On Wednesday I suffered the death of a friend... my launch day Xbox 360. I wanted to capture the process I went through with getting it replaced since its a slightly different case to most. I have a US 360 from my time living there, but right now I'm back in the UK with it. Would I totally blow Microsoft's mind?
I called the UK MS helpdesk about my Xbox the day it was dying, (system would hard lock after a min or two with graphical glitches on the screen. It may or may not restart, depending on how long I left it to cool.) First thing they said was it wasn't in warranty because it wasn't a RRoD, even though it was clearly heading that way, so I would have to pay, but they couldn't say how much it was because it depended on what was wrong. I made it clear that I had a US 360 and I expected a US 360 returned to me, (since I doubt I'm getting the same Xenon back. I expect a new model.) Anyway, he makes me go through the process of removing all the cables and putting it back together etc. and it then booted, (but then it was doing that before, you just needed to wait a min...) so he said call back if I was still having problems. It was clearly broken but I left it for the night.
The next day I tried it and it was an instant RRoD, which is pretty lucky really. I went to work and asked if there were any way I could speed this up through EA. They told me they call the same number I would. Fine, so I called the helpline again with the reference number they gave me the night before. I go through all the bullshit of getting the return setup and just before they hit OK I say, "You know this is a US system and I expect a US system back, right?". "Err, we'll take it and fix it but you'll get a PAL system back, OK?" No its not fucking ok, what use is that to me? So they cancel everything and I'm told to call the US. One thing to note is that they were going to email me a postage label, then I would have to package up the Xbox myself and call UPS to come and collect it.
So I wait a few hours for the US line to open and call them. Their automated line robot is a piece of crap but luckily I had seen an article a couple of days before with a different number to call to get straight to a human, as long as you had a case reference number. So I call that and they tell me they will fix it, and its all free now that it is RRoD, but they need a US address. Their process is to mail out a pre-paid postage box for me to put the Xbox in and mail out. Then when it is fixed they mail it back to that address. That obviously isn't going to work for me and the guy understands the situation so tries to help out. I ask if I can save some time and just mail it to them myself and then I'll find a US address of someone that can return it to me in the UK when it is done. They say that is fine but I'll be covering the postage myself. OK, thats cool, but let me check how much that postage is. It ends up at around £80 with UPS, just to send it one way. Great, so I need a US address and will be paying ~$300 to mail it both ways. That's not far short of a new 360.
I ended up using one of the admins in the Redwood Shores office as a US address. I mailed the Xbox to them on Friday and Microsoft have sent their box to the same person. Let see how long this all takes. The repair time was estimated at 2 to 3 weeks by the UK helpdesk. Add a week either side for mailing to/from the US and another week for mailing within the US and I would say that means mid-June.
So, a mixed start. I hate being told one thing that ends up being a total lie. What if I had sent it to get fixed in the UK because that first bloke said it would be fine? But then the assistant in the US tried to be as helpful as possible.