TURNAROUND TIME
Xbox 360
Microsoft’s promise: To replace any under-warranty console within 48 hours in major cities, and a couple of extra days for smaller towns. In the US, the turnaround time is promised to be up to two weeks.
The reality: Most customers agree that Microsoft has lived up to its promise of providing replacements on time, sometimes even within 24 hours of registering a complaint. While, for some, the process may have gone beyond the stipulated 48-hour period, these are minority cases, and for most part, replacements have been timely. This is all the more remarkable considering bigger markets like the US don’t get replacements this fast. Good job, MS.
PlayStation 3
Sony’s promise: To replace any under-warranty console within 7-10 working days in major cities, and a maximum of two weeks for smaller towns.
The reality: We are yet to hear of an instance where Sony has lived up to this promise. In most cases, the replacement console arrives 3 weeks to a month after the complaint is registered.
[singlepic id=840 float=center]
Verdict
This is perhaps the biggest complaint with regards to Sony’s after sales support for the PS3. One month to replace an under-warranty product is absolutely unacceptable. On the other hand, Microsoft has only improved on the service side, managing to trim down turnaround time for 10 working days initially, to just 48 hours now.
Winner – Xbox 360
Next page: Quality of replacement console
