What is causing these delays?
So, what is causing these delays? Why must we wait so long when we’re being made to pay for this repair service? Here are a few theories.
Possible Reasons for the Delay.
The New Heatsink
We reported not long ago that repaired Xbox 360’s were being sent back with a new heatsink installed to help aid cooling. We even provided a guide on how to tell if your repaired 360 has the new heatsink. Originally, I’d assumed that this new piece of hardware being installed was the reason for the repair delays. Now that the wait becomes longer, I’m not so sure.
Overflow of Broken 360's?
With the sheer number of broken Xbox 360’s being sent back to Microsoft it’s entirely possible that they’re being overwhelmed by the amount of repairs needed. Smarthouse recently reported that “retailers are claiming that Microsoft has had to handle a failure rate of over 30% with their Xbox 360 console”. Though Microsoft have often stated that the failure rate is approximately 5%, it is clear to see that the actual figure must be a lot higher. *update* 360-gamer.com are now reporting that Microsoft are receiving 2,500 broken Xbox 360’s per day in the UK.
Overseas Repairs? Over on the official Xbox forums, many users have been suffering from the same problem as I. They sent their consoles for repair a few weeks ago and are still left waiting. Mr Campo, a forum user had the following to add about his experience:
“Just an update for people who currently have or are going to be sending a console to the Microsoft Repair Centre. Ive just rang them up, and still my console is sitting in a room and has not been looked at (Been around 3 weeks now). I spoke to the manager and was told that the repair centre is being moved to a different country. Yes thats right “country”. This is adding on an extra two week wait for the repair time. So instead of 15 working days, its now 25 working days.”
Though we won’t know for certain what is causing the delays, unless Microsoft are kind enough to step forward and offer an answer, we can assume that the three factors mentioned above may all be lengthening the time taken to receive your repaired console.
Too many consoles to repair?
Why We Customers Have Due Cause For Concern.
There are two key points that we must emphasis before moving on:
1. The Xbox 360 console in its current form is not reliable. Only a true optimist could argue this point. I’d had a launch console for over a year and had never thought that the reliability problems would affect me. Be warned, if you have an Xbox 360 console, there is undeniably a chance of failure. A good chance.
2. We're being made to pay for repairs. If your console is outside of the standard 12 month warranty, Microsoft will only repair your console for a fee of approximately £70. Considering that the current hardware has such a high failure rate, being charged at all is questionable.
Now, considering that the Xbox 360 console has a high failure rate and we’re being made to pay for repairs when the console is out of warranty, one would assume that the repair/replacement procedure would be swift and sufficient. This however is not the case and is primarily our cause for concern.
Microsoft representatives at the repair centre are now telling customers that the original 10-15 day quoted repair time has become up to 25 days. That’s 25 working days by the way, a whole 5 weeks. Over a month without your console. A shockingly slow turnaround for a paid repair service.
Are Microsoft doing enough for us customers?
On April 19th, Mercury News were able to interview Peter Moore (pictured above), Corporate Vice President of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business division, and put forward a few reader questions. Here is one of those very questions:
Q (from reader): I’d like a straight answer on issues with hardware quality (have suffered through 2 defective 360’s in a 7 month span and am about to call it quits with this system). MS claims an ‘acceptable’ 3% failure rate but I imagine the actual number to be much higher — perhaps 2x or 3x more?
A (Peter Moore): I can’t comment on failure rates, because it’s just not something – it’s a moving target. What this consumer should worry about is the way that we’ve treated him. Y’know, things break, and if we’ve treated him well and fixed his problem, that’s something that we’re focused on right now. I’m not going to comment on individual failure rates because I’m shipping in 36 countries and it’s a complex business.
We can almost understand the above, if failure rates are high you do commit to treating customers well and focus on fixing their problems. However, My Moore, we assure you that customers are being treated very poorly and problems are now taking an age to fix. We’ve got to ask; If Microsoft aren’t improving the 360’s hardware or admitting to systematic faults and aren’t it would seem focusing on customer support anymore, what is it that you are doing?
I will keep this article updated with news of my missing 360. It’d be nice to hear from others who are suffering a similar fate.
Source :: weplay Xbox
