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Best Buy Will No Longer Cover RRoD


DestroyThineslf
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So, I purchased my Elite from Best Buy under a year ago, and my Xbox finally bit the big one...Red Ring of Death. Luckily, I purchased the extended warranty for it.

 

I take my console in to the store and usually they just give you a new one, but the returns girl was very hesitant to return it and had to call her supervisor.

 

They then explained to me that their new extended service plans were NOT going to cover the "Red Ring of Lights" anymore and that she was going to exchange it for me this "one time". Which is complete BS, since I purchased the warranty a year ago and still have another year of coverage left...

 

Anyway, if anyone here plans to buy a console from BB in the future, just make sure you take all the precautions you can to avoid getting the dreaded ring.

I mean dont get me wrong, I love my xbox but it just seems to me that as consumers we're just getting the shit end of the stick. First from MS, then from retailers that dont want to keep taking losses due to sub-par components in $500 pieces of hardware. I mean, no more coverage for the RRoD? From what I've seen, esp. on this forum, thats the main cause of xbox deaths. How sad that its even possible to burn thru 4 or more of the same console.

 

Ahem. Please excuse the mini-rant.

 

Also, on a side note, I live in southern CA, and while trying to return my Elite, 2 of the stores I went to had none in stock and none on order. One of the guys there said something about a new model replacing the elite?

Hopefully the guys at MS are working on a fix to these problems and not just a bigger hard drive.

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Don't use the store warranty, it's a waste of money anyway. Microsoft will repair/replace it for up to 3 years if the RROD happens. Simply register your system online. If you bought it at a major retailer such as Best Buy, the serial number would have been recorded with Microsoft at the time of purchase. Sure, you'll be without your system for a time while it's being repaired, but they'll pay freight for warranty service, you'll get to keep your HDD allowing you to retain all your saved game date, and they give you a month of XBOX live gold to compensate for your inconvenience.

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What about if you get the RRoD, then after a few restarts it seems to work just fine. Should I do nothing and hope for the best, or will it be covered under the repair warranty even though it is working at the moment?

 

/Domantos

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What about if you get the RRoD, then after a few restarts it seems to work just fine. Should I do nothing and hope for the best, or will it be covered under the repair warranty even though it is working at the moment?

 

/Domantos

 

Are you close to 3 years? I'd say send it in if it's getting close to the end of the warranty, since the problem's likely to get worse.

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It's about a year and a half. And I've had the RRoD appear twice, with almost half a year in between the two times. But so far it has continued working after a 'reset', meaning I've unplugged the power and held the power-button in for about 20 seconds, then connected it to mains again.

 

/Domantos

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It's about a year and a half. And I've had the RRoD appear twice, with almost half a year in between the two times. But so far it has continued working after a 'reset', meaning I've unplugged the power and held the power-button in for about 20 seconds, then connected it to mains again.

 

/Domantos

Then there's probably no rush, then.

 

Out of curiosity, are there any different warranty policies in Europe than there are in the US? You may want to verify that the 3 year RROD warranty applies to you.

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If you have already purchased the warranty they cannot refuse your exchange. Read over the fine print in your warranty, if there is nothing in it that says that they will not cover RROD then they have to exchange it. I personally didn't get mine from Best Buy, but if I did and they tried to do this, I would sue them for breach of contract. Don't take that shit from them, they must replace it if your warranty doesn't have a RROD clause in it. People can't just change policies on the fly like that, if they could they could screw anybody they want to. Read your warranties so you know what you can and cannot due

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When I bought my 360 at Best Buy in May 2008, they had the replacement warranty. Around September/October 2008 they changed it to the black tie/geek whatever warranty. They'll still honor my warranty till it runs out but won't let me get it again, only the new one.

 

The main differences are the replacement one they would replace the console right there with a new one off the floor. The new warranty makes it so the store looks at it, if they can't fix than they send it to MS, and if they can't fix it than you get a new one from the store. Aka, it's a waste of money now.

 

So before it was awesome to have but now it's the same as MS so don't bother.

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Up until this apparently new change in policy, Best Buy was the best place to buy your system with warranty. You could walk in with a broken console and leave with a new one, no questions asked. No hassles talking with idiots on the phone, shipping your box out, and having to wait 1 week+ for your box back (I say one week because all three times I've sent it in, it was a one week wait).

 

That said, I'd love to hear your reasoning for your statement Pure Efficiency. I realise it's possible that you had a very bad experience with them, but I'm thinking more along the lines of you hating them on "principle" or because someone else does, a la most Bush haters.

 

TC, it's more than likely BB (either in general or that particular store) are getting tired of doing the exchanges. I dunno why they would, they're still making money from warranties sold and don't lose money on the console (BB then exchanges the broken system you gave them for another one from M$) but under the old warranty you're covered- I'm glad they didn't screw you. It's more than likely just BS though

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In my experience, Best Buy doesn't even check the console for RRoD. Maybe it's just because I'm friends with two of the Customer Service managers, but as recently as a month ago, I've walked in there, told them I had RRoD, and got a new one. Even if they did suddenly stop covering RRoD, if you bought the plan when they did, they can't just change the terms like that.

 

And anyone saying those plans are a ripoff are just misinformed. For example, my laptop has had two new motherboards, a new power system, three new charging cables, a new screen, and a new disk drive. The cost of all of that was 2.5 times what I paid for the laptop, and I got it all for free thanks to my Protection Plan.

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Each product is handled differently on the extended warranties. Some are worth it and others aren't. Even thou BB does not offer the replacement warranty anymore, at least my store, I would still recommend buying from them. I've not had to use my relacement warranty yet and it's got 11 months left so I hope if it will burn out then it best do it in the next 11 months! And no, I'm not going to do anything to it to make it die.

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On the subject of RRoD, I really think people should start taking a little bit of the responsibility for themselves. Overheating is usually caused from improper ventilating and playing it TOO much. But considering you have an Elite, it must of just been a spur of the moment thing.

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