In a predicament. $320 or MS repair service, what would you do?

Kendro

Kendro

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My 360 crapped out on me a few days ago and I've had it for a number of months so it is obviously past the 30 day warranty that stores cover. I don't want to go through the headache of using Microsoft's repair service (since it takes a month) so the CSR gave me the option of returning it but I will only get 80% of the original value which is $320 (the 20% is a restocking fee). In other words instead of getting a refurbished unit from MS, I will get credited $320 so I can buy a new Premium for $80 or just upgrade to an Elite for more.

At first I thought getting 80% back was pretty awesome since I've had my 360 for almost a year but if you really think about it, it is messed up. I mean I'm getting excited for getting most of my money back so I only have to pay a little more for a brand new one? How about the console lasting 10+ years like it is supposed to so I don't have to pay anything?

Anyways I'm not really looking for advice. I just wanna know what you would do. Imagine you had your 360 for quite some time and it crapped out. Would you take the $320 and since you had it for a year, consider the $80 as a "rental fee" so you can upgrade to a new model like the Elite or the newer cooler models coming out? Or would you go through Microsoft's repair service and wait a month for what will most likely be a refurbished replacement unit?
 
Go through the repair procedure. A month isn't that long, keep busy with other things. Do you own any other systems? If so do some gameing on them. If you decide to have them repair it I would force them to send you your original 360 back fixed. You don't want a refurb, trust me. Make them give you your original back fixed or a new replacement one.
 
If it was me, I would take the $320 credit and upgrade to an Elite.....but that's just me. I wouldn't want to wait a month to get a box back. The one you get may not be yours and who knows what the idiot who owned it before you did to it.

Well, I think that I read somewhere that M$ may not send you your original box back, but that may not the case.

TBW
 
Just send it back to MS, it doesn't take anywhere near a month. Mine came back in two weeks, this month.

You generally don't get 'your' 360 back, you get a refurbished unit. They're all pretty much identical once they've been serviced.
 
Once my 360 crapped out a year ago I sold the broken system, Power Cord + Brick, and standard AV cables on Ebay and got 250.00 for it. I then bought a Core system.

I'm not to sure what I would do in your situation. The reason behind me doing what I did was I had no warrenty left on my console. If you don't feel liek your getting ripped off then I would return it and buy a new one.
 
[quote name='dafoomie']Just send it back to MS, it doesn't take anywhere near a month. Mine came back in two weeks, this month.

You generally don't get 'your' 360 back, you get a refurbished unit. They're all pretty much identical once they've been serviced.[/QUOTE]

All except for the whole "downloads tied to the console" thing... :) Seriously, though... that is annoying... But I suppose it's better than nothing, considering the system's inherent flaw....

I'd make sure MS got their unit back to add to their tally of broken ones, so they can see what cost-cutting has done to the system... This should be their essential "wake up" call (so to speak), and that in the future, if they want to tackle the living room... they need to make it a bit less prone to death. :)

Don't get me wrong.. I enjoy my 360, but the situation with this "RRoD" epidemic is worrisome, and something that shouldn't happen to a $400 piece of equipment.

Doubtless the naysayers are going to point to the rush to market for this failure, when the dust settles and the 20/20 hindsight takes over... (or we may never know...) but regardless of the cause, this has truly soured me from buying the next iteration of the XBox until it's proven reliable over a long period ( I thought waiting a year would help... but I guess not.. :roll: )
 
well if you really want an elite take the money. my 360 has crapped out on me once before the 30 days were up so i did exchange it. the second time i did the MS repair route, which isn't that big of a deal. if you take the money you'll be waiting a few months before it's confirm that those new units are out, not to mention you may still have a lot of older stock at the store you have to wade through to get them. however if you send them in at least you'll get that new heatsink if that thing even works.
 
I wouldn't take the $320 to purchase a new one...what if that new one craps out as well? Then you would be back where you started, but $80 poorer. :(
 
[quote name='toper']I wouldn't take the $320 to purchase a new one...what if that new one craps out as well? Then you would be back where you started, but $80 poorer. :([/QUOTE]

At that point he'd probably have to go the MS repair route.

Honestly, if it happens to me tomorrow (my Xbox is about 16 months old), I'd probably mail it back. I have enough other things to do without my 360 around for a little bit.

That being said, ask me the same question once some of this fall's big games hit and I might go with the $320 refund.
 
mine just died too (well technically it was bought DOA from ebay, but i towel tricked it for a couple weeks). i think i would take the money and run. i was trying to think of a good way to upgrade to an elite and this sounds like it. only thing is how would you transfer the data? are they asking to receive the system first before you get the money?
 
Seems like ether's not too bad, and at least Microsoft's having to pay either way.

Personally if you do take the money, I'd wait for a price cut and/or redesign that's hopefully coming soon.
 
There are rumors of a $50 price drop coming in early August or sometime soon, so can wait a couple/few weeks or more and want to upgrade, then now is a perfect time.

I'd say only take the money if you plan on upgrading. Otherwise, you may want to just pay them to repair it.
 
Don't think a 2 week repair will be the standard. You will be very disappointed. The coffin support group thread average turnaround time now seems to be 4+ weeks.
 
[quote name='help1']Right now: send it to MS, get a new heatsink on it from MS.

In September: refund.[/QUOTE]

Wait a minute, did they ever come out and said ALL repairs will now have the heatsink? I only heard of the Europe one.

BTW why don't people just try to do the X-Clamp fix.
 
I decided to just use the repair service because $80 can get me anywhere from 3 to 5 more games. The only thing that sucks is I was finally ready to buy some downloadable content before my current console crapped out. Now I'm gonna have to have the DLC tied to a refurbished console which I'm not too fond of.
 
[quote name='Kendro']I decided to just use the repair service because $80 can get me anywhere from 3 to 5 more games. The only thing that sucks is I was finally ready to buy some downloadable content before my current console crapped out. Now I'm gonna have to have the DLC tied to a refurbished console which I'm not too fond of.[/QUOTE]

Well better that than if you had already bought a bunch of DLC and your 360 crapped out.

I think I've spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 on DLC and XBLA games (mostly on arcade games actually). I'm going to be pretty pissed if the thing blows up on me now.
 
You've already made your decision, but I'll chime in anyways.

I'd make them repair it. Mainly because I have a store extended warranty. BUT, I'd make it very clear to them that I want this to be the first and only time I have to do this. If they aren't going to send me my unit back, I don't expect to be without it for four weeks. I also expect full credits for the points I spent downloading content, not having it crippled to my gamertag. I'd also express disappointment about not being able to upgrade to the HDMI/120GB version through Microsoft. See where that takes you.

Be forceful, but polite.
 
That's a tough one. 80$ is a a few games though. - That's the cag in me talking.
I think I would suck it up and find games to play on my pc/ps2/handhelds while I sent it in to get repaired for free.
you may think it's painful while you wait, but oce you get it back , you'll be glad you sent it in.
 
[quote name='Kendro']I decided to just use the repair service because $80 can get me anywhere from 3 to 5 more games. The only thing that sucks is I was finally ready to buy some downloadable content before my current console crapped out. Now I'm gonna have to have the DLC tied to a refurbished console which I'm not too fond of.[/quote]As I buy more and more DLC through XBLM, it's going to give me fits anytime I'm thinking I might get a swapped out 360. :whistle2:s

I think you went with the right idea and just not worry about making the change. Yes, it'll be out of your hands for a while, though I think it'll be worth it. And as Cochese said, I wouldn't ask for a refurb, I'd ask them for your console to be repaired.
 
[quote name='SteveDaWonder']I would have upgraded tothe Elite. Of course, I'm afrad to buy an Xbox 360 as it is.[/QUOTE]

If you haven't yet, just hang on for a bit longer. A price drop and/or redesign is almost certainly coming this year. Granted, it'll be harder to wait as insanely awesome stuff like Bioshock and Mass Effect come out, but on the other hand...maybe stuff'll come down in price :D
 
Well in my opinion, you should get the store credit back and maybe just wait for the possible price drop. If it doesn't happen, get an elite.
 
Wouldn't even be a question, Microsoft repair route, in the meantime find something else to do. Elites fails just like the normal system, no point giving up 80 bucks for that yet
 
If you have the extra money sitting around, go for te Elite, it runs smoother, quieter. and it really looks cool. I would jump on the elite, but i lack "funds" hehe :(.
 
As far as I'm aware, the Elite does NOT run any quieter.

Microsoft is using three disc drives in the 360, and there's a random chance with any of the units that you might get the one drive of the three that's supposed to run quieter.

The Elite does NOT automatically have the quieter drive.
 
I'd send it in for the free repairs. If the 65nm-HDMI-120GB unit was on the shelf then I'd upgrade but not until that point in time.
 
[quote name='javeryh']I'd send it in for the free repairs. If the 65nm-HDMI-120GB unit was on the shelf then I'd upgrade but not until that point in time.[/QUOTE]

Agreed. At least with repairs you'll hopefully get the new heat sink put in. If you get a new one now, you're just getting another defective console that will likely die at some point in time.
 
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