Xbox 360 Gets Warranty Extension

Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Xbox 360

While the Playstation 3 and the Nintendo Wii both had one year warranties (15 months for the Wii when registered), the Xbox 360 had trailed with a mere 90 day warranty. Now, Microsoft has extended the warranty on all Xbox 360 consoles, past and present, to one full year. Those users who have had to have their consoles repaired in the past will qualify for reimbursement of those fees.

The early Xbox 360 consoles were somewhat notorious for their failure rate. While Microsoft initially downplayed this issue, eventually they owned up to the problems and offered free repairs and a warranty extension for those users. Some complaints on the Internet indicate there are still problems with some Xbox 360 consoles shipped.

Microsoft’s press release announces the warranty extension as a customer satisfaction measure. This may be in response to Xbox 360 issues, but also as a way to address implied reliability issues by the gap in warranty length compared to the other consoles. For whatever the reason, this a good thing for Xbox 360 owners.

The full press release continues after the jump.

• Tools:
• Permalink
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Facebook
• Comments (0)
• Email this story

Microsoft Extends Warranty For Early Xbox 360 Buyers

Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Xbox 360

A thread in the official Xbox forums indicates that Microsoft is officially extending the warranty of all Xbox 360 systems purchases before 01/01/06 to one year. They are also apparently reimbursing all Xbox 360 console owners that purchased their console within that time frame for any repair charges incurred as well. While no official word has been issued from Microsoft, numerous users from the Xbox.com and NeoGAF forums have apparently called and verified this information. According to the posts, gamers that wish to apply for a credit, or that wish to confirm the extension of their warranty can call 1-800-4MY-XBOX with their Xbox 360 serial number and date of manufacture. Some callers are reporting that a copy of the receipt is required; others are saying that this is not a requirement. Of course, one year from the date of manufacture doesn’t give a lot of time for those who purchased their consoles at launch. For those gamers who have had to send their consoles in for repairs; this seems like a good move on Microsoft’s part. This program would also seem to confirm that there were problems with the first couple of batches of Xbox 360’s built for the console launch.

Update: Dean Takahashi at Mercury News has confirmation here.

The full Microsoft statement:

As part of our standard and ongoing process of analyzing repair data, we recently noticed a higher than usual number of units coming in for repair. Upon further investigation, it was further discovered that the bulk of the units were isolated to a group that was part of the initial manufacturing run of the console. Returns for repair are coming in for a variety reasons and it’s a higher rate than we are satisfied with. We’ve made the decision to comp repairs for consoles manufactured before January 1, 2006, and provide refunds to the small group of customers who have already paid for repairs.

Read More | Xbox.com

• Tools:
• Permalink
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Facebook
• Comments (0)
• Email this story