Anyone ever have Live problems like this...?

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CactusZac098

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Here's my little story I posted in the forums on Xbox.com in the Live section...


Microsoft wants me to pay for downloaded content and videos....twice. *** no!

I just got back from 15 months in Iraq, and I come home to find out my Xbox Live gamertag is permently banned because of a billing violation. There's a billing violation because there were two credit cards listed under the gamertag, and the credit card that was trying to be billing has been canceled for 2 years and was apparently the primary card to be billed. So my account got suspended and then canceled with no way of retrieving it. Oh well, I can live with a gamer score being gone.

But then I try to watch the season 2 of the Venture Brothers I downloaded with the gamertag thats been banned, and I can't because I can't log in to Live. And then I come to find out I can't use any of my downloaded content for games, videos, XBL Arcade games or anything downloaded unless I can log in to live and be on the banned gamertag. But why would I want to get online just to use content I should be able to use offline?? I shouldn't have to do that. So I called Xbox customer support.

I got through 3 people and 2 supervisors and this is what they've all said. They told me I would have to pay OUT OF MY OWN POCKETS for point just so I can redownload everything again to be able to use it. I also had to pay for another membership, and I can't use any of the content thats ALREADY on my 360 while signed in to the new gamertag.

Microsoft wants me to pay twice for stuff I've already bought. There's no way in *** I'm paying out of my own pocket for stuff I already have. I shouldn't have to. But microsoft felt it was necessary for 5 people they pay to tell me I have to. I've heard of and know people who called up and complained and got points back to redownload all their content, like the people who transfered their stuff to the elite from the 360 and the licenses on the content got messed up.

There's gotta be a way I can get points so I can redownload what I already bought. I am not paying out of my pockets for stuff I already own. There's just no way. This has to be illegal in some way, some how.

Does anyone know of someone I can get in touch with besides xbox customer support to get this mess sorted out?



I'm gonna call in tomorrow and say I just upgraded from a regular 360 to an Elite and see if they'll give me re-reimbursement in the form of points like they did before when the elite was first released.
 
they will request a serial # for an elite my guess, so a lie like that probably won't work. i cant say i have ever had a problem like this since my gamertag has been fine and since i am always on live when i play (even if appearing offline), the games i downloaded aren't ever a problem even though i am on my 3rd 360. good luck getting the points and sorry to hear you are having so many problems with it. the worst i am getting is the down times for the 2nd-3rd time within a 5 month span.
 
ehh as much as the news pushes Iraq under the carpet, you could prob use that to your advantage to get some leverage. If talking gets no where, send an email to Joystiq or Kotaku, might be able get them to post about it, get some heat on Msoft
 
Hopefully I can talk to someone from the US this next time I call. This is the worst thing a company can possibly do to get someone to cough up more cash.
 
I've actually been fairly successful at taking things to the next level when customer support doesn't work. By that I mean faxing or mailing a letter to someone in corporate, clearly outlining your situation, and specifically asking them for what you want done to fix the problem. This has worked for many companies over the years for me, and in this case, I'd actually just try sending a letter to Bill Gates or Steve Balmer at MS HQ. It'll most likely be intercepted by their assistants, but if you mention in there that you were in Iraq during the time the account was banned, I can't imagine they'd ignore that.
 
Well, this isn't necessarily the same thing as transfering to an Elite. If there was some sort of billing infraction that made your account suspended and banned, that's likely the reason they are being so unhelpful. Since we don't know the content of your conversation with them, it's hard to judge exactly how dickish they really are.

Main point is... and I hate to say it... but did you mention the Iraq thing? As long as you provide a reason for the billing problem, they'd likely be more inclined to help you, as opposed to just thinking you're some guy who dicked them around on billing a while ago and suddenly wants reimbursed for his stuff.

So, essentially, try again, mention the Iraq timeframe, and keep going higher up the CS chain if someone tells you 'no'.

I don't see really any other way to handle it, if five different people already told you that you're SOL.
 
Send this story to the Consumerist. (Comsumerist.com) Heard tons of story of Microsoft screwing people over there. Eventually, Microsoft gives in. It's their fault for not letting you cancel credit cards straight from your 360(which I find stupid as hell).
 
[quote name='DarkRider23']Send this story to the Consumerist. (Comsumerist.com) Heard tons of story of Microsoft screwing people over there. Eventually, Microsoft gives in. It's their fault for not letting you cancel credit cards straight from your 360(which I find stupid as hell).[/QUOTE]

Gotta agree with this, AFTER you try Tier 2 or 3 support and still get nowhere. Mention your service time, and inability to change your billing information.
 
Here's an update about my situation I posted about a week or so ago.

http://forums.xbox.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=19867072

I got a call from someone up on microsoft's escalation team (Thanks to Major Nelson) and they told me they'd look in to the situation. Said they'd call Monday and they ended up calling today, no biggie. But the big deal is that they STILL want me to pay for my downloaded content that I already paid for and that I can't access because of the DRM licenses. I can't get online to redownload them because the account is now permently banned (Or so I've been officially told). The person who called me back made it clear that I couldn't transfer achievement points over to a new account, but made no effort in telling me anything about my downloaded content other than I could access it with the banned account......I don't care about achievement points, I just want my damn downloaded content I already paid for be able to be useable.

I CANNOT ACCESS MY DOWNLOADED CONTENT WITHOUT REDOWNLOADING IT BECAUSE OF MICROSOFTS RETARDED DRM LICENSES!

And there lies my problem. Microsoft made no effort to help me out about getting my already paid for content useable. They want me to pay again. And again. And again if need be. I can't redownload my downloaded content because microsoft banned my account. Sure, my account tries to get online (Thats why it shows that I've played GTA4 and newer games), but then it tells me my account has been banned and wants me to update my account profile. And if I can't redownload the content to get the DRM licenses straight, you know what that means. Microsoft gets my money.

And it's insane I should have to repay for something I already paid for. You can bet that I'm gonna be spreading this around the net now. Microsoft fails to help out their customers. They just want $$$.

Think I should send this to some gaming websites? I do.
 
I'm not trying to be a cynic here, but I almost refuse to believe that, given your situation, they would be completely uncooperative in helping you. This has gone through at least a few different people and surely Microsoft is smart enough to realize that forcing someone to repay for their content is a PR nightmare, especially when the word 'Iraq' comes up.

So, again, I have to be a cynic and ask... and you CERTAIN there were no mitigating circumstances that you may have failed to mention here?

I just refuse to be believe that they'd force you to repay without giving you some sort of actual explanation, other than 'the account is banned', especially if you explained to them what you told us.
 
Well, from what I was told, when they tried to charge a 3 year old canceled credit card and couldn't, they sent it up to collections or something like that, and after like 3 months they banned the account. It's nice how they try to charge the canceled credit card on that account but not the one that was keeping it going for 2 years and was active.
 
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