Digital Home Thoughts: Dear Microsoft: Why Can't You Fix My Xbox 360?

Dear Microsoft,

Two months ago, I finally sent my Xbox 360 back to you to get fixed. Since the first couple weeks I'd owned it, it randomly locked up, froze on screen, stuttered, responded slowly to inputs, gave me dirty/bad disc errors, and the only thing that would cure it was to hit the power button or pull the power cord out completely. And it's loud. Really loud. Louder than any of my friends' Xbox 360s. But I waited hoping a patch would cure my woes. Finally, my warranty expired, and I gave up on ever having it fixed right.

Then you extended the warranty (thanks!), so I sent it back to you. A couple weeks later I got the same Xbox back, and all was well. Sort of. It's still so loud that it drowns out everything else in the living room. But at least it worked. For a while. Now it's doing the same things again, except I have a new problem. The DVD drive won't open. Sometimes it will, when laying horizontally, but if I turn the console upright, it won't open at all. Not even if I take the faceplate off. So in the process of fixing it, you made it worse. It still locks up, and the stuttering seems to have gotten worse.

So I'm going to call your customer service line, request another coffin, and pray that you fix it right this time. If you don't, well, I'll be sending it back for round three, and you can bet I'll be writing another open letter. And hey, why don't you drop me a line? I'm looking for a job, and I think you could use my services. I'm a Quality Engineering Manager with extensive experience in the microelectronics industry. Maybe we could help each other out.

Sincerely,
Jeremy Charette