Newsweek to MS: Admit Xbox 360 flaws or issue a recall [Archive]

Zeus

07-10-2007, 07:36 PM

N'Gai Croal of Newsweek has called for MS to either come clean about the Xbox 360's hardware faults or issue a product recall following a large amount of defective hardware. So what do you think? Is ths three year warranty good enough or are MS just digging themselves a deeper hole by not conducting a recall?

At a six percent failure rate--just one percent more than the generally accepted 3-5 percent range for consumer electronics products--that statement would still be operative. At 30 percent, it would be unacceptable. Microsoft is saying, "Trust us," but given the sheer number of anecdotes about broken Xbox 360s and customer service horror stories, gamers ought to be able to quantify precisely how much trust Microsoft is asking of them. And the fact that Microsoft won't put a number to the failure rate and won't say which batch numbers are affected--while continuing to leave flawed machines on store shelves and in consumers' homes; while not even giving people advice on how to manage their Xbox 360's life span without resorting to Microsoft customer service--to us, that is equally unacceptable. The bottom line is that the answer to "Why would you knowingly continue to sell a defective product?" should not be "We're extending our warranty program." It is for this reason that we say that Microsoft must either be thoroughly forthcoming about the Xbox 360's flaws, or initiate a recall.

News Source: <A href="http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/levelup/archive/2007/07/10/why-microsoft-must-be-more-forthcoming-about-xbox-360-flaws-or-initiate-a-recall.aspx" target="_blank">newsweek.com</a>

indierocker

07-10-2007, 07:40 PM

Is Newsweek mental or something...they just did admit it, why do they think they tacked on 2 more years to the warranty service.

khukon

07-10-2007, 07:40 PM

interesting.............i say recall. Ive had 2 die so far.

XxBigP123xX

07-10-2007, 07:44 PM

im pretty happy(sarcasm) to announce that im on my 5th 360 as of july 7th! RROD got this one and my laptop is broken so im using ps3 linux

The Ripper

07-10-2007, 07:49 PM

Microsoft cannot simply just issue a recall for every single 360 out there, that would just be stupid, to many boxes to handle and people will be waiting for ages. This is why Microsoft decided to add 2 years to the warranty, so when one does die it can be repaired and shipped at a reasonably fast rate. I'll admit that this is not ideal and they should have done more sooner but at the moment i think this is the best they can do!

xboxuser32

07-10-2007, 07:57 PM

im pretty happy(sarcasm) to announce that im on my 5th 360 as of july 7th! RROD got this one and my laptop is broken so im using ps3 linux

Honestly, I never had a problem with mine.
I'm on my 2nd system just because my first one was banned. :)

Murc

07-10-2007, 08:02 PM

Jiggah

07-10-2007, 08:12 PM

Is Newsweek mental or something...they just did admit it, why do they think they tacked on 2 more years to the warranty service.

Didn't they also deny it and try to pawn it off on surge protectors?

As the article states they could at least recall the ones on the shelves. That would be a proper move, but to willingly keep a defective product on the shelf even with an extended warranty is just bad business, but hey it's Microsoft.

saleem

07-10-2007, 08:17 PM

well if they recall all the units they aint getting mine.
:)

msanchez

07-10-2007, 08:40 PM

obviously NewsWeek puts stories on the back burners for a rainy (slow news) day.......since a few days ago Microsoft admited RROD problems, said they are working on it, ans extended the warranty for 3 years.

NewsWeek-......try and keep up next time. :rolleyes:

So they did admit it? I'm not sure how they phrased it, but if they did admit to it they can have a mighty big case against them. Just imagine 33% of 11,000,000 that's 300,000+ people that might sue MS if they did admit to it. Well I saw that they've got a case against them because of the disk scratching already. In all honesty they're doing what I would do, a recall is out of the question and admitting to the problem so far down the line is not really something I would have done either. In the future I hope they properly test out consoles before releasing them, having customers beta-test their software is one thing, having them beta-test hardware is a whole other thing. You might as yourself what I mean by beta-testing software; let me ask you this: are you running Vista? then my friend your a beta-tester.

Blazeking

07-10-2007, 08:48 PM

I wanted to get one thing staight here. Microsoft didn't give people 3 more years of service for the warranty, they just gave most launch owners 6 more months. Your box can be running good from the day you bout it and it can crap out in the 7th month. That's not good for people that don't read forums and news articles on the net. It's a ripoff and that's what newsweek wants them to come clean about.

Renewing all waranties to 3 years is something they could have done, but didn't want to.

humpmasterflex

07-10-2007, 08:51 PM

So they did admit it? I'm not sure how they phrased it, but if they did admit to it they can have a mighty big case against them. Just imagine 33% of 11,000,000 that's 300,000+ people that might sue MS if they did admit to it. Well I saw that they've got a case against them because of the disk scratching already. In all honesty they're doing what I would do, a recall is out of the question and admitting to the problem so far down the line is not really something I would have done either. In the future I hope they properly test out consoles before releasing them, having customers beta-test their software is one thing, having them beta-test hardware is a whole other thing. You might as yourself what I mean by beta-testing software; let me ask you this: are you running Vista? then my friend your a beta-tester.

LOL..... basically your right. Anything released by the Micro$oft corporation is in it's BETA stage, especially these sh1tty consoles of theirs. I know what it feels like because my life has been a one big BETA test scince I owned my own personal Computer with Win98. I'm on XP now, still feels like a BETA, but I'm not even thinking about getting Vista Until the First service pack is released. I mean Vista is 100% pure trash.

I never trusted Micro$oft, their all about the money. The sad thing is that they have all the M$ fanboys by the balls, and there is nothing they can do about it. Thats why we have a lot of desperate and angry M$ fanboys.

ModderFokker

07-10-2007, 09:10 PM

Im going to wait for the newly designed 360 before ever going to buy me one again ;)

First 360 had the ROD and the one i have currently was fixed by myself (disc scratching)...

dwrecording

07-10-2007, 09:31 PM

Didn't they also deny it and try to pawn it off on surge protectors?

As the article states they could at least recall the ones on the shelves. That would be a proper move, but to willingly keep a defective product on the shelf even with an extended warranty is just bad business, but hey it's Microsoft.

yes, MS told me that a surge protector killed mine LOL :eek: (10 sec after last update my 360 went 3 red lights then shut off) and never came back on. and it was only 6 months old. They are full of **** but if you want all the good games now you need a 360 or just save your money, time, and headaches and get a ps3 in about 1 year. I love my 360 but MS is losing me vary quickly. The 360 that i just got back from MS (a week ago) stops when im playing games and says to clean disk. And 3 of them are new games. also on boot i have got 1 red light 2x now.:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Scorpion3

07-10-2007, 09:38 PM

Honestly, I never had a problem with mine.
I'm on my 2nd system just because my first one was banned. :)

Neither has he. lol.

IJTF_Cinder

07-10-2007, 10:08 PM

The guy's a moron. How do you issue a recall? You have to have a CORRECTED version to replace everyone's units with, in order to recall something.

Does Microsoft have these CORRECTED units in place? NO! They have refurbed units with band-aid solutions to swap out.

LeGioN1202

07-10-2007, 10:11 PM

msanchez

07-10-2007, 10:28 PM

Actually... more like 3,000,000+ people.

yah! that :p

Davbere

07-10-2007, 10:56 PM

obviously NewsWeek puts stories on the back burners for a rainy (slow news) day.......since a few days ago Microsoft admited RROD problems, said they are working on it, ans extended the warranty for 3 years.

NewsWeek-......try and keep up next time. :rolleyes:

Maybe you need to reread or actually read the article. Take those green glasses off for a minute.
Newsweek was fully aware of MS's forced confession.

We have not arrived at this position lightly. We and others have sought detailed answers to these questions from Microsoft, but those answers have not yet been forthcoming. Answers to these questions were not provided in Moore's open letter to the Xbox community, nor can they be found in the company's FAQ about the new extended warranty program. In our interview with Microsoft corporate vice president Peter Moore, he pointedly declined to offer specifics about what was causing the problems on the grounds that he is not a technical person, nor would he answer whether the flaws should be attributed to design or manufacturing. We emailed some follow-up questions to Microsoft's PR agency; here are the questions and their replies:Level Up: How aware was Microsoft of the scope of the three flashing red lights problem when it shipped the Xbox 360 Elite?

Good question why did they put the Elite out knowing of these massive amounts of failures.

Ms new about these problems but as demonstrated by their actions they will do anything to gain a lead over Sony.

grapeape

07-10-2007, 11:05 PM

So they did admit it? I'm not sure how they phrased it, but if they did admit to it they can have a mighty big case against them. Just imagine 33% of 11,000,000 that's 300,000+ people that might sue MS if they did admit to it. Well I saw that they've got a case against them because of the disk scratching already. In all honesty they're doing what I would do, a recall is out of the question and admitting to the problem so far down the line is not really something I would have done either. In the future I hope they properly test out consoles before releasing them, having customers beta-test their software is one thing, having them beta-test hardware is a whole other thing. You might as yourself what I mean by beta-testing software; let me ask you this: are you running Vista? then my friend your a beta-tester.

What a great idea...just like when Sony had that class action over the bad cdroms in the ps2's that will teach em....oh wait 3 years after the problems were being reported, they reached a settlement, lawyers got money consumers got their choice or a free game, a check for $25 or free repair of their defective ps2. Note that was OR and not AND. Oh you also had to have proof of purchase for the console as well as a reciept for the repair and you also only had 90 days to respond. Oh and as a condition of the settlement Sony admitted no fault.

MS has offered to repair them free AND extended the warranty on that for 3 years without a lawsuit....but they are the evil ones??

Jiggah

07-10-2007, 11:43 PM

Why are you putting up an well it's "better than them" mentality? Yes, Sony sucked too, but that doesn't give some excuse to MS. Basically, ANY company be it MS, Sony, Ninty, etc. if they have a defective product and find out about that defect should simply state the truth and acknowledge it. The simple fact that they extend the warranty, but don't state why or even let consumers know that they have that extended warranty and still continually deny the hardware failure placing blame on the consumers themselves, that's bad business. Sadly, that's business.

The part about "without a law suit," I reckon that's because they are scared of the fact that potential class-action lawsuits could put them at greater odds. Not only would they have to potentially reimburse the consumers for the full price of the console, they'd have to pay for a repair option, they'd have to pay the lawyers, and get even worst press in a 3-way war that could sway consumers to other products. I'll say the Xbox fanboys are pretty understanding though putting up with returning defects sometimes multiple times and have yet to actual set a class-action law suit (not including scratch disks because that's a different problem).

Did Microsoft highlight this on Live at all? You know to let most consumers know even the ones that aren't checking gamesites 24/7.

sigma8

07-10-2007, 11:49 PM

Is Newsweek mental or something...they just did admit it, why do they think they tacked on 2 more years to the warranty service.
Adding a warranty is not an admission.

Has Microsoft admitted there was a manufacturing flaw in Xbox360's? No, they still insist it's just a probability thing. Bad luck. Every production run of any product isn't 100% perfect.

By announcing a warranty like that, they are trying to distract customers with smoke and mirrors, and avoid a class action lawsuit, or any kind of lawsuit that might result in a recall. A recall would affect every box. MS probably knows the actual problem, and knows what causes it, and knows that not EVERYBODY will encounter it...although certainly a lot will...and they'd rather only replace boxes as needed rather than fess up and give people non-defective 360's.

It's like me selling you a car, and you constantly have break-downs. You are about to come back to me, and claim I sold you a lemon, but I pre-emptively offer to repair your car for free for the next 2 years, just because I am awesome like that.

I have:
a) not admitted to selling you a lemon
b) avoided any legal liability associated with fraudulent or misleading business practices
c) you probably think I'm awesome, because clearly I'm going above and beyond the usual call of duty by offering such extensive repair options

Davbere

07-10-2007, 11:52 PM

What a great idea...just like when Sony had that class action over the bad cdroms in the ps2's that will teach em....oh wait 3 years after the problems were being reported, they reached a settlement, lawyers got money consumers got their choice or a free game, a check for $25 or free repair of their defective ps2. Note that was OR and not AND. Oh you also had to have proof of purchase for the console as well as a reciept for the repair and you also only had 90 days to respond. Oh and as a condition of the settlement Sony admitted no fault.

MS has offered to repair them free AND extended the warranty on that for 3 years without a lawsuit....but they are the evil ones??

I know many people who had ps2's with disc read errors, that they bought of ebay, fixed by Sony for free even without a receipt. Some of these ps2's were 5 years after manufacture.

Many xbox1 drives quit working prematurely too. I wonder if MS ever fixed those for free or if they were ever sued for it ?

But then again this topic is not about Sony's hardware. I sense someone trying to shift the focus here....

peachybum

07-11-2007, 05:42 AM

Punyetta

07-11-2007, 06:04 AM

1.5 years down the line is far to late for many users who have either opened the console or sent it someplace else for repair..

Come clean i say ..........i cant imagine how many users have have done this
i for one my first box had the red lights sent it off came back still not working right.

Bought a second .then this happens 3year extended BULLSHIT !!!

If you open your box, you are on your own mate. If anything happens to your 360, you're not covered.
If they recall all the 360s, I am not sending mine back.

msanchez

07-11-2007, 06:24 AM

What a great idea...just like when Sony had that class action over the bad cdroms in the ps2's that will teach em....oh wait 3 years after the problems were being reported, they reached a settlement, lawyers got money consumers got their choice or a free game, a check for $25 or free repair of their defective ps2. Note that was OR and not AND. Oh you also had to have proof of purchase for the console as well as a reciept for the repair and you also only had 90 days to respond. Oh and as a condition of the settlement Sony admitted no fault.

MS has offered to repair them free AND extended the warranty on that for 3 years without a lawsuit....but they are the evil ones??

Ummmmm and where did I say sony are any better in this area? listen guy not everyone here is either pro-sony or pro-ms I'm talking about the way ms is handling this. not comparing their actions to what sony did with it's last gen system. Is it too much to try and keep one thread on track without turning it into console A vs console B? We need to stop overlooking faults in these companies simply because we bought their systems

unwanted

07-11-2007, 06:36 AM

russcarr

07-11-2007, 08:00 AM

why dont they recall all machines still in the retail chain... that way when someone buys one they know they wont be such a sucker and have a fully functional working, more reliable product from date of purchase!

because they still haven't fixed the problem and can't replace the current stock with better quality machines.

All this would have been avoided had MS not been so intent on getting a head start on Sony rather than fully testing their machine and releasing it when it was ready

grapeape

07-11-2007, 10:42 AM

Ummmmm and where did I say sony are any better in this area? listen guy not everyone here is either pro-sony or pro-ms I'm talking about the way ms is handling this. not comparing their actions to what sony did with it's last gen system. Is it too much to try and keep one thread on track without turning it into console A vs console B? We need to stop overlooking faults in these companies simply because we bought their systems

I never said you did, I was just making the point that what MS has offered is far more than any console manufacturer has conceded to as the result of lawsuits. IMHO MS's response to all this has been quite reasonable. Most of the noise so far is how unresponsive MS has been...when the reality is they have been more responsive with this than most.

msanchez

07-11-2007, 05:58 PM

I never said you did, I was just making the point that what MS has offered is far more than any console manufacturer has conceded to as the result of lawsuits. IMHO MS's response to all this has been quite reasonable. Most of the noise so far is how unresponsive MS has been...when the reality is they have been more responsive with this than most.

Fair enough. I really can't comment on the ps2 hardware problems or what sony said because at the time I really didn't check gaming news. However, it's worst in my book is MS is repeating sony's mistake, and I really don't think sony was as adamant as MS about denying the problems since I never heard about it from any of my friends. On the other hand people that don't go near a video game are talking to me about how bad that "New nintendo from the people that make computers" is... that's exactly how one guy told me. I thank God I've never had any console hardware problems, but I know I would also get pissed if for close to 2 years my consoles manufacturer kept saying that there's no problem and that I'm the one that screwed up the console.

Now all I hope is that "ALL" of them learn not to rush things, BAH! who am I kidding these people have the memory of worm. They won't remember a thing in 6 - 7 years

wiggim

07-11-2007, 11:01 PM

lol.. in a way they are, but not every one is going to be recalled, as some may not fail in 3 years.

They hope that over the 3 years as people sink more money into it they can afford to repair them all. If they issue a recall now they are going to lose more money likely than if they let it ride.. One they need huge workforce to compensate for a huge influx of 360s.. out of the 11 million they sold so far, it would likely be half to 3/4s of them needing to be serviced again, and all at once. Thats a huge expendature, and possibly for no reason. If after the 3 years it fails, they make money off it.

dwrecording

07-13-2007, 12:25 AM

It was in the paper today that MS put aside $1bill for the repair of 360's for this and next year. But im still no going to back to sony :) after they ripped us off with the hole socom ****. buy this mag to get a map so i did then next month same, next month same, then 4th month they put out mag with all 3 maps on one disk. then you had to buy 100$ hard drive to play the new maps. 1 month later they let you use a micro drive in the usb port to paly same maps. and it keep going on and on i must have spent 600$ on that game :mad: but it did bring me years of huge lag but great fun online play :D

msanchez

07-13-2007, 07:51 PM

... buy this mag to get a map so i did then next month same, next month same, then 4th month they put out mag with all 3 maps on one disk. then you had to buy 100$ hard drive to play the new maps. 1 month later they let you use a micro drive in the usb port to paly same maps. and it keep going on and on i must have spent 600$ on that game :mad: but it did bring me years of huge lag but great fun online play :D

My friend that is the way of the early adopter, be that system or game, or whatever. People who wait will always get a better deal then early adopters, the question is who has enough patience?