Banned Xbox User Slaps MSFT With Class-Action Suit

[freggo]

"terms of service strictly prohibits class action suits:"

Just like 1&1.com does.
First they steal your domains, than they ban you for joining in with others who had the same experience.

We clearly need ruling that this sort of restriction is not legal.
Never mind my right to get something repaired where "I" choose (albeit with loosing warranty if not an 'authorized' place) or GM, Ford and Chrysler will have a very serious look into changing their Terms of Service !

 

[itchyisvegeta]

"Agree to our TOS after you have spent the money on our games and console, and even on our Microsoft points..... Oh yeah, we update our TOS all the time, after you have already purchased these things"

I have been saying this for years, that TOSs are not valid contracts, and simply saying I Agree does not bind a contract after you have purchased the product.

 

[force550]

[citation][nom]chuckydb[/nom]honestly, I hope she wins.This stupid big brother/overlord from MS is the reason I never modified my old xbox, not because I wanted to hack anything, but because I just wanted to prevent the ¤¢¬¢@¤¦¤@¦ RROD.Now I have gone throught 4 xboxes and my current one is still broken and out of warranty.Am I gonna pay 300$ for the same thing I bought in 2006? HELL NO... Better get a new GPU with that money.Full time PC gamer ever since.[/citation]


Now I like this attitude. Don't hate on me but if you think about it, dieing consoles is for the greater good.

and hey welcome back to superior PC platform

 

[force550]

whoops sorry for the typo....dying***

 

[Guest]

I would like someone to create a class action lawsuit against Valve / Steam. I had my account hacked, stolen from me, then when I got my account recovered after fighting with Valve's tech support dept. for 2 days, I found out that I (the person that hacked it that is) had been VAC banned from everything! I had over $200.00 worth of software in my steam account! Valve's response "Tough luck".

So now I have a useless online account that can't play anything online because Valve doesn't undo VAC bans, even if your account was hacked by brute force (Steam has NO brute force protection) cracking. I hate Steam and Valve beyond all imagination after this BS.

 

[DRosencraft]

These TOS and EULAs have always seemed more than a bit ridiculous. As was mentioned, everyone now has a similar clause in their TOS, whether it's a game or the system it's run on. I think it was late last year when MSFT switched to the new dashboard that they added this to theirs. Sony did the same a few weeks before or after. It prevents class-action suits (suing in a group), although you can sue as an individual. The legal question is whether or not you have a right to sue as a group. If you do, then the TOS would get thrown out. If not then the worse case is that all the joint cases would be severed and tried as individual cases.

Her initial case (unauthorized third-party repair/account reactivation) is a different story. I doubt she will win that part of the case because that is a warranty issue, and courts tend to uphold warranty restrictions.

So, in my unprofessional opinion, the TOS will be defeated in court, but it will end up being a moot point for this case since the basic element of the case regarding the repair and the account ban will likely be upheld.

 

[captaincharisma]

MS controls the xbox live network plain and simple. they can control what devices are allowed on it. thats all they do and the console is still able to play games

 

[gogogadgetliver]

[citation][nom]jtt283[/nom]Microsoft is so blatantly wrong here, there must be missing details. Assuming the repair was legitimate, a simple call to M$ (and maybe a faxed repair receipt) ought to have fixed this. Did the woman's kid ask for help playing a pirated disk? One side or the other probably needs to be slapped, except that poo splatters.[/citation]

So ask yourself.. if this was a simple repair, how did Microsoft detect it over XBL?

It's a mod, not a repair. This guy is full of BS and will get his butt handed to him in court.

 

[fb39ca4]

[citation][nom]wiyosaya[/nom]Micro$oft is God. Thou shalt not have no other Gods before thee. Thou shall not stick up for thou fellow citizens before Micro$oft. Micro$oft cannot be questioned because Micro$oft can do no harm. Micro$oft rules the world; the world does not rule Micro$oft.[/citation]
Why so many downvotes? That comment is obviously dripping with sarcasm.

 

[razor512]

[citation][nom]drwho1[/nom]Interesting. I can't see why it would be cause for M$ to ban anyone for getting their consoles fixed by someone NOT working with M$.

we want to make as much money from our customers as we can. so pledge to make a horrible console that will break so they have to send it back to us "for repair" for a FEE

That is a horrible mentality, users should be able to repair their consoles on their own or have their own choice of technician to repair their own consoles.None of this should be in any way an excuse for M$ to ban an user.Now if she or anyone would "fix" their console to play pirated software/games then that's another story.But even then I think that the penalty should be End of Warranty and NOT a ban from a service that they PAY for.PS: I'm NOT a 360 user, I do my console gaming on PS3, but this is NOT fair for 360 users.[/citation]


Most of the components in the xbox 360 including the CD drive and when you log on with it, they keep track of the combination and if anything changes, they ban the console.

For the cd drive, you need to mod the firmware to match the ID's of the previous drive (PS you cant simply rip the firmware from the old drive and install it to the new drive.

When microsoft repairs your console, they simply update the crap on their end to accept the new change.

This is done to stop others from repairing the consoles that way you can pay microsoft to repair your out of warranty console.

That is the only reason for it, it has nothing to do with any kind of DRM or piracy as the firmware can be modified to play backed up games without banning the account.

It is just a way for microsoft to make more money from repairs. In which case, I will argue that they have an incentive to make consoles with a high failure rate in order to charge customers for repairs.

 

[whimseh]

Actually it is her fault though, you agree to the TOS you have to abide by them.

 

[sykozis]

[citation][nom]Jaquith[/nom]No TOS can superseded law, so if the TOS is deemed to be unlawful then it will be very interesting to watch this lawsuit.[/citation]
The TOS is unconstitutional.....AT&T tried the same thing and lost for that reason.

[citation][nom]Marthisdil[/nom]Umm, stupid non-USA person, remember, no one FORCES anyone to do anything. You can voluntarily give up rights if you CHOOSE to do so.She CHOSE to do so by agreeing to the TOS by USING the device covered under said TOS.If she didn't LIKE the TOS, she could have returned it for full refund.Please stop spreading FUD.[/citation]

Judges have ruled in the past that "no class-action suit" clauses are unconstitutional. I believe the consumer protection act also forbids such clauses as it leaves the consumer no real recourse in the case of large scale "misbehavior".

[citation][nom]zeratul600[/nom]i can't believe that in USA they can force you to sign a contract where you give up your rights! that its just wrong dude!, hey by signing this you become our slave, also we can have sex with you whenever we want to... that doesn't seem right!!![/citation]

My state requires car insurance. If you refuse to purchase car insurance, you lose your driver's license and get slapped with a $500 fine.

 

[invlem]

Putting in things like "you can't sue us" has no effect on the customer's ability to sue the company.

This "you can't sue" clause came out well after the launch of the 360, a vendor amending their TOS will have one hell of a time in court fighting amendments to their TOS.

1. They've sold a product to a customer
2. They changed what the customer can do with the product long AFTER it was purchased.
3. If the customers chooses to 'opt out' they lose most of the functionality of the original product they purchased, basically they're FORCED to accept the TOS given to them.

If MS were to provide a refund to customers who didn't agree with new TOS as they come out, the situation would be different, because the customer would actually have a viable option. Problem is you don't have a choice in the matter, you HAVE to accept or basically lose all useful functionality of the product you paid for (Basically live/online functionality stops working).

Because the customer really doesn't have a choice but to accept the terms, the TOS and any amendments MS (or Sony who has the same clause) makes will never hold up in court.

 

[blurr91]

[citation][nom]zeratul600[/nom]i can't believe that in USA they can force you to sign a contract where you give up your rights! that its just wrong dude!, hey by signing this you become our slave, also we can have sex with you whenever we want to... that doesn't seem right!!![/citation]

It's legal if you call it a "tax."

 

[Camikazi]

[citation][nom]thebigt42[/nom]Does not surprise me at all....The Government can force all it citizens for purchase Health Insurance they don't want under penalty of Law.[/citation]
You can't give up your rights, it doesn't really matter what MS or Sony or anyone puts in their TOS, they cannot take away a persons right to sue a company if they do something wrong. They do it mostly to try and scare the people who don't know about it, kind of like how some cops will try and "force" you to open your trunk and glove box when it's not legal without a warrant or your consent (you can say no and they can't force you).

 

[blurr91]

[citation][nom]sykozis[/nom]
My state requires car insurance. If you refuse to purchase car insurance, you lose your driver's license and get slapped with a $500 fine.[/citation]

Driving is not a right. It's a privilege.

Using the xbox is not a right. It's a privilege.

 

[back_by_demand]

[citation][nom]fb39ca4[/nom]Why so many downvotes? That comment is obviously dripping with sarcasm.[/citation]
Because some people couldn't detect subtle irony if it was painted dayglow orange, riding a unicycle around the top of a ladder in the middle of Grand Central station, playing a one-man-band whilst singing through a bullhorn "Subtle Irony is here to stay".

 

[MrMakapuu]

I threw my Xbox across the room last year, it felt so liberating! I hope some of these giant corps burn someday!!! What goes up must come down eventually!

 

[bhaberle]

Not rooting for MS this time. I really hope the courts own them for prohibiting lawsuits in the TOS. That is really sketchy.

 

[Guest]

Well, for the sake of preventing modding and cheating, it makes sense for Microsoft to maintain strict control over everything, and a third party "repair" could easily include... "upgrades".