Gamer Got Four Malfunctioning Xbox 360 Consoles

Not even the worst batters in the history of baseball is this unlucky because the most they’ll have is three strikes – this man got four. Yes, Chris Szarek, a 37-year-old photographer for a health care company, has returned his Xbox 360 a lot of times citing problems with it’s quality – he’s now on his fourth unit.

While his loyalty to the said console was made clear by the four chances he’s already given, he is admittedly annoyed at the hassles he had to go through. Microsoft has replaced his past units, but his patience is almost at its limits. “The quality of the product wasn’t there” he said.

He returned his first unit when it malfunctioned after flashing three red lights; the second one ( a refurbished console that had been returned by another gamer but certified as usable by Microsoft) has a disabled Xbox Live online game service, so he said goodbye to it too; third machine lasted for two months but went through the red light-flashing phase again; now his current unit thankfully is not getting any glitches – yet.

I’m sure all of us have experienced returning bought defective gadgets, tools, etc. and are aware of the whole irritating process. Imagine Szarek’s trouble with the machines he seeked to be replaced. His efforts had brought him in contact with MS’ big bosses such as Peter Moore, Larry “Major Nelson” Hyrb, and the big daddy of Microsoft, Bill Gates himself. While all have been apologetic and did somethinig to help him, ‘his unluckiness’ is still disappointed.

According to Szarek, the difficulties he had to endure “has inadvertently transformed me into a somewhat reluctant gamer’s rights advocate of sorts,” adding that he never wanted those things to happen to him and that he “just want what is right and what I’ve paid for. Who can fault me for that?”

True enough, he aired his grievances to a lot of online forums and even wrote letters to some members of the press. While some customers branded him as a ‘Sony fanboy’ and accused him of doing this to damage Microsoft’s reputation, a lot of heads turned toward him. Already, the console is experiencing lukewarm acceptance from other gaming markets such as Japan due to the perceived quality deficiency.

According to Microsoft, around 3 percent to 5 percent of the total sold consoles were returned by the consumers. With 1.75 million consoles sold as of March 31, that means at least 50,000 consumers have had problems. This may be a staggering number to us, but MS claims it’s normal. If this goes on, we might see this “rage against the machine” more and more.

Not even the worst batters in the history of baseball is this unlucky because the most they’ll have is three strikes – this man got four. Yes, Chris Szarek, a 37-year-old photographer for a health care company, has returned his Xbox 360 a lot of times citing problems with it’s quality – he’s now on his fourth unit.

While his loyalty to the said console was made clear by the four chances he’s already given, he is admittedly annoyed at the hassles he had to go through. Microsoft has replaced his past units, but his patience is almost at its limits. “The quality of the product wasn’t there” he said.

He returned his first unit when it malfunctioned after flashing three red lights; the second one ( a refurbished console that had been returned by another gamer but certified as usable by Microsoft) has a disabled Xbox Live online game service, so he said goodbye to it too; third machine lasted for two months but went through the red light-flashing phase again; now his current unit thankfully is not getting any glitches – yet.

I’m sure all of us have experienced returning bought defective gadgets, tools, etc. and are aware of the whole irritating process. Imagine Szarek’s trouble with the machines he seeked to be replaced. His efforts had brought him in contact with MS’ big bosses such as Peter Moore, Larry “Major Nelson” Hyrb, and the big daddy of Microsoft, Bill Gates himself. While all have been apologetic and did somethinig to help him, ‘his unluckiness’ is still disappointed.

According to Szarek, the difficulties he had to endure “has inadvertently transformed me into a somewhat reluctant gamer’s rights advocate of sorts,” adding that he never wanted those things to happen to him and that he “just want what is right and what I’ve paid for. Who can fault me for that?”

True enough, he aired his grievances to a lot of online forums and even wrote letters to some members of the press. While some customers branded him as a ‘Sony fanboy’ and accused him of doing this to damage Microsoft’s reputation, a lot of heads turned toward him. Already, the console is experiencing lukewarm acceptance from other gaming markets such as Japan due to the perceived quality deficiency.

According to Microsoft, around 3 percent to 5 percent of the total sold consoles were returned by the consumers. With 1.75 million consoles sold as of March 31, that means at least 50,000 consumers have had problems. This may be a staggering number to us, but MS claims it’s normal. If this goes on, we might see this “rage against the machine” more and more.