Well my Xbox 360 has been acting up for a few weeks now. Randomly freezing during games, giving me the 3 red rings, but it would eventually stop and I could play. But finally it simply would not boot up. So it was time to send this puppy back to Microsoft.
Below is the process that I went through updating as it happens:
1) There are two ways to get the return process started. One you can go to their website www.xbox.com and click on the “Repair Agent” link on the right hand site of the site.
Or simply call their toll-free number 1-800-4MY-XBOX. Hopefully you will get someone who speaks decent English. (The first time I called, I did not. And it was rather frustrating)
2) Be sure to have your consoles serial number ready. The customer service representative will first try and diagnose the problem and find a solution, but if you’re like me, there’s not one. So they’ll ask for your address so they can send you a box and a pre-paid UPS label.
3) The box containing the UPS label as well as some padding material to keep the Xbox 360 protected will arrive in about 3-5 business days. Also in the box will be instructions on exactly what to do. The customer service lady also recommended writing your console’s serial number on a piece of paper and taping it to the top of the console as well as written on the outside of the box.
4) In about a day or so your console should appear in your account on www.xbox.com along with the status of the repair.
5) updated: Nov. 7, 2007
The status of the Xbox 360 just changed on the website. So It looks like it’s coming back. The UPS site said the billing information was only received which usually indicates that the package will go out tonight when the truck comes to their location for their daily pickup.
BTW: The serial number is not the same as the same one that was on the Xbox 360 I sent in. I’m not sure if this means the system is brand new or if they just issue another serial number once it’s repaired. The manufacture warranty also is now extended online in “Manage your warranty status” to another year.
Final Update:
Received the Xbox back and have been using it for over 6 months without any problems. Overall it was a very smooth process. They even threw in a free month of Xbox Live!
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December 23rd, 2007 @ 9:36 am
Different s/n’s usually means you got someone else’s machine, so you didn’t have to wait for yours to be repaired and sent back; as soon as yours came in, you got the first available already-repaired unit. This speeds up turnaround time considerably. This is common practice in repairing high volumes of identical machines.
June 25th, 2008 @ 3:57 pm
Thanks for putting this process online. I was at work when my 14 y.o. son called me and told me about the Xbox 3 red ring issues. I found this site, sent it to him, had him print it out, and he was able to find the serial number, etc. so we can start moving on getting our unit fixed. Unfortunately, the MSFT site was kind of stinky on how to go about this process- your explanation is cleaner and much more understandable.
January 7th, 2009 @ 4:09 pm
Mine didnt go near as well. I sent it in but the game was stuck in it, it would not open. I got an all clear you console has been repaired and shipped, then when the Tracking numbered box finally arrived it was only the game. Its been 2 weeks more now and Ive called every other day or so and still nothing new. they dont know where it is, they dont know anything but they keep saying its been sent back(the game) so finally I said look on the invoice, it says 1 pound, the xbox was 7 pounds. I simply got the game. Ohh they said, well the computers are down so call back in 72 hours, or we dont have that info yet sir please call back give us 1-2 weeks to get back to you. etc. and YES I had some foreign people on the phone, some of which were ok and some were seriously completely not understandable. for instance I just got off the phone with a nice lady who I had to ask to repeat everything around 2-3 times and then just before I understood the sentence she would change what she was saying and we would start all over again. Furthermore, its due to MS shoddy equipment in the first place that they need repairs. Who ever heard of a gaming machine that runs the disk the entire time you play, they were asking for trouble, also for about .50 cents its been proven they could have avoided the most common 3 rings of death problem. so for 2 quarters they could have saved us all a lot of grief. I know a few people on their 3-4th xbox, what a crock of crap, you dont hear about any other gaming console in history performing so poorly. I do love the games I just wish they would have had a little bit of foresight. You see it was their original intent for the machines to break down rapidly so you would be forced to buy another, its only after MANY LAWSUITS that MS was forced to admit what they did and repair the faulty machines. Hell we have all been suffering with poor software for years from microshaft. Like Win2000, WinMe, and Win vista. All horrible OS force fed as the newest and best. Put XP on a system then put vista on the same system, you will have worse performance and slower everything with vista, people need like double the memory and processor speed just to run vista half way decent. I upgraded to vista and my machine acted like I installed the first windows and took out all my memory. Microsoft Sucks and just because you enjoyed being without your gaming system for a month doesnt make it right. Furthermore the 1 month free of live is for the 1 month you lost when the dang machine was gone so you basically got nothing but some other guys machine back and an inability to play games for a month…..
January 8th, 2009 @ 9:29 am
Sorry to hear you’re experience did not go well. No doubt in hind-sight a few things could have been done better by MS, but they released their first gen console well before Sony which is helping them now. It’s a tough business decision that I think was right.
August 15th, 2009 @ 8:49 pm
the process microsoft have for getting fixed is pretty good, it’s just dissapointing so many of them break so often. Between three of us in my house we have had 4 or 5 that have broke!
September 21st, 2009 @ 5:04 am
between me and my brother we have had over ten xbox 360 consoles
i have had to return 6 so far and my brother has had 4 replacements
1 of which came to us with a faulty disc tray
im currently packing my 7th console to be replaced
at this rate our £200 consoles have cost microsoft well in excess of £1000
if the poblem has been solved with the the elite why do they replace them with with a model they know will fail eventually to go through the send and retun routine again and again
January 28th, 2010 @ 11:45 am
I had this experience before, but it seems to be momentary… after 2 months, this simply disappeared. My experience with XBox is rather ok although there are a few of these glitches that takes the joy of game playing.