I bought my Xbox One around a year ago. It was a good time to buy: Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal were head-to-head trying to outdo each other with offers, and I’ve always wanted a gaming machine of my own.

Hari asked me to build a PC gaming rig instead, but I didn’t want to go through the pain of purchasing parts, building and maintaining a custom rig.

In hindsight, this was the wrong decision.

Why? Because one of the major reasons somebody like me would buy an Xbox is to offload the support and repair work to somebody more capable. Apparently though, in India, Microsoft will not repair consoles after the warranty expires. Even if you are willing to pay for the repair.

Microsoft will not repair consoles after the warranty expires

Yup, you read that right. At first I found that hard to believe, but the Xbox Repair Request Website shows something like this:

Note the text in red: “There are no Offers associated with the problem/accessory type selected.”

Because Offers is a pretty vague way to phrase a repair request, I decided to talk to customer support. Elaine Q at Xbox Support was very friendly but equally unhelpful.

Here’s an extract from the chat log¹:

> Vishnu: at 14:26:06
But just to check, can I not pay for the repair?

> Vishnu: at 14:26:11
If I send it in?

> Elaine Q.: at 14:26:46
Thank you so much! So sorry but there's no paid repair option that's also showing up here, Vishnu. The paid repair option is also not offered. My sincere apologies for the inconvenience.

> Vishnu: at 14:27:27
Ok, that's bad. I'll try with OSUDT3.

> Vishnu: at 14:27:33
Is there any other way you can help?

> Elaine Q.: at 14:29:58
Yes please do try it out, Vishnu. It will be very much appreciated. I would really love to process a repair order but I am really sorry as there's no option that's showing up since the system detected that your console is no longer within warranty. But no need to worry, trying out the offline update again is the best possible option. This is not a guarantee and we don't recommend this but you may also try to check with retailers near you if they have any possible option for xbox one consoles which are no longer working but please consider it as well that in case if they modify or alter the console and it gets fixed, you will no longer be able to connect to live.  

This is frankly, preposterous. Microsoft can sell its consoles here, but can’t be bothered to offer support.

If I can’t find a way to resolve this, I’m swearing off the Xbox platform entirely for a long time. A shame, because it was looking really promising with the Windows 10 unified app platform and backwards compatibility and all.

Following Hari’s advice again, I’m going to go with a PC gaming rig instead. Other positives that work for a PC:

• It’s a real computer. Every app should work.
• Games are so much cheaper.
• One major drawback was a good interface for TV, but Steam’s Big Picture Modeis looking really good. It can even add apps and games that are not bought through Steam.
• No Xbox Live subscription for network play².

If you have any suggestions on how to fix my Xbox, I would love it. Things I’ve tried:

• Soft and Hard-Reset. No change, the screen still takes a long time to get to an Error E200.
• The Offline Diagnostic Tool.
• A Factory Reset.

Just a note that I didn’t cause this Xbox failure in any fashion. The power conked off in the middle of a software update and from then on, Xbox wouldn’t start up³.

In short, nothing seems to work. If I’m not able to find a solution for this, I will strongly recommend that you do not buy an Xbox One from India.

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