I'm not sure about this, was his xbox out of warranty?

I have a few friends who had their xboxes RROD and when they shipped it in, they got it back in 3 weeks.

Great job of Sam's Club for doing this though.

Thats pretty cool actually.

Best Buy does this... as long as you have a replacement plan :)

I've had great experiences at every Sam's Club I've been to. Hard to believe they're a Walmart company, but I guess the membership fee does go somewhere.

@mrm514:

I've done this like four times with the Best Buy replacement plan. They made me buy a new replacement plan after that many times. Thank goodness my latest one has been working well.

@exkon: Actually, it might have been under warranty still and probably was. I know that Microsoft extended the warranty out to 3 years, but I'm not sure if that's from the date of purchase. Gladly, I never had to go far enough to find out since SC just swapped it out for me.

That's fantastic! I wonder how long he had the first Xbox before the RROD. My hard drive failed after 5 months, and the GPU failed after 8 months.(During the troubleshooting process the console got the RROD) Each instance only took 3 weeks to get a refurbished hard drive/console back.

This is one of the reason why I got a PS3

Actually the sam's club AND costco around my way does this. Some kind of lifetime warranty that's separate from the respective warranty of the manufacturer. Its a pretty cool thing

@exkon: RROD has a special 3-year warranty, separate from the rest of the warranty.

Since Xbox360 came out just over 3 years ago, only ones purchased before today in 2005 are out of RROD warranty, which basically ones that came out for release.

Sam's and Costco seem to have the best customer service for some odd reason. I think it's how they deal with the people they buy from and what they buy that allows them to bend over backwards.

Good job Sam's, I'm really considering getting my 360 there...

All Xbox 360s have a 3 year warranty if the console gets red-ringed. All he had to do was call Microsoft and they would have sent him a replacement.

I'm glad it worked out. I've concluded that if you keep a cool head and stay reasonable with your demands, you're likely to get what you want. Remember, yelling at the person behind the counter is not going to make things easier for you. Also, keep in mind that there is always someone above the person you're talking to. So, if the person you're dealing with is not doing it for you, ask for his/her supervisor. If they try to stall you, hang up, call back and ask for the supervisor directly. It has worked for me plenty of times. Most companies are counting on consumers to give up with their complaints. Just like mail-in-rebates, they're counting on you to give up and fudgettaboutit.

@y2julio:

Yah...but if its regular policy for sam's club to replace all electronic equipment there on the spot...then why go through the trouble of calling Microsoft :P ?

@sogmasta: Good point but I just posted my comment in case other users are wondering about the same issue.

So wait, does this work only if you bought it from sams club?

I used to work at Sam's Club, and our store policy was "100% member satisfaction" meaning you could return ANYTHING hassle free. My boyfriend bought a Nintendo DS and within a week had accidentally left it on top of his car while driving and it got run over. He returned it for a new one, no hassle. It's pretty much the only good thing about that store.

@larrybags: Yes but if you have a 360 that has the red ring of death you can call Microsoft to have if fixed for free if your still within 3 years of purchasing it.

My wife worked at Sams Club for some time. To management, it's better to take a return like this than risking loosing a membership. I've heard "horror" stories of people returning 6 month old cheese because "it tasted bad" but only 1/4 of the cheese was left.

Feb 07? this guy really should have not gotten a new one. Sorry for saying this, but it was obviously out of warranty and it should have been end of story. That's why costs are going up at Costco and Sams.

It reminds me of my piece of shit co-worker that also took advantage of the generosity of Costco, he bought a 50" Toshiba DLP TV in December 2006 and then he saw that they had a 60" model at a cheaper price in August of the next year, the a-hole returned it and Costco didn't ask why, so he bought the 60 inch model. He was bragging about that and I was ticked off. Companies should put a stop to this abuse.

@exkon: I got my XBOX in May of '07, and it RROD'ed in September this year. And aside from some initial hassles wherein MS claimed that my home address WASN'T VALID [www.veekachu.com] , once they emailed me the shipping label I had brand-spanking new equipment in 6 days. I was impressed by that much, at least. I think they've got the RROD-Swap proccess pretty well streamlined by now.

I think this is more of a sams club thing, I have heard that they have a very relaxed return policy.

I have a friend who buys a new digital camera every couple of years, he buys it at sam's club then returns it two years later, takes the refund and buys another one on the spot.

Sorry for saying this but,

Your friend is a douchebag!

I did something similar at Costco with my 360. I actually bought a second one, and then returned the first one. No problems, no questions asked.

@TecmoTech: Were you still within your replacement warranty when they did that? If so, fie unto them!

@lannister80: Yeah, that's the curious thing, I know about the 3-year warranty. But did Sam's Club just exchange an 360 launch console for a brand new one?

Costco does that too. As many problems and BS as they have, at least they're willing to leverage their power with the manufacturers on the customers behalf on many things.

This is a nice story, however it is really not that big of a deal. It's Sams Club's policy to return anything for any reason at any time, as long as you have the receipt. The only exception is computers, you have 180 days to return those. If you dont have a receipt you can get in store credit most of the time. If you are buying a game console, or a camera, or,,,,ANYTHING electonic Sams is really a better option then Best Buy, CC, etc...

@albear: I've told him the same thing, he doesn't care.

He says he's pretty blunt about it, and that he gives them the opportunity to say something. When they don't his mindset is you might as well.

Our XBOX 360 just did the RROD this week... I knew they extended the warranty but I didn't know how long. We bought our console back in 12/2005... Microsoft accepted the warranty request and yesterday a box arrived for shipping. I am sending it back today.

Hopefully it won't take that long. At least the kids have a Wii to keep them happy :)

I have and always will be a devoted member to Costco. This same exact thing happened to me and I returned my xbox to the local Costco. Unfortunately they didn't have any in-stock so the CS rep ordered one for me and had it shipped to me for free. Costco has a lifetime warranty on anything other than electronics suca as the ipod, tv, dvd players....Those electronics have a 90-day warranty on them, no questions asked EVER.

Best $40/year that I spend.

Hey peeps,

I'm the guy who submitted the story and I realize that MS extended the warranty to 3 years for the RRoD issue and am aware that I could have contacted them to start the process to get it fixed.

But we've all seen stories on here about what a nightmare that can be for some people. It was awesome to be able to just jump in the car and go get an almost 2 year old console swapped out without any hassle.

My point was that being treated helpfully and respectfully went a long way towards ensuring a satisfied customer who will shop there again.

And PB500, it's guys like your friend who got some of the liberal return policies at places like Sam's Club and Costco nixed. You should pass along a middle finger from all of us.

@Trick: My recent RRoD repair was only about 7-10 days between sending it out and getting it back.

Really not bad. I'm not sure that Sam's Club is offering all that much more than MS is here. Still, kudos to them for handling it well.

"He figured it would be months before he would get it back and expected to have to pay "

Uhhh, why would he figure that? 360's are warrantied by MS. I believe the typical turnaround for RRoD repairs/replacements is 7-10 days, and is completely free (including shipping).

I'm glad it worked out for him, but by now an RRoD is almost expected by MS (sad, I know), and is handled quickly.

@exkon:
Bought mine in Nov. 06, RRoD'd a little over a month ago and about two weeks later UPS dropped off my "new" one. Seems like they have gotten their act together on these issues.

@tsume:

Same here. Although it was 10 years ago, I returned a portable CD player I had bought there 11 months prior that stopped working. The warranty was about to expire (1 year) and I was getting no where talking to customer service from the manufacturer. I brought to back to Sam's Club to see if they could help me. They exchanged it with a different model that was the same price no questions asked.

@Franklin Comes Alive!: So you're the reason that people are finding bricked systems that they just bought.

With Christmas coming, has Microsoft fixed this issue on new X-boxes? My family wants one and I am hesitant.

@rickinsthelens: Yeah, the newer 360's are supposedly much more reliable, with a different processor and better heat dissipation. I don't have any hard numbers or anything, but supposedly they are much better now.

Also, the newer ones have HDMI output. Sucks for we early adopters, but still a sweet feature.

My xbox is at Microsoft right now getting fixed for this very problem. I bought mine in December 2006 and it just failed. I doubt Best Buy would've done this, although I'm surprised that a Wal-mart company treated someone so well.

I want my xbox back so bad...Call of Duty 5... Gears of War 2.. and Left 4 Dead are all out right now :(

@unobservant: If you are more than half way through your replacement plan's coverage period, it is consumed when you use it. If you are not, it remains in effect until it would normally expire.

I know this, because my original xbox went south at 18 months and I had to buy a new plan. My Second went out at around 11 months and my coverage is good until late spring of this next year. I wonder if I can purchase a new plan before this one expires to continue my coverage.

@hewhoroams: It was nice of Sam's club to do it, but they should let everyone do it, just you have to buy a game when you exchange it. They would make money, and just have to wait for microsoft to return all of their 360s

I have a Wii, PS3, and a 360. I've had the 360 since Feb 06, and I have sent it back to Mircosoft for repairs on one thing or another 5 TIMES!!! 5 TIMES!!! ....and I still love it. Microsoft is always quick with it, and now that they feel bad for me, they expidite my shipping (unit back within 5 days, or they just send me a refurb) I've had the most problems with it, but also the most fun. 360 is where its at. Trust me.

@Franklin Comes Alive!: I do that everywhere. When something stops working, I buy a new one from the store I bought it from before, then return the broken one.

I know warranties exist, but they're just too much of a hassle.

@mrm514:
When I took mine back to BB, the customer service girl swapped it out for a new one, let me keep my old harddrive, and said as long as it was under MS's warranty (3 years), it didn't use up my replacement plan.

@rickinsthelens: The new 360 Elite systems have a different motherboard mount that has pretty much eliminated the RROD. Repairs on older ones are fitting them with the new mount so RROD will eventually be almost phased out.

It never fails to amaze me how often these things fail.

My SO's boy just got his 360 back from service. Second time in six months, and it took a month. What a PITA! If my computers died as often I'd change careers.

I'm not suggesting computers don't die or that some aren't built shoddily, but I can at least choose to use good components and have excellent reliability. I'd expect a gaming system that sells millions of units over this long to have gone through enough development cycles for problems to decline. Seems not.

Do you guys expect this going in and just deal with it, buy spares, or is it a surprise?

//Don't pay attention to him. His first "console" was Pong.

@lannister80: Yeah, this seems surprising to me. I got my XBOX in summer '07 and got the RROD this fall, but the warranty covers RROD for three years. And my turnaround time was about two weeks, so it wasn't really too bad. I guess it's pretty neat that he got a new one right away but places like Sam's Club are always doing generous things like that (as I recall, it's similar to Costco?). RROD sucks. I wanted to cry when I got mine.

I don't think this actually happened. When I worked in retail you'd be surprised at the amount of people who would return an old RROD Xbox by purchasing another one and swapping them. Most Wal-Mart employees never checked the serial number.