Anyone have correct procedure to return 360

Damien360

My 360 died today. Screen freezes 5 minutes after starting system. Happens for all games and the dashboard. Bought it on 24th November 06. There is a thread dealing with sale of goods act 1980 but it looks like shop does not have to honour it and replace the 360.

Does anyone have the correct and fastest procedure for getting the 360 repaired under warranty. I contacted them via email but I saw a full detailed procedure for getting the repair done written on this site or the xbox site. Cannot find it now. It involves getting labels from them first.

Cheers

Karmafaerie

If you have your receipt, don't bother with MS.
Just bring it back to the shop you bought it in and get it replaced.
Make sure you ask about keeping your old HD though.

If you can't find the receipt you'll have to ring up Microsoft, I'll find the number for you tomorrow, or you can find it in the documents you got with the system.

Now here's where it gets tricky, there are three call centers used in Europe.
One in Germany, one in Estonia, and one in Egypt.
It's random which one you get, and they no longer tell you which one it is.
If it's the German or Estonian one you're fine, if it's the Egyptian one then screw them, hang up and call again.
Never use the Egyptian center as they are terrible and will screw you around for months on end.
I was out and out lied to by them for over two months before I was put through to the Estonian center and got it all sorted out in less than two weeks.

It can be hard to tell which one is which, but the Estonian center has a song by "Air" for waiting music so look out for that.

Anyway, after you get through to them you'll have to describe the problem, they'll take your serial number, name, address, phone number, and e-mail.
They'll then either post out the UPS labels to you, or E-mail them to you.
When they arrive you ring up UPS and arrange for them to collect it.

Pack the Xbox console and nothing else (No HD unless they ask for it), in a plain box, not the original box, attach the labels and then they'll take it away, and return it within two weeks.

It really is very simple and efficient as long as you don't go through that damn Egyptian center!!!:mad:

If you still have the receipt though, I'd advise just returning it.

Hope this helps.

8T8

I'd go with what Karmafaerie said if you have receipt return it.


There is also an Indian call centre some of the reps where very hard to understand & unsure of the process on top of that there was a screw up taking down my details causing all sorts of problems though I finally go to speak to someone who had excellent English and thankfully sorted everything out.

Called UPS to collect it & still waiting on it to be returned to me from Germany.

If you do go through MS this was the process I went though;
Called Microsoft
Spoke to rep & described problem
Rep asked for serial number of console
Rep asked to plug in console to test and repeat error.
Rep asked for details address/email/phone
Rep phones you to confirm replacement
Get email acknowledging return request
Get email with packing slip for UPS
Called UPS to arrange to collect

mickoneill30

Damien360 wrote:

My 360 died today. Screen freezes 5 minutes after starting system. Happens for all games and the dashboard. Bought it on 24th November 06. There is a thread dealing with sale of goods act 1980 but it looks like shop does not have to honour it and replace the 360.

The shop does have to honour it. But after 4 months it's up to them to decide which to give you from a refund / repair / replacement.
I think the shops generally want you to deal with MS as it's less hassle for them and probably means you get it back quicker (EDIT: or maybe not after reading the other thread). But your rights say that the contract is between you and the shop so you can force this if you want.

koneko

When they say they're going to send you a UPS label, be sure to ask for it in an e-mail. I'm not sure if it's standard procedure now, but they used to mail them out in the post. Ask to get it by e-mail so you can print it off and get the package ready right away, it's much quicker.

Absolam

Agreed.. straight back to the shop. Whether they repair/replace/refund is not your problem and you should not have to make the effort, that's up to them, all you need to care about is walking out with a working machine.

Damien360

Thanks for this folks. I have the original reciept but Smyths want nothing to do with it. I rang MS on a UK number. 2 numbers listed but one is a 0800 number which is not valid here. Second number is 0044-207-3659792 (incase anyone else needs it). Got an indian call centre and she barely spoke english. Luckily I had registered my 360 online and had the reference number copied. She had all my details and it stopped the silly spelling contest on the phone with her. They emailed UPS labels and I called UPS for return service. They are coming to the house to collect the machine (without the harddrive), all for free !

It is going to Germany ! All looking good so far.

Anyone got some real reason for the high failure rates of the 360's. There was a counter for failures on a thread a few weeks back. What was the result. I think it was counting failures vs good ones. I don't buy the "high technology always has high rate of failure" excuse. I install high end lab equipment and PC's in my job and they don't fail often.

Saw a thread talking about the solder type getting hot and failing but that makes no sense. It would fail within a few hours if that was true. Besides solder needs serious heat to melt and the plastic would melt long before the metal. Any real insights anyone ?

8T8

Mine was sent to Germany & I got an email saying it is being returned to me yesterday so hopefully next week I'm going to get it back.

A credible failure reason was incidentally revealed by the Xbox 360 Elite it seems the BGA connection to the CPU/GPU breaks under the pressure from the heat output of the console by forcing the motherboard board to warp breaking the connections to the motherboard.

The Xbox 360 Elite now uses a special glue to hold the CPU/GPU in place in an attempt to prevent this from happening whether this works in the long run is another matter.

monument

Damien360 wrote:

My 360 died today. Screen freezes 5 minutes after starting system. Happens for all games and the dashboard. Bought it on 24th November 06. There is a thread dealing with sale of goods act 1980 but it looks like shop does not have to honour it and replace the 360.

You are wrong. This is really between you and the retailer, no matter what the retailer might say, and, as said on another thread here, if the fault is not caused by the user/s and is a design fault etc you are entitled... (quoting my words in the sticky on the main games board)...

Althought many retailers blankly disagree with the following two points, the Consumer Association’s website says (1) the choice of a refund, replacement or repair is yours to make and (2) that the retailer, not the manufacturer, is responsible. See their website for more… http://www.consumerassociation.ie/rights_retailers.html

ShaneU

my 360 is being fixed in frankfurt at the moment

Absolam

monument wrote:

You are wrong. This is really between you and the retailer, no matter what the retailer might say, and, as said on another thread here, if the fault is not caused by the user/s and is a design fault etc you are entitled... (quoting my words in the sticky on the main games board)...

Althought many retailers blankly disagree with the following two points, the Consumer Association’s website says (1) the choice of a refund, replacement or repair is yours to make and (2) that the retailer, not the manufacturer, is responsible. See their website for more… http://www.consumerassociation.ie/rights_retailers.html

Agree - it's totally the retailers problem, they do have to repair, replace, or (partially after this preiod of time) refund the machine.. don't let them fob you off.. do go to the Small Claims Court.

Damien360

I read the atricle on the consumers association in full. On the face of it, it looks like a retailer problem and not the manufacturer. But... I have dealt with the consumers association (and comreg) before when dealing with eircom charges and I have to say they are the most toothless, useless organisation in the state. Every time I hear them on Matt Copper waffling on I can only laugh. They advise only and offer no support. I am unsure how long the small claims court takes to get a hearing but I just want my system repaired without having to wait months. I basically got the 2 fingers from Smyths when I quoted the act. Never mentioned small claims court though ! I bet they would gladly sit on their hands until it got to the small claims court. I am not willing to wait months while my warranty ticks away.

Absolam

Damien360 wrote:

I read the atricle on the consumers association in full. On the face of it, it looks like a retailer problem and not the manufacturer. But... I have dealt with the consumers association (and comreg) before when dealing with eircom charges and I have to say they are the most toothless, useless organisation in the state. Every time I hear them on Matt Copper waffling on I can only laugh. They advise only and offer no support. I am unsure how long the small claims court takes to get a hearing but I just want my system repaired without having to wait months. I basically got the 2 fingers from Smyths when I quoted the act. Never mentioned small claims court though ! I bet they would gladly sit on their hands until it got to the small claims court. I am not willing to wait months while my warranty ticks away.

I think (but am not certain) that the small claims court will review as per the date of your action - so if you submitted your claim to the court and the case was heard after the warranty expired it would be judged as if it were the date you brought the claim, not the date it was heard on.

8T8

I just got word my Xbox has returned woot

Knocks on wood nothing else goes wrong after this. It was collected on the 5th of April so in total about 20 days it took to get back to me I don't know if that's indicate of anyone else's time but at least it might give you an idea.

Edit: So it's back up & running the unit is a new one and a little quieter in operation than my original which is a small consolation plus I got 1 month Xbox Live Gold free.