It appears that Microsoft's Xbox service problems are not isolated to the UK but right here in Australia. A report last week that Microsoft is fighting a major 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 which were hit by "the red ring of death" disease.
Now it appears that Microsoft Australia has service problems with SmartHouse swamped by users reporting problems with their Xbox 360 consoles.
Rob and Barbara of Street Machine wrote "I have had my Xbox 360…for 7 months, since buying the Xbox 360 it has broken down 3 times. The 1st time it was sent away as it wouldn't load from the hard drive 2 months after purchase. When I got the machine back it still had the same problem.
I was then sent a replacement. After 5 months I started to experience red flashing rings during game play the system was also very hot after only 10 minutes of playing. The Xbox also freezes up and you can't shut it down. The only way to turn the machine off is by turn the power off at the wall. My Xbox 360 is now dead. When you turn it on even with out a game I have 3 red flashing lights on the display.
My Xbox 360 has spent more time broken than what it has been working. I would really like a new one or my money back".
Mark Shaw writes "The problem I'm experiencing with my Xbox 360 is that it does not display when I initially turn it on. I have to turn the console on and off (using the reset button on the front)
Hard core gamer Rafael Rodriguez wrote "I recently downloaded a demo version of Crackdown and when I went to play it, it started to freeze up. I tried Crackdown 3 more time before I really got mad. I then deleted Crackdown and continued my gaming. Then I started to play Lost Planet which since its release I've been playing with no problems; and it started locking up all the time. At Xbox start up, during intro movie to LP during game play 2 minutes into the game. The only thing I was able to play that night was Hexic right off the hard drive, which didn't make a lot of sense since Crackdown was on the hard drive as well. Let me know if there is anything else I can do or who at Microsoft I can contact about getting this thing fixed. I've only had my Xbox since November so I wasn't expecting problems this soon"
Colin Simmons of the UK wrote: Recently I had purchased a brand new Xbox with live connection when I logged on one day and for some reason my profile had gone along with saved game progress and my Xbox live connection with my friends list and I enquired to the Xbox helpline where one person told me to contact my router supply and the other simply hung up on me"
It appears that the Xbox 360 hardware seems prone to breaking down. Worse, the customer service designed to help owners also seems to be a sticking point with several people who have written to SH.
To be swamped with emails from customers with Xbox problems was not expected however one does not have to look far to find owners complaining, in great detail, about their hardware and support issues. A check of ConsumerAffairs.com or even the Xbox 360's forums reveal the extent of the problem.
PC World recently talked to Wes Nihei, editor of GamePro magazine, to find out what industry insiders were hearing about the situation. He said he too felt that a larger-than-average number of people were experiencing hardware issues, particularly with regard to the consoles.