ToddWorld's Playground

Be warned! Here's my story.

 

I purchase a x360 in 2006. Love it. Lots of great games, no problems...until Nov 2007 and we get the legendary "Red Ring of Death" meaning the box is dead.

 

No problem, Microsoft has extended their warranty for 3 years specifically for the red ring of death problem. Two weeks later Microsoft sends us a refurbished 360. Problem solved right?

 

Not quite.

 

We had over a hundred dollars worth of downloadable content in the harddrive. Apparently that doesn't transfer over so easily to the new box....yes, the one they JUST sent. So now only the account that downloaded the content has access to it. Since our family of four each person has their own account, that's still pretty broken in my book.

 

We go through MONTHS of run around at Microsoft about to fix this to essentially have they can't actually do anything to fix it.

 

Suddenly, 4 months later we recieve notice that the licenses are fixed and sure enough they are. So, four months later we're finally back up and running like normal.

 

Month 5.

 

The DVD drive goes out. I call Microsoft support and they tell me that the box they just sent out, not 5 months ago, is NOT COVERED UNDER WARRANTY!!

 

So here are my options.

 

1) I can pack up the box and send it in for a minimum $80 repair fee (that's just to look at it). PRAY TO GOD that they fix the same box and send the exact same one back to me or I loose the now $200 worth of downloadable content on the drive. My guess is it will turn out to be more in the $150 and up range before all's said and done.

 

2) Ditch Microsoft and order the drive myself and try to install it myself (which requires an extra step with a lock code in the firmware to deter people from doing this exact same thing. I know it's extra because the DVD drive blew in my original xbox (like so many other peoples) and I simply swapped out the drive with a new on to repair it). This way we keep all the DLC untouched (if we pull off the repair successfully).

 

3) Spend $150 at Gamestop on a refurbished 360 WITH A ONE YEAR WARRANTY. In that case my DLC is totally hosed.

 

4) Sell all my 360 crap at Gamestop and buy a frikkin Wii. (oh, and find something creative to do with my $400 paper weight box).

 

I'm open to suggestions here.

 

So anyone out there thinking of getting a 360....I hope you're paying attention.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, not five months after we get our x360 replaced the NEW one breaks. This time no red ring, the DVD drive is shot and refuses to play any games/DVDs.

 

Frustrated beyond words. Especially since we only got our DLC licenses straightened out about a month ago.

 

 

Well I have to say thanks to the recent Rock Band patch Danielle and I and our band, Airendale, have reached the 1 million fan mark. Thanks Harmonix for raising the fan cap on Hard to 1 mil. Now we're going through the cities finishing those off before even thinking about the endless set list...which I still know if that will ever happen.

Well, I've got more mixed news from the Rock Band front.

 

First, the good news. On Friday we got our drum box from Harmonix. Danielle was surprised to find it actually had new drums inside, since we opted NOT to do the "hold $120 on your credit card" method. She was, needless to say...thrilled. So the busted drums are now boxed up and ready to send back to the shop.

 

More good news. Tonight, I FINALLY beat "Green Grass and High Tides" on expert and thus finished career mode on expert. Yea! I've been stuck there for at least 2 weeks.

 

Now the bad news. Very shortly after finishing expert career mode I played a few songs online in an attempt to finish up my 20 wins in Score Duel mode. That's went my whammy bar snapped. Yes...snapped. I heard it and felt it give while edging out a very narrow victory online. Now I've got a tiny piece of plastic rattling around inside the guitar.

 

But more good news, we STILL have 3 days left on our 60 day manufacturers warranty so Danielle, who is now very familiar with the online return form, filled out the form. No we await a new guitar.

 

For those keeping score that's 1 set of bent drumsticks, 1 faulty strum bar on the guitar, 1 crushed drum and now 1 snapped whammy bar all within the original 60 days. I have to add all the replacements have been handled very well so far but I was hoping for a little less problems in the first place.

 

And the last bit of good news. Danielle brought home a surprise tonight. Guitar Hero III. So now we have our base guitar for the band.