The infamous Red Ring of Death... the plague that hit the Microsoft Xbox 360 Console and has now become a meme... It's happened to several of my friends... and the first time it happened to me][1], I had a PRP with Best Buy... (read about my first experience).
It was pretty simple, the first time I bought a Xbox 360, I paid $60 for Best Buy's Product Replacement plan... you know, those annoying things the checkers as you about when you get high ticket items. Most people ignore them... as do I. But for items with known failure rates and high frequencies of such failures, it becomes a necessity.
Yes, you can send your Xbox 360 if it still falls within it's short lived warranty... or, for the convenience of getting it replaced same day, no questions asked, for up to 2 years after purchase... the $60 is well worth it "in my humble opinion".
So this last weekend, my fiance was playing on the Xbox Live Arcade, those nice little games that have no graphic intensive features or CPU melting capabilities... and while she was playing, the Xbox 360 made some creepy "HELP ME, I'M DYING" scream in a robot voice, straight from the Matrix. Resets were not working, it wouldn't stay on for more than 3 minutes and then...
The RED RING OF DEATH... AGAIN...
I had ONE MONTH left on my Best Buy Product Replacement Plan from the last time... So yes, I'm on my 3rd Xbox360...this time it was different.
There are new prices for the Xbox 360... My particular model is now $299, $100 less than when I bought it... and thankfully, the BB PRP is based on the price at purchase! So I got a new Xbox 360 with a larger hard drive... and $108 (with tax) in store credit!! Which was obviously spent immediately on a few new games...
So where do I stand?
$400 + $60 for First Xbox 360
$60 to buy the 2nd Replacement Plan
-$100 + $30 to buy the 3rd Replacement Plan
Total = $450
So in reality... to have 3 Xbox 360 replaced, same day, with no questions asked... it cost me a total of $50... Not bad really... not bad...