Sue Xbox for Drive Failure!

Story here: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=6650991

In a nutshell: Idiot in L.A. decides to make a quick buck and attempts to sue Microsoft because his console stopped reading discs in less than a year.
Wow... I mean wow... Xbox must be the first console he's owned.
~Krelian

 

Then again, if Microsoft is really cutting enough corners that an unmodified unit fails within a year of purchase, it's sortof their responsibility to either replace the unit or compensate the buyers. I'm assuming this guy has already contacted them about repairs and such, but then again, I may be giving him too much credit and he could be some idiot just looking for a free handout.

 

We should sue Sony for their crap-quality laser units from the PSX days AND the crap-quality DVD/CDROM drive for their PS2!!

 

Right on. :smt023

My PS2 crapped out, 3 months after I shelled out $140 for Sony themselves to fix the damn thing. After it died, I just kept fixing it myself. :smt042

 

I quite agree with this guy... optical drive quality sucks balls, most of the time. All this talk is kind of depressing, unless some (Chinese) company starts manufacturing spare lens assemblies, there'll be no way to play CD/DVD-based consoles in 10-20 years.... oh the agony :smt022

 

Real terror

Actually I completely agree, my worst fear is in twenty years not being able to find a working Sega Saturn now matter WHAT I'm willing to pay, them just all being extinct!
I suppose that's the one redeeming value of emulators, but I highly doubt there'll ever be a perfect emulator for Saturn... I can see it for Xbox but just not Saturn.
Dear God, all I pray for is an indestructable Saturn!
~Krelian

 

omg i just realised that ... maybe in a few years i wont have a dreamcast to play with... :smt022

 

On nov 22nd my SS will make 10 years and it still plays like the first day I even swaped some games. On the other hand my PC LG CD-Rom which is just one year old just died and I rarely used it.

Just get spare unit(s).

 

I think all hardware (TVs, game consoles, ANYTHING electronict) should come with a mandatory 1-year manufacturer's warranty. You bought it... 3 months? Give me a fucking break. Is it really that much to ask for the product hard-earned dollars are spent on to work?

 

I have a Sega Saturn since 1995, and it is still working great (not perfect), even though it's modded. And once my young cousin dropped it from like 1 meter high... I wonder what would have happened if it was a Plaything :smt043
Oh, and I live in the city with the second worst oxidation caused by the sea in the world. The first place belongs to the Dead Sea

 

The XBox has a year's warranty. The guy is an idiot and his case would not stand up in court. Don't they have some statement on the box or instructions that by opening the packaging you are agreeing to their terms?

Americans are stupid.... and no I'm not trying to start a flame war. I don't mean that in general, just about all the Americans I know are lovely people, and there are a hell of a lot more of them out there that I don't know! What I mean is:

1. Their legal system sucks

2. There are a lot of greedy citizens who will take advantage of that

The whole sueing thing in America has got beyond a joke. I mean, sueing cigarette companies for giving you cancer. Sorry to say this, but it is your own fault. YOU chose to smoke. They proved in 1963 that smoking was linked to cancer, and it had been a theory for a long time before that. And, on top of that, whilst it is the most likely cause, PROVE it was the cigarettes. I mean, how far can this go? Should I sue my local bar because, although I don't smoke myself, I am a regular down there and they allow smoking?

I'm glad I'm not an American, I would be afraid to leave my house every day in case I screw up and get sued!

 

No, the reason the cigarette companies got sued is because they lied and hid those facts. They tried to screw the public over, and they got caught. I don't think they should be sued, but people are too stupid to actually do some fucking research.

Yes, our legal system sucks @$$. It's a fact. It's total and complete bullshit. When you can sue mcd's for A. Making you fat and B. having their cofee hot. I mean, what the fuck. That's just ridiculous.

I think suing is just pathetic in general. The lawyers here have all but destroyed the medical profession. Ridiculous.

It's going to be karma when they all die because there are no doctors around to help their worthless asses. (PS, I'm speaking of the leeching, bloodsucking, money grubbing lawyers; some lawyers are legit, and quite good and honest)

 

That entire thing was a really uninformed generalization.

 

I will say that the general population is pretty bad, but you can't take that out on all of us. For example, I am suing my laptop distributor. Why? Because for starters, It took them 4 months to perform 3 repairs, and 1(the battery) was not repaired and the other screwed up another part of the same device(sent in to fix problems when accellerated APIs were used, HARDWARE not software mind you, and now TV OUT shows lots of static on overlays)... Not to mention they then screwed up my RAM (sees only half of it) my processor is now underclocked and theres no bios setting to fix this, my keyboard is all greasy... (possibly has something to do with the pornographic materials i found on the HD) The case is scratched, the rubber grips to hold it in place are gone, and theres a TON of corrupt HD sectors. Now when you have to pay 50 dollars shipping, these things better freaking be fixed and in a damn reasonable amount of time and they better not break things.... But now they wont do shit about it since they sent it back AFTER the warrenty and I NEED this thing for school... What the hell is the point of a laptop if its not portable? Anyway, I at least think thats a justifiable suit and but there are stupid ones like that McDonalds one.

 

Sadness ensues

But it is sad that many US counties and cities are taking down playgrounds and swingsets because they know if a kid falls down and scrapes his knee the COUNTY or CITY will be the first place the parents will go to seek "restitutions, fees, and punitive damages", dear GOD maybe the COUNTY or CITY should sue YOU for not wrapping your child in BUBBLE WRAP before sending them outside!
The medical professional thing is pretty sad too, if they drive by the scene of an accident most of them won't want to get involved and whocan blame them? If they get involved and they don't save that person or even if the DO the family usually sues for one thing or another and the professionals malpractice insurance won't cover it since it wasn't appointed inside the office. That's INSANE! It's a GODDAMNED BLESSING that person was driving by in the first place, that persons chances of life couldn't have been better if that doctor WASN'T there! Someone should be summarily SHOT in court for trying to wage a lawsuit so ridiculous and plain insulting!
~Krelian

 

To continue the generalization, he's a wimp.

The legal system here is made to have winners and losers. Knowing the system well will have its benefits.

 

What you're actually saying is find the flaws and manipulate the system, which is exactly what these people are doing by suing for having too hot a coffee, or for having something dangerous in your house which they broke into, or for not doing enough to save someone when they were kind enough to stop and help at the accident scene.

Who is the wimp? Someone who just gets on with life when it deals them a bad blow, or the person who manipulates legal loopholes because his coffee hurt him? Screw everyone else as long as YOU get what you want, eh?

To Purge, I quite agree. I myself fix computers for a living, and take pride in my work. If a customer finds fault in a system I built, I will take it in and repair it or come to an amicable solution. What you describe is totally out of order, they had the system in within the warranty period and did not effect a satisfactory repair, so they should be held responsible. Also, it is incredibly cheeky to use a customer's equipment for your own use without their permission! OK, sometimes I have, for instance, checked a stick of RAM on someone's machine to test it is working... but that is because our machine runs DDR and someone needs PC133 SDRAM tested. If I were to damage the computer in doing so, I would take full responsibility and ensure it was repaired.

Do you see what I mean? Stop being so patriotic and taking this to heart. I clearly stated that I do not mean this against all Americans, and I have nothing against the race in general. I was merely stating that it is a sad fact that there is a lot of this going on in America, and the cases that come up there a lot would be dismissed in most of the World. In Britain, our health system is in a crisis as it is, having people suing every time someone had tried to help them would destroy it. Fair enough, if you have been mistreated, then there is a claim there, sure. Still, my grandfather got the MRSA bug in hospital, it ate away half his leg, and he had to have it amputated. He could have sued the hospital for negligence, it was their fault, and the money would have helped him. He is struggling very much, walking is a problem and his false leg isn't a great fit. Think what that money would have done for him, but he didn't want to jeopardize others, which he would have done by taking money from the NHS that could be better spent elsewhere.

Sure, McDonalds is a huge company that can afford such payments, but don't you think in context that it is pretty petty to sue because your coffee was too hot?

Madhatter, were you calling me a wimp? If so, think carefully before you talk in future, and read what I just said. Oh, and thanks for proving my point that a lot of Americans are greedy opportunists who don't stop to think what effect they have on others. Suing has an effect on others, not just the company you are suing. Someone could be fired, you don't know their situation, and in the case of the health service, lives could be put in danger. And you obviously don't stop to think about the effect of your actions on others, because you just hurt me.

If indeed you were talking on my side, I apologise for taking you the wrong way, but I very much doubt you were.

 

I was just saying, that contrary to popular belief, America is not the land of the almighty lawsuit. Yes, in some cases they are often the only means of getting proper recompense for damages, etc. as in Purge's case. However, it is extremely unfair to take the relatively few amount of utterly ridiculous successful lawsuits (i.e. the McDonalds coffee incident) and assume that America is fraught with lawsuits waiting to happen, and to make a statement like "I'm glad I'm not an American, I would be afraid to leave my house every day in case I screw up and get sued!" just adds to that ignorance.

I hope you people understand that the reason I get so worked up about these things is not from any inflamed sense of patriotism or anything else, but from the fact that ignorant assumptions of this kind invariably result in the classifying of an entire nation based on a certain negative characteristic of a few select individuals. To put it concisely, I'm working to correct the often ridiculous assumptions and generalizations that result in misinformation or the propagation of sensationalist stories. Granted, if a similar thing was happening and Japan, or Britain, or Germany was the country in question, I would probably say something there too, however, as I don't live in those nations, I'm not really qualified to say what things are really like, a liberty far too many people seem all too willing to take. This has nothing to do with politics, patriotism, or anything else, it's simply my desire to ensure people know the truth about what they are talking about and end ridiculous generalizations.

Sorry for the offtopic, back to the debate on suing console compaines for crappy hardware.

 

Move this to the Off-Topic and then lock it a few days later :smt043

 

GSL, that last line was an aside, to show that I was just joking. It is a ridiculous notion that of course noone would have! I'm sorry you don't have a sense of humour

(Oh, and by the way, that's how you spell HUMOUR. That is something *ALL* Americans are guilty of - misspelling the English language! ;-) )

Don't you think it is rather ridiculous to sue a company because your product died within the warranty period? The warranty itself is a legal document stating that should a fault arise in the product (not through the user's negligence), then the manufacturer will take it in for repair or replacement at their cost. Personally, I find that to be a reasonable solution.

If, say, the item sued over were a car within its warranty. If that broke down and caused loss of life (couldn't get a sick person to hospital), or maybe it caused loss of business (travelling salesman, home deliveries), then I guess at a pinch I could see a cause to sue. However, what damages really occur by having an inoperational games console? Unnecessary anguish through the inability to go and find something to do in the real world?

GSL, I know you're quite sensitive to people in the forum being prejudice against the US, but it has to be said that you've let people get away with other racial prejudices yourself. I thought this was apt because I thought you had a sense of humour, and like myself could laugh at the ludicrous amongst you. What would they care if you laugh at them? They have won thousands of dollars! Money was the most important thing to them. I also thought it appropriate because I didn't think any of the members of this wonderful forum would be so cold-hearted to revolve around money. I thought everyone would take a light-hearted view of these silly situations. Yes they are one-offs sometimes, but unfortunately they are becoming increasingly more common, and as stated that can be a bad thing especially when it harms the medical profession. I'm sorry if I upset you (although I won't apologize to madhatter - I don't think personal attacks are called for), I like and respect you and don't wish to upset you. Still, I ask you.... can you HONESTLY say that you have never made a joke at any race or other type of group?

To be honest, I take offence to madhatter's method of dealing with this. If he dislikes my comment, he can tell me - there is no need for abuse (ok in this case it may be tame abuse, but you know what I mean), and I am a little upset that you, a moderator, decide to ignore my point of view and have the last say. Still, no hard feelings. And by the way, to everyone - you don't know me so what right do you have to say what I (or anyone on this forum) know about a topic and whether I am more qualified to talk on it than you?

GSL, sorry to go on but this is something *I* don't like: newbie-bashing. I've seen it go on quite a lot in this forum and I don't think it is acceptable. Just because someone is new doesn't mean they should be criticized or belittled, noone is better than anyone on here or has a right to think so. People have come on and offered their opinions on discussions (as an example let's say there was a post on a rare prototype) and been immediately shot down. We do not know that person - that person could have been the designer of said object for all we know! We have no right to alienate them from our conversation.