Update (my apologies for the length...MS drives me crazy
):
I received my Black Friday Xbox One this past Friday, and it WAS a Day One Edition. Unfortunately, I got a system with a bad disc drive.
It makes the infamous grinding noise whenever a disc is inserted into the machine (the same noise that people on
YouTube also have).
Discs won't load at all, but the hard drive works. I spent almost two hours in online chat with MS on Saturday only to be told to call the support hotline. The chat rep suggested that it might be the system needing its apps uninstalled and re-installed.
Yes, because a machine fresh out of the box making a GRINDING noise will be fixed with a simple system reboot and app reinstallation. /sarcasm
I was given a reference number from the chat and the toll-free number for phone support. I called them later Saturday afternoon and had a 13-minute phone conversation with a guy that seriously made me question my intelligence. First, I had to give him my gamertag (why, I don't know when the cell I called him from is already tied to my XBL account), then I had to confirm a security code from a text message. After that, I asked about the standard repair service (MS sends me a shipping label, I send them my console and wait 2-3 weeks for a fixed box).
The support rep told me that there was only one option for console fixes: the Advanced Exchange option. I believe it was discussed some pages back, but basically: MS will send you another console in 3 business days, but they put a $500 hold on your credit card until the defective unit is returned to them. That makes sense, but Mr. Rep here must be out of the loop on his company's own info.
http://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/warranties-and-repair/repair-process
^ step #5:
- "While creating your repair, you have two options to get your product repaired, Standard Repair and Advanced Exchange.
If you choose Standard Repair, Microsoft will provide you a shipping label to send your non-working console to the service center where it will be repaired and then shipped back to you.
If you choose Advanced Exchange, Microsoft will send you a replacement console first. Once you receive the replacement console, you send back the non-working console
."
Again, Mr. Rep claimed that the Advanced Exchange was the only option. Now, before calling support, I took the time to register the system and fill out the repair form on the xbox.com website. I got hit with a page error every time I tried to complete the repair info. Online chat, messages to XBL friends and the system warranty registration all went through just fine. But this one page was not working for me.
After I declined the "only option," he informed me that I would have to log in to the myservice.xbox.com site to fill out a repair form. I quickly told him that I had tried that multiple times throughout the day and I received an error on the page. He asked "what device are you using?" and I told him "a Macbook Pro." Seconds later, I got some unnecessary ignorance "oh, sir, people have reported problems with our website when using Apple products. Do you have any access to a Windows computer?"
Really? :???: So the Apple computer that worked perfectly well enough to chat with support, register a system AND is the machine I've been solely using when I access xbox.com now isn't good enough?
I simply replied "no, this is my only device." I then asked if there was a way that he could just complete the form for me over the phone. His response: "well, I can set you up with the Advanced Exchange on my end, but it'll be a $550 hold on your credit card along with a $20 service fee."
My patience was wearing thin. "A $20 service fee?! For what?"
"Oh, that's just our policy."
"What policy? You already have my information."
He basically tried to sound sympathetic while attempting to nickel and dime me with that b.s. "$20 service fee" on top of playing dumb about the $500 hold not TECHNICALLY appearing on my card. I know my bank, and believe me, the second MS puts a "hold" on my card, it'll bump my balance in the negative, and the bank'll hit me up with an overdraft fee (because it's the holidays and I'm broke like everyone else...where the hell do they think I can just pull $500 from?
). After some skeezy sympathy, he told me to fill out the repair form on another device, and that was it.
The page STILL didn't work, and a quick switch to the rarely-used Windows 7 side of my computer left me with the same "error" page in Internet Explorer.
So, I let off some steam by playing some Killer Instinct with a friend later that night, left the Xbox One in a box all day Sunday and FINALLY got the repair page to load properly this morning. I opted for the Standard Repair (the one that allegedly didn't exist) and sent the system back by Fedex a few hours ago.
Hopefully, I'll get it back in January problem-free. And I am aware of a program where MS is offering a free launch game to people with bad disc drives (Forza 5, Ryse, Dead Rising 3 or Zoo Tycoon). Some people said that it was only for those who chose the Advanced Exchange. Well, MS had better make an "exception" for me come January. Nothing that MS said in it's "statements" about the issue said otherwise.
I understand that machines don't always work. But the level of STUPID that I had to put up with Saturday is ridiculous. We all already knew the magnitude of RROD from last generation. And after the "always online" debacle, now with this disc drive b.s., have they REALLY not learned anything? I mean, it's not like it's launch week. They've had FOUR WEEKS to be aware of this problem. I should not have to deal with clueless people telling me that a GRINDING noise is from an app.
Or that there's only "one option" when multiple people and even MS's OWN WEBSITE says otherwise. And I DEFINITELY should not have to deal with being "charged" for a phone repair order because the Xbox website isn't working.
Error stuff aside, I'm pretty underwhelmed by Xbox One altogether. I didn't have the highest expectations, but what I paid for the Dew and Doritos is about what I would've paid for an Xbone anyway. :lol: The UI is terrible, Kinect is...serviceable but unneeded, and the game selection is laughable at best (but I knew that already) Up-ressed versions of games I never play annually anyway--COD, Battlefield, Madden, Fifa, ect., and ACIV is the only one I MIGHT buy...after a Ubi sale, of course (I still have Brotherhood, Revelations and AC3 to play through anyway). Imagine if Titanfall had been a launch title
o.
I never had any interest in the TV stuff, so that's all wasted on me. I really just wanted a spare blu-ray drive, to be able to keep up with friends who "went to the other side" and play some Forza 5. MS has a LOT left to do with that system before I even consider making it my permanent machine (fixing the party system and adding proper system memory management is a start). Xbox 360 will keep me occupied for quite a while.
It it ain't broke, MS...
is the code only in Cool Ranch bags? That's so stupid, but I fell for it and shouldv'e looked closer.
