[adam]

Open Letter From Peter Moore

To our Xbox Community:

You've spoken, and we’ve heard you. Good service and a good customer experience are areas of the business that we care deeply about. And frankly, we've not been doing a good enough job.

Some of you have expressed frustration with the customer experiences you have had with Xbox 360; frustration with having to return your console for service after receiving the general hardware error message on the console.

The majority of customers who own Xbox 360 consoles have had a terrific experience from their first day, and continue to, day in and day out. But when anyone questions the reliability of our product, or our commitment to our customers, it's something I take very seriously.

We have been following this issue closely, and with on-going testing have identified several factors that can cause a general hardware failure indicated by three flashing red lights on the console. To address this issue, and as part of our ongoing work, we have already made certain improvements to the console.

We are also implementing some important policy changes intended to keep you in the game, worry-free.

As of today, all Xbox 360 consoles are covered by an enhanced warranty program to address specifically the general hardware failures indicated by the three flashing red lights on the console. This applies to new and previously-sold consoles. While we will still have a general one year console warranty (two years in some countries), we are announcing today a three-year warranty that covers any console that displays a three flashing red lights error message. If a customer has an issue indicated by the three flashing red lights, Microsoft will repair the console free of charge�including shipping�for three years from the console’s purchase date. We will also retroactively reimburse any of you who paid for repairs related to problems indicated by this error message in the past. In doing so, Microsoft stands behind its products and takes responsibility to ensure that every Xbox 360 console owner continues to have a fantastic gaming experience.

If we have let any of you down in the experience you have had with your Xbox 360, we sincerely apologize. We are taking responsibility and are making these changes to ensure that every Xbox 360 owner continues to have a great experience.

This will take a few days to roll out globally, and I appreciate your continued patience as we launch this program. I've posted an FAQ that should address some additional questions, and we'll update it over the next few days.

I want to thank you, on behalf of all us at Microsoft, for your loyalty.

[Rob1231]

wow.

One company that actually gives a damn about the people for once.

[justinisloco]

/\
Oh yeah.. for once?

When my forum for helio phones complained about $5 a month for youtube and ebaumsworld videos, they sent us a letter making it free!

[atmaweapon]

Originally Posted by Rob1231

wow.

One company that actually gives a damn about the people for once.

Not really - they just need to stay competitive against Wii/PS3.

[Disturbed420]

well aint that cool.. Its great for 360 owners, but Its still to expensive for me even with a job.

It's nice to finally see a company man up and say yeah we fucked up... at least they could do that, competition or not with Wii or the PS3.

Microsoft will repair the console free of charge�including shipping�for three years from the console’s purchase date. We will also retroactively reimburse any of you who paid for repairs related to problems indicated by this error message in the past

$100 to send into Microsoft and they are fronting that for each head that calls in with a issue with the 3 flashers.. on top of that they are giving back to those that already got screwed by it, Microsoft isn't winning nothing here.. they are losing atm but this might help boost peoples outlooks on the 360 since I knew it to be faulty from the get go..

oh well, +1 for Microsoft

[NoSmokingBandit]

Thats the way a business should be run. I bought a Rio mp3 player once, but when it arrived it didnt work. Didnt even power on. They wanted me to pay $20 to ship it both ways so they could fix it. I was pissed and yelled at them on the phone for not taking responsibility for their own fuckup. It's good to see microsoft step up like this, maybe it will set a standard for everyone else.

[adam]

Sony will never do something like this and we all know it

[LiquiDLeaD23]

Sony doesn't need to lol, their consoles don't have the problems Microsoft does. Ive had a ps3 since launch and I haven't had a problem with it since even when I leave it on all night/play it all day... Hell, I can go back to my ps1 and still play games on it :P

[whitelamp]

Finally, instead of -1 for MS it's back at zero.

In all seriousness, I'm starting to like the MS console-orientated attitude alot more than their mainstream OS counterpart.

[HowlingBlue]

wow, that's a pretty interesting, it's not often any big company --especially Microsoft -- actually admits that they have messed up.....

Although, I digress that Nintendo did the same kinda admittance with the wrist straps.........

It would have been very nice to see them do longer than 3 years, although I guess depending on how much longer this console gen lasts, the warranty of a system bought now might just make it until the Xbox 720, lol.....

[adam]

its supposed to go to 2011 until the next gen

[Hockeyman]

Well guys not to worry most consoles that come back repaired no longer have any issues so this should be the end to the trouble as I believe the problem has been fixed in more recents 360's. So all is now well in microsoft land! Alll we need is for a massive PS3 failure and for everything to go wrong.

[adam]

Originally Posted by LiquiDLeaD23

Sony doesn't need to lol, their consoles don't have the problems Microsoft does. Ive had a ps3 since launch and I haven't had a problem with it since even when I leave it on all night/play it all day... Hell, I can go back to my ps1 and still play games on it :P

its only been out 6 months...lets see in 3 years

[Hockeyman]

I can see the headlines now
NOTICE: All PS3's Comitted suicide at 10 pm last night when they finally realized they suck. It looks like after losing GTA 4 they finally decided that nobody loved them.