A Brief Tirade

My Xbox 360 suffered the red ring of death in January.

I sent said it in for repairs, since it was still under warranty.

3 weeks later, I had to take a 45 minute drive to the Fed Ex Ground shipping center in order to sign for my Xbox.

A week or two later, the Xbox suffered yet another red ring of death.

I sent it in for repairs again, with only 1 month left on my warranty.

3 weeks later, I'm trying to find out if there is a way to avoid driving half-way to Cleveland to pick up my 360.

Microsoft outstanding India Customer Support group advised me that the only way I can have my 360 shipped to my place of work (so I may sign for it) is if I wait 4 days for FedEx to ship it back to the Texas service center, then wait another 5 business days for it to be shipped back to me.

I was actually considering buying Burnout Paradise for 360 this weekend so that I might play with my good friend in Arizona. I will instead go with my original plan to pick it up on PS3. Judging by my track record with Microsoft, my 360 will die again sometime in April, and Microsoft will advise me it is no longer covered by warranty. This is simply how they seem to operate.

I will advise anyone to take time and consider their options when shopping for a next gen system these days. The 360 certainly has the better library, but you should pray to whatever gods you believe in that the thing actually lasts you more than 2 years.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I own 3 PSPs for various reasons. My slim PSP started acting up just after my 360 died the 2nd time. I contacted Sony, they sent me an empty box, and a new slim PSP was delivered to me today. I also, strangely enough, was able to speak to an American customer support rep at Sony, whereas even the supervisors at Microsoft had trouble pronouncing my name.

Microsoft gives folks a free 30 day subscription card to XBox Live to anyone with a busted 360. This simply makes it so I don't actually have to pay for the month of Xbox Live that I couldn't use because I had no xbox.
Microsoft's repair program is a joke, and I just want to make sure folks are aware of this.

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edit: FedEx managed to over-ride Microsoft and was able to re-route the shipment to my workplace, so it all worked out. I was tempted to take this down, but I'm still quite disappointed in Microsoft's handling of the situation over the past 2 months.
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