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Microsoft Acknowledges 360 Issues, Extends Warranty to 3 Years
RamblinLonghorn writes "Microsoft has announced that they are extending the warranty for all Xbox 360s to 3 years. This appears to be entirely retroactive and that 'those who have already paid for such repair charges can expect reimbursement checks for the amount of their console repair.' It seems as though Microsoft is accepting the blame for the hardware malfunctions, but it is worth noting that this warranty modification only applies in the 'Red Rings of Death' situation."
Normally this kind of action would just result in more expensive goods - and probably does. If people thought that warrenties should be 5 years, they would express that in their economic choices. Unfortunately they have their elected representatives making this choice for everyone.
This is somewhat akin to a small town banning Wal-Mart. What they are really saying no to isn't Wal-Mart but to their own citizens who would WANT to shop there. If Wal-Mart was so bad, it would go out of business in the city; if people wanted 5 year warrenties, they would buy only products that offered them (wilfully, at a higher price.)
Your nanny state has taken this freedom to choose away from the individual.
However, because the country is so pathetically small in population and economically irrelevant, most firms might just not even notice the extra expense as it's absorbed across world-wide sales.
BTW - does your government also wipe your ass when you are done in the toilet? If you're incapable of making purchasing decisions on your own, what else are you incapable of?
The need for your nanny laws is disproven by the thread: this is about MS voluntarily reacting to the market by extending it's warrenty to 3 years from 1. I didn't need a bunch of Norwegian socialist beaurocrats to do it for me.
You've been beat. I didn't realize they didn't teach econ in nanny states.
Yes - if Wal-Mart was bad, it would go out of business. But when a new one opens, people CHOOSE to shop there. You just think they are too stupid to make these decisions on their own.
FYI, we can BUY accident insurance here in the US.
Nearly all nanny states operate the way yours does - either directly or just one-off. But you can't distinguish between 'people choosing something for everyone as a LAW' and 'individuals making their own best choices'? Do you really want to defend mobocracy that way? Yes, people are too stupid to make decisions for anyone but themselves, I'll stick by that.
Do you really want 'the people' to make your individual decisions? Telling you what you can or can't eat, what you can or can't learn, how much of your own life and the income you generate from it (I'm guessing you're an unemployed state-dependant leech - IE student) you get to keep?
It's particularly problematic when a majority of the people who are unproductive (YOU) can raise taxes on a small minority who are productive (ME), causing the productive (again, ME) to either move or stop working, causing the unproductive (Guess who) socialist workers paradise to collapse.
So tell me - what would happen to the prices of consumer electronics if you increased the warrenty to 10 years?
So two questions:
1) When does the mobocracy go to far?
What would happen if your mob ruled that the warrenty had to be 10 years - what effect would that have on price and availability? I answer your questions - but your inability or unwillingness to answer mine suggest you are aware your argument is pretty weak.
And the insults? They are for fun - adding to my enjoyment of what otherwise would be a dull discussion with yet another humorless socialist.