AfterTek

Well here’s a bit of good news for XBOX 360 customers who’ve seen their console go up in smoke within the past year. For customers whose XBOX 360 console was manufactured before 01/01/2006, you are now eligible to receive free repairs should your console need attention.

The official statement from Microsoft concerning XBOX 360 repairs:? Here you go:

As part of our standard and ongoing process of analyzing repair data, we recently noticed a higher than usual number of units coming in for repair. Upon further investigation, it was further discovered that the bulk of the units were isolated to a group that was part of the initial manufacturing run of the console. Returns for repair are coming in for a variety reasons and it’s a higher rate than we are satisfied with. We’ve made the decision to comp repairs for consoles manufactured before January 1, 2006, and provide refunds to the small group of customers who have already paid for repairs.

Customers who have already paid for repairs will receive checks in the mail within 5-8 weeks to cover their costs. Great move on their part, though one could argue that Microsoft should’ve been doing these repairs for free from the outset, and it seems like 2006 Xbox buyers are just SOL. I suppose it’s a good start though.