Dude: My Rock Band hub caught fire, EA: Plug it in again

by Justin McElroy { Oct 21st 2008 at 10:00AM }

Ahh, customer service, it ain't what it used to be. Just 10 minutes after plugging his Rock Band instruments into the supplied USB hub, Jim Squires noticed that the cord to the unit was smoldering and had created a totally non-rocking electrical fire.

Upon informing EA of the problem, Squires was told by the company to plug the USB adapter back in to test it. No, seriously, he was. Now Squires is still trying to talk to an actual human at the company to let them know about the whole "the Rock Band adapter could have burned my house down" thing. You can follow his progress here.

Tags: ea, Harmonix, MTV-Games, rock-band

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Phizzy @ Oct 21st 2008 10:04AM

He probably used the wrong adapter.

Metal Geario 360 @ Oct 21st 2008 10:28AM

Thats what i thought.

Too much current.

TVGenius @ Oct 21st 2008 10:37AM

The thing is, where this allegedly burned is between the hub and the 360. I find it very hard to believe that, given the fact USB is only rated for 5VDC, the wire itself caught fire, but the hub didn't fail and the instruments and 360 apparently also continued to function while the cable smoldered. I find it hard to believe the power needed to melt down a cable somehow magically didn't ruin anything else connected to it.

[playwhutyalike {C.E.P}] @ Oct 21st 2008 10:41AM

EA meant to plug it back into his ass.

dark_inchworm @ Oct 21st 2008 10:08AM

I wasn't aware customer service was ever good.

Bleu @ Oct 21st 2008 10:09AM

A hub is a hub bro. The device is defective and EA needs to replace it....frankly speaking as an I.T. professional I would never use hub given to me with a game that just doesn't feel right to me.

Obie @ Oct 21st 2008 10:12AM

Psh, it was not electrical failure.
It was 110% rockitude!

baby sea tuna @ Oct 21st 2008 10:28AM

Deploy extinguisher to save!

Zertoss @ Oct 21st 2008 10:25AM

Well, did he plug it back in?

Josh @ Oct 21st 2008 10:26AM

*facepalm* @ EA

Foetoid @ Oct 21st 2008 10:28AM

Burnt hubs just sound better then their unburnt brethren

meist3r @ Oct 21st 2008 10:30AM

Have you tried rebuilding your house?

baby sea tuna @ Oct 21st 2008 10:30AM

Maybe this'll stop them from boxing in the cheapest fucking hubs ever manufactured.

...naaaaah, probably not.

Ryan @ Oct 21st 2008 10:34AM

Its not defecive, its a USB Hub/Smoke machine.

Zertoss @ Oct 21st 2008 11:03AM

Been a while since I've seen a good "It's not a bug, it's a FEATURE!" joke. Thanks for that.

Kevin @ Oct 21st 2008 10:35AM

Message to EA:

A USB adapter is not software! Software might work successfully in apparent identical conditions, hardware will burn more!

Monkeys Suck @ Oct 21st 2008 10:48AM

Lars Ulrich: FIRE BAD! FIRE BAAAD!

steveliv @ Oct 21st 2008 10:50AM

when i had to call rock band support, i was able to speak to a human almost immediately, try the number on the box or in the manual...

Mark @ Oct 21st 2008 10:59AM

Now that EA was winning a bit of respect with Crysis, Rock Band and upcoming Dead Space and Mirror's Edge... this reminds us of the day we couldn't stand the days is only rehashed the same game every year!

Watching the drama as it develops I felt inspired to write a movie script based on it.

Million Dollar$ from Hollywood, here I come!

Popfrogs @ Oct 21st 2008 11:30AM

"this reminds us of the day we couldn't stand the days is only rehashed the same game every year!"

wut

Mark @ Oct 21st 2008 12:19PM

Sorry mate, I was a bit drunk!

" this reminds us of the day we couldn't stand EA because of them rehashing the same game every year! "

That's the patch 2.04 release of my statement.

In other news... the movie script is shaping up awesome ($__$)

Hunts314 @ Oct 21st 2008 11:06AM

hmm I have this hub...never had problems before, but I'll definitely be keeping an eye on it from now on

cody @ Oct 21st 2008 11:32AM

I'm guessing since it said in the article that he hasn't talked to a human yet, what he heard were some prerecorded trouble shooting options. I'm sure he failed to mention that and went for the most scandalous of statements to get anyones attention.

Chris @ Oct 21st 2008 12:51PM

The two responses he got were through email. He never even tried calling their support line. All you ever get through email is automated responses. He should know that.

MatsJn @ Oct 21st 2008 12:46PM

They seem to be cutting corners a little too much with Rock Band. I doubted the quality of the USB-hub the moment I took it out of the packing. But it still worked, I still had to return the entire set because of the connector in the drums where the bass-pedal is supposed to go, didn't work.

So one Rock Band instrument set returned beacuse of one failed smoldering. Way to go EA.

Arturis @ Oct 21st 2008 1:34PM

My fiance wrote the training manuals for EA's customer service, and according to her they are supposed to replace the USB hub without further question in response to any evidence of defect. So the finger shouldn't be pointed at EA Customer Service as a whole, but more at the foolishness of the specific EA Customer Service Rep involved.