Most of the one million-plus Xbox One owners are spending the weekend in video game heaven, playing with Microsoft’s newest console that hit shelves Friday.
Some gamers, however, aren’t having quite as much fun.
Several people have posted videos and are issuing reviews about a problem with the disc drive. When inserting a disc, the broken consoles make a bad grinding sound and are unable to play disc-based games. One person coined it the “Noise of Death.”
In a statement, Microsoft said that the “issue is affecting a very small number of Xbox One customers.”
“We’re working directly with those affected to get a replacement console to them as soon as possible through our advance exchange program,” the company said. “Rest assured, we are taking care of our customers.”
Microsoft also added that the company is sending replacement consoles “right away,” even before customers return their bricked consoles.
“This means a customer only has to wait a matter of days, rather than weeks to get back up and running,” Microsoft said.
It’s unclear as to how many people are affected, but a search for “broken Xbox One,” on YouTube shows at least a few angry customers demonstrating the problem. Over on the Xbox One product page at Amazon, 30 percent of customers have issued a 1-star review, with many reporting the same disc drive issue.
Important to note that not all the 1-star reviews are from “Amazon Verified Purchase” customers. But based on the legitimate reviews, it seems like Amazon is sending replacement consoles immediately to its customers.
Many of those customers appear to have had luck with Amazon’s customer service, but not so much with Microsoft. Here are a couple reviews from those with “Amazon Verified Purchase”:
Customer “waffledoodle”
My unit is totally broken. It boots, downloads the update, then just turns off. I turn it back on, and it turns itself off immediately. This happens 1-2 more times before finally booting back up, and then the whole cycle repeats. I wasted nearly four hours trying to get it to work, then spent another two hours on hold with MS support. They sent me to a website to put in a replacement request, and the website just throws “error processing request.” Literally nothing works.
Amazon, meanwhile, is super awesome. It was effortless to get a replacement overnighted to me. Maybe if that one actually works, I’ll update this review, but this whole process has infuriated me enough that I might just leave it at 1 star for posterity.
Customer “Justin R Porterfield”
I was one of the unfortunate few who received an xbox with the disk drive issue. And yes it does sound like a jackhammer. Amazon customer support is amazing. They helped me immediately with zero wait, and are mailing me a replacement to be delivered on Tuesday. Microsoft support on the other hand is a joke. I called to see if there was a fix for the issue, and was given the run around through online chat, the wait time for a phone rep was 3+ hours, and if I wanted a replacement through them it would be delivered in mid December. Just another reason I’m glad I purchased through Amazon.
Customer “Chris”
I was very excited to get my new xbox one. Until I tried to play a disc then I find out my disc drive is broken.Wait time online to chat is 97 minutes, Time on hold to talk to someone from Microsoft is over one hour so far and counting. Just what I wanted to do the night I get my new xbox. As an added note I spent over 4 hours waiting on a call back from Microsoft. So I called Amazon customer care, they had my problem fixed in less than 5 minutes. I should get my new Xbox one on Monday. Thank you very much Amazon you really showed me how good your customer care is .I also learned how bad Microsoft customer care is.
We’ve reached out to Amazon for comment on its replacement process and will update when we hear back.
Sony, meanwhile, had its share of problems after debuting its PS4 this past Friday, with many issues appearing to be caused by damage during shipment.
Related:
- Photos: Macklemore, Lorde help Microsoft celebrate Xbox One launch around the world
- Yes, you can: How to play Xbox 360 games on Xbox One
- Microsoft sells 1 million Xbox One consoles on day one
- Our week with the Xbox One: What to expect from Microsoft’s new console
- Video demo: Putting Xbox One voice commands to the test
- Surprise: YouTube is coming to the Xbox One after all
