried that if I open her up that may make it harder for me to get it repaired by the nice people over in Redmond.

I did post the same thread over on the Xbox.com site as well. Oddly though I haven't received any response over there. So please if you have time, head over to Xbox.com and check out the post over there.

Hearing that there are some 360 gamers out there that have had to get their system repaired four or more times is ridiculous. I'm headed over to the Xbox.com after this to amend my post to see if there can be some sort of response from Microsoft on steps they may be taking to see what is causing all these problems. If there is any information on other sites or forums about these problems please post them here.

I'm sure that if more people speak out about their frustration with this we could possibly see some more help come out of Microsoft. I love the 360 and want to continue gaming on it, but if I have to get it repaired all the time like some of you had that seems very unlikely.

Thanks for the responses so far, keep them coming, and please let us know if you had any problems with feeling pushed past your warranty if you talked to customer service with problems before you saw the red lights.

Signed,

3RLC

A friend of mine just sent this over to me. If you're not into reading here's the basic idea from the article:

Microsoft is extending warrenty for 3 years from purchase date as well as refunding for past repairs.

Good news for anyone in our situation.

GIVE MICROSOFT A CALL!

-N

http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2007/07/02/daily18.html?hbx=e_du

Forgot to link the article.

Check it out and give Microsoft a call.

-N

I'm sorry to hear this. This, friend, is called business and "money propagation", if you will. My 360 has suffered numerous problems since purchase.

• Disk Read Errors. (DREs)
• 3-Red-Lights Death (1st console, second console [which I repaired at $96] )
• Common freez-age in Summer, when the heat sink couldn't cope with Maltese summer temperatures.

All this has led me to believe that although MS does a better thing with regards to games titles and online service, Sony has better control when it comes to console durability and manufacture. Its the bare truth I'm afraid. Ask my singed console-shelf.

To all complaining about repair price and warranty

On July 5, 2007

Microsoft has lowered the price from 139.90 to $99.00 US. So therefore you 25% discount would drop from 104.93 to 74.94. My contact at the Microsoft Call Center for Xbox 360 is supervisor and informed me that they usually give discounts of some sort as long as its been like a month or so since its been out. He usually give a full out free repair if its been like 5 days. The point is the price has dramatically been reduced. And yes all consoles now have a full year warranty upon return on the console. You also get the box to ship to and from

To all complaining about repair price and warranty

On July 5, 2007

Microsoft has lowered the price from 139.90 to $99.00 US. So therefore you 25% discount would drop from 104.93 to 74.94. My contact at the Microsoft Call Center for Xbox 360 is supervisor and informed me that they usually give discounts of some sort as long as its been like a month or so since its been out. He usually give a full out free repair if its been like 5 days. The point is the price has dramatically been reduced. And yes all consoles now have a full year warranty upon return on the console. You also get the box to ship to and from

SilentMercX

So, Is Bill Gate$ your cousin?

Count me in. I just got red lights on July 3rd. Luckily I have the 2 yr Best Buy PRP where you mail in the system and get a BB voucher for a new one. Sadly, I'm using it for the second time. I didn't get the red lights the first time. It just kept freezing up (Gears, Saints Row, Madden 07). I talked to a guy at the UPS Store (today, when I was mailing in my system) and he said he has had tons of 360s returned. He even mentioned that MS will be able to write off $1.5 billion because of all of the returns/repairs.dscot18

Darn it! Just when I was about to buy the elite 360.

i'll join to my 360 had the lights of death around the end of may. i got an elite now though, never thought my system would ever die on me, guess there is a first for everything lol