Reader Jeff writes in with yet another tale of Xbox woe: After sending in his third Xbox 360 for a third Red Ring of Death, he was surprised to receive a package from Microsoft only seven days later. “I figured Microsoft was so efficient and concerned about their loyal customers that the quickly delivered me another 360,” says Jeff. That’s not what happened.
Instead of repairing or replacing his console, Microsoft sent Jeff a letter informing him that his console was not repaired because it had been tampered with. Jeff called Xbox customer support and was told that his tampering had voided his limited and extended warranties, and that a supervisor wouldn’t be available to speak with him for at least a few days. In the meantime, Jeff took his Xbox to a friend who runs a video game store. The friend showed Jeff how Xbox checks for tampering by removing the faceplate and inspecting the holographic “Microsoft” sticker; if the sticker is removed, the word “VOID” appears. Jeff’s friend also told him that his store would buy back Jeff’s console, meaning that in their assessment, the seal had not been broken. Here’s a picture of the sticker in question:
A little smudged, but obviously intact. Jeff talked to a higher-up CSR using the executive customer service number that we posted, but it was no use: “It was his impression that I tampered with the Xbox due to the smudged seal . . . I was also told by him that if I didn’t do then someone I know did. (Yeah, probably my wife or 14 month old daughter- they are big into ‘modding’).” If Jeff purchased his Xbox with a credit card, he might try initiating a chargeback or using his card’s buyer protection program, but the sadder issue remains: “I was an unabashed Microsoft supporter. I have no interest in “modding,” don’t know how to “mod” and don’t care find out. I didn’t even know that seal existed before my buddy showed me. All in all, I am out almost $600 on a broken seven month old Elite (which I bought brand new in a sealed box). Their crappy product fails and I get blamed for it.” 
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@LJKelley:
I did NOT remove ther serial number sticker. That sticker is not nearly as durable as the holographic one, anyway. I have no idea why the sticker is gone. The reason MS denied the fix is because of the holographic label anyway (Per Wali, Escalated Customer Service), it has nothing to do with the other sticker. The holographic one is “industrially glued” to the console. Heck, it is probably the most durable feature of the 360.
Oh, the Elite was $479 when I bought it. Plus, the roughly $60 extended warranty from MS I purchased puts me out ~$550 for this one console.
It also would be extremely foolish of me to buy the extended warranty if I were to try and “fix” the machine by myself or try to modify it in anyway. Neither of which I could do, nor would want to. The other times I have dealt with MS re: broken consoles the have been decent to deal with. I thought this would be a similar experience.
@LJKelley: LOL, the sticker that is gone has absolutely nothing to do with voiding the warranty of the product. Idiot.
@world-inferno: I stand corrected. Oh, wait.. I never said it would never red ring! It’s simply less likely. The old 95nm CPU and GPUs have a very high chance of RROD. (100% of the people I know iwth 95s have had a RROD). The Elite’s USUALLY have the new heatsink and 65nm CPU so they are a little cooler.
But as Baukie said, the serial was tampered with, so I guess I would agree he’s sol. OP, was serial removed for the photo or before shipped to M$?
@mrkniceguy:
I have no idea when the sticker was removed, but as previously mentioned, that has nothing to do with it. That sticker is above where you plug the usb’s into, hence all the scratches around it. The usb’s are used frequently for plug and play charges, charges for my wireless headset and the wired controllers I use.
@BlackWolf2000: Dude, that sucks. You got shafted. I hope Microsoft resolves the issue for you. A chargeback is in order if not. I would encourage you to keep at it. I got screwed over with the DRM issue after sending mine in for a RRoD and took a couple of phone calls and about 2 weeks but they did fix it for me. Good luck!
So if I get a broken 360 on ebay for dirt cheap and pry the serial number off, I can pretend it’s actually the one I purchased a few months ago that’s still under warranty?
Just kidding.
@parad0x360: If you buy a MS Wireless adapter, add $100 to the cost of the Elite, plus any other accessories and bam, you’re there in no time. Maybe he’s figuring those costs in as well?
I wonder how the quality of the Wii is?
We bought my son a new laptop a few months ago, he came home from school a few weeks ago and had to do a report, the trial version of Microsoft Office had expired. Normally we would have gone down to the local office supply store and bought him the new copy. *HE* stopped me, reminded me about his X-box and the RROD. “Dad, we are going to give more money to Microsoft?”
) Too bad he won’t be sharing his Xbox with HIS kids!
We had no problem when he had to send his in to be repaired, but now he doesn’t want to play it on ot days for fear it will blow. Microsoft is handling this entire thing wrong. I never had a problem except the usual cursing of MS and large corporations, but this is straight out robbery. They fucked up, they make my kid afraid to play his game system and they make you feel afraid to call for a repair. Afraid they will deny it or treat you like a thief. What’s going to happen when this extended warantee period ends and ALL of the XBOX 360 start shutting down? Lawsuits are number 1, ton’s of lost customers is number 2. If it hadn’t been for the XBOX, MS would have gotten another couple hundred bucks from me this week on software, instead my son used some free downloadable word processor.
BTW, when we sent his XBOX in for repair, I pulled out my old Sega Genesis and N64, I’ve had these since I was a teen (now married with a 16 year old son!). Me and my son had a blast playing the old games! He never knew that the old man could play video games. hehe. We’ve pulled them out a few times since, on hot days when he can’t use his XBOX and even blew out the Cartridges a few times (had to explain why
Microsoft is acting like they are doing us a favor by extending the warantees, boy is it going to cost them. A Lot more than replacing their faulty crap. The only reason we are using them now, because we paid for them and they still run most of the time. When the warantees are up, XBOX DIES. That’s why we rent games instead of purchasing them. We won’t be getting another, EVER! They could have saved themselves by putting out the cash and replacing them, it would have paid off in the end.
I can relate to this as I have had a eerily similar experience: I sent my Xbox360 in for repairs due to the RROD. The BRAND NEW (according to the manufacture date sticker on the replacement console, it was manufactured on the same day that my original console was received by Microsoft for repair) console that was sent to me in return was smashed as if someone threw it down onto the concrete and put it in the box. It must have happened outside of the shipping box for two reasons: 1) the little trap door that hides the two front USB connections was not on the console or in the box and 2) the shipping box was pristine. After much back and forth with Microsoft, they determined that I had tampered with the new Xbox360 console because of two very small pry marks on the back of the console where the top and bottom meet. I couldn’t stress to anyone at Microsoft enough that I had nothing to do with those pry marks. I even drafted a 4 page letter detailing my experience and sent it to Don Mattrick and Robert Bach at Microsoft. I never received a response. I later filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau from which nothing positive came. I finally just kind of stopped pursuing anything, which is exactly what Microsoft wanted me to do… It’s a damn shame.
@SuffolkHouse: uh, maybe “for your wife” and not “from”?
“You’re friends probably did this.” So you’ve never called the cops after you’ve gotten robbed in a city where the police don’t care? Why are you still bothering them and not just submitting to their authority?
Why hasn’t anyone taken Microsoft to small claims court and asked for a full refund of their hardware and software? Microsoft clearly admitted fault by extending the original warranty as a “courtesy.”
My money is that the sticker was improperly placed by Microsoft when they refurbished/repaired this console. I assume that someone at MS cracks open RROD’d X-Boxen to repair them, which would break the original warranty seal. What I’m guessing happened is the last guy to do this didn’t put the new sticker on right, or accidentally touched the sticky side when he was putting it on. Hence, the weird looking sticker.
As for the missing stickers, if they had serial numbers on them, they would be removed during refurbing since refurbs get a new serial number.
I call BS. The silver backing on those stickers comes off in that same exact fashion if you try to peel it off. You can try to razor-blade it and it usually ends up looking exactly like that one.
Also, the serial number sticker above the USB ports has been removed.
Fraud.
Personally, I think XBox is the right kind of product for unlimited warranties. For them the real money is in services and software. So, instead of wasting resources trying to weed out the X-Box that got kicked down the stairs, just fix the damn thing and make the customer happy. The sticker has been tampered with? So What? It takes seconds to detect real tampering inside the system. When you see that, send the customer a PO. If you see no signs of tampering, just fix the damn thing and make the customer happy.
…and if you’re reading this thread and still thinking about buying an X-Box 360.. what is wrong with you?
and this is the reason why the xbox isnt selling more. MS should just redesign the f’ning thing and be done with the bad PR that the current one is generating
I’m amazaed with my 360. The White monolith Withstood 15 RRoD, then while playing Lost PLanet (vs. green eyes), the thing finaly had its 16 RRoD and could not recover.
MS in mexico when over themselves to replace it, I heard the tech telling the guy they were amazed the thing recovered after the ring and held even after multiple rings until that one. (guess they toght i was on hold, or they had their phone muted)
I sent my 360 nightmare story to this site because I had a very similar experience with M$ recently. Last month my second 360 (which was a refurb M$ sent to replace my original launch system) died so I called to setup a repair. I get the same console back with a letter stating that it wouldn’t be repaired or replaced. I call the idiot line and I’m also told my console has been tampered with!!! Same deal as Jeff except mine wasn’t an elite.
I filed a bbb claim and then called the escalation number listed here. Talked to a lady who said someone would be assigned to my case. A rep (John) calls when he gets the pics and requests an override saying the pics were not sufficient proof but it did look as if a sticker was moved and a part loose? Careless workers at the repair center right! I also sent emails to Robbie Bach and others (again thanks to a post here) and get a second rep assigned to my case (Glen). John calls me Friday saying M$ still won’t repair or replace my system. Figuring that was the end I took all my 360 stuff to a local gamestop and got what credit I could. I also send Robbie and co what I thought was a final email telling them thanks for nothing and that I’m moving on to Sony.
Yesterday Glen calls and tells me he gets approval to have my console replaced at the repair center. I told him I had already traded everything to gs but would call today and see if it was still there. I call the manager and of course the system has been sent off but he offers to call Glen and see if he can help. Glen calls me later to say the GS manager has agreed to sell me a working 360 back. Initially I was satisfied with this but now I don’t have a hard drive and M$ won’t provide me one at all. Basicially M$ has done jack squat in my case. If I can get in touch with the manager Thursday and get a hard drive then I might keep this system. Otherwise there’s a good chance I’ll either return it or take it somewhere else.
I use to love the 360 but after this crap M$ has pulled (and there are others besides Jeff and I that M$ has pulled this on) I can’t stand them. They don’t give a beep about their customers.
@Krycek: I have a PS3 and would NEVER buy an XBox console. However, even PS3′s now are getting their share of ‘deaths.’ Mostly though, its the blu-rays not being read. Unfortunately… it’s the blu-rays not being read. Heh.
And I remember Sony being NOTORIOUS when it came to warranty issues (then again, every company is nowadays, right?).
I’ll stick to my old school nintendo system… to get my system to work, all I gotta do is blow into do the door and the bottom of the game… insert…. BAM!
As much as I love newer crap, nothin beats my Mega Man 3 game, getting lost around the map of Zelda, or watching Mario being able to fly in Mario Bros 3. After 20 years…. I’m more amused with those games and fightin that darn sandstorm in Mario Bros. 2, then I am playing GTA or Gran Turismo.
Call me crazy!
gee, after all this, i’m scared to buy anything….i’m going back to space invaders…….
First off, I must point out ONCE AGAIN that there are two other competing platforms out there and thats not counting the PC. By the time that third Xbox Failed, instead of looking for a new one, I’d be seeking a refund.
Secondly, who wants to bet Consumerist will have an update later on displaying Microsoft’s generous sudden change of heart?
@Papa Midnight: Don’t you have to have a heart to change it?
Those two USB ports don’t have a sticker. There’s an open hatch on the faceplate to access them.
must have done something to piss xbox off because i have removed the sticker several times when modding and never had an issue when i had to send it in or when i had one replaced by best buy.
I am having the same runaround with M$. My son has 360 Elite that got rrod.
We called immediately and received shipping box, sent it back, received
emails it was being fixed and when it shipped back. Once it arrived, letter
inside said system was tampered with. NO WAY!!! After dozens (truly) of
calls and promises to send pictures (which today I was informed was against
company policy since we had our units returned to reference), I found out
reason for denial was no warranty sticker under flap by front USB ports. We
were not aware that a sticker should be there, but there clearly NEVER WAS
one. Smooth as a baby’s behind, no residue, glue or scraping as shown in
picture just CLEAN!!! Holographic sticker smooth as can be … there was
definitely no tampering! Supervisor I spoke with today seemed more helpful
than most AND located in the United States (though company policy will not
let them say where there support center is located and they are not allowed
to provide last names and there is no direct number to a particular
supervisor). But he did bump a report up the line back to service with our
dispute of their denial, our contention that this is how the unit came from
their authorized dealer, Cirtcuit City, so we should hear back in 48 hours.
Hopefully the squeaky wheel will get the grease; we’ve been trying to
resolve this for over a month! Please keep your fingers crossed for me!
This sticker looks very similar to how the sticker looks if a case opener is used to open the case from the opposite side. When this is done the case hinges open at the sticker, loosening the sticker at the seam between the two halves.
Not saying the OP did that, but I’ve seen this done before and it looks very much like the OPs picture.
i sent 6 360 back to microsoft so and my warranty stickers were way worst than yours but they fixed them anyway and i sold the 360′s they all had the xclamp on them before but i put the originals back on before anything happens so next time make sure your sticker is straight not crooked but i think you were at fault not microsoft because i know i deal with xbox everyday myself but i haver seen a sticker crooked like that before that’s just my 2 cents …
Jeff,
I feel your pain. I too own a few Xbox 360′s, purchased extended warranty and own several games. I went through the exact situation. It was actually a relief reading your post as I recall the same feelings of emotion as I waited for up to 30 min. at a time as they looked into my case, and looked for a manager. When I called back the last time I stated that “I’m being wrongfully accused, and feel helpless. Can you provide me with any suggestion of what I can do?”. The person’s response was to write a letter to Microsoft’s Legal department stating that all I want is for my Xbox to be fixed. Also to include photo’s of all my Microsoft products (not sure what that’s all about). I have yet to write the letter however after seeing that my case was not an isolated one I feel much more compelled to proceed. I will post again if I’m successful in my efforts.