Xbox Live Outages Prompt Class Action Lawsuit

[51|RandoM]

From the Seattle Times (http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/techtracks/2008/01/xbox_live_holiday_outages_prompts_class_action_law .html),

Interruptions in play kicked "many Plaintiffs offline" and "displayed messages such as 'Server Error.' " Others could not get online or use match making and account recovery features "despite paying for these services in their yearly subscription dues. Many Plaintiffs purchased new subscriptions specifically to play online during the holidays."Frivolous litigation or a fair defense of consumer rights? You make the call.

[LongStepMantis]

I'm not saying they don't have a case, I'm not a lawyer, I don't know...but just another further example of our whiny culture. They had problems, they acknowledged them, and they're trying to make amends.
What the fuck do people want?

It's not like playing Xbox live is anything other than a luxury. This may piss some off, and I know it's frustrating to not be able to log on...but did anyone suffer emotional distress because they couldn't play Halo? Grow the hell up. Our entire culture is full of soft, whiny babies.

[TechFiend]

This is frivolous litigation. There's no way that you can sue a ccompany over breach of contract for sporadic outages over a short period of time. If that was the case, I should file a class action lawsuit against my ISP and cable company.

Besides, ifyou bought a subscription to XBOX Live jsut to play over the holidays, as the lawsuit alleges, then you can be described in one word.... IDIOT.

[Johan]

I'm waiting for the class action on the hardware (which they snuffed with the extended warranty, probably)...or on the DRM issues caused by the death of hardware (HAVE to be online to play a game? Is that in the fine print of the agreement when purchasing Arcade titles? That if your box dies, you will HAVE to be online to play them? Bah...)

I'm ready...http://www.emoticons4u.com/violent/sterb323.gif

[Xerxes]

Can I get a class action against Comcast going?

[Deadend]

Class action lawsuits generally only help the lawyers.

[Xerxes]

Class action lawsuits generally only help the lawyers.

Well can I get a hit put out on some of the people at Comcast.

[Atepsflame]

What the fuck do people want?


One word: Money.

[torrefaction]

How incredibly stupid.

[digitalErich]

Johan stumbled upon some new arsenal of smilies in the last week or so...every thread, there he is with a new, yet oddly appropriate, animated smiley.

[Shodan2020]

Can I get a class action against Comcast going?

I'd join you on that one! :)

[51|RandoM]

This is frivolous litigation. There's no way that you can sue a ccompany over breach of contract for sporadic outages over a short period of time. If that was the case, I should file a class action lawsuit against my ISP and cable company.

You should check out the small print in your service agreements sometime. I guarantee your ISP has wording in there specifically for a situation like this.

[H1PO]

Can I get a class action against Comcast going?Yes. Yes yes yes. That would be very good.

[Kid Moxie]

I supposed the real question is if the TOS for Live *guarantees* service or even a certain percentage of uptime. If that limit was indeed broken then I would suppose there is a legit case.

I'm personally of the opinion that if a company is going to make a claim they need to be called out if that claim is proven false. Don't call a customer "whiny" if a company claims 100% uptime and the service goes down--it's what the customer is paying for!

[Food Nipple]

This is frivolous litigation. There's no way that you can sue a ccompany over breach of contract for sporadic outages over a short period of time. If that was the case, I should file a class action lawsuit against my ISP and cable company.

Besides, ifyou bought a subscription to XBOX Live jsut to play over the holidays, as the lawsuit alleges, then you can be described in one word.... IDIOT.

It's not uncommon to see businesses have clauses in hosting contracts requiring 99.999% uptime, Google "five nines" (http://www.google.com/search?q=%22five+nines) and see what you get. Considering MS is raking in at least $200 million a year in subscriber fees, it's not completely unreasonable to expect better uptime than what we're getting.

[karak]

Can I get a class action against Comcast going?

Comcast is bad, but man lately Qwest is almost as bad and that's saying something. They are some of the biggest pricks in the universe. Right now they owe me because I overpaid on a bill(their fault due to an electronic billing error). Over 250 bucks.
They refuse to give it back.
Refuse...totally. And they are hedging about even crediting my account. I am getting a fucking lawyer.

[Grimmjow]

I'm ready...http://www.emoticons4u.com/violent/sterb323.gif

Having a good time with those emots huh :D

[ECM]

Can I get a class action against Comcast going?

This might not apply to you (and please ignore this mild threadjack) but I just changed the DNS servers that Comcast was providing to a 3rd party provider and I haven't had any issues w/ those idiots since--might be something to look into.

[Mr.Green]

You americans and your lawsuits never cease to amaze. ;)

[Darkmatter]

I'm waiting for the class action on the hardware (which they snuffed with the extended warranty, probably)...or on the DRM issues caused by the death of hardware (HAVE to be online to play a game? Is that in the fine print of the agreement when purchasing Arcade titles? That if your box dies, you will HAVE to be online to play them? Bah...)

I'm ready...http://www.emoticons4u.com/violent/sterb323.gif


Do they ever plan on fixing that DRM issue?

[TrackZero]

Frivolous litigation

Yes. Typing text here to fill space.

[TrackZero]

It's not uncommon to see businesses have clauses in hosting contracts requiring 99.999% uptime, Google "five nines" (http://www.google.com/search?q=%22five+nines) and see what you get. Considering MS is raking in at least $200 million a year in subscriber fees, it's not completely unreasonable to expect better uptime than what we're getting.

For the amount you pay for year, good luck getting that many nines. The best hosting centres in the world for fortune 500 companies only get that amount of nines.

[Xerxes]

This might not apply to you (and please ignore this mild threadjack) but I just changed the DNS servers that Comcast was providing to a 3rd party provider and I haven't had any issues w/ those idiots since--might be something to look into.

I actually have Earthlink through Comcast. But I have to call Comcast when I get dropped so I blame them.

[BlackPete]

Do they ever plan on fixing that DRM issue?

The only way any DRM of any kind will ever get "fixed" is if it gets cracked.

[51|RandoM]

You have to spend five nines to get five nines.

[Rune_74]

hehehe hmmm this is like that person who tried to sue mcdonalds because they burned themself because the coffee was hot. Shit happens, especailly with technology.

[WastelandDan]

I think this is silly in lieu of the fact that Microsoft has accepted responsibility for the outages and is giving all Live users a free game as compensation. I think they have reasonably accounted for the problem and are compensating people adequately. Now I just hope it's a game I don't already own!

[Johan]

Do they ever plan on fixing that DRM issue?

I highly doubt it. No.

http://www.emoticons4u.com/violent/sterb246.gif

I'm addicted to my new digital toys. What can I say?

Now I just hope it's a game I don't already own!

That's the key as to whether there is actually any compensation for everyone inconvenienced by this extended (I had trouble tonight; it continues) problem.

[Katslover]

Wow. Why fight for this stupid stuff when we should all be pushing class action against MS for their horrible customer service and DRM?

[Furious Wang]

just to chime in, tonight live is the worst I've seen it. its not out of line to complain when a service you pay for is practically broken for nearly two weeks.

I'm curious to know how many of those throwing the "whiner" label around have actually tried playing on Live lately.

Its so bad I'm seriously considering trading my system in for a ps3

[Johan]

It is/was very, very bad tonight. Honestly, I've never owned a product that I felt bipolar over. I love the games and fun to be had on it, but there are several incredibly maddening issues, including hardware reliability (I'm on my third), DRM issues, and now Live.

I vacillate between having a blast, and wanting to blast the damn thing to smithereens.

[jeffbax]

where the fuck is the HARDWARE class action suit :confused:

[Shadowstorm]

This might not apply to you (and please ignore this mild threadjack) but I just changed the DNS servers that Comcast was providing to a 3rd party provider and I haven't had any issues w/ those idiots since--might be something to look into.

Open DNS ftw.

[Shadowstorm]

just to chime in, tonight live is the worst I've seen it. its not out of line to complain when a service you pay for is practically broken for nearly two weeks.

I'm curious to know how many of those throwing the "whiner" label around have actually tried playing on Live lately.

Its so bad I'm seriously considering trading my system in for a ps3

Haha, wow. I won't even go into this.

[KingGorilla]

Open DNS ftw.

You're welcome.

[Wolvie]

I couldn't say it any better then the guys from Destructoid did:

While these leeches whine about "many plaintiffs being kicked offline," I have to wonder what kind of twisted individual sees an opportunity for a lawsuit in this, a chance to profit from the situation. Not once did the thought of trying to sue people enter my head while Xbox Live was screwing up and nor, I hope, did it enter the heads of any other decent person with a shred of integrity. It's not like MS isn't offering something in return for what was, let's face it, a few dollars' worth of downtime -- if that. If you want to try and get thousands of dollars for the couple you lost -- you're a piece of crap, no matter how sucky Microsoft has been lately.

Next time your ISP has to go down for a few hours, or your cable company loses some channels for a while, sue them. Because being a suit-happy little grifter is the American dream.

I agree completely, and anyone who thinks suing MS over this is a good idea, is a fucking moron.

Now if someone were to sue because of faulty hardware, I'd be all for it.

[Mal.Reynolds]

its supposed to be 5 million .... give me some and i support it ....

[Random Fires]

You can order some cheese and crackers to go with your whine. The bottom line is, I'm posting and making a tour of the web cuz,
I Can't Play Online Now!
I don't care about some xbl game a month from now.
Sue or Suit yourselves a tie...
Fix it NOW.
And don't argue about the why.
Tomorrow an X-rep is gonna be calling me about delivery for an empty box, ironic since I have so many of them already. I just can not wait for the call.
I'll Make myself a coffee, burn one, and sit by the phone.
And I'll tell ya how it goes.... Nothing rational will happen, but time to start yelling at someone.(even if its "the wrong dept")
And maybe if enough do some yelling, someone will be heard.
Those of you who are angry, bitter...
I'm one of you, and I,you,we, don't "Have" to buy the next big game...
Burn Out seemed okay, but we can shelf that purchase aside, after all who knows if you'll be able to play it? Suits and online petitions never work, you want to send a message send it through the pocket book.
Maybe a tough sell for some of you, but I'm an older gamer, I've seen my fair share of horseshit.
You wanna organize something, organize a boycott, after all, no gamer loves EA anyways.
I'm fairly new here, but I won't apologize. I'll know pretty damn quick If I've found a home, or getting the boot...

[TheFlyingOrc]

The simplest solution would be just to give all gold subscribers like a week of free playtime. It would cost them virtually nothing.

[Goronmon]

I doubt anyone really expects to make money off this lawsuit. I see it more of people being frustrated and using it as a way to get MS's attention. I mean, what other option is there? Bitch on online forums? Create a web petition? Yell at some CS rep?

Just because people aren't suing over the right to cure cancer, doesn't automatically make it a frivolous money grab.

[JayK47]

Sorry, there are too many people on Xbox Live right now. Please try again later. Thank you for your patience.

[Schnoogs]

More proof our society is full of nothing but spoiled little bitches.

It was down for a week...get the fuck over it. Their OS has been shitty for 2 decades. Why don't you sue over that.

[pseudopseudo]

I still don't get how Xbox Live could handle the surge that came with Halo 3 flawlessly, but can't handle the holiday season?

I call bullshit.

Also - anyone who'd sue over this is out of their head.

[Johan]

It was down for a week...get the fuck over it.

I spoke with you on customer service, didn't I? ;)

Their OS has been shitty for 2 decades. Why don't you sue over that.

That's a good point!

[Schnoogs]

I spoke with you on customer service, didn't I?!

I can assure you I'm not indian! ;)

[rein]

Why do people feel the need to apologize for Microsoft? Live has been a very bad service for over a week now. I don't care much about this lawsuit and I don't care about how many new users Microsoft added that is causing the issues. What I do care about is that I have a very limited use on a game system that I paid for because of bad online service that I pay for. Both of those payments are going to the same company. And don't give me crap about it only being $50 a year (that is what I paid, I don't care if it can be had cheaper!). Regardless of the amount, I still paid for a service that has rendered my game console useless for the most part.

[Baron Samedi]

The timing for Live's problems couldn't have been worst. I expect a lot of people are in the same boat as me. I haven't been able to recover my Gamertag since Christmas - and yes, I got a shiny, new game for Xmas that has yet to see the light of play because of it. Now imagine you just got a 360, but oops, you can't create a Live profile, much less play your shiny, new copy of Halo 3, which you're been salivating over for the past two months. It sucks. MS needs to get their act together - this is unacceptable.

[eth3rton]

Does this mean that I can sue Verizon Wireless over crappy cell coverage in my area..../

[Baron Samedi]

I spoke with you on customer service, didn't I?

Wait, wasn't that Tech Support? Oh yeah, that's right, you're the same fucking person - and you're an Indian.

[Ink Asylum]

Less QQ, more Get A Life.

[Johan]

Less QQ, more Get a Life.

http://deephousepage.com/smilies/cussing.gif

[TechFiend]

Does this mean that I can sue Verizon Wireless over crappy cell coverage in my area..../

"Can you hear me now??"

[Baron Samedi]

"Can you hear me now??"

Corn nuts. Corn nuts!

[Micasa]

Does this mean that I can sue Verizon Wireless over crappy cell coverage in my area..../

I'm suing Evil Avatar for the crappy quality of posts as of late. It's RUINED my Christmas!

[eth3rton]

I'm suing Evil Avatar for the crappy quality of posts as of late. It's RUINED my Christmas!

You can't. Your a Yellow. EvAv is a free service to you.... Get over it... :p

[Random Fires]

I'm suing Evil Avatar for the crappy quality of posts as of late. It's RUINED my Christmas!
Best reply, I think I'll make it my sig LOL!!!

Seriously though, no one likes the boycott idea? Or Are my posts too long?(requires reading more lines then quoting)

[Durka-Dan]

For the amount you pay for year, good luck getting that many nines. The best hosting centres in the world for fortune 500 companies only get that amount of nines.

The Sony network is still up... just sayin.. :p


kidding, don't bomb me with the obvious reply.

[ECM]

The Sony network is still up... just sayin.. :p


Well that's because it's free and, uh, because it's free, uh...someone help me out...:D

[Rune_74]

And um noone is playing on it? hehehe that might be it if you don't want to ignore the obvious.

[Yellowman]

Well that's because it's free and, uh, because it's free, uh...someone help me out...:D

There are only about ten people using it :rolleyes:?

Edit: Damnit you Runed it!

[KingGorilla]

I still don't get how Xbox Live could handle the surge that came with Halo 3 flawlessly, but can't handle the holiday season?

I call bullshit.

Also - anyone who'd sue over this is out of their head.

Well, seeing as Microsoft has not fixed the problem of the Holiday rush in 5 years. Maybe a lawsuit is just the thing for them to finally deal with the problem.

[ECM]

Well, seeing as Microsoft has not fixed the problem of the Holiday rush in 5 years. Maybe a lawsuit is just the thing for them to finally deal with the problem.

Pardon my ignorance, but this has happened every year at each of the three holidays the 360 has been on the market?

[Durka-Dan]

There are only about ten people using it :rolleyes:?

Edit: Damnit you Runed it!

I know, isn't it awesome to have a network that gives the developer so much freedom and how it can avoid bottlenecks where if one thing goes down the whole thing goes down?

I'd either like to see Sony adopt the features that Live has or Live adopt the open network philosophy.

[Micasa]

The Sony network is still up... just sayin.. :p


kidding, don't bomb me with the obvious reply.

PSN dropped when they put the MGS videos up. It also dropped when the first demo was put up, though I can't remember what the demo was. It's not like it's perfect either.

[Durka-Dan]

PSN dropped when they put the MGS videos up. It also dropped when the first demo was put up, though I can't remember what the demo was. It's not like it's perfect either.

None as severe as this. All networks do have their hiccups though. Just most don't last for days on end.

[Johan]

I'd either like to see Sony adopt the features that Live has or Live adopt the open network philosophy.

5DmYLrxR0Y8

[NationalKato]

Frivolous litigation.

/thread

[Rune_74]

None as severe as this. All networks do have their hiccups though. Just most don't last for days on end.


Trolling is fun and you are so good at it, keep up t he good work:)

[ECM]

Trolling is fun and you are so good at it, keep up t he good work:)

We've really lowered the bar for what's considered trolling, haven't we?

[Disgustipated]

We've really lowered the bar for what's considered trolling, haven't we?

SHUT UP TROLL!

Damn you.

[Johan]

SHUT UP TROLL!

Give him the boot!

http://deephousepage.com/smilies/splat.gif

[ECM]

SHUT UP TROLL!

Damn you.

:confused:

[WastelandDan]

More proof our society is full of nothing but spoiled little bitches.

It was down for a week...get the fuck over it. Their OS has been shitty for 2 decades. Why don't you sue over that.

Keep in mind we pay for this service though. If your cable, internet or telephone went down for a week would you be nearly as forgiving?

[KingGorilla]

Pardon my ignorance, but this has happened every year at each of the three holidays the 360 has been on the market?

No, this has happened every year that Xbox Live has been around. It got even worse once Microsoft started giving those free 2 month cards in things like Halo 2, CounterStrike, Rainbow Six.

[Talon-]

Does this mean that I can sue Verizon Wireless over crappy cell coverage in my area..../

Actually apparently as a provider they promise to give you service in your home, so you can actually complain about this. Sometimes they'll give you a signal booster. I remember hearing about this on BoL.

I don't think I've seen any other case where somebody actually defends something that they pay for being unusable for a relatively extended amount of time. I didn't run into it until today, and I'm sort of pissed about it. It's okay to be angry about it, folks. If your cell phone reception just stopped working for a week on and off you'd be pissed about it. If you bought a McGriddle and they gave you a Sausage Biscuit you'd be pissed about it. No need to defend big daddy Microsoft, folks.

[Micasa]

None as severe as this. All networks do have their hiccups though. Just most don't last for days on end.

None as severe as what though? I've played Call of Duty 4 every night - no problems outside the normal host quitting or running into someone with incorrect NAT settings.

[Goronmon]

Frivolous litigation.Can someone explain why this is a frivolous lawsuit? It's not like class actions are notorious for paying out huge settlements to individuals. Hell, the whole point of a class action is that the individual claim is too small to make it worth filing a lawsuit alone.

People obviously feel that the Live issues have extended long enough that they feel MS isn't living up to their end of the bargain. Since most people here seem to think it's not worthy of a class action suit, what is the alternative recourse for consumers?

[Johan]

It's frivolous if you disagree with it.

It's not if you don't.

Frankly, one of the reasons we have a court system is to decide things such as this, but on a forum, everyone is judge, jury, and executioner!

[rein]

None as severe as what though? I've played Call of Duty 4 every night - no problems outside the normal host quitting or running into someone with incorrect NAT settings.
You should buy a lottery ticket. ;)

[Vampyre]

From the Seattle Times (http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/techtracks/2008/01/xbox_live_holiday_outages_prompts_class_action_law .html),

Interruptions in play kicked "many Plaintiffs offline" and "displayed messages such as 'Server Error.' " Others could not get online or use match making and account recovery features "despite paying for these services in their yearly subscription dues. Many Plaintiffs purchased new subscriptions specifically to play online during the holidays."And Que The Lawyers!!!!

[Evil Avatar]

The stupid part is that I'm guessing a quick glance at the EULA will say something along the lines of the nature that the service may not be available at all times.

If it does... lawsuit over before it begins.

[Grimmjow]

Wasn't this posted earlier?

[Vampyre]

Wasn't this posted earlier?


If it was I am truly sorry I missed it...

[Johan]

I think I hear an echo! (http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42180)

No worries. Most of us go around posting the same stuff over and over again, anyways! One more thread to do it in!

[Evil Avatar]

I think I hear an echo! (http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42180)

No worries. Most of us go around posting the same stuff over and over again, anyways! One more thread to do it in!

That was a forum post. This is a news post. While the difference is minor, more people will see the story now.

If I could merge the threads without mussing everything up, I would.

Ok, I merged the threads. It moved the post down the page a bit, but it is all cool now.

[WastelandDan]

there's no denying that this lawsuit is ridiculous, but I do think people are a little too ready to give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt. We do pay for this service and as such they should be better prepared for stuff like this.

[Johan]

That was a forum post. This is a news post.

I'm not complaining! I'm a one-trick pony...with an echo all my own!

[nixpayn]

we pay for internet. it goes down sometimes.
people pay for WoW. it goes down for a few hours every week.
we pay for power. it goes out if there are too many people sucking it.

we pay for lots of things we dont get use out of 100% of the time.

the difference is microsoft is a company with a ton of money that sounds easy to sue. and since its class action, you sign your name, and if nothing happens - no big loss.

the reality is people like to bitch and complain. you pay $60 for a year. roughly 16 cents a day. do you have any clue how much it costs to install new servers? how much the hardware costs? how much the man power and technicians cost?

since this is your money, take that 16 cents, divide it by an 8 hour day to pay someone, and your part of that is about 2 cents an hour to pay for servers, technicians and all the re-routing.

as a long, long, long time MMO player, ive seen this day in and day out, year after year.

there is not a single person who has ever seen an unexpected EQ server outage who has been in a chat room in that EQ chat client built into the login system who cannot attest to the fact that people with nothing better to do just like to complain in general about everything they can find to bitch and moan about.

[Church42]

The only winners in a class action lawsuit is the lawyers that brought up the class action lawsuit & win.

Sorry to any lawyers out there that are EvAv users, but this user doesn't have much respect for lawyers. I realize the bad ones are not as numerous as I probably believe them to be, but it still doesn't change my opinion of them.

[TrackZero]

I'm not complaining! I'm a one-trick pony...with an echo all my own!

I wonder if I scream "Johan" off of a cliff, if I'd hear "RRoD, MS can kiss my ass!" back.... ;)

[Chainblast]

Maybe it's a little bad blood from all the other problems MS towed in with the 360.

[Johan]

I wonder if I scream "Johan" off of a cliff, if I'd hear "RRoD, MS can kiss my ass!" back.... ;)

You'd hear, "RRoD, DRM, MS can kiss my ass!" back. You were very close!

Like I said, I'm predictable. One trick pony.

[Rune_74]

Maybe it's a little bad blood from all the other problems MS towed in with the 360.


What you mean games to play and all that other jaz?:P

[Micasa]

we pay for internet. it goes down sometimes.
people pay for WoW. it goes down for a few hours every week.
we pay for power. it goes out if there are too many people sucking it.

we pay for lots of things we dont get use out of 100% of the time.

We actually lost power here the other day for three-four hours. I think it was frost on the lines, made them contact each other and shorted out huge areas.

Keep in mind that it's -25 or so outside, and that becomes a problem pretty quickly.

I don't think anyone's going to sue the power company though.

[KingGorilla]

This isn't inclement weather, an act of nature, bad luck like what happened in San Francisco where 3 failsafes, well failed on a server farm. Yes, sometimes things you subscribe for(cable, internet, etc) go down for a bit. But Live has consistently, at this time of year suffered outages and significant slowdown. We are going on two weeks now with the latest one.

[AniAko]

Class action lawsuits generally only help the lawyers.
I bought a Palm m130 wehn it debuted several yeas ago. I was in college at the time and there happened to be a class action lawsuit about Palm falsely advertising the unit's capabilities. I figured that this was sweet and i'd get some cash back or cool upgrade, or a new palm all together so i joined the class action suit. Almost 4 years later, we won the class action suit and were issued a free copy of simcity for the palm for settlement. at this time i had stopped using my palm since it no longer worked, plus the technology had improved significantly since the time of the lawsuit. Now the founder of the lawsuit and the lawyers involved made off with a pile of cash, but everyone else involved got a $12 game for 4 year old technology. Frivolous to say the least.

As a consumer, your better off fighting with the company directly to get free service or replacement of whatever they sold you. most of the time companies will make the consumer happy and the world keeps turning. Class action lawsuits is for when a company doesn't take responsibility for their actions and consumers want to get even. The satisfaction of a class action lawsuit is not in what you can get out of a company, but instead how much you can punish one by their thousands or millions of customers nickel and diming them.

If you want to see a real likeness to a historic class action lawsuit, watch the movie Erin Brocovich. It's a last resort to let justice prevail. But sadly in today's world it is typicaly abused as recurring revenue for slimey money monger douchebags, I mean lawyers

[Nerv]

I'd be very surprised if xbox live has a SLA, or if the T&Cs make any kind of assurance related to uptime in any way - most ISPs in the UK and Ireland have clauses in the contracts that say that the service is provided with no guarantee that it will ever work, and this is essentially the same thing.

[Micasa]

This isn't inclement weather, an act of nature, bad luck like what happened in San Francisco where 3 failsafes, well failed on a server farm. Yes, sometimes things you subscribe for(cable, internet, etc) go down for a bit. But Live has consistently, at this time of year suffered outages and significant slowdown. We are going on two weeks now with the latest one.

It's a sudden increase in demand, aka something companies often can't adequately plan for. The hoar frost was building up on the lines for two or three days - obviously the power company should have known this was coming and done something, right?

[Rune_74]

This isn't inclement weather, an act of nature, bad luck like what happened in San Francisco where 3 failsafes, well failed on a server farm. Yes, sometimes things you subscribe for(cable, internet, etc) go down for a bit. But Live has consistently, at this time of year suffered outages and significant slowdown. We are going on two weeks now with the latest one.

So lets get the story straight, you have had a problem every year for the last 5 years on your xbox and xbox360? I haven't just wondering if you did.

[pseudopseudo]

The stupid part is that I'm guessing a quick glance at the EULA will say something along the lines of the nature that the service may not be available at all times.

If it does... lawsuit over before it begins.

Over at digg, they posted the exact part of the TOS that makes the case irrelevant:

16. WE MAKE NO WARRANTY
We provide the Service "as-is," "with all faults" and "as available." The Microsoft Parties give no express warranties, guarantees or conditions. You may have additional consumer rights under your local laws that this contract cannot change. To the extent permitted by law, we exclude the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, workmanlike effort and non-infringement.

(http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/legal/)

Someone else was saying the only thing the lawyers could really try to use to win is something called "implied warranty", but even that isn't sounding completely watertight.

[Johan]

You may have additional consumer rights under your local laws that this contract cannot change.

Certain states/countries/localities are quite consumer-oriented and offer very nice protections against corporate legalese and avoidance.

I wouldn't toss in the towel on this class action yet. Lawyers are (mainly) reasonably bright and wouldn't get into a dead-end case that had no chance of remuneration.

[Rune_74]

Unless of course they had their own legalese in the contract for the class action suit where tehy still get paid even if they don't win.

[ResistanceAddict]

I'm not saying they don't have a case, I'm not a lawyer, I don't know...but just another further example of our whiny culture. They had problems, they acknowledged them, and they're trying to make amends.
What the fuck do people want?

It's not like playing Xbox live is anything other than a luxury. This may piss some off, and I know it's frustrating to not be able to log on...but did anyone suffer emotional distress because they couldn't play Halo? Grow the hell up. Our entire culture is full of soft, whiny babies.

Quoted for truth.

[Goronmon]

Since most people here seem to support MS on this issue. At what point does Live not working become something worth suing over? If it was down for 6 months, would it make sense to file a class action then? 3 months? 1 month?

[drakkarim]

i hope MS takes the lawyers to the cleaners.

although MS should have given everyone affected 2 free days (or however long the issue was around) on their contracts, rather they offloading some shitty ass live game that most of them won't even give a shit about.