"13 year old Dutch boy sues Microsoft"

[MikeB]

I have added the following to the original post, so the snips of new info don't get lost between all the comments:

Dutch consumer protection agency Kassa sues Microsoft on behalf of thousands of Dutch consumers. Due to an ongoing lawsuit in the United States, internal Microsoft emails revealed that Microsoft already knew about disc scratching issues before release in 2005.

Kassa demonstrated earlier during tests 360s could scratch discs even in super steady laboratory conditions, all recorded on tape.

http://www.telegraaf.nl/digitaal/games/2983060/__Kassa_onderneemt_collectieve_actie_tegen_Microsoft__.html?p=22,1

Having watched the program, a summary: The boy's dad who sued Microsoft as talked about in the original post apparently got a complete refund on bought console, games and lawsuit costs. Others who didn't go that far were treated badly, one of the guys interviewed bought his 360 last November and already 4 games were scratched.

Some snips from US Microsoft employee testimonials:

"This is information we as a team, optical disc drive team, knew about."

"360 was routinely scratching discs"

They put in drives known to have the same problems when doing repairs. Just to give customers the idea they get a new device (paying 100 dollars!).

"Just to give the customer a new optical drive, so that from a customer perspective they're getting a new device and that improves customer satisfaction"

Kassa is in co-operation with various European consumer agencies to address these problems for the whole of the EU. Like in the US, together they stand stronger, European Commissioner for Consumer Protection Meglena Kuneva outed her support and approval.