Microsoft comes under fire from BBC's Watchdog programme Options

[Xbox-Scene]

Microsoft comes under fire from BBC's Watchdog programme Posted by XanTium | February 13 12:48 EST

From gamesindustry.biz: [QUOTE] Microsoft is set to come under pressure in tonight's edition of consumer affairs show Watchdog as the investigative team looks into potential faults with the Xbox 360. GamesIndustry.biz has learned that the programme will focus on the 'ring of death' problem, as it's been nicknamed by gamers, where three red lights appear around the console's power button and the machine stops working. The show will feature interviews with consumers who have experienced problems with their Xbox 360s, but GamesIndustry.biz understands that Microsoft has declined to send a representative to appear on the programme. The company has yet to offer comment on the Watchdog investigation. Watchdog will be broadcast tonight on BBC1 at 7pm GMT. [/QUOTE] Full Story: gamesindustry.biz

[chuckthefuk]

This is going to be sweet..

[Mr. Me]

Everyone I know who owns a 360 has to return it at least once. I know two people who are on their third ones and it's not always the ring of death, I know 3 people who have had their Samsung dvd drives burn out. I'm extra careful not to put any scratched discs in mine and I put better thermal grease on the cpu and gpu and upgraded the fans and cut out the metal mesh behind the fans and I haven't had much trouble yet. I returned the first one I bought though because the d pad on the controller kept hitting the ring around it making the buttons hard to press, little did I know that they're all like that!!

[syntaxerror329]

It would be nice to show how a heatgun can fix these. I have had my best friend go to our local hardware store and buy a $40 heatgun/(paint stripper) And repair the ring of death 102 error. Sadly the repair only lasted for 14 days but it sure proves that this is bad manufacturing.
I am glad MS did the right thing and extended the warrenty.

I hope someone release a TVRIP of this program. Sounds like it might be interesting.

[Dano2k0]

Yeah as posted in the other thread i found here on this, i'll be watching it in 30 minutes time from now, should be really interesting.

Now MS have done the right thing in the US where they repair for free all launch consoles before January, sadly in the UK this doesn't apply, i have a now failing launch console aswell, that ive hardly played other than on LAN as i wanted to test its duration, ive never tampered with it at all. Sadly this is going down hill really quick, now MS won't repair it for free, and will want to charge me a good £90 or so to fix it which is stupid.

How can they repair them for free in the US and not in the UK? we have the exact same problems over here.

Personally, i think untill they can make the console reliable, and not 99% of them fail due to the ring of death, then every repair required on a console with this fault should be for FREE.

The worst bit of all this is, i actually know people who are on their 5th and 6th console.

On the other hand, my watercooled 360 gets used alot and still runs flawless.

Have fun watching everyone.

Cheers

[frobnitzz]

What a load of tripe - watchdog is rubbish. Tell us about a problem and accept Msofts stoopid answer that they are all isolated incidents... seperate problems - how can they get away with charging people on a console that is still in it's early days ffs!

[0794]

At least for the US, MS extended the warranty and reimbursed repairs for the 360. With such a large install base, there are bound to be problems and those with problems speak the loudest. Hard to know who to believe when it comes to the actual % of units with manufacturing defects. Not really sure what this Watchdog program can do, but we'll see. Sony would beg to switch places with MS with all of their PS3 problems...

[Altima NEO]

While its true that the 360 is very problematic... heck, I went through 3 of them in just the first year, Im very happy with MS's service in replacing the hardware.

[sabbath_dude]

I was busy and totally forgot it was on!, only caught the last 10mins about the travel insurance. Anyone see the part about the 360?.

[the soul poet]

The part about the 360 was ok, but they were not very informed and M$ did their usual of only a small amount affected and dealt with case by case. They managed to sort of blame Gears in the advert, yet as talking about Gears showed GRAW in action, wtf???

[GMANLS20]

lol

What a joke. Watchdog really did their research. 250 people have complained to them. And Microsoft bung some punter a few free games and are treating each case on a customer by customer basis.

Yup, out of warranty? £85 please, NEXT!


I bet they get more complaint emails for next week's show!

[chutneylad]

I honestly thought that all these reports of 360's dying were over exagerated until now !
Over the past 3 weeks myself and 3 other friends have all either had the red lights of death or some other terminal problem.
That's 40% of my friends at home that have had a faulty machine !

The BBC Watchdog program was shite by the way. Will be interesting to see if they follow the story up next week with some more precise facts and maybe an MS rep under the spotlight !

[m3kal]

I totally agree, ive sent mine back after the 3 red lights, even had warranty sticker removed etc!! i got a new one no questions asked!! MS know there were faults, i guess its best for them to just send out new units that work.....

[Unregistered007]

about f****** time ... 360 's hardware is terrible piece of SH**

[THEsirloin]

Hi everyone,

Here is a link to my thread which has helped get this terrible hardware problem into the news...I'm so annoyed with this piece of crap breaking i feel obliged to tell everyone that comes near it that it's got GREAT Software but it's gonna break!!!

My thread

So please people if your having issues keep telling watchdog and if they have to mention it again they will do IT PROPERLY!!!

This episode was just a warning to M$! they give them a chance to fix the issues, but if they don't they then come down on them like a tonne of bricks.


POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!!

THEsirloin aka Sircoynie.