A Plan (Given defective products)

[Nazriel]

As much as I was frothing at the mouth for RB to come out for the past several months, experiencing peripheral failure on launch day with the guitar and the drum just feels like a gut-punch that knocked the wind out of me.

So, given that there is a short 60-day warranty on parts, to keep peace of mind here is a possible plan people can follow if the replacements also fail. (Whenever we do receive them. :D)

Step 1: Go ahead and send your original instrument back, EA needs to receive one guitar or the other of course so you do not get charged (for advanced replacement)

Step 2: As you have a defective product, pack everything back in the box how you received it and go to your retailer within the 30 day (or other applicable) return policy for a refund. Be sure to cite defective hardware; you have a right to a refund, there is no law saying you must continue to follow through with replacements until your warranty expires in two months time.

Step 3: Buy RB when the peripherals are confirmed to be good and working in all new boxes. You also have a new 60 day warranty from that point of purchase should anything go wrong.

Step 4: Pray you do not have to repeat this cycle of replacement ever again.
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I don't know if this seems reasonable or ludicrous, but I just have a nasty taste in my mouth from this fiasco and I would prefer to be assured working products without a short-term warranty coming and going should this widespread problem continue into the future. This is to have an "escape plan" should the peripherals have a chronic problem to protect people from being out $170 really.

If the replacement instruments are fine and dandy I will be content; but I will be giving them a good work over when I receive them to make sure they are up to snuff and I would advise others to as well. Do not abuse them, but don't be gentle for the sake of not breaking it. :cool:

[Nekura20x6]

Taking it back to the store actually screws with Rock Band's retail standing in the charts which is why they ask you not to do that. If enough people start going back to where they bought it, we might see a better response from them (specifically something posted that says "here are the common issues we acknowledge and what we plan to do about them").

[ChiefWiggumPI]

I agree. Just take it back to the store. The lack of visibility and communication with this repair process is embarassing. Now that I'm hearing it will take 2 weeks for them to even ship my replacement guitar, I think I would rather let the fine folks at Target deal with it.

[XactRecords]

And we all know its about numbers. I got a nice pink slip in my box warning me not to return to the store. Its as if they knew they had issues and wanted to get numbers up for the holiday season. I am in the record business so I know all about charts and sound scan and why people do what they do. The consumer was definetly not considered during this thought process.

[Lightthrower]

Indeed it's probably EA's fault that the boxes shipped with prior knowledge of defect products. I urge everyone with problems to send the products back to the stores instead of EA's service. That way it's not "black market" style, there's a paper trail.

[ChiefWiggumPI]

And we all know its about numbers. I got a nice pink slip in my box warning me not to return to the store. Its as if they knew they had issues and wanted to get numbers up for the holiday season. I am in the record business so I know all about charts and sound scan and why people do what they do. The consumer was definetly not considered during this thought process.

I'm choosing to ignore that pink slip entirely. Given the way it was right at the top of the box, I can only assume that EA knowingly shipped a lot of broken products. Regardless, I plan on shredding that pink slip, returning the whole box to the store, and possibly grabbing Guitar Hero 3 instead. I'll wait for EA to sort this humiliating mess out, then perhaps pick it up when they actually use some real quality control on their offerings.