Imagine how disappointing it would be to open your X-Box on Christmas day and finding out that the thing won't work, or turns off after a short period of play. A report coming from MSNBC says hundreds of people who bought Microsoft’s Xbox platform over the holidays received defective systems, and some say they waited for weeks before the devices were fixed. Analysts say the number of flawed consoles is probably too small to spell serious production troubles, but said long repair times wouldn’t help the software giant in its first major foray into hardware.

John Kreis, 31, of Chicago bought an Xbox the day it came out. He said the $300 system stopped working almost immediately, but it took a month of aggravation with Xbox customer service before he got a replacement. "The whole thing that was so frustrating [was] just the fact that still to this day I’m waiting for a call back just to explain to me what happened," he said.

The Associated Press spoke with about a dozen Xbox users who said the console never worked or soon froze up. Most called the customer service response poor. Microsoft delayed its U.S. launch date by a week to Nov. 15 amid rumors of problems at its Mexican production plant. It also pushed back its Japan launch date, but has denied any major problems. Microsoft sales and marketing director John O’Rourke said fewer than 1 percent of the consoles have proven faulty. Read the full report here

Source: MSNBC, N-Philes.com