operation RROD

Update:

So, MI Digital promised that my console would be delivered last week. From about Tuesday, I followed up regularly with them on the progress, only to be confronted with a host of excuses, most blaming their courier company. I found myself wondering if they were using the Pony Express, and was quite surprised when the courier turned out to be Dawn Wing, a fairly reputable company. This lead me to conclude that the person at MI Digital was at fault, and not really the courier. Stall, stall, stall.

Anyway, on Thursday I read on Hello Peter that MID had run out of stock on the HDMI consoles. After the courier (shame on them, those dastardly couriers!) failed to deliver my console as promised on Thursday, I thought it prudent to drop MID a note to warn them that I had an HDMI console and that I could not accept a replacement that didn't have at least the same features as the one that was faulty. I got a mail back (IN ALL CAPS, NO LESS, I SWEAR IT'S TRUE) saying that they're checking the serial numbers and will get back to me. Of course, they didn't. The courier showed up late in the afternoon with a...

... wait for it...

... console without HDMI. I sent it back. I contacted Microsoft directly and told them to sort it out. MID phoned me back soon and they were very apologetic and concilliatory. They claimed that they were sending me the non-HDMI version to tie me over until the HDMI version arrives. Isn't that nice of them? What a burst of customer service sunshine in an otherwise dull and dreary tale of customer service hell-on-earth?

Status:

No console. The ETA for my HDMI console is tomorrow (Tuesday).
Lots of contact from MID. That might have something to do with the fact that I copy my Microsoft customer response management representative on every single mail that I send to them...

Juice
 
Yup - I've been waiting about 11 days so far.

Glad I took a chance and bought a new consoles instead of waiting for them. Now that I've heard your HDMI story though, I am a litte worried what I'll get
 
No reason for you to accept anything less than what you deserve. We're already forced to suffer sub-par service and hardware and you're entitled to a replacement that's as good or better than what you have...
 
My replacement console was also a non-HDMI version. Since my old Xbox wasn't either, I'm not sure I have a legitimate complaint with MiD, but I'm not entirely impressed. In all likelihood, I've landed another Xenon. I thought the whole point was getting a Falcon or Jasper.
 
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I am still waiting for mine from MID darn man, just phoned them today ...
Spoke to Thuli today, lolz don't know why she works there, told her my story asked what the progress is and she asked me to hold to I hold then she gets back and says please hold let me put you through, (through to where????) Then I wait some more and speak to Cindy, she told me she'll put me through to the correct person, I hold some more, and Sadia answer the phone like this ... : "what is your auth code" no hello or good day ... so i say well it's ******, she says please hold, then gets back to me and says the warranty claim has been authorised and put through to delivery company last week wednesday. MMM so I ask her so how long still or when can I expect it all. She says she doesn't know the courier company will let me know. mmmm. They'll call me in the next 2-4 working days, mmm is this right or what u guys get!!
 
I've been doing some reading, and apparently refurbished Xenons use the Opus mainboard (which has no HDMI output). It's a combination Falcon / Zephyr, essentially, with the newer 65nm CPU. There's an article detailing hardware revisions here.
 
Hey Pixel: I think it's about time for your Hello Peter post... :)

Thanks Az. It would appear that I used to be the proud owner of a Zephyr. 16.5A with HDMI. I'm surprised though, because judging by the time-lines, they started manufacturing Falcons in 2007/09 and my manufacturing date is 2007/10. I'll have to check my lot number, but it looks like I just missed it.

According to the site the RROD was a much bigger issue in the original Xenon, though the problem obviously didn't go away entirely. Microsoft never fully admitted to the problem and only extended the warranty to 3 years as a show of good faith to the community. They did claim later, at a press conference, that they had fixed the issues and that the failure rate had come down drastically. Some industrious web-site tested 1000 new XBOX consoles and got 164 of them to fail, after they were supposedly improved. Embarrassing, no?

Seeing as the Opus doesn't work for me, I guess they're either waiting for a refurbished Zephyr or Falcon. Maybe even a Jasper. But because the failure rates on those are allegedly a lot less than the old Xenon, they don't have quite as much stock of that than they do of the old Xenon. So if your recently manufactured console fails, you are in for an extended wait to have it replaced by a refurbished one. Which sucks. Because if you could just send the stupid thing in to Poland or wherever they fix them, it would take only 6 weeks.

Wake up Microsoft!! REVIEW YOUR RETURNS POLICY!!!

Juice
 
Juice said:
Hey Pixel: I think it's about time for your Hello Peter post... :)

Thanks Az. It would appear that I used to be the proud owner of a Zephyr. 16.5A with HDMI. I'm surprised though, because judging by the time-lines, they started manufacturing Falcons in 2007/09 and my manufacturing date is 2007/10. I'll have to check my lot number, but it looks like I just missed it.

According to the site the RROD was a much bigger issue in the original Xenon, though the problem obviously didn't go away entirely. Microsoft never fully admitted to the problem and only extended the warranty to 3 years as a show of good faith to the community. They did claim later, at a press conference, that they had fixed the issues and that the failure rate had come down drastically. Some industrious web-site tested 1000 new XBOX consoles and got 164 of them to fail, after they were supposedly improved. Embarrassing, no?

Seeing as the Opus doesn't work for me, I guess they're either waiting for a refurbished Zephyr or Falcon. Maybe even a Jasper. But because the failure rates on those are allegedly a lot less than the old Xenon, they don't have quite as much stock of that than they do of the old Xenon. So if your recently manufactured console fails, you are in for an extended wait to have it replaced by a refurbished one. Which sucks. Because if you could just send the stupid thing in to Poland or wherever they fix them, it would take only 6 weeks.

Wake up Microsoft!! REVIEW YOUR RETURNS POLICY!!!

Juice
Click to expand...

Microsoft replaces the board and the DVD-ROM and return it to the client after it's been sent in to their official repair centre most of the time.

It is less hassle as compared to doing actual repairs. They doing actual repairs less and less due to the time factor involved being the lazy people they are :D

Hence the fact that you get a refurb model with a swap-out.

I'll continue making a living by repairing consoles (360/PS3/Wii) as long as I have the patience :D
 
maestro_za said:
It is less hassle as compared to doing actual repairs. They doing actual repairs less and less due to the time factor involved being the lazy people they are :D

Hence the fact that you get a refurb model with a swap-out.
Click to expand...

The current swop-out/refurb policy will become less and less effective, I think, as the stock is swamped by Xenons and Opuses and the newer models start to fail. I know there are some people in SA who have had their consoles collected by UPS and shipped to Poland and 6 weeks later their own console was returned. This was all arranged by MS and supplanted the MID route. And as far as I am concerned, I'd prefer this route as a standard option rather than having to suffer under the uncertainty of MID servicing and the quality of the console you are getting back. It's like taking your car in for a service and getting another car back. You don't know where it's been and none of us would stand for it. No, I want to send MY console in to have it repaired, and returned once it is fixed. Either that, or give me a new console straight out of the box and throw mine in the trash. But the refurbishment policy has to go!

Juice
 
I've just chatted to see when my 'new' one is coming and mentioned some of you received a non-HDMI after handig in an HDMI. She said that was an error and they usually check serial number and give the same.

But - she says she has no stock of HDMI units right now :/ I must call again Friday ...
 
i called them today ... got the no stock till microsoft lets them know when new stock will arrive
I've spoken to Thuli, Sadia, Cindy, Gavin, Hailey, Bernice, Ruth, Will and Cindy..
No luck they say prob have some stock by 25th June 2009... OMFG...
 
Update: Got my replacement HDMI XBOX yesterday. A BIG thank you to the Customer Representative at Microsoft who facilitated the swop-out. If not for her, I would undoubtedly still be waiting on MI Digital.

Juice
 
Juice said:
Update: Got my replacement HDMI XBOX yesterday. A BIG thank you to the Customer Representative at Microsoft who facilitated the swop-out. If not for her, I would undoubtedly still be waiting on MI Digital.

Juice
Click to expand...

Is it new? It it refurbished? It is a Jasper? Does it smell like rooibos tea?

Well if I ever have problem I'll most definitely go the MS route en ignore Mi altogether.
 
sigh thought they were out of stock, I am still waiting on mine, will called them AGAIN on monday or perhaps we should rather call microsoft direct,,, if so any1 know what number, I am tired of waiting, besides guys do you get the same unit back or different mobo and do u get the same dvdrom coz i heard some dvdroms are more noisier than others my machine was not that loud as my friends noisy machine.. I also don't want no rooibos crap... oh yeah JUICE i have logged my moan on hellopeter, does it even help?
 
Do you realise that in the time you wait to have it repaired, you could have bought yourself a PS3? That's what I've done.
 
DarKWateR said:
Is it new? It it refurbished? It is a Jasper? Does it smell like rooibos tea?

Well if I ever have problem I'll most definitely go the MS route en ignore Mi altogether.
Click to expand...

I assume it's refurbished, but it had that 'new console' smell, so maybe I got lucky. The manufacturing date is pretty much the same as my old one though (2007/10) so I'd be surprised if it was new. And unfortunately, it's only a 16.5A Zephyr with HDMI ;)

I still had to work through MID, but I got an amazing response from them every time I copied my MS rep on the mails. And every time the thing went off the rails with broken promises, the MS rep would phone me to apologise and get everything back on track.

What I propose is that you log a complaint on Hello Peter and insist, come hell or high water, that you do not want to deal with MID directly, but that you'd rather deal with them through Microsoft.

Juice
 
PixelPusha said:
oh yeah JUICE i have logged my moan on hellopeter, does it even help?
Click to expand...

Yes, but don't let them get away with the "we'll get MID to give you a call" response. Insist on being contacted by Microsoft to facilitate the replacement through MID. Refuse to deal with MID directly. Keep logging posts until someone from MS phones you. What you can also try to make it go faster is to call the MS customer response management team directly and ask to speak to the people who reply to Hello Peter queries. Their 086 number is on the MS SA web-site somewhere. When you find it, won't you please post it here for other people to use as well?

Juice
 
Fudzy said:
Do you realise that in the time you wait to have it repaired, you could have bought yourself a PS3? That's what I've done.
Click to expand...

I'd love to, but unfortunately I have a substantial investment in the XBOX platform. A PS3 won't just cost me R5000. It will cost me to the tune of R20,000 to replace my XBOX platform entirely and that's just not an option. And to be honest, why should I have to? I picked the XBOX because it worked for me, and as a consumer I have a right to insist that it WORKS for me.

Juice
 
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