Last week I got 400 points from bing rewards and attempted to redeem them via xbox.com on June 30th. When attempting to do I was getting an error simply telling me to try later, I figured it was just a Live issue which was fine. I then noticed my MSP total was 2100 instead of 4460. I was taken aback thinking my account may have been hacked or something and someone bought 2400 worth of items. I checked my purchase history and nothing was out of the ordinary, so I decided to call XBOX Customer Support.
I spoke with someone named AJ, who was very nice. I told him the situation and he told me there was a lock on my account, I was shocked by this. I have had my XBL account since the start of 2008 and have been a Gold member since that day, never having my account lapse in coverage, not even for a day. He told me he would escalate the call because he cannot remove the lock and someone would get in touch with me in the next few days.
A few hours later Brandon called me back. I was surprised to get a call back so soon and proceeded to tell him the situation about the lock. A few months back, I along with a number of other CAGs took part in a promotion with XBL and Hulu where a month of Live was $1. It was also found that it was stackable. I was able to get 4-5 months for $1 each, according to Brandon the system automatically puts a lock on the account when it thinks something fishy is going on. He removed the lock right away and apologized for it. I asked him when the lock was put there and he said the middle of May, which was more then a month ago and I was NEVER notified by email, which annoyed me.
I then told him about the point situation. He noticed that the points that expired were promotional points. I told him that a friend of mine had gotten them and had no use for them so had given them to me. He asked if my friend ever told me about an expiration date to which I told him that he didn't. I understood that it was partially our fault, but I asked him if it made any logical sense to him that if I knew $30 worth of points were going to expire would I just let them? He agreed that it made no sense.
I then asked him when the points expire, this is when things got weird and reminds me of what just happened with PSN and the Welcome Back program. He said they expired on June 30th, which was today, the day I was calling. I brought that up to him and he said "well this goes by GMT to keep it fair to every region" so I proceeded to ask him "well....what day is it going by GMT" he answered with "June 30th". So once again...why are my points gone? Shouldn't they be good till the end of the 30th GMT? He then said that they expire during the transition from the 29th to the 30th. Well then the expiration date should be the 29th!!!
I then asked him if there was a way for me to check when points on my account would expire. He wasn't sure and went checking, to his surprise (but not to mine) there was no way. He agreed that this was wrong that the only way a customer knows if/when their points expire is one of two ways. Call Microsoft support or simply let them expire. They don't email you a warning, they don't have any place to check via the website or the 360 itself, the customer is left totally in the dark.
He agreed that it wasn't good business overall. I told him that I am sure I am not a big customer in Microsofts eyes but I have spent well over $300 since 2008 on digital content (inc Live memberships) and I have over 100 retail release titles and this just upsets me. He said it doesn't matter how much I spent, I bought a 360 and I am a XBOX customer and should be treated better. He sent a request to the billing department to get my points back, but it is up to them to approve the request or not. He said he will personally call me back tomorrow (Wednesday the 6th) to let me know one way or the other.
Sorry for the long post, but this is meant as a warning for anyone who has any promotional points in their account. This includes points from Xbox Rewards, they last one year from the month of issue. I am unsure if they make that clear on the rewards website, but I had no idea. Also, anyone who got in on the Hulu $1 Gold promotion might want to see if their account is locked.
I spoke with someone named AJ, who was very nice. I told him the situation and he told me there was a lock on my account, I was shocked by this. I have had my XBL account since the start of 2008 and have been a Gold member since that day, never having my account lapse in coverage, not even for a day. He told me he would escalate the call because he cannot remove the lock and someone would get in touch with me in the next few days.
A few hours later Brandon called me back. I was surprised to get a call back so soon and proceeded to tell him the situation about the lock. A few months back, I along with a number of other CAGs took part in a promotion with XBL and Hulu where a month of Live was $1. It was also found that it was stackable. I was able to get 4-5 months for $1 each, according to Brandon the system automatically puts a lock on the account when it thinks something fishy is going on. He removed the lock right away and apologized for it. I asked him when the lock was put there and he said the middle of May, which was more then a month ago and I was NEVER notified by email, which annoyed me.
I then told him about the point situation. He noticed that the points that expired were promotional points. I told him that a friend of mine had gotten them and had no use for them so had given them to me. He asked if my friend ever told me about an expiration date to which I told him that he didn't. I understood that it was partially our fault, but I asked him if it made any logical sense to him that if I knew $30 worth of points were going to expire would I just let them? He agreed that it made no sense.
I then asked him when the points expire, this is when things got weird and reminds me of what just happened with PSN and the Welcome Back program. He said they expired on June 30th, which was today, the day I was calling. I brought that up to him and he said "well this goes by GMT to keep it fair to every region" so I proceeded to ask him "well....what day is it going by GMT" he answered with "June 30th". So once again...why are my points gone? Shouldn't they be good till the end of the 30th GMT? He then said that they expire during the transition from the 29th to the 30th. Well then the expiration date should be the 29th!!!
I then asked him if there was a way for me to check when points on my account would expire. He wasn't sure and went checking, to his surprise (but not to mine) there was no way. He agreed that this was wrong that the only way a customer knows if/when their points expire is one of two ways. Call Microsoft support or simply let them expire. They don't email you a warning, they don't have any place to check via the website or the 360 itself, the customer is left totally in the dark.
He agreed that it wasn't good business overall. I told him that I am sure I am not a big customer in Microsofts eyes but I have spent well over $300 since 2008 on digital content (inc Live memberships) and I have over 100 retail release titles and this just upsets me. He said it doesn't matter how much I spent, I bought a 360 and I am a XBOX customer and should be treated better. He sent a request to the billing department to get my points back, but it is up to them to approve the request or not. He said he will personally call me back tomorrow (Wednesday the 6th) to let me know one way or the other.
Sorry for the long post, but this is meant as a warning for anyone who has any promotional points in their account. This includes points from Xbox Rewards, they last one year from the month of issue. I am unsure if they make that clear on the rewards website, but I had no idea. Also, anyone who got in on the Hulu $1 Gold promotion might want to see if their account is locked.
ed up: you don't know when your promotional points will expire. I guess they assume everyone will spend it so they won't care! haha.