I bought a standard X-Box for my son in and maintained an extended warranty on it through 2007.in 07, we bought a new X-Box 360. We had paid time left on the existing extended warranty plan.in addition, we now also had the additional NEW warranty period, for the new 360. I contacted X-Box by telephone, and they agreed to combine the remaining extended warranty time with the new machine warranty time, and apply the total protected period to the new X-box 360.
At the time of the call, the representative was unable to define the exact length of protected time that these combined warranties would total. The representative instructed me to send a letter to Microsoft Corporation, reiterating this approved arrangement. The representative gave me specific instructions on the information that was to be included in this letter, and told me to include specific language telling them to confirm that they had recorded these coverage changes AND to instruct them to inform me of the expiration date of the combined coverages. The telephone contact reference number of the representative was included in the letter. I also included a request for some type of a billing notice, prior to the expiration date of the combined policy.
Two days ago, this X-Box 360 failed. We called X-Box to request shipping instructions for the machine to be repaired under the extended warranty. We reached a fellow, who turned out to be located in India. His English language skills were abominable. He informed us that we had no coverage.
After a lengthy explanation of the warranty merger, the instructions of the original representative, the reading of the contents of the letter AND a considerable debate over his persistant "no coverage" mantra, my frustration reached a boiling point and I yelled at the fellow. Only then, did he admit that the coverages HAD been combined, but then stated that the combined coverages had expired in November! He had no explanation as to why we had never received any correspondence defining the length of service for the combined warranties, NOR any correspondence requesting a renewal fee.
It was pointed out to him, that we would have no way of knowing the exact date that the combined warranties would expire, since Microsoft had failed to respond to the written inquiry in which I had requested that they provide that information. I also informed him that my son had an active X-Box Live account, and that no request for renewal had appeared there either. I also checked my son's email account for such a bill, but none was found, among X-box email notices dating back several years.
In addition, this fellow would neither confirm nor deny whether his computer records showed that the company had received the letter that the original representative had instructed me to send. I suspect that there was a record of it, because he spent an extended period of time reading the entries and then began to verbally probe to see whether or not I would be able to produce proof of mailing or delivery!
I chose not to reveal that specific information, for fear that the corporation would attempt to discredit the proof, if it was given to them prematurely. I simply told him that I needed to receive a call back from a senior level manager, who could review the facts and approve the repairs. I even offered to pay the renewal fee that we would have normally paid, despite the fact that the company had failed to notify us of the length of coverage time or of a billing renewal request.
This gentleman actually admitted that Microsoft DOES NOT NOTIFY its customers of the expiration date on its extended warranty plans! The customer is apparently supposed to remember this date, from plan inception date to plan expiration date. That must be a challenge, if the customer buys a multi-year plan! When compared to other companies, I find this statement to be both ridiculous and transparent.
I have numerous extended warranty plans, and each of these companies never fails to notify of an impending renewal date. As a matter of fact, they telephone and send renewal notices for months, in order to recapture that business dollar. Obviously, Microsoft's intention is to force the consumer to pay for high priced repairs.
At any rate, no return call was received. We then called back several times, trying to obtain a direct contact phone number for Microsoft, in the United States. We figured that we would complain to the staff within the U.S. All of the Indian representatives that we TRIED to speak with, flatly refused to give us such a telephone number - claiming that they were not permitted to do so. An American company that does not wish to accept calls from American consumers? How interesting.
In short, we have paid for extended warranty coverage, continuously, since 2003 and now that we actually have a warranty claim, we are being told that we must pay for it! In only briefly researching this matter, I have already learned that the life-span of these machines is extremely short and that they must frequently be repaired or totally replaced.
It is now obvious to me, that the extended warranty product is a sham, designed to suck in the buyer and then disallow the repairs on these "frequent flyer" machines.in less than 24 hours, and with only a few phone calls, we were able to locate more than a dozen local youngsters, whose machines had failed - some, two or three times!
Nine of them reported having to fight with the company in order to receive covered machine repairs or replacements. Several, reported disputes over the company's failure to notify the customer of the expiration date of the extended warranty OR to provide a request for a renewal payment.
Beware of both this gaming system and the phony extended warranty service that Microsoft peddles. Other parents are now telling me that they have had no such issues with the OR with its repair services. Several of them stated that they switched to the AFTER being forced to take an expensive loss on an X-Box!
If anyone else has had a similar experience with either this equipment or its extended warranty / repair services, I would like to know about it. If this is as widespread as I suspect, a class action might be in order.
Thanks.
Sickofthisstuff
Dearborn, Michigan
U.S.A.
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