We know that major electronics companies have their bad sides as well. They mainly concern policy, which an employee at Texas-based Tek Republik found out at his own expense getting a 100 percent failure trying to get his own damned Xbox 360. Tek Republik is a full-service computer shop that also doubles as a gaming center, so the guy knows what he's talking about referring to the machine's problems:

"Yes, every Xbox 360 I bought at launch is bricked with the 3 red flashing lights. Microsoft despite the widely reported policy of repairing hosed 360s for free that were manufactured in 2005 refuses to do so. That is pathetic. I have 4 hosed Xbox 360s sitting right here. I would gladly fix them if I could get an Xbox 360 motherboard from Foxconn. Believe me I would. Sorry, Microsoft wants to make even more money by forcing you to only be able to repair with them... "

Now, I'm sure that's not entirely true, the part with Microsoft making more money I mean. The company's goal is to sell as many Xbox 360 units as they can, not fix lots of broken ones, so even if their policy blows, it's surely not what they're after.

The disappointed customer continues: "Apparently only 4% of Xbox 360s have been faulty. My 100% rate must just be a statistical aberration beyond the mean. I doubt it. I've had statistics, and no other computer component I have ever owned has had that failure rate... This is a manufacturing failure of epic proportions. Perhaps one of the worst in history." The full quote is on the AMDZone website.

Well, he surely sounds upset and by all means, he has the right to be. 4 broken units in a row? Jeez! What's Microsoft doing? The least they could do is offer free repair service given that so many of their machines are broken.