XBOX 360 is off for repair
The shipping box for my XBOX 360 was delivered by DHL this morning. Although I was still in bed after a late-night Halo 2 session, I jumped up and got the console packed and shipped out. MSFT pre-paid for overnight shipping, so the console should be returned to them by noon tomorrow.

There is still a chance that I could have the new/repaired console back by Saturday. On the phone, MSFT said that they ship repairs back out the same day they receive them (which is pretty aggressive, if true). So if they do that, I should get it Saturday.

Otherwise, it will be delayed a few days by the holiday. DHL is closed on Monday and I'm sure the MSFT facility is off an extra day, too. So I'm hoping they make the Friday deadline.

I am glad to see them handling repairs this way; however, as I posted on the XBOX forums (and was trashed by the 360 fanboys), I think it points to recognition of a larger number of defects than the 3-5% MSFT is claiming in the press.

Why do I think that? Well, the XBOX 360 has a crumby 90-day warranty. And the terms of that warranty state that the owner of the 360 must provide the box, packing materials and shipping cost to get the console back to MSFT.

The current repair process has MSFT overnighting a box to the customer, paying to have the console overnighted to them and then paying to have the repaired console overnighted back to the customer.

I don't know of many companies (ok, any companies) that would deviate that greatly from their warranty policy for thousands of customers (even if the number of defects is 3-5%) unless there was a bigger issue with the consoles or there was fear of a class action suit.

I'll be satisfied if they can get me a new/working console with a few days left on my vacation. After that, I may actually pay the $50 for the 2-year service plan (which I normally never do).