Microsoft launches US Xbox 360 service website

Amidst all of this not-exactly-forthright price cutting going on with the Xbox 360, it looks like Microsoft has finally launched a more organized method of detailing and tracking the process of sending your faulty US-based Xbox 360 back in for repair. Reportedly, the new web portal allows American console owners to register their machine, attach a Windows Live ID, schedule a repair, and track the status of said mending. Additionally, users who register will supposedly receive a five dollar credit towards out-of-warranty repair service should they need it, but considering that the warranty was just extended to three full years, you should be covered for a good while yet.

[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

[Eric @ Aug 6th 2007 1:26AM]

This isn't "new". Why does every blog seem to think that it is? It's been up for at least 1.5 - 2 months now, and I believe it actually launched in February.

[CharlieX @ Aug 6th 2007 1:30AM]

Whoopee. Well hopefully this means NOT having to spend about 45min on hold, have to talk to a English challenged CSR for 20 mintutes while they read their script and repeat everything you've said twice for verification, transfer you to their supervisor, and then get transfered back..... and then get told many times over how Microsoft appreciates your business...

but it still doesn't fix the 4-6 weeks wait from the time your 360 arrives in Texas until they can take 10 minutes to agree that it's broken and send you a refurb (which itself may be on it's last legs...)

[Michael BAutista @ Aug 6th 2007 1:35AM]

Well unfortunately I am not covered in the warranty because I'm the victim of 2 (1 purchased, 1 warranty replacement) 360 consoles that scratch my games, rendering them unplayable, just by having them in the disc drive. Apparently I need to have 3 Red Lights for them to even allow me to finish my explanation over the phone with the worthless drone from overseas. I guess I'll need to set my 360 on fire and trigger the 3 Red Lights, so I can get a new one and continue GIVING THEM MONEY FOR $60 GAMES.

[Andre @ Aug 6th 2007 1:44AM]

Actually, the 3 year warranty only covers the three red lights, and as such, this rebate may come in handier than many may think.

Xbox's customer service still sucks balls though.

[Alexander Pittman @ Aug 6th 2007 2:03AM]

I had no problem with their customer service. English speaking, told me I should send mine in, gave me all the info I needed. Box gone for 3 weeks.

[Zeus the God @ Aug 6th 2007 12:03PM]

Actually, I've had much better service from Xbox tech support than many others, including Sony. I've had to call Sony tech support many times with my PS2, and I've personally had longer hold times and worse service than with Xbox's, even when my PS2 was still in it's 90 day warranty (was getting the disk read error). I would try cleaning the laser with a laser eye cleaning disc, and even then, no luck. Was on my 4th PS2 that it finally stopped that non-sense... Really, there are worse services out there.

[Charles @ Aug 6th 2007 2:47PM]

Zeus your work in this thread is very impressive. Here we see you turning an article that is completely unrelated to Sony into an opportunity to attack Sony.

Further down you imply that the reason Noll’s Xbox 360 broke was because he didn’t take proper care of it, which seems a little unfair when Microsoft themselves have admitted the failures are a result of a design flaw.

Then, seeing a potential Xbox 360 sale in strider_mt2k, you have to do what you can to push him to buy one by pointing out that the 30% failure rate is overblown and it’s probably only 20-25%.

While I admire your dedication (one might even call it fanaticism) I just wanted to suggest that maybe, just maybe, there are more important things in life than Xbox 360 sales figures and than perhaps you don’t have to feel obliged to attack Sony your every word. Just a suggestion.

Anyway, I hope haven’t distracted you from your personal crusade for too long and I’ll let you get back to spreading the good name of Xbox 360. You seem to have missed belial20xx’s post in which he says the Xbox 360 is a crappy product so I’m sure you’ll want to get down to correcting this vile blasphemer immediately.

[Jypson @ Aug 6th 2007 2:09AM]

I imagine they were losing a fortune on customer service calls. Then again maybe not, I was on hold for a very long time to actually speak to someone. Anywho, I'm sure this *new* website will make things a lot less stressful when that time DOES come.

[I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Aug 6th 2007 2:40AM]

404: Xbox 360 service website not found.

[Mark @ Aug 6th 2007 3:36AM]

The site is only good for tracking your device once you send it in. I attempted to do the whole thing online and once you report your issue on the web site, they send you an email telling you to call the customer support phone number.

[belial20xx @ Aug 6th 2007 6:01AM]

Just tells you how crappy a product design the 360 really is. I have already sent one in and should get the 7th but now I have another that broke my gears of war an now wont read any games just cd music. The sad thing about the site it is not very informative as to the repair process and whats going on. one day you have your serial saying device received then the next thing you know you have a new serial and no way to track it. Microsoft really lead us 360 owners down the rma river with out a paddle and we are heading towards a vast ocean of unending refurbished units. Its a shame when you have a 400buck console fail within 3 months so you have to send it in but worse than that is you get back some ones old broke a$$ 360 ,thats most likely way older than yours, that they supposedly fixed to work again which is crap to begin with, like the crap they are selling.

[strider_mt2k @ Aug 6th 2007 7:38AM]

It kinda sucks too, because THIS is the system I would love to get, but the problems! OY!

It's a bummer, because MS does so well with PC peripherals.
(I know I know, not the same thing.)

I hope they get these bugs good and worked out, and soon.

[Zeus the God @ Aug 6th 2007 12:24PM]

Don't worry. If you buy a 360, the chances of getting a bad one are like, 20-25 percent (that 30 percent failure rate is bloated).

Go ahead; even if you do get a bad one, the customer service is great. A lot of people like to bitch and moan and exaggerate about it, but really, a week to 2 weeks is the longest it will be, and again, the chances of having to do that, are pretty slim...

[strider_mt2k @ Aug 6th 2007 3:06PM]

I think I'd rather buy a product I can trust a little more, but thanks anyway.

[Noll @ Aug 6th 2007 8:04AM]

Yeah... the tracking has been there at least two months and the scheduling of a repair has been there for at least three weeks (since I checked it regularly while mine was gone). I just used it Saturday to schedule a repair and it was painless compared to calling support. I got an email Sunday saying they shipped the empty box and it's on it's way, all direct from the site. Now only if the new one lasts more than three weeks...

[Zeus the God @ Aug 6th 2007 12:27PM]

Now if you would take care of it...

[belial20xx @ Aug 7th 2007 1:03AM]

Zues: you guy are obviously a complete moron I have 2 360s and both of them broke with no help from anyone 1 was due to multiple failures i.e video imperfections red ring of doom and ethernet port issues as well and the other wont read discs after 3 months old but I guess I treated it too rough by never moving it and keeping it on a top shelf with plenty of air movement to keep it cool. Oh the bad treatment claim you spout is total crap an false. Actually most peoples 360's break for no apparent reason due to manufacturing defects that microsucks ignored from the start just to jump the gun..... Do you honestly think its the customers causing these issues? Then why would microsucks set 1.15 billion aside for repairs then??? You need to see the whole picture fanboy, a 20-25% failure rate is still unacceptable were talkin a 1 out of 4 to 1 out 5 360 failure rate while most of the electronic industry has only a 3-5% failure rate. To me I can no longer recommend to any one to buy a 360 at least until the redesign the whole architecture to where its more reliable.

[belial20xx @ Aug 7th 2007 1:27AM]

Zues I will say the 360 has great games and if they got the design right from the get go the the 360 would be almost unbeatable. You see guy microsucks shot themselves in the foot. There are so many people I bet that really would like to get a 360 because the games are great but when they here of the inconceivable amount of 360's that fail I am betting they opt to either wait or to get a wii. I am not dogging the 360 as a gaming platform but what I am dogging is microsoft for dooming there own product due to shoddy engineering design. You need to open your eyes my friend a realize the the 360 is a peice of crap as far as reliability goes.. Nuff Said.....

[Greg @ Aug 6th 2007 9:24AM]

This has been online for a while as others have said, but it doesn't work that great. I sent my Xbox in about a month ago, and the status on the website was always behind. IE, the status showed "box shipped to customer" for a week after I know the had recieved the Xbox back from me. It never showed if they were repair or replacing. I assumed it got replaced when the serial number changed one day. But, it showed for a week that no repair was pending and then I got a email that said it was shipped.

Customer service has been pretty good for me. This is my second repair, and both times they were quick to relize that the box needed sent back. No run around turn it on, turn it off crap. Both guys were english speaking and fairly pleasant.

[Brandon Payton @ Aug 6th 2007 10:16AM]

I want to get an elite forreal. this makes me feel a lil better but im still on the fence

[Cameron @ Aug 6th 2007 1:43PM]

Dammit engadget, this isn't even news. News implies 'new' (see, its right there in the word), and this is neither. You should delete this post or at least put a date on it that's like 3 months ago!

[Jimmy Dean @ Aug 6th 2007 10:33PM]

When 360 first came out, I was pretty disappointed in it and didnt see a reason to buy it. I would rather wait for the PS3.

but upon numerous visits to my friends house, and playing his 360, I liked it. the games were fun, graphics were good, xbl was awesome. So i decided to buy it about 7 months ago.

I rented games all the time and played XBL a good amount and was truly enjoying my system.



until last week when the disc drive broke. I thought I was one of the lucky ones whose 360 did not break, guess not.

It was kept in a very well ventilated area and played about 2-3 times a week.



So i called MS and they would fix it. after waiting for 10 minutes and listening to the VERY annoying menus and stupid messages that I could not skip, I got to talk to someone.



They said my 360 was under warranty and they would fix it. So I thought great, I should receive the box in 2-3 days MAX and send it back.



I called today, 4 days after my first call, still no box. I ask where is it, the guy said it is on its way and scheduled delivery on Aug. 6. a full 7 days after my first call..



This is UNACCEPTABLE.

YOU ARE telling me that MS, the RICHEST COMPANY IN THE WORLD, cannot afford 2 day shipping or better yet overnight shipping. they are using the CHEAPEST, and LONGEST SHIPPING available. to this I find totally UNACCEPTABLE. and UPS, which is GARBAGE.

In reference: a DELL laptop I bought 2 years ago recently broke, it would not charge. I called Dell on Wed., they said there was a recall on this unit. I received a box the next day at Noon from DHL. I sent it back thurs.

on Fri. at 2 PM, my laptop was back all repaired and working great. IN 2 DAYS, you listening MS, 2 DAYS!



and this is coming from DELL, who isnt really known for thier cust. service. Before this experience I would not buy a DELL because of their service and becuase of the annoying charging problem I had, but after this I will DEFINITELY BE GETTING A DELL next time. O and I did not buy the extra warranty.



In the case of the 360, you got the RICHEST COMPANY in the world and they are saving pennies by screwing over thier customers with ridicolously long shipping times, repair times, and shoddy hardware.



It seems the average time of repair is about 1.5-2 months. that is UNACCEPTABLE AND I CAN guarantee a lot of people WILL NOT BUY ANOTHER MS SYSTEM next time. and I will be one of them.



I will be DEFINITELY getting a PS3 later on and will most likely sell my 360, due mainly to this experience.



I dont need to support any company who wishes to save $3 in shipping charges. Hope it was worth it MS.

[belial20xx @ Aug 7th 2007 1:19AM]

I feel you on that jimmy d. You would think that the turnaround would be quicker...me I have been in the rma process since day 1. First I had to get a new hard drive which they sent. But it seems it was my 360 that was at fault not the hdd. Now I have had my 360 in the rma process since April due to customer service incompetence.

[Cameron @ Aug 7th 2007 11:58AM]

Dammit Engadget, this isn't even news! News implies 'new' (see, its right in the word), and this is neither. You should delete this post so you don't make yourselves look dumb

[Nathan @ Aug 8th 2007 11:09AM]

I really wish that my xbox 360 wouldnt have broke on me the first two weeks I got it. It has put sooo much stress on me because I had to call Microsoft at least 4 times. One reason was because I didnt recieve my return stamp. The next time I go console shoping, I will know not to buy xbox products...that is if they dont fix the problem with the over heating and breaking crap.

[Phil Gross @ Aug 16th 2007 2:14PM]

I need the info on where to send my xbox 360 and what to send with it. I already paid for a repair and i just need to know what to send and where to send it.

[Brett Dailey @ Sep 7th 2007 12:51PM]

1.5-2 months? Where are you getting this from? I don't believe it. And where is the proof on 20-25% failure rate (some I've read 33%, and I had another person try to tell me they read 80%). This is all speculative, and from the people I know who have 360's...I'm the first to send mine in. I'm not sure, maybe my friends and I have had very good luck. I can't help but think Sony/Ninteno fanboys are trying to hurt MS where they can. Clearly there is an issue, but at what proportion? Yes, I agree there is a problem and IMO MS is trying to fix that.

I've read on countless sites, that other consoles (ie PS2) have had a very high failure rate coming out of the gate. Did Sony give a 3 year warranty extension for failure? I don't believe so.

I'll admit, my 360 incurred a problem a month ago. I'm not sure what happened, but I have three kids, and they were playing when a teenager went to open the disk-tray. All I know is that right afterward, I hear...the disk tray won't close. I'm not sure if it was broken by one of the kids, or simply incurred a problem at the time.

My 360 is played A LOT. I've not had any problems...it has excellent LIVE service, and a great list of games. Should a hardware failure occur, it does suck to wait to get the console back. But, they are giving back to the customers what we deserve (1 year/3 years - everything/RoD). As has been said many times before, the product is only as good as the warranty...and MS obviously believes in it, b/c they wouldn't warran

It did not take overly long to get through to customer service and get my box. I called on August 12th. I got the box the 15th/16th. I sent the unit out on the 20th of August. I have the tracking number, and expected delivery is 9/11. So, 22 days was the total from the day I sent it out, to the day I'm getting it back. If you wanted, you could add another 3-4 days to get me a box. We would all like faster service, I'll agree with you.

I'm not saying I'm happy w/ the speculated reports on error rates. I think any hoest person would agree that there is a problem. I just ponder on the reports being put out there.

Cheers

[Brett Dailey @ Sep 7th 2007 12:59PM]

BTW, I meant to address the www.service.xbox.com website. I didn't track my console at the beginning, but did earlier this week. I will note that my serial # was different on the webpage at the time, than the one I sent in.

I contacted tech support...got in w/n a few minutes (not a long wait at all), and they told me that they were replacing my console w/ a different one. I'm unsure if it's refurbished/new. I've read they used to send out refurbished ones, but w/ added problems w/ RoD, they send out new ones now. I'm not certain either way, but secretly hoping I get a HDMI enabled console when it arrives Tuesday.

Furthering my story...on the website, it changed from the 3rd/4th on the 6th. What I'm saying is that I had a new serial number on the 3rd/4th (as explained above). However, on the 6th, it said "waiting for console" or something, and a NEW serial number was on the site. I'm not sure, but in total that's 3 serial numbers I've seen (one I sent in, and two others provided from website). I know I called customer service. Again, it took only like 2-3 minutes to get through...English speaking everytime (could understand well, not sure if they were native Enlish speakers...I don't remember). Anyway, I asked customer service for tracking information. What they had on the website was not right??

So, you might use website w/ caution. Call 1-800-4MY-XBOX for questions you may have.