Well after going around for two weeks telling others how wrong the media and internet are about the whole Xbox 360 defective fiasco, I learned early last week that my Xbox 360 was defective as well. I had two lockups the day I got the system within the first hour, but I chalked those up to break-in and cold weather when being shipped. I was wrong, and here is my story (pictures to come).
Sunday December 11th, 2005I decided to finally play some Perfect Dark Zero after beating Call of Duty 2. I also decide to play on the hardest difficulty level for the sake of "Achievements" you can earn on the Xbox Live system (see my card on the right). So the first level was being a pain, took me a few attempts to get towards the end without messing up one of the objectives they assigned me. Well after one or two attempts, the game locked up on me. I sighed and then started over again, just to get not as far and face a freeze again. I think I had 3 or 4 freezes before I decided to stop playing.
So I went to the internet to see if others are having this problem. Some people said they had success swapping the disc out for another copy of Perfect Dark Zero. Something to do tomorrow. I also decided to email Microsoft's Xbox Support team. Maybe they had an idea or two. So I did that as well, and waited.
Monday December 12th, 2005So after work I went back to Target and swapped it for another saying it was defective. I got home and again right near the end of the first level, locked right up on me. So I checked my email, and found no response from Microsoft. Time to call.
I called and explained my situation. The man on the phone said he was going to swap it for a new system, and that I should have a replacement by Friday December 18th, 2005. Sounded good to me I thought. He told me to ship the Hard Drive and Power Cables with Power Supply Brick in a box that he'd send out to my house by Tuesday at noon. I asked him what to do about my Saved Games on my Hard Drive, he said to use either a Xbox 360 Memory Card or if I didn't have one of those to use a regular USB Memory Stick. Sounded too good to be true for me, but I trusted him for that moment and let the call end.
Tuesday December 13th, 2005Around 9am I decided to call Microsoft back and get the tracking number on the empty return shipment box. That way I could make sure they'd leave it at my door or tell me where to go to pick it up if they missed me. They gave me the tracking number, and I found it had no data. So I asked the Support Rep if it was shipped and if I'd get it by noon as promised. I was assured this was true. So I called up DHL. They said I'd get it by Wednesday because they hadn't even picked up that package tracking # yet. Something tells me DHL was right.
I also discussed the issue of having to send back my Hard Drive. The Support Rep on Monday told me that I could move my saved games from the Hard Drive to a USB Memory Stick or Xbox 360 Memory Card. Well I found that the USB Memory Stick didn't work as promised and I wasn't about to spend $30 for a Memory Card I only need for 3-4 days. After much arguing we reached an agreement that I could keep my Hard Drive, but still had to send back the power supply. I agreed and disconnected the call.
Wednesday December 14th, 2005First thing in the morning I check my tracking number to find it was shipped out Tuesday night at 4pm. It was to arrive at my house by 11am, and it did. As suspected DHL was right and Microsoft was just blowing smoke up my ass.
I rushed home after work to get the box and get it shipped out via DHL that night. DHL had a local pickup center about 4 miles from my house, that was my target. I left work at 4pm and first had to stop by EB Games to pickup a copy of Midway Arcade Treasures, that finally came in, for the Sony PSP. I had to get that ASAP and start playing it for a review I'm writing for TRMK about it.
I got home around 5:00pm and snow had been falling pretty good the whole day, and started to pickup speed again by 5pm. So it was looking to be an interesting trip to the DHL drop box. I got home and removed the snow from my smaller than expected return shipment box. Winds up that it only had room for the console with Hard Drive attached, no room for the Power Supply or cables. So I removed the Hard Drive as agreed with the Service Rep on Tuesday, and packed up the box and got back into the car. It was now about 5:25.
The car ride was mostly uneventful due to the fact that I took a back road that took me right towards the mall where the drop box was at. Snow was kind of heavy on the road, but nothing too hazardous for me in the Goat. I was only concerned about the steep hill with the stop light at the top. Luckily there wasn't a lot of traffic, so I got right through the intersection without having to stop. I got to the drop box with 10 minutes to spare and the "Picked Up Today" indicator said that the packages have not been picked up yet today. I was in business!
Thursday December 17th, 2005Today I simply checked my status to see where my package was at, to find it had been delivered at 10am. I figured I'd give them time and call them tomorrow to see the status of the repair. Getting it back on Friday as originally promised seemed to not be happening.
Friday December 18th, 2005Today being my first day of vacation I was really hoping to have my Xbox 360 back. But alas I had to find something else to do instead. Around noon I called up Microsoft and they told me that the replacement was complete and that it was being shipped back to me. I got the tracking number, but it had no data yet showing so that meant DHL hasn't received it yet. And I also confirmed they don't do Saturday delivery.
Later in the evening I checked the status again to find it had shipped out, and that I'd get it on Monday.
Saturday December 19th, 2005I called DHL to see if I could pickup their package on Saturday because I saw it was sitting at their center. They told me I could if I wanted to pay an extra $15. I passed on this and decided to be patient and wait until Monday since most my weekend was booked up already.
Monday December 19th, 2005So I wake up and I check my status around 8:00am to find nothing had updated yet today. I decide to check again in an hour to find it was out for delivery. And then around 10am the doorbell rings and outside on the ground is my package. The DHL driver didn't want to wait and just drove off. Makes his day quicker I guess, being the holiday season and all I'm sure he's really busy.
I open the system up and find they sent me a Hard Drive, so now I have two Hard Drives. Lucky Me (Heard this is VERY common actually). I decide to let it warm up to room temperature since it was quite cold while I finish watching a movie. After the movie was over I fired up the 360 with Perfect Dark Zero and successfully completed the first mission without a freeze after a few attempts. I continue on and play the second mission quite a bit, again with no major problems. Looks like my system has been cured!
OverallOverall my experience with getting my Xbox 360 replaced was very nice, had a few speed bumps along the way but overall everything went just fine. I now have a Xbox that hopefully wont freeze on me in any other games. At least Microsoft is doing their part in getting replacement units out to people who are having issues. The community have noticed that the first batches had more problems than the new batches are having. So it was just the early adopter syndrome it appears. Either way I don't regret owning one.
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Thursday, December 22, 2005
