How to claim a replacement Xbox 360 in South Africa after the Red Ring of Death

The South African Xbox 360 Exchange page on xbox.com doesn’t provide a lot of information on the replacement procedure, so this post details everything you need to do to perform a claim on your warranty.

In the past faulty Xbox 360s had to be taken to their place of purchase to perform a claim, but this procedure recently changed so you can complete a claim from home.

Xbox 360s purchased in South Africa are covered by three warranties: A 90-day Accessory Warranty, a 1-Year All-Purpose Warranty covering manufacturing defects and faulty parts, and a 3-Year Red Ring of Death (RROD) Warranty covering hardware failures indicated by 3 flashing red lights or an E74 error message.

The two latter warranties are void if:

• the console has been opened
• the console has been tampered with in any way
• any of the seals on the console are broken

Lightning strikes and power surges are not covered by any warranty, power adapters are COD replacements, and claims on international consoles or out-of-warranty units are chargeable.

If you receive a replacement console, your original warranty does not reset. However, it does receive a short extension in most cases depending on where you are in the warranty period:

Console repaired within the original warranty period:

• You will receive either the balance of your original warranty or 90 days, whichever is longer
• Shipping and repair costs will be covered under the warranty

Console repaired outside of the original warranty period:

• You will receive a new 1-year warranty
• Shipping and repair costs will be covered by you

The 90-Day Accessory Warranty covers:

• New Xbox 360 accessories bought separately or included in a console bundle (headsets, controllers, hard drives, power adaptors, cables, etc.)

The 1-Year All-Purpose Warranty covers:

• Graphic Card failure (loss of video output)
• Constant in-game crashes (usually caused by overheating and can lead to the RROD)
• Power Supply failure
• DVD-ROM failure

The 3-Year RROD Warranty covers:

• Unrecoverable hardware failure (usually caused by overheating) indicated by three flashing red lights or an E74 error message on the console

To claim the 3-Year RROD Warranty, you must have proof of purchase or else a handling fee will apply. If you don’t have proof of purchase you can still arrange for an exchange of your console but a cost of R680.00 will be incurred. Without proof of purchase you can choose to have a courier complete a doorstep swap (in which case an additional R250.00 courier fee will be applied) or you can go to the Exchange Centre to collect the replacement console and pay no courier fee.

If your Xbox 360 unit is faulty, you’ll first need to register your device online, then contact Microsoft Xbox Technical Help to troubleshoot it and get an Authorization Number, then contact Powercare (the company that handles Xbox 360 warranty claims in South Africa) to request a replacement:

Registering Your Xbox 360 Online

Go to the Xbox 360 Support website, log in with the Windows Live ID associated with your gamertag, click on the “Register a new console” button, and enter your unit’s serial number (found on the back of the console to the right and above the AV port).

You will be shown the expiration date of your 1-Year All-Purpose Warranty, and Microsoft Xbox Technical Help will now be able to access your console’s details on their system.

Contacting Microsoft Xbox Technical Help

Make a note of your unit’s serial number (found on the back of the console to the right and above the AV port), then call Microsoft Xbox Technical Help on 0800 991 550 or 011 997 5037 between 10:00 and 18:00 Monday to Friday.

You will be walked through troubleshooting your problem and if a solution cannot be found you’ll be supplied with an Authorization Number and asked to contact Powercare, the company that handles Xbox 360 warranty claims in South Africa.

Contacting Powercare

You can contact Powercare telephonically, via email, or via fax:

Call Powercare on 0861 926 9360 or 011 997 5000 (make sure that you have your unit’s serial number, the Authorization Number you received from Microsoft Xbox Technical Help, and your proof of purchase close-by when you call).

… or:

Email your unit’s serial number, the Authorization Number you received from Microsoft Xbox Technical Help, your proof of purchase as well as a filled-out copy of the Xbox 360 Warranty Procedure Claim Form to Powercare at xbox360support@powercare.co.za.

… or:

Fax your unit’s serial number, the Authorization Number you received from Microsoft Xbox Technical Help, your proof of purchase as well as a filled-out copy of the Xbox 360 Warranty Procedure Claim Form to Powercare on one of their fax numbers: 086 523 3300 / 086 553 7406 / 086 562 2078 / 086 579 2212 / 086 579 2213 / 086 579 2214 / 086 579 2215 / 086 629 8599 / 086 682 3488 / 086 686 9058.

As soon as stock becomes available, a courier will deliver a replacement unit directly to you. Only the main body of the console will be replaced, so be sure to keep your own video cables, power adapter, hard drive, controllers, memory units and other accessories.

The courier company will only attempt TWO deliveries to the address you specified when you registered your claim. You will be liable for a R500 delivery charge per delivery attempt thereafter.

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