New 360 Elite...get BB warranty or not?

I

Ingonuts13

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jun 9, 2003
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So I just received my 3rd 360 in under two years through the Best Buy performance plan and each time I have bought the 2yr warranty because the breakage was outside of a year. I didn't decide to buy it this time and was wondering about some input. Are the new Elites any more stable than the old 20GB or first run Elite?

I mean, I can afford to replace this thing if it breaks but for known problem items $80.00 is almost a no brainer to have the piece of mind for 2yrs.

What do you guys think? Yay or Nay....? I have two weeks to decide.
 
They're a lot better than they were... but for that sort of money I probably would anyway.
 
Keep in mind warranties are a scam to make money. And besides, Microsoft has offered a 3 year warranty themselves for any and all xbox systems.
 
The new systems (not just Elites) appear to have improved a lot more, over the original units, and the first run of Elites. I myself bought the 2 year warranty from BB, when I bought my regular old Xbox 360 Premium system. However, I bought mine nearly a year after the launch, and of course heard reports of system issues (is the RRoD).

Like Dreaz said though, with the 3 year replacement warranty (for the RRoD), straight from Microsoft, it makes the BB warranty a little less attractive. The only thing BB has going for it is you can walk into the store, get a new system, and walk out. Dealing with Microsoft you might end up without a console for over a week, and there's no guarantee you'll get YOUR system back (refurb).

It's a tough call...
 
Meh, I say no. You have 3 years for free with MS and you'll find life outside a week without xbox.
 
I am kinda leaning towards not going back to get it. Do you guys know, is RROD the only thing they cover for yrs 2 and 3?
 
I reccomend some more research but i remember reading on a gaming forum that you'll have problems transferring your digital content (from the online store) over if you just swap out your Xbox with BB under the warranty agreement. However, I'm not sure if your just able to login to the new Xbox and re-download all your digital downloads. I know that at least with the Wii, if you just swap it out your SOL on all your virtual console stuff but if you send it in, they'll swap your data to the new Wii.
 
Yes, the red ring is the only thing covered after the first year. everything else (dvd drive not reading, freezing with no RRoD) is just 1 year.
 
drgnCabe said:
I reccomend some more research but i remember reading on a gaming forum that you'll have problems transferring your digital content (from the online store) over if you just swap out your Xbox with BB under the warranty agreement.
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There's a tool you can use for this now... but you can only use it once a year. (if you need it more than that you're an unlucky bastage anyway, with the new hardware that is)
 
Many credit cards have a buyer's assurance-type warranty that will double the warranty of new items for free, up to an additional year. Read the terms of your card to see if your purchases are covered.
 
BestBuy/futureshop warranty's are nitro-fueled scams.

I purchased a $2,000 LCD from BB a year ago. They tried to sell me their coverage for something like $500. The only single difference between the BB coverage and the manufacturer was that BB would replace if the screen had 5 or more dead pixels, the manufacturer only covered 8 or more. So for $500 I get the added coverage of 3 pixels...

They then tried to sell me a 1m HDMi cable fr $180, which I went and purchased across the street for $12.

Charging 1/4 to 1/3 for a retailers warranty that often covers less then the manufacturers free warranty is absurd.

I have a friend who works at a BB, and he says they try to sell this coverage all the time, its a pure money grab used on idiots who will never need it anyways.
 
If you want an extended warranty - how's the MS one?
Almost half of the cost of the elite system is the HD (it retails at $170). As long as your HD isn't what's going wrong, the cost of just buying another system sans the HD isn't much more than the warranty. Just something to consider...especially if the system goes south in 2 years. By then, you might be able to get a core system for next to nothing.
 
pxc said:
Many credit cards have a buyer's assurance-type warranty that will double the warranty of new items for free, up to an additional year. Read the terms of your card to see if your purchases are covered.
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This is your best option, IMHO. In-store warranties are by nature a bad deal for you, because if they were a good one, they wouldn't sell them. They also tend to run _concurrently_ with the manufacturer's warranty, which means you'd only get a year of additional non-RRoD coverage.

And, as others have pointed out, if your console goes after a year, the Arcade will probably be at $150 or $200 by the time. Compared to buying a $80 or $170 warranty, that seems like rather a better option. The Elite simply does not fail nearly as often as the initial 360s did.
 
There's a tool you can use for this now... but you can only use it once a year. (if you need it more than that you're an unlucky bastage anyway, with the new hardware that is)
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I kept my original hard drive during the swap and you are correct, I used it last night successfully but it is limited to once per year.

You guys just talked me out of getting the warranty methinks. Seems like the problems have been mostly solved and MS does offer 1yr warranty which you have to wait a bit for but thats cool.
 
I have a friend who works at a BB, and he says they try to sell this coverage all the time, its a pure money grab used on idiots who will never need it anyways.
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I work at a repair center for warranties that BB sells. We often times fix stuff that the mfg will refuse to cover in addition to offering a no lemon policy for stuff that gets fixed multiple times. In the case of your tv, in addition to the dead pixel policy, you would have someone local out to your house to fix this alot sooner. If it wasn't fixed that day, theres a 42" plasma on the truck thats brought in and set up to hold you over until it does get fixed. If you don't see a value in this service, then by all means, don't purchase it. But I don't see how this qualifies as a "nitro-fueled scam".

Now before everyone gangs up on me, I'm not trying to defend BB, extended service plans (sold by whoever), etc... I'm just trying to combat some of the ignorance.

OP, I wondered the same thing when I found out BB sells extended warranties on the 360 (i.e. whats the point?). I found out that apparently if your console breaks, you box it up, take it back to the store, you walk out with a brand new one. Relying on MS for the warranty, you have to call them (don't know if they still require you to troubleshoot over the phone), and wait for your coffin plus return shipping (I hear this is about 2 weeks total?). Is it worth it? Thats entirely up to you. I can say that it was not worth it for me when I bought my 360. I can live without my console for a few weeks for mfg repair.
 
jwhazel said:
Relying on MS for the warranty, you have to call them (don't know if they still require you to troubleshoot over the phone), and wait for your coffin plus return shipping (I hear this is about 2 weeks total?). Is it worth it? Thats entirely up to you. I can say that it was not worth it for me when I bought my 360. I can live without my console for a few weeks for mfg repair.
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That's the same thing BB tried to tell me when I told them no on the warranty.

The entire RMA process was online, and it only took a week for me. Didn't pay shipping, brand new elite and a free XBL gamer card (my problem wasn't RROD related). Probably the best RMA experience I've ever had.
 
Psychotext said:
What the hell? :eek:
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Its gone down in price
http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0926INGFS10098871&catid=23216

only $155

Sure they have cheaper ones, but on the shelves at our local bestbuy stores, this is all they have on display. If you want the $24 one, you need to specially ask for it as its in the storage area.

Last year I was escorted out of our Merivale location BB. There was an older gentlemen who clearly knew nothing about TVs, and he was purchasing a large plasma screen. I was in the same isle and I heard the sales guy trying to sell him two 1m HDMI cables($180 each) and a $120 component cable. I stepped in and asked how many devices he was using and he said all he was going to be using was his DVD player(used RCA cables) and he was going with a HiDef cable (comes with HDMI-DVI & audio cables). I told him to pass on the $500 worth of cables the sales guy was trying to sell and use the ones he had, and at worst, goto the PCcyber down the street and get the same cables for $15. The sales guy called security and they escorted me out the store :)
 
Dreaz said:
Keep in mind warranties are a scam to make money. And besides, Microsoft has offered a 3 year warranty themselves for any and all xbox systems.
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They're not a scam. You're buying "piece of mind." Something way overvalued in my book but that doesn't make it a scam anymore than anything overpriced is a scam.
 
The entire RMA process was online, and it only took a week for me. Didn't pay shipping, brand new elite and a free XBL gamer card (my problem wasn't RROD related). Probably the best RMA experience I've ever had.
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I stand corrected. I was part of the RMA just before the extended warranty and it was without a doubt a PITA. Nice to know they have streamlined it. What was wrong that they gave you a new console? I was still under the impression that they were sending back refurbs.
 
Droc said:
Its gone down in price
http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0926INGFS10098871&catid=23216

only $155

Sure they have cheaper ones, but on the shelves at our local bestbuy stores, this is all they have on display. If you want the $24 one, you need to specially ask for it as its in the storage area.

Last year I was escorted out of our Merivale location BB. There was an older gentlemen who clearly knew nothing about TVs, and he was purchasing a large plasma screen. I was in the same isle and I heard the sales guy trying to sell him two 1m HDMI cables($180 each) and a $120 component cable. I stepped in and asked how many devices he was using and he said all he was going to be using was his DVD player(used RCA cables) and he was going with a HiDef cable (comes with HDMI-DVI & audio cables). I told him to pass on the $500 worth of cables the sales guy was trying to sell and use the ones he had, and at worst, goto the PCcyber down the street and get the same cables for $15. The sales guy called security and they escorted me out the store :)
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WOW...I didn't think they'd be *that* PO'd about that. They aren't paid on commission at BB are they?
Scary. At my local BB, the HDMI's are strange. They have some of those insane $200 ones, and they have some of the relatively affordable $25 items, too. They're still marked up, but that's at least somewhat reasonable. The funniest thing to see is that they also happen to have 5-6 open boxed HDMI cables on the shelf that were clearly bought and returned because people either had no HDMI ports or no system that used 'em. Still, I've never really heard the sales people there offering up any of the insanely priced ones to normal customers.

All in all...sadly, I'd really still consider HDMI to be a little bit a failure. Because of the way TV's accept the input, but can't do anything with the audio except output it to stereo - it's a colossal pain. Stereo receivers still seem to only want to accept HDMI as a pass-through, too. There are definitely some that'll accept the format, but they're more rare and expensive than they should be.
IMO, until TV's start having HDMI outputs, it's always going to be a screwball format.
I can't count the number of people I've had ask me why their brand new HDMI device only comes out of their TV's speakers.
 
Yeah, those HDMI cables Best Buy sells are a rip-off and they can get away with it because of the customer's ignorance. BB pretends to be "knowledgable" and have the customer's wallet in mind, but they don't and I consider overpriced cables with over a 400% markup part of the Best Buy scam.

And warranties are part of the scam. It's not "peace of mind" because the customer has a peace of mind when they buy the stuff, it's the BB salesperson that brings the customer's wallet down to its knees by using fear and ignorance to attack that "peace of mind". In essence, peace of mind is another marketing ploy.
 
In essence, peace of mind is another marketing ploy.
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Of course its a marketing ploy. Except for the little fact that SOMETIMES ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT FAILS! Some people like to be covered and don't mind paying for it.

A "scam" is when you cut the retail of the item to or below cost then make a profit by selling warranties and accessories, then refusing to sell the item when you don't purchase said warranties and accessories.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bait_and_switch

How many times have you tried purchased something from a B&M chain store and had them refuse to let you walk out the door without an extended warranty?
 
Yeah I have a PRP on my coming to year old elite. Still running strong though.. no RRoD yet.. *knocks on wood*
 
I think I will save the $80 and do something else with it. Thanks for all the input so far. This seems to be a heated topic.
 
jwhazel said:
I stand corrected. I was part of the RMA just before the extended warranty and it was without a doubt a PITA. Nice to know they have streamlined it. What was wrong that they gave you a new console? I was still under the impression that they were sending back refurbs.
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I had the no video issue (audio worked) which I heard is another big problem right under the RROD. While I was playing, my colors turned a bluish tint and then went out completely (both for HDMI and component).

Before I received my replacement a buddy told me a few of his friends got brand new units on their RMA's as well. I guess they're replacing the units with the new chips that are less failure-prone.
 
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