My 5 day old X-Box 360 developed the 3ROD. Brought it back to Gamer's Hideout. Had the set swapped 1-to-1. No hassle, no more 3ROD, happy customer.

This is how things should be. If the end-user is assured of prompt and complete rectification of any problems that occur as a result of a manufacturing defect during the warranty period; there is no worries in purchasing: Hence more buyers.

Djinn, if only more retailers are as professional as you are....

Works fine now. Optical drive is noisier than the first 360 but heck, combined with the noise generated by GOW/GRAW... I can live with that...

Since the XBox 360 has not officially been brought into Malaysia, sets sold locally have to be parallel imports. This is usually from Singapore and therefore the warranty is from MS Singapore. If you bring it in yourself, then you won't be able to go through a Malaysian dealer for a warranty claim. Generally what happens is the dealer will arrange for the set to make the trip back to Singapore and facilitate your RMA process.

Some dealers (eg. Gamer's Hideout) have a policy for one-on-one replacement (subject to availability of the replacement set I presume) for the first month.

I think this is a fair system and certainly given that the 3ROD (i.e. hardware faults) is hardly a rare occurence is a very GOOD reason to buy from a local retailer with a good reputation.