The main causes of the RROD in a lot instances are due to improper heat sinks in many of the early to mid units shipped by microsoft. So the theories of overheating causing RROD are based on factual evidence of corner cutting and just shoddy engineering. They offered an extended 3 year warranty (I'm not sure if that stands on new units being sold). Thank goodness Microsoft has superior developmental tools, online community and a better controller or else I would not own one.
That said I have gone through 2 units and each time getting a free replacement from MS was as painless as possible. I preferred to call and talk to a customer service representative each time. If you are not happy with the information the representative is giving, one hint is don't be a prick but instead politely ask to speak to a manager to discuss your issues. Good results will come.
Good luck.
