Xbox 360: Garantie verlängert

Als hätte er unsere Kolumne vom Mittwoch gelesen, hat sich Microsofts Peter Moore gestern Abend in einem offenen Brief an die Xbox-Community gewendet, um unter anderem das Thema "Red Ring of Death" anzusprechen. Demnach habe man sich intensiv um dieses von vielen Nutzern berichtete Problem gekümmert und mehrere Faktoren identifiziert, die zu einem generellen Hardwareversagen führen können, was wiederum durch die roten Lichter signalisiert wird.

Zu diesem Zweck hat Microsoft laut Moore bereits einige Verbesserungen an der Konsole vorgenommen. Näher ins Detail geht er dabei jedoch nicht. Eine weitere gute Nachricht für Kunden ist die Verlängerung der Garantie auf drei Jahre für alle Konsolen ab Kaufdatum, jedoch nur im Falle eines Red Ring of Death. Ansonsten bleiben die Garantieansprüche unverändert.

Sollte dieses Problem bei Eurer Konsole auftauchen, repariert Microsoft sie kostenlos und übernimmt wie bisher die Versandkosten. Alle Kunden, die bereits etwas für eine Reparatur zahlen mussten, erhalten rückwirkend ihr Geld zurückerstattet. Nachfolgend findet Ihr den offenen Brief von Peter Moore in vollständiger Länge:

To our Xbox Community:

You've spoken, and we’ve heard you. Good service and a good customer experience are areas of the business that we care deeply about. And frankly, we've not been doing a good enough job.

Some of you have expressed frustration with the customer experiences you have had with Xbox 360; frustration with having to return your console for service after receiving the general hardware error message on the console.

The majority of customers who own Xbox 360 consoles have had a terrific experience from their first day, and continue to, day in and day out. But when anyone questions the reliability of our product, or our commitment to our customers, it's something I take very seriously.

We have been following this issue closely, and with on-going testing have identified several factors that can cause a general hardware failure indicated by three flashing red lights on the console. To address this issue, and as part of our ongoing work, we have already made certain improvements to the console.

We are also implementing some important policy changes intended to keep you in the game, worry-free.

As of today, all Xbox 360 consoles are covered by an enhanced warranty program to address specifically the general hardware failures indicated by the three flashing red lights on the console. This applies to new and previously-sold consoles. While we will still have a general one year console warranty (two years in some countries), we are announcing today a three-year warranty that covers any console that displays a three flashing red lights error message. If a customer has an issue indicated by the three flashing red lights, Microsoft will repair the console free of charge—including shipping—for three years from the console’s purchase date. We will also retroactively reimburse any of you who paid for repairs related to problems indicated by this error message in the past. In doing so, Microsoft stands behind its products and takes responsibility to ensure that every Xbox 360 console owner continues to have a fantastic gaming experience.

If we have let any of you down in the experience you have had with your Xbox 360, we sincerely apologize. We are taking responsibility and are making these changes to ensure that every Xbox 360 owner continues to have a great experience.

This will take a few days to roll out globally, and I appreciate your continued patience as we launch this program. I've posted an FAQ that should address some additional questions, and we'll update it over the next few days.

I want to thank you, on behalf of all us at Microsoft, for your loyalty.