Ok, so here's the deal...

First,  thank you to everyone who responded to my last post!  You gave me a lot to think on.

Today, I finally gave in, and called Microsoft back to get my Xbox360 shipped off.  Like I said earlier, it's going to be 99 dollars to get it fixed, but there was a catch that turned in my favor.  Below is a close approximation of our conversations.

Guy from India:  Thank you for calling Xbox Support my name is Frank.

Me:  Yeah, I have a reference number, and I've started a repair.  I need to pay you my 99 dollars, so I can get the process started.

Frank:  Ok, I have all of your information.  I will contact you with our payment center, and you will be sent an email with instructions after that.

(About 10 minutes of hold time later)

Guy from America!:  Hi, Jeremy.  My name is Shane.  Could you explain to me exactly what happened to your 360?

Me:  Sure, I was playing Fable for a couple hours.  The screen locked up, I got red lights on the front of my console for a few seconds then my Xbox went off.  I turned it back on, and the screen was all washed out.  I rebooted again, and then screen was blank.  I tried my HD and VGA cables on my TV and my monitor, but both times my screens were blank.

My best friend Shane:  You said something about red lights? 

Me: Yeah they were only on for a second, but they have not came back.

Awesome Shane:  Yeah, but they probably will come back.  You have a pretty old console right?

Me:  Yes.  It's a launch day console.  Never had a problem with it.

Mr. Shane Cool:  Wow, that suprising.  You know, when you send that thing in we'll fix your video problem and take care of it so the red lights don't come back.

Me: Great!  I was worried about that.

Shane the Great:  Well, if we didn't, when you got your console back it would probably just mess up again.  For the 99 dollars we'll take care of all of that.  We'll also give you an extended 1 year warrenty and a month of Gold Xbox Live.

Me:  Cool.

My buddy Shane:  Please hold, and we'll finish this up.

(10 minutes later)

Shane the F'n MAN:  Ok, we've got the shipping information sent out to you.  You"ll have to package your 360 up in your own box.  Just pack it up good and ship it with the label I'm emailing to you.  Is there anything else I can do for you today?

Me:  Yeah, don't you need my credit card number for the 99 dollars.

Master Shane:  Nope, don't worry about that.  We'll take care of all of the repairs under the red ring warrenty.

Me:  You sir, rock.

So, it seems they are not going to charge me anymore with just the hint that I've seen the Red Ring of Death.  I mentioned the same occurance of the RRoD to the guy from India, but he didn't seem to care.  My dear american friend knew what we are dealing with and he's taking care of me.  I didn't want to lie to the guy and tell him I still have the RRoD, but I did see it for about a second before I lost my video.  That was good enough for a free repair I guess.

You know, we bitch and moan about Microsoft and this whole mess, but let me tell you one thing.  My launch day Playstation 1 was a royal piece of shit.  The launch consoles had NO heat vents in the side of them.  None at all.  They overheated, the piece that held the laser warped, and I was resorted to playing my PS1 upside down (so the laser would hang right) for about a year and a half before the price dropped on them. 

Sony never owned up to it. Sure the second generation had heat vents on the side of it.  They didn't care.  The console was out of their crappy warrenty, and that was the end of it.

Well, Microsoft owned up to their faults, and even though they've made a TON of shitty and probably intentional mistakes....they are at least fixing them.  Could they have done a better job?  Yes. 

They only other company I've seen take care of their customers is Xerox and Logitech.  Logitech will fix almost anything....in our out of warrenty...or send you a new updated one.  Xerox will send someone out to your problem within 2 to 4 hours, and stick with the problem till it's fixed or they get you a new one.  (BTW, that's what I do for a living).

All's well that ends well.

Rippr Fynn