My terrible experience with MS Xbox repair
 

The thomson dvd drive on my xbox was having trouble reading discs, so it needed to be replaced. I called 1-800-4MY-XBOX. They said they'd replace the dvd drive for $99. I said ok. They sent me an empty airborne express box. I packed my xbox in the box, left it out on the porch, and 1 week later I get my xbox back.

I open the dvd tray, and sure enough, they replaced it with a samsung drive. that's the good news. the bad news is that they replaced my hard drive. and they didn't copy over anything from my old drive to the new one.

This really pisses me off. The reason I sent in my xbox to MS was because I wanted the dvd drive fixed, but wanted to preserve the contents of my hard drive. If I wanted a new dvd drive AND hard drive, I would have just bought a new xbox!! Are they that stupid not to realize this?! Considering a new xbox costs only $80 more than the repair, plus I get the advantage of having 2 xboxes, more cables, another controller, and the free games that come with a new xbox.

Fortuantely, I backed up most of my saves onto a 256MB USB flash drive, but I wasn't able to back up my precious DOA3 saves, DOAX saves, KOTOR saves, and custom soundtracks (that took hours to put in). I've lost hundreds of hours of time from these lost saves. I don't care about paying $99 for repair service, but I do expect a good level of service for my money.

MS Xbox repair failed me on several levels:
1.) I called & sent in my xbox for a dvd problem, not a hard drive problem.
2.) If they wanted to perform additional work, they should have ASKED ME first via email or phone.
3.) Why didn't they copy the contents of the old HD to the new one?!?!

So consider this a warning to anyone who is thinking about sending their xbox in for a repair. Personally, I feel completely ripped off.

Did they send you back a different Xbox all together or did they actually replace both your DVD Drive and Hard Drive?

In any case, I'd bark at them hard and try to get your $99 back.

Call them and ask for a supervisor. It's worth a try.

You won't get your saves back, but you might get something for your pain.

Wow, that sucks. I recently had the opposite happen: I sent my Xbox to be repaired for a hard drive problem, and I noticed that they replaced my DVD drive at the same time. It didn't need it, but now I can play CD-R's, so it's all good.

However, when I spoke to them on the phone they said they'd make every effort to keep my saves (I ended up losing them all). Based on your experience, it sounds like they don't even try, and just swap out the hard drive on everything they get.

I would call them, and raise some hell. Don't get too angry though, cause they'll just blow you off (I work in customer service...being nice helps), just kidly ask to speak with a supervisor and explain your situation. You won't get your saves, or music back, but you very well may get your money back. I would imagine that would make it all worth it.

You make a console more like a computer, you are going to have it crash like a computer. And your customers are going to feel like they are getting f--ked by a computer company.

They replaced components, but it's the same xbox. Well, at least the outside case is... I marked it so I would know. I'm going to call them and talk to a supervisor. On xbox.com, it says they make every effort to preserve the gaming history on the hard drive. Considering they didn't even copy ANY save files, it's obvious they didn't even try.

Every console ever created is like a computer. He didn't say his Xbox "crashed," the drive died.. this has happened since the dawn of CD based media.. Sega CD drives died, TG16 CD drives died, MANY PS and PS2 drives have died..

-ohbfrank-

More than likely, to save time and money, they just replaced the entire inside of your XBox instead of specific components. Its a lot faster than pulling off a cetain part and resoldering it on, hoping that nothing else is wrong. They may have replaced the DVD drive only to find that the problem is a memory bus problem, or a currupted driver file. Better to just drop in a whole new unit.

D

Seriously, I know "all" consoles have their problems, but for the number of xboxes sold it sure seems that a lot more of them have had problems % wise.

Goodluck on getting your money back, my experience with MS involving the xbox was far from nice.

Worst quality DVD drive of the bunch (in certain models anyway) and the hard drive, while not seeming to break that much, is one more thing to go wrong that the other systems don't have.

You must not remember the PS1 launch too well. After a year or so most of those machines had to be played up-side-down, or they wouldn't work at all. Why do you think PS2 has a vertical mount option. It wasn't cause it looks nice. I've been lucky so far, I still have my launch XBOX, and PS2 with no problems yet.

well, yes, it might break... but the tradeoff is certainly worth it! no question in my mind.

memory cards fail too... like say you roll over it w/ your chair (so i've heard ;))

Trade off isn't worth it IMO, as developers haven't put it too good use IMO.

It's great for sports games, but I haven't played many this gen. It's great if you want to make your own soundtrack, but I have no interest in doing that. Too much hassle to upload and it's usually a feature in games I don't play much (i.e. extreme sports and racing).

I'd love to see it used to do some neat gameplay stuff (remembering environmental damage, having everything you do effect stuff later on in more detail than in say KOTOR etc.), but it hasn't happened yet.

i probably use like 5% of the hard drive. i don't really put music on it.

but, just not having to change memory cards or worry about running out of space on one is what i meant about it being worth it.

i mean, i have like 8 memory cards for the ps2 and 1(+ the freebie little one that came w/ animal crossing) for the GC.

+ it galls me that the dinky little memory cards cost $20. the ps2 2 pack is what now, $35? i've bought 4 of those - so $140???

Wth, 8 PS2 memory cards? I know sport games take a lot of space but it's not that bad is it?( I don't play the genre so wouldn't know.)

I have 42 PS2 games and use only one memory card. Granted I don't keep all the games saves on the card when I finish them though, I would assume most people don't either.

oops, not to mention the separate ps1 memory cards (2).

the 8 ps2 cards are not full, but i have them split into genres. 3 rpgs, 2 sports, 1 platformer, 1 racing, 1 misc. the rpgs are pretty full mainly b/c i like to keep multiple saves.

Well, to be fair I'm in college now which exposes me to many more gamers then being in high school when the PS1 launched. With the PS1 I recall overheating issues throughout it lifespan and limited CD-ROM issues. As I dicated however I wasn't around owners as much.

Besides, I'm discussing the current generation of hardware. :)

Sorry, you had that problem.

Were you getting it fixed under a service contract or just a random repair? It's possible (I don't know how likely) that they have a specific policy for non-warranty machines so as to avoid repeat repairs with the same machine in an effort to save the customer some costs.

My only experience with them was under a contract and proved more than satisfactory.

Sorry to hear about the problems. They fixed mine, paid for shipping both ways and didn't cost a cent. It was past its warranty and I didn't have a fancy warranty.

Shouldn't this be in the "MS is run by sadists" thread?



;)

I didn't have a service contract for my xbox. It was out of warranty. I bought it 2 years ago. I don't mind that they fixed something else in addition to what I requested. What bothers me is that they didn't consult with me beforehand nor did they make any effort to keep my save games.

I'm not even complaining about the defective thomson drives. In my mind, the drive performed well enough. It lasted two years thru HEAVY usage. What I'm disappointed about is the lousy customer service.

Don't forget the harddrive enables xbox owners to get downloaded content. ie thru xbox live and demo discs. for example new maps,mechs,gametypes for mechassault. Or new songs for DDR and new skins for DOA3.

Also The developers do Cache their games using the harddrive to make their loadtimes faster. Perfect example would be Halo.

So there are lots of benefits to having the harddrive.

As far as the person who lost their saves. Thats a bummer!! Well I guess you now have an excuse to play your games again! ;)

Jesus. I hardly ever replay games, so I just delete the saves. I have 1 PS2 card, and 2 small ones for the GC (though one's currently totally empty).

For $99 I would have just bought a new one, or tried to fix the old one myself.

Glad I never bought an xbox.