I often wish that I could have a camera to snap a shot of family members or friends when they have these outrageous expressions that result from a particularly shocking experience. However, I am unsure if i have ever wished to have had that same camera so I could take a picture of myself after following up on an RCOD for my XBox 360. Now many of you may think that this is about to turn into a rant about "my XBox not being available for three months" or "this will be the 4th time I have returned my XBox." Actually, it is quite the opposite.

On the Sunday before last my in-laws were over and my brother-in-law expressed interest in seeing Army of Two. Not an issue I figure until upon powering up the machine I witness the dreaded RCOD. My brother-in-law has had some terrible luck with his XBox (he is on his fourth funny enough if I am not mistaken) and at the time I naturally blamed this tragedy on him as it was no doubt due to his being a jinx. Needless to say we had a laugh about it as I bemoaned that I was past warranty and sat down to eat dinner with the family.

And then it struck me that the warranty on the Xbox has been extended due to the RCOD being so prevalent! After the family left I grabbed the laptop and started looking for articles that I knew must exist here on Gamespot. Just as I remembered there was hope! To add a dose of hope to your life and arm you with knowledge should such a terrible situation arise for you, here are those links:

The general announcement:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6173633.html

The Q&A:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6173660.html

This brought up an interesting quandary then... Is it worth my saving the money for the purchase of a new XBox to deal with the return process?

After reading many posts on others experiences of being in similar situations I had my doubts if I should put my bewildered psyche through such a trial. After sleeping on it and noting money is slim with my second child just having been born, I decided I should call the customer service number and as of yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon I have received my replacement (more on this later) XBox. A little over a week? To summarize the experience I should say I am pleased and perhaps... Dare I say it? Happy!

The woman at customer service simply verified my serial number and warranty (and I even understood her when she spoke). I received a prepaid UPS shipping box on Wednesday and mailed the XBox out on Thursday. As I provided an email to customer service I was able to track the package through the UPS website and XBox sent me an email with an update when the service order was completed.

But wait there is more! Apparently the repair process for my XBox was going to take an extended amount of time so they sent me a replacement "So that can get back to playing and enjoying [my] XBox quicker..." I have also been informed my warranty has been moved to the new serial number, given a free one month subscription to XBox live and an apology (generic in design, but something I liked to see anyways).

I must say that while it would have been nice to have purchased a product that worked properly in the first place, I am very happy with the end result and customer service that I have received. I hope that my posting this will in some way make others RCOD experience a little easier and more informed, although I really hope you just not experience it at all.

Now, I just need to make sure I never turn on my XBox when my brother-in-law is over...