Microsoft to offer free 360 repairs on systems manufactured before Jan 1!

[Misguided]

And even refund money if already charged

edited title to read manufactured instead of bought

[EngineNo9]

A little late to finally be doing this, perhaps, but I still say Huzzah to them! 

[Thin_J]

I thought it was on systems manufactured before a certain date, not bought before January. Could be wrong.

[Kobra]

And even refund money if already charged

So I guess rumors of 30% failure rates are true, and they are probably doing this to fend off potential litigation?  This amounts to what people in the auto industry call "Soft Recall".

[Chaz]

The end of the article mentions that it's on systems manufactured before 1/1/06, not bought, which makes more sense.

However, the end of the article also mentions that they're only extending the warranty to a full year, which isn't as good.  Hopefully they'll just do the repairs on the launch systems, even if it is over a year.

[disarm]

i came across this on Digg earlier today and was pretty surprised...it's a big step to protect the early adopters, especially the decision to reimburse people who have already paid for repairs.  my 360 was assembled on 11/6/05 (bought 12/22) and is still going strong, but i'll rest a little easier knowing i'm still under warranty now. 

The end of the article mentions that it's on systems manufactured before 1/1/06, not bought, which makes more sense.

However, the end of the article also mentions that they're only extending the warranty to a full year, which isn't as good.  Hopefully they'll just do the repairs on the launch systems, even if it is over a year.

just as big as the decision to extend the original warranty is the fact that they're apparently allowing another chance to purchase an extended warranty within the one-year period.  i didn't fork over the money for an extended warranty when i bought my 360, but i may do it now just to be on the safe side for a couple more years...

[metallicorphan]

yeah my disc tray broke on my 360 so i sent it back,while on the phone to them i made sure that i wasnt to be charged

me:so,it will be gone for 7-10 days?.......will i be getting charged in anyway for this?

dude on phone:hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha  no of course not

me:(feeling a bit of a dick now)ok thats cool,thx

i got the 360 back a week later(yesterday in fact),looking brand new(stickers over the disc tray and infer red port)and in official microsoft package that you got when you took it out of the box when you bought it


hopefully on future models,they are expecting the breakdown on systems to go down

[Misguided]

oops, sorry for the confusion. This is great news though. I'm on my second refurbished system (first one only made it a week). This one has been great, but it is still one of the early units. I've been thinking about springing for the extended warranty.

[coopasonic]

*waits for his refund - but doesn't hold his breath*

[Lee]

How do you know when it was made?

[coopasonic]

How do you know when it was made?

I think the build date is on the tag on the back. I haven't looked at mine. If not there, inside the USB slot on the front.

[disarm]

How do you know when it was made?

I think the build date is on the tag on the back. I haven't looked at mine. If not there, inside the USB slot on the front.

it's printed on a small tag on the back of the console...close to where the A/V cable plugs in if i remember correctly. 

[happydog]

How would you go about purchasing the extended warranty at this point?

[Louis Cypher]

Mine was built on 05-12-06  

[disarm]

How would you go about purchasing the extended warranty at this point?

from the discussion over at the official xbox forums where news of this offer first appeared, it sounds like you just have to call up MS and talk to one of their service reps about it.  as long as you have a system built before 1/1/06, they'll supposedly agree to extend your warranty for the usual fee ($60 for two years).  not a bad deal really...

[corruptrelic]

Its things like this that keep me from buying launch-day consoles, even if I truly want one. My 360 is from april 06 and still kicking strong.
I'm thinking in a year (if it lasts that long) I'll trade it in and get a new 360 - with all the hardware revisisions and improvements they made over that time. Just like the original xbox (and ps2 for that matter) they continually improved it over time.

[Azhag]

So just to be clear - if we did not buy any warrantys when the system was purchased I we can get 2 years starting today for $60?

~ Tim

[disarm]

So just to be clear - if we did not buy any warrantys when the system was purchased I we can get 2 years starting today for $60?

~ Tim

that's my just about my understanding from the discussions over at xbox.com...only difference is that the warranty will start from either the manufacture date or purchase date of your console (not sure which), not the day you sign up for the warranty.  that's still pretty good though.

[shaggydoug]

This whole offer is extremely vague.  I have yet to find something written down that fully explains it.

My confusions:

• bought vs. manufactured date.  I've seen both terms used in these "announcements".  I bought mine in April but it has a manufacturing date of 12/24/05.  Technically I think it doesn't fit into the "first run" because that had to happen before the launch date but who knows how long the manufacturing problems lasted.
• lack of how long the free repair offer lasts.   I mean that if I don't buy the extended warranty and in 2 years my system craps out, do I still get the free repair?  If that's the case, why buy the warranty?

I know....I should just call the support number and find out but I need to take the time to get my serial number written down.  Can't do that from work obviously.

- shaggy