Microsoft is fighting a makor PR battle in the UK after the BBC "Watchdog" program claimed that it had received a lot of complaints from customers about faulty Xbox 360 consoles.

According to UK web site, Playfuls the "red ring of death" is considered among the Xbox community as the final stage in life of an Xbox 360 gaming console. The device displays the ring when there is a fatal hardware problem that cannot be fixed.

Customers complaining to BBC's Watchdog reported that the problems occur usually after a year of functioning, when the famous "one-year warranty" expires. Thus they are forced to pay between$150 and $200 to get the replacement of the faulty hardware from Microsoft's representatives.

The cause of the failures is considered the ubiquitous over-heating of Xbox 360, which has plagued the console since its launch. U.S. consumers experienced similar malfunction incidences that required Xbox 360 owners to pay for repairs incurred outside of warranty. Due to overwhelming consumer response, Microsoft in Sept. 2006 agreed to repair consoles manufactured before Jan. 2006 at no cost.

In response to BBC's report, Microsoft says that "The vast majority of Xbox 360 owners, have had an outstanding experience with the console. That being said, we have received a few isolated reports of consoles not working as expected.

It's important to note that there is no systemic issue with Xbox 360 - each incident is unique and these customer inquiries are being handled on a case-by-case basis.