What's the ethics of trading in a semi-broken 360?

mbstuff

mbstuff

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My Xbox 360 is dead, per post 774 of

http://cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91772&page=39


I decided not to take a hammer to it, but my desire to play the xbox 360 dropped into the negative territory. It's sad, since I have about 10 360 games I haven't touched (including COD 3 and Ultimate Alliance that I just bought last week from TRU). It's really odd to me that I'm reaching an age where I don't want to deal with this sort of BS to the point that I'll give up on a console that I loved up till the day it died on me.

Anyway, what's this thing worth? Premium, with 3 red rings (error code 0020).

Also, is my xbox live tied to my hard drive? Do I have to hold on to it in case I buy another one in a year or two, or can I get rid of the hard drive as well?

edit : I tried the towel method today (30-60 minutes) and it worked. What's the ethical ramifications of trading in a 360 knowing that it has a high chance of future failre (and failure soon)?
 
Why not just #1. see if it's under warranty still, or #2. pay to have it fixed? Even if MS wants $140 to fix it, that makes much more sense than taking a huge loss on selling it broken and rebuying it later at nearly the same price you originally paid.

Talk to a different rep.
 
It's 13 months old, so it's out of warranty (barely).

As for paying to get it fixed, I got so pissed off after talking to the rep that I don't foresee wanting to play it (though I suppose at some point I'll want to).

After reading about the discounts people were getting, I tell the rep that they're authorized to give me discounts. Then the rep says I will get those discounts when I send in for my 2nd and 3rd repairs. He didn't say those discounts are for special cases for unlucky people. He said that I will get those discounts when I send in for my 2nd and 3rd repairs.

So I asked him if he really was saying that I'll be sending in for 2nd and 3rd repairs. He stammers for a second, and then says I have nothing to worry about since I get another year's warranty.

I say to myself so what? I'd pay $140 if it fixed the box for good. But I'm not wasting my effort, even with additional warranty, if the rep is showing ZERO confidence in their product.

Then he offers to give me a 25% discount. He says he'll go check and puts me on hold for 2 minutes. Then he comes back and says he can't do it, but don't worry, the shipping is free.

I push down my rising anger and politely tell him no thanks. He gives me a case number.

It's either complain to the BBB or don't bother with the 360 anymore. I don't think I care enough to complain to the BBB anymore. Enough games to play without having to deal with shitty service and workmanship.
 
Use the wrapped towel technique before the person you sell it to does.
 
[quote name='mbstuff']It's 13 months old, so it's out of warranty (barely).

As for paying to get it fixed, I got so pissed off after talking to the rep that I don't foresee wanting to play it (though I suppose at some point I'll want to).

After reading about the discounts people were getting, I tell the rep that they're authorized to give me discounts. Then the rep says I will get those discounts when I send in for my 2nd and 3rd repairs. He didn't say those discounts are for special cases for unlucky people. He said that I will get those discounts when I send in for my 2nd and 3rd repairs.

So I asked him if he really was saying that I'll be sending in for 2nd and 3rd repairs. He stammers for a second, and then says I have nothing to worry about since I get another year's warranty.

I say to myself so what? I'd pay $140 if it fixed the box for good. But I'm not wasting my effort, even with additional warranty, if the rep is showing ZERO confidence in their product.

Then he offers to give me a 25% discount. He says he'll go check and puts me on hold for 2 minutes. Then he comes back and says he can't do it, but don't worry, the shipping is free.

I push down my rising anger and politely tell him no thanks. He gives me a case number.

It's either complain to the BBB or don't bother with the 360 anymore. I don't think I care enough to complain to the BBB anymore. Enough games to play without having to deal with shitty service and workmanship.[/quote]

Just from a standpoint of selling it, I gotta believe that you would get more for it if you were selling it fixed (net of repair costs of course). Do a search of completed auctions on ebay. That will at least let you know whether its worth the hassle or not.
 
[quote name='mbstuff']He didn't say those discounts are for special cases for unlucky people. He said that I will get those discounts when I send in for my 2nd and 3rd repairs.[/QUOTE]
It's funny how a broken 360 isn't considered a "special" case, nor is the owner considered "unlucky"... just stupid, maybe, for buying such a crappy faulty POS poorly built product.

I think the only "special case" with 360's is the ones that fucking work.


I assume you could sell it for about $50. If you repaired it first you could sell it for $200 or more.
 
Use the towel trick and trade it in for $250 at GS/EB for an Elite. If they check it and it comes up with the 3 red lights, go home, do the towel trick again and go to a different store and try again.
 
[quote name='life.exe']Use the towel trick and trade it in for $250 at GS/EB for an Elite. If they check it and it comes up with the 3 red lights, go home, do the towel trick again and go to a different store and try again.[/QUOTE]
correction trade to gamecrazy for $275
 
[quote name='allout1986']A buddy of mine just used the towel trick and it worked for him. Who would have thought to wrap towels around the system...[/quote]
You do know what the purpose of doing that is....dont you?
 
I tried the towel method (for somewhere between 30 and 60 minutes) and it worked.

Hope it lasts a couple weeks for me to open and play COD 3 and ultimate alliance before I take it to EB


What's the ethical implication of trading this in knowing it's gonna fail at some point again soon
 
[quote name='mbstuff']I tried the towel method (for somewhere between 30 and 60 minutes) and it worked.

Hope it lasts a couple weeks for me to open and play COD 3 and ultimate alliance before I take it to EB


What's the ethical implication of trading this in knowing it's gonna fail at some point again soon[/quote]

Lets put it this way: the rest of the 360s at EB are broken too.
 
[quote name='mbstuff']What's the ethical implication of trading this in knowing it's gonna fail at some point again soon[/QUOTE]

The "ethical implications" are:

* You feel bad
* You don't give a shit

Choose one.
 
[quote name='mbstuff']I tried the towel method (for somewhere between 30 and 60 minutes) and it worked.

Hope it lasts a couple weeks for me to open and play COD 3 and ultimate alliance before I take it to EB


What's the ethical implication of trading this in knowing it's gonna fail at some point again soon[/quote]

That's something you're going to have to decide for yourself bub.
 
Either
- You feel bad cause you just sold some 10 year old kid who's been saving up 2 years of birthday money and working extra hard around the house to buy a 360, eventually causing him to cry and possibly scaring for life on the child due to such a traumatic event.

OR

- You don't care and would sooner have an extra 50 or so bucks.

Pick one!
 
I could take advantage of something like the towel trick because I got mine from MC and their warrenty issues a $400 gift card so I could get a new one (I only payed $200 for mine in that MC Xmas deal though). I'm kind too lazy to get the elite though because I don't want to deal with the stupid color change even though I hate white with a passion.
 
[quote name='VipFREAK']I could take advantage of something like the towel trick because I got mine from MC and their warrenty issues a $400 gift card so I could get a new one (I only payed $200 for mine in that MC Xmas deal though). I'm kind too lazy to get the elite though because I don't want to deal with the stupid color change even though I hate white with a passion.[/QUOTE]

What does that even mean?!
 
[quote name='mbstuff']What's the ethical implication of trading this in knowing it's gonna fail at some point again soon[/quote]

Isn't it obvious?
 
No ... why exactly is it supposed to work? I've seen some speculation about it causing "parts" to expand" by making the system hot, but has anyone figured out which parts are the problem and what the heat is doing to them?


[quote name='life.exe']You do know what the purpose of doing that is....dont you?[/quote]
 
well... it lasted all of 4 days and maybe 4 hours of playtime until the red rings came back.

Where's the class-action lawsuit for selling pieces of craps that run hot enough to burn a house down?
 
[quote name='mbstuff']Where's the class-action lawsuit for selling pieces of craps that run hot enough to burn a house down?[/quote]

Where are the people with broken systems banding together as best they can, creating a backlash website akin to PaypalSucks or whatnot, and disseminating information about how to send well-written snail mail complaints and notices to anyone who might listen?

For example, let's start with newspapers that have a Technology or Business section, move onto local news broadcasters who happen to have a public opinion/consumer watchdog part of their broadcast (One example is Arnold Diaz in the NYC/LI area), start sending massive letters and info to larger news organizations (CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, Dateline, etc.), that sort of thing. Get it into the public consciousness rather than "there's no problem, just keep buying!"


The only problem is that what will we potentially gain from this? Even after the many years of the PS2 class-action and resulting verdict the best result is the same thing that MS already has in place right now, where they pay for a complete repair and also pay for shipping...granted that you have a receipt (and bought the system before a certain point in time). At least you would bring the issue to the forefront rather than leaving it by the wayside (which I'm surprised Sony was able to do on both the PS1 and PS2 without too much of a problem).
 
[quote name='mbstuff']Where's the class-action lawsuit for selling pieces of craps that run hot enough to burn a house down?[/QUOTE]

Ask the people who ran their 360 for an hour wrapped in a towel. :)
 
I'd not worry about trading it to EBstop, even if someone else buys it and it fails they can take it back and get another, so in the end EBstop will absorb the cost not some unsuspecting customer.
 
[quote name='benjamouth']I'd not worry about trading it to EBstop, even if someone else buys it and it fails they can take it back and get another, so in the end EBstop will absorb the cost not some unsuspecting customer.[/QUOTE]
some EB/GS will only check to make sure it comes on or maybe play it for about 30 mins so if you can get past that I would do it. At game crazy the used systems come with a 90 day service contract so if anything happens we would replace it I have never seen a used 360 last all 90 days, even if we test it all day.
 
[quote name='deathweasel']Does the towel trick void the warranty?[/QUOTE]

I don't believe they can prove you did it, unless there's an indicator in there on how hot the system gets. But even then, it's impossible to prove overheating wasn't a defect in the first place.

But this begs the question... if your Xbox is throwing errors and you still have a warranty, why are you trying to fix it yourself?
 
Well, in the wait for the coffin to arrive so I can ship it off, I received a new game for a trade, and I really want to stinkin' play it. Plus, I don't want to get rusty at GH II.

Anyway, I read since my last post that the towel trick melts a certain part or something inside of the 360 that would void the warranty because MS knows of this little trick and what it does. Anyone have any idea to the validity of this claim?
 
[quote name='siamesellama']I don't believe they can prove you did it, unless there's an indicator in there on how hot the system gets. But even then, it's impossible to prove overheating wasn't a defect in the first place.

But this begs the question... if your Xbox is throwing errors and you still have a warranty, why are you trying to fix it yourself?[/quote]

Whoa whoa whoa...

What is the story behind that avatar of yours?
 
[quote name='deathweasel']Well, in the wait for the coffin to arrive so I can ship it off, I received a new game for a trade, and I really want to stinkin' play it. Plus, I don't want to get rusty at GH II.

Anyway, I read since my last post that the towel trick melts a certain part or something inside of the 360 that would void the warranty because MS knows of this little trick and what it does. Anyone have any idea to the validity of this claim?[/QUOTE]

I find this very hard to believe the system is freaking hot already. I do believe they may see an indication of how hot it got...there has to be a digital temp reading somewhere.
 
I know I had the three lights when I first got my 360. I was able to link it to the HDD (took it out and it booted fine). I ended up going to Target and buying one, swapping mine, the taking it back saying it didn't work. I know it's a bit decieving, but MS wanted me to ship it to them (this was a NEW system BTW) and wait 4 - 6 weeks to get a working HDD.

Try taking the drive off and see if that does anything for you.
 
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