That's hyperbole. The failure rate is unacceptably high but it isn't 100%. And I think that an unacceptably large number of fat PS2s before the 39000 series suffered from DREs and a similar situation happened with early models of the PSX. So fragile consoles that have a tendency to fail during their relevant lifetime are no new thing. The 360 situation may be worse but it's by no means the first time this has happened.
But what's this about a lack of consumer support? Sending in a 360 is a rather painless process. You can print out the shipping label off the net and don't have to pay a dime for shipping.