My name is Bryan. I am a 35 year old gamer and father of 2 other gamers. For roughly the past 20 years gaming has been a big hobby of mine. Although console gaming holds my primary interest, I have quite a love for PC MMO’s as well. I have gone through the gambit of consoles with the exception of the Wii and the Dreamcast. It was quite a few years back that I started a loyal relationship with the Sony Playstation. A relationship that began with one game. One game decided which system I was going to buy. That game was Final Fantasy 7. About 5 years ago I was faced with a similar situation. Microsoft had dipped it’s hand into the console wars and had made quite an impression. Word of Bungie’s Halo, which was to be exclusively on Xbox, was buzzing everywhere. My favorite game magazine, Game Informer, showered it with accolades. I was unsure of picking up a console from an untested company, well untested in this genre at least. As time passed the more I heard about this gaming console and it’s release title the more I wanted it. I picked up my first Xbox products. My Xbox and Halo. At this point I would like to say I don’t just make unilateral spending decisions in our household. I am the breadwinner in our little family. My wife doesn’t work. She stays home with our children. So any purchase is one made with care and deliberation. We are a working class family who cherish the value of our hard earned dollars. Which is why we bought the service plan that came with my Xbox. A service plan that not once was used.in slightly over 2 years that I owned that console I had no problems. My kids and I had countless hours of fun with Halo, the Rainbow 6 titles, and a slew of others. Unfortunately a power surge from a storm, about 2 years ago, this past November killed several electronic devices in our home. One of those was our Xbox. At this time I believe the Xbox360 had been out for nearly a year. We weren’t ready to give up our Xbox and go with the 360 yet, especially with all the over heating issues we were hearing about., but circumstances being what they were we needed to fill the console void. Also, we remember the issues that were supposed to have plagued the first Xbox, although we had never experienced any of those problems. We took another chance 2 years ago this past November. We purchased the Xbox360 with the extended protection plan from Microsoft. I usually prefer the good news before the bad so here it goes. The new Xbox live service and the recent update with avatars are absolutely awesome. The integration of Netflix was a really great idea. The games have been exceptional and the online play totally intense. My oldest son and I are very disappointed in the lack of Halo like games where 2 people on one console can go live. Now for the bad news. I HAVE BEEN THROUGH 6 CONSOLES!!! In 2 years!!! The first replacement came a week after the kids opened it for Christmas, because of a tray issue. I didn’t even use the service plan for that one because who the hell wants to send it out a week after we opened it. So we went back to Best Buy and they took it back no questions asked and gave us a new one. That was the last hassle free experience I’ve had repairing or replacing my consoles. I have been through every issue it seems in the past two years. 2 tray issues, the red lights of death, freezing issues due to over heating, the console instructing me to open tray when there’s a game inside. My most recent issue involved the console informing me it cannot read the disc because its dirty, open tray, clean disc, and restart the console (THE GAMES WERE BRAND NEW!!!). Once again, dead in the water for the holidays. You would think this would be the end of such an unlucky run, right? Unfortunately that is not the case. At this point I would like to add that Microsoft’s Xbox customer service, while great at giving lip service, is woefully inept at their job as well. They are great at thanking you and apologizing to you. They are, however, unable to document console warranty transfers. Earlier I stated that my first console transfer was not through the extended warranty. Best Buy replaced my first console because it was only a few weeks old. I figured I would just transfer my warranty when it came in the mail. Well it came …. 6 months later. During that 6 months, by the way, I had the console replaced for the red ring of death. Of course no warranty was needed because the red ring is covered. The refurbished console I received from the repair center was the one I wrote to transfer my warranty to. The next repair was about 3 months down the road. They wanted me to pay $100.00 for the repair. THEY TOLD ME THERE WAS NO EXTENDED WARRANTY FOR THIS CONSOLE!!! Needless to say there was much yelling. Many calls were made before I was able to reach someone with a brain between their ears, and spoke English well enough to understand the slew of crap that had been flung my way. Now as far as the repair website, well, they have asked me for my opinion. The site always tells me I have no console out for repair and it wont let me update my consoles. Par for the course I guess. I know full well I am not the only consumer who has been completely dumped on in this fashion. I also fully realize it is a growing corporate trend to get our dollars in exchange for high end pieces of garbage. Much like the unfulfilled dream of what the 360 was supposed to be. The question I pose, albeit naïve in nature, is this: Is there no one with a conscience in your corporation? Is there no one with a voice for the consumer who wants a quality product for his/her family? As I said earlier we are a one paycheck family as are so many others who have bought your product. How dare you (Microsoft), and shame on you (Microsoft) for this unfinished piece of garbage that you (Microsoft) chucked into the stores.in closing I would like to hope I have helped someone who is trying to make a decision on a console. I will be sending this out to as many sites as possible, and any gaming magazine that will publish it.in addition it will also be sent to Microsoft corporate, for all the good it will do, I do not know. I have to go to the UPS website now. I have to check the tracking of my current repair. In Deepest Frustration, Bryan Reid and Family
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