Kinect and Xbox One = A potential problem
In the hype and flurry of posts on the new console it occurred to me today that bundling the Kinect with the Xbox One actually presents one novel issue. Replacing a faulty or damaged Kinect.
I did some searching after I thought of it. There doesn't appear to be any information about it on Microsoft's Kinect support page. And found forums with people who had faulty ones. And it just doesn't seem possible at the moment to replace it. Many people have reported Microsoft saying that they need to replace the whole unit. One person was told a repair would cost $500, and numerous people were told a new sensor would be shipped, but most then noted that days-weeks later nothing had actually shipped or arrived.
In the case of the Xbox 360, at worst you can simply bite the bullet and go out and buy a new one at retail prices.
But, since every Xbox One comes with a Kinect, there is no retail Xbox One Kinect sensor.
While imagine Microsoft will fix their support issues for faulty sensors. The problems at the moment could all be related to supply issues. The console is still just newly released after all. But happens to the people who dropped theirs? Or had a child destroy it? These cases where there is not even an expectation of a warranty replacement make an interesting problem.
The box contains three "primary" components, and this is the only problematic one. If I break a controller, there are retail units available. If I break the console itself... sure I'll accept that $500 for a new one is reasonable. But if my Kinect sensor breaks and there is no retail Kinect unit, I definitely don't want to pay $500 for a new console just because the Kinect is broken.
And this is a problem for a few reasons. Firstly, based on my research it looks there is no publicly posted protocol for dealing with such an issue. Which means resolving this probably means talking with a support rep and then either shipping in your current sensor, waiting on a new one, or both. In there are probably 2 of the most loathed issues of all time. The need to talk to someone in a call center and the need to be without your product for an unspecified amount of time while you waiting on shipping/repairs.
I did some searching after I thought of it. There doesn't appear to be any information about it on Microsoft's Kinect support page. And found forums with people who had faulty ones. And it just doesn't seem possible at the moment to replace it. Many people have reported Microsoft saying that they need to replace the whole unit. One person was told a repair would cost $500, and numerous people were told a new sensor would be shipped, but most then noted that days-weeks later nothing had actually shipped or arrived.
In the case of the Xbox 360, at worst you can simply bite the bullet and go out and buy a new one at retail prices.
But, since every Xbox One comes with a Kinect, there is no retail Xbox One Kinect sensor.
While imagine Microsoft will fix their support issues for faulty sensors. The problems at the moment could all be related to supply issues. The console is still just newly released after all. But happens to the people who dropped theirs? Or had a child destroy it? These cases where there is not even an expectation of a warranty replacement make an interesting problem.
The box contains three "primary" components, and this is the only problematic one. If I break a controller, there are retail units available. If I break the console itself... sure I'll accept that $500 for a new one is reasonable. But if my Kinect sensor breaks and there is no retail Kinect unit, I definitely don't want to pay $500 for a new console just because the Kinect is broken.
And this is a problem for a few reasons. Firstly, based on my research it looks there is no publicly posted protocol for dealing with such an issue. Which means resolving this probably means talking with a support rep and then either shipping in your current sensor, waiting on a new one, or both. In there are probably 2 of the most loathed issues of all time. The need to talk to someone in a call center and the need to be without your product for an unspecified amount of time while you waiting on shipping/repairs.
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