So. Despite giving not even so much as a hint of bad behaviour since the day it was bought, my XBox seems to have suddenly developed a terminal illness. Whenever the AV cable is connected to the console, it won’t power up, gives one red light on the power ring and spits out an error message. It’s remotely possible it’s the cable that’s the problem, but that’s not the way I’m betting.
Naturally, this is happening exactly THREE FLIPPIN’ DAYS after its year’s warranty expired, and so far angry phone calls to the shop I bought it at and Microsoft’s support line have produced nothing except a £50 repair bill. Given all the technical problems that Microsoft’s relentlessly shoddy hardware design has had, you’d think they might be a bit more understanding and helpful, but apparently not. Even so, I’ve shoved in a polite-but-hacked-off email so fingers crossed.
I’m a poker player (of sorts). I grasp the theory of how pot odds work. I know that it’s a bad idea for an opponent to call your pot-sized bet when he has nothing but a gutshot straight draw, even though there’s a chance he could win. In the same way given that the majority of problems with gadgets happen in the first six months, I understand that if there’s less than a 30% chance of a given electrical device falling over between it being one year and three years old (which there always is), then the at-least 30% extra you’d pay for the three-year extended warranty is a rubbish deal (which it always is). I realise that I’ve saved tons of money down the years by not shelling out for these bad-bet warranties.
Doesn’t make it any less frustrating and irritating on those occasions were you play the percentages correctly but lose because the long-shot draw comes up, mind.
