I received my Xbox 360 back yesterday. Here are a few interesting notes on this process:
Since our second Xbox 360 is freezing up almost constantly now, often in the first few minutes of play, we may be shipping it off very soon - and I suspect it will require a replacement since the problem is less specific than a faulty videocard. It could just be overheating, in which case a heat sink might do the trick, but it'll be hard to test since the problem is so intermittant (it sometimes takes up to 2 hours to freeze, and the likelihood of an early freeze seems to vary by game.)
We'll see what happens. Maybe now I can get past the intro level of Prey and finish Blue Dragon without backtracking to the same save point every five minutes.
-=Gamewatcher
- The repair took 28 days from failure report to return, and 16 days from the date it arrived at the repair faciity in Texas.
- The repaired console came with a card good for a one-month extension to my Xbox Live Gold account.
- There is no report on what work was done. I expect that they replaced the video card and retrofitted the console with a newer heat sink to reduce the risk of a future red ring of death. But that's just a guess. I would like to know what was actually done.
- The empty shipping box and the console (both ways) were sent UPS 3-Day Select. This added a few extra days to the process, but makes it much more affordable for Microsoft.
- UPS requires you to sign for your console, so you must arrange to be home on the day it's delivered (the window is 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.!). I was a little annoyed that I had a clear target date, received an automated phone call from UPS confirming the date and then -- the day before delivery -- online tracking reported a delay that later proved false. It made my scheduling for the week a little difficult. If I didn't work for myself and had to keep asking my boss to change my day off, I would have been super peeved.
Since our second Xbox 360 is freezing up almost constantly now, often in the first few minutes of play, we may be shipping it off very soon - and I suspect it will require a replacement since the problem is less specific than a faulty videocard. It could just be overheating, in which case a heat sink might do the trick, but it'll be hard to test since the problem is so intermittant (it sometimes takes up to 2 hours to freeze, and the likelihood of an early freeze seems to vary by game.)
We'll see what happens. Maybe now I can get past the intro level of Prey and finish Blue Dragon without backtracking to the same save point every five minutes.
-=Gamewatcher
I sent my 360 off Nov 2nd. Hopefully, I will get it back in time to play Mass Effect over the Thanksgiving weekend. I am pleased that you got the same console back. I’m sure it is better to not have an answer for the content transfer. Can you be more specific about the automated phone call? Did they just give a date or did you need to respond with a “Yes!”? Were you able to track the packaging during the return to you? Someone is almost always at my household but we are very poor at answering the ground line.
Good questions, all.
First thing you should do is go to service.xbox.com and register your Xbox 360's serial number, if you haven't already. (Don't have your serial number handy? Call 1-800-4MY-XBOX and ask for it.) This will eventually let you track its status. I say "eventually" because it can take a week or two for the system to recognize your console's actual status. I think it happens after they have received it and are putting it into the production queue (about a week before it's actually serviced).
You should have a tracking number for your console as it heads to Texas. This will at least let you know what day they receive it. Expect 10 business days will pass before they actually do anything with it.
If it's repaired, you'll see the status change to "Device Shipped to Customer." (They call it a "device," aww, how cute.) Click "Review your repair status" on the right to pull up more detail including the return tracking number. (If your console is replaced, I imagine they will provide the new serial number as well.) It should take 3 business days AFTER the date the "device" actually reaches UPS to get to you.
The day before I was scheduled to receive the package, I got an automated call from UPS. I did not need to accept anything; it was simply a notification that I would have to be home to receive the package or it would go to "next steps." There was an option to push a button on the phone to get my tracking number, but I already had it so I hung up.
If you're not home, I believe the options will be to arrange for re-delivery or have them hold the package at the regional hub (mine is about 30 minutes away). The message informed me that they HAD to attempt delivery once before other options would be available.
So there's no way to ask them to just hold it for you, so you could, say, shoot out there on your lunch break - which I suspect about 75% of people would prefer. Heck, I would have liked it since I wouldn't have been chained to my home all day. I could have gotten up early, shot out to the UPS warehouse, picked up my console around 9 a.m., had breakfast somewhere, come home and played for an hour or so, and then had the rest of my day free to work, visit clients, have lunch with my wife, whatever.
Oh well, UPS sucks. We all know it.
I feel that with so many bad experiences out there I should be dutiful and inform others of my Xbox support experience. I called up support and requested a repair order for a new DVD drive. The old one was grinding very loudly. That call was placed on October 29th. I received my 360 back today! A 16 day turn around, my 360 only spent 1 day at the repair center. My console is a launch console and while I still fear the RROD so far I am quite content with it.
I'm glad to hear it!
My experience was reasonably good too, but I do think it's fair to point out the places where there's room for improvement.
I'm going to request our 2nd Xbox 360 get serviced next, since it freezes so much. We'll see what happens with that one.
-=Gamewatcher