The FastSilicon.com crew has been curious to know how many Xbox 360 units have been shipped back to Microsoft for repair. To get an idea, we recently went to our local UPS store to evaluate the situation. Several workers described a steady stream of Xboxes flowing through the store daily. Each day, the store processes between six and ten Xbox 360s. This does not include repaired boxes received for return delivery to the consumer. A local worker, who wished to remain anonymous, has been shipping these Xboxes since he has worked there. He described Microsoft customers who have come in with their 3rd, or even 4th, Xbox 360. This is not an uncommon occurrence. He has experienced more than a few tense and angry customers due to this unfortunate circumstance. No employee has worked there long enough for us to determine how long this has been happening, however, it became apparent that this has been going on  for quite some time.

The question becomes, why does Microsoft keep sending out the same defective Xbox? It may be refurbished and in working condition, but it is the same defective design that is going to fail for the same reason. Some users have gone through as many as seven Xboxes, with an average turn-around of three weeks. A few have even reported turn-around times of up to 10 weeks. Worse than that, Microsoft does not reimburse users for their Xbox Live subscription down-time beyond a month.

Microsoft needs to get their act together. How are customers going to react to the next Xbox? Microsoft already has trust issues with their customers. This will only serve to aggravate, or destroy, their already tenuous relationship with gamers. Product reliability should never be a coin toss. Hopefully, Microsoft will somehow push their 65nm Xbox sooner. The blow-back from the holiday season will be severe if the same issues extend beyond the coming year. Continued design flaws and poor customer service may open the door for either of the other competitors to step up.

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Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved.