The Red Ring Of Death

How best to explain the gut-wrenching nausea that strikes all Xbox 360 owners when the RROD strikes? Well, imagine how you’d feel if you woke up to discover your loyal mutt, Fido, bludgeoned to death at the foot of your bed. Now multiply that horror tenfold. You’re still not close.

Today, my THIRD Xbox 360 conked out due to a ‘General Hardware Failure’, aka The Red Ring of Death. Every single 360 I’ve owned has succumbed to this fatal mechanical aneurism. That’s a one hundred percent failure rate. Totally unacceptable.

What’s most galling is how the gaming public have accepted this fundamental technical flaw as an inevitable part of purchasing a 360. The RROD isn’t a freak occurrence that plagues a few faulty consoles. It’s a statistical inevitability. If you own an Xbox you will, at some point, experience the Red Ring of Death. Exaggeration? Well, let me put this way. I know a hell of a lot of 360 owners and not one of them – not a single one of them – has been spared the sight of those flashing red lights.

Yes, the 360 has a three year warranty that covers this fault, but guess what? My Xbox is 3 years and 1 month old. No word of a lie. It’s like my Xbox was waiting for my warranty to expire before it decided to give up the ghost. I tweeted my dilemma in the hope of rousing a little sympathy from similarly effected gamers. Here’s a typical response:

“Quit moaning, you've done well for three years. It's a miracle it lasted that long to be honest.”

See what I mean? This problem is not only expected, it’s now ACCEPTED. Apparently, I’m ‘lucky’ that it lasted three years. It’s a ‘miracle’ in fact. How horribly resigned we’ve all become. A three year lifespan is simply unacceptable. Every single console I’ve owned since my very first NES still works. Except the 360, that is. And that’s broken down THREE TIMES.

What I’m telling you is nothing new. Like I’ve said, the RODD is an inevitable part of owning a 360. We’ve all heard the horror stories of people having to replace their Xbox a staggering five times. I’m just so very frustrated that there is nothing I can do about it. I have to bend over and let Microsoft shaft me a third time. The only alternative is to abandon my 360; not an attractive proposition considering the large volume of games I‘ve accumulated for it over the years.

I’ve decided to become one of those horrible assholes who phones customer services and insists on speaking to the manager. I’m pretty much going to demand that my Xbox is either replaced or repaired free of charge. I’ve already paid over £700 replacing faulty Xbox’s, and I’ll be damned if I pay a penny more. Here goes, I'm about to make that call...

Right, I’ve just finished my phone call to Xbox Customer Services. Despite my expired warranty I've been told that my 360 will be either replaced or repaired free of charge. Victory!

I'll admit, I'm pleasantly surprised. After speaking to a regular call centre guy and explaining my scenario, I was put through to a supervisor. There was no shouting, no tantrums. I was told in plain English that my console would be fixed with no additional expense incurred. They've even sorted me out with a month's free subscription to Xbox Live Gold.

I was advised to remove my 360's hardrive, place the console in a box and arrange a convenient time for it to be picked up from my home address. The courier service is part of the package and also free of charge. Sure, the 2/3 weeks I have to wait until my Xbox is returned is a bummer, but at least I'm not having to fork out any of my hard earned cash.

The only thing that concerns me is the 90 day warranty that my replaced/repaired console is subject to. If my Xbox experiences another mechanical failure after this time period I will have to pay for it to be repaired out of my own pocket.

Still, it appears that Microsoft is willing to appease disgruntled Xbox owners with minimal fuss. The quick and painless customer service I received is heartening. It doesn't excuse the 360's appalling failure rate but it certainly makes the whole sorry experience a little less exasperating.