Hot off Microsoft’s announcement that a 3-year warranty program would be put in place to alleviate consumer complaints about ”general defects” in the Xbox 360 console, a Florida man, Jorge Brouwer, has filed a class action lawsuit against Microsoft claiming that the Xbox 360 was “negligently designed and manufactured” and, as a result, causes “destructive scratches” to discs placed in the system.
The “destructive scratch[ing],” pictured above, occurs when an Xbox 360 console playing a disc is turned from the horizontal to vertical standing position. Mr. Brouwer’s attorney, Jeffrey M. Ostrow, claimes that “[Microsoft doesn't] tell you not to move the tower.” While this defect was discovered not long after the launch of the Xbox 360, this is the first lawsuit filed in regard to the defect.
Microsoft’s extended warranty program, estimated to cost the company over $1 billion, does not cover the defect described by Mr. Brouwer.
According to the Miami Herald, Microsoft officials released the following statement:
We’ve only just learned of this lawsuit, so we haven’t had time to evaluate it. However, out of the millions of Xbox consoles in use, Microsoft has not received any widespread reports of Xbox 360s scratching disks.
It seems to me that there are several flaws or, atleast, miscommunications on the side of each party.
For one, Mr. Ostrow’s claim that Microst doesn’t inform customers not to move the tower is false. Shortly after the problem with scratched discs was first uncovered, Microsoft began affixing a label to the DVD drive of new Xbox 360 consoles that warns not to move the system while in use.
For two, Microsoft’s claim that they have not received any widespread reports of Xbox 360s scratching discs is clearly false. Microsoft has had a program in place offering repairs on discs that are scratched by the Xbox 360 and even went so far as to offer free replacement games published by Microsoft Games Studio.
Have any readers had issues with scratched discs?
For more info, see: The Miami Herald
We get people in my store with scratched discs all the time. A lot of them don’t move their system while playing though. It seems like the laser just gets misaligned just the system isn’t on a completely level surface. Anyway, I haven’t had any trouble with my 360.
I sent my XBOX to Microsoft for the (3) red lights repair. They were very helpful by repairing it. (so I thought) What a nightmare it has been since I got the replacement system. My old system never put a complete circle around my games like those system do. That’s right systems. Two to be exact. I had to send the first replacement back because it was scratching my games. And now the second system is doing the same thing. Now Microsoft says that my system is out of warranty. I said all I want Microsoft to do is fix my game system. And I will forget about all the games it destroyed. (5 games total) They told me I still would have to pay to get the game system fix. As for the games. All they could say is I’m sorry. The guy on the phone was very apologetic. But that doesn’t help my problem. I am really very piss. I want to sue them, but really don’t know how to get the process going. Any help would be appreciated.