Power Glove Love

I’d like to think I’ve been lucky when it came to Microsoft products. My PC got the service pack 1 for Vista Ultimate. Unreal Tournament III is running smoother than before. So is Team Fortress 2. But XBox Live is something we need to discuss here. Because I went through a pretty shitty experience this morning that further solidifies my case against outsourcing.

I got an email at midnight telling me about my credit card being charged. Microsoft thought it was generous to inform me that, yes, they were charging me 50 dollars. Thanks, guys. But I didn’t want that. I did, however, want to use the 1 month game card I got when I had to send Pepe off to get repaired. Had I known I would be on hold for an hour while she “contacted her supervisor”, I would have hesitated. I started out telling them I want to have the year taken off- and to have the month card remain.

Bad idea. BAD FUCKING IDEA. Because from here, things go nuts. I’m talking to some Indian broad from billing who automatically assumes I want my credit card taken off the account entirely. That simply wasn’t the case. I like to download XBox Live Arcade titles from time to time. So she put me on hold for ten minutes, comes back, and wants to transfer me to someone else.

So, I wait. What else am I supposed to do? She comes back, tells me she’s transferring me again, and I go on hold for another five minutes. I repeat the same shit, talk to a different Indian lady, and sit on hold for a good 40-45 minutes while she discusses god-knows-what with her supervisor.

In the end, this is what happened:

• My year subscription was canceled.
• They canceled the one month card I sent them.
• I am now demoted to a silver account.
• A refund for the charge on the credit card will arrive in 3-5 business days.
• I will receive a call from their supervisor within 3-5 business days to confirm the reactivation of BEAR HELLO with a one month card.
• My credit card has been entirely removed from the account, which I never asked for.

Neat, Microsoft. You managed to turn all of this into a fucking debacle. How hard is it to take off a year subscription and keep the month one? Sure, processing a refund may take a while…but giving me a silver account for a couple days? What the fuck? Maybe if people who actually played the 360, or knew about it, would help in this area more. Seeing as how people need to take loans to buy 360’s in India, I doubt these women have one- let alone have they seen/played one.

I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GONNA TAKE THIS ANYMORE.

More updates if anything good happens.