EB Games 1; Microsoft 0
April 9th 2007 03:54 pm
So my Xbox 360 has the Ring of Death now. I picked up Guitar Hero II on Thursday and got it home, unpacked, plugged in, and started rocking out, but the console locked up half way through the first song. Hmm. Alright, maybe there is an update on XBL. Plug in the network cable and start it back up again. No dice. Whatever. Start playing again. Locks up in the menus. WTF! Let it sit for a couple minutes. Play again and it locks up in the song again. Well This sucks. Hundred bucks for this game and now my Xbox is crapping out.
Try cranking the machine up once more, and it locks up in the song again. This time, however, it doesn’t come back. Red Ring of Death. Lovely. Emails with Microsoft ended with this:
“I understand that you want to check the status of the repair of your Xbox console. We deeply apologize for the inconvenience. But email support lines do not have the capabilities to process your request regarding to the status of your Xbox console.”
What?? I still have the Xbox. I’m trying to figure out if you guys know another way of fixing it or if I have to send it places. sigh My friend suggests I just call the EB Games where I bought it. Here’s the short, highly edited version of the conversation.
Me: Hi, I bought my Xbox 360 there and it’s broke
Them: When did you buy it and did you buy the extended warranty with it?
Me: September of last year, and yes I have the warranty.
Them: Bring it in and we’ll replace it.
Shapow! Point for them. How hard was that? So now when I leave work I’m going to go to EB Games and swap my Xbox and then I’ll be playing Guitar Hero II tonight. At least that’s the plan. 
About the author... Daniel Huckstep is a software engineer(ing student) at the University of Alberta. He enjoys all aspects of computers and their software, reptiles, guitar and music creation, reading, and macaroni salad. 
