Warranty extension for the Xbox 360
Microsoft has decided to extent the XBox 360’s warranty to 3 years instead of the usual one. As much as I love my XBox, I have heard stories about how the XBox just dies off suddenly with the “red ring of death” (three flashing red lights on the console’s front panel). Yes, this incredible machine unfortunately dies off rather unpredictably even though it never showed signs of symptoms.
At least Microsoft’s doing something about it :)
Today, Microsoft announced that it is once again revamping its warranty scheme for the Xbox 360. After mounting anecdotal evidence of the system’s failure rate due to the dreaded “red ring of death” (three flashing red lights on the console’s front panel), the publisher is changing its warranty to cover systems affected by the red ring for three years from the date of purchase. Any console that suffers the aforementioned failure in any territory the 360 is sold can be returned to Microsoft for repair for free, because the warranty also includes shipping charges.
“As a result of what Microsoft views as an unacceptable number of repairs to Xbox 360 consoles, the company conducted extensive investigations into potential sources of general hardware failures,” the company said in a statement. The three-year extension is for all 360s, and will be retroactively applied to every console bought since the 360 launched. That means anyone who bought a console in November 2005 will be covered until November 2008.
[UPDATE] Peter Moore, Corporate Vice President of the Entertainment and Devices Division of Microsoft Interactive Entertainment Business, said he is personally sorry about anyone who’s suffered a 360 failure. “We haven’t done right by our customers, and for that I apologize,” he told GameSpot. “We listened, and we’re going to make it right.” In an in-depth interview with GameSpot, Moore outlined the new warranty, and emphasized it would be “global” in nature.
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