Xbox Live support fiasco

[Pheran]

Not sure why I'm posting this here, but I just need to vent.

I've been an Xbox Live customer for years using my original Xbox, paying the $50/year subscription fee for what they now call Live Gold. Last Friday (Halloween), I got a new Xbox 360 Elite. I hadn't used my old Xbox on Live for quite a while, but my subscription is still active.

I fired up the 360 and tried to recover my gamertag onto the 360. No go, I couldn't authenticate with my Live ID either with the Xbox or via web. Finally I tried creating a new Live ID with the same email address - it worked, which implies that the old account was somehow expired/deleted. But, my gamertag is still somehow associated with the old/dead account, when I try to recover it I just get "This Windows Live ID is not associated with your gamertag."

As of tomorrow this new 360 will have been useless for a week. I just got off the phone with support again after escalating to tier 2 with no result except that "someone will contact you, it usually takes 7-10 business days". I have absolutely zero faith in that, tomorrow night I'm calling to cancel the Live account and returning the 360, unless they pull some miracle out of their butt when I call to cancel.

:| :| :|

 

[blurredvision]

A 7-10 day response for something that should be able to be handled over the phone the first time you call is bullshit. I can definitely see your frustration.

However, maybe someone else will know what I'm talking about...didn't Microsoft add a way sometime earlier this year to link a new email address to your gamertag? Seems like I remember this always being a sore point, and Microsoft finally fixed it. I could be mistaken, though.

 

[Schfifty Five]

Originally posted by: Pheran
Not sure why I'm posting this here, but I just need to vent.

I've been an Xbox Live customer for years using my original Xbox, paying the $50/year subscription fee for what they now call Live Gold. Last Friday (Halloween), I got a new Xbox 360 Elite. I hadn't used my old Xbox on Live for quite a while, but my subscription is still active.

I fired up the 360 and tried to recover my gamertag onto the 360. No go, I couldn't authenticate with my Live ID either with the Xbox or via web. Finally I tried creating a new Live ID with the same email address - it worked, which implies that the old account was somehow expired/deleted. But, my gamertag is still somehow associated with the old/dead account, when I try to recover it I just get "This Windows Live ID is not associated with your gamertag."

As of tomorrow this new 360 will have been useless for a week. I just got off the phone with support again after escalating to tier 2 with no result except that "someone will contact you, it usually takes 7-10 business days". I have absolutely zero faith in that, tomorrow night I'm calling to cancel the Live account and returning the 360, unless they pull some miracle out of their butt when I call to cancel.

:| :| :|

Just for future reference, if you decide to keep your xbox or live membership, don't pay $50. Buy a 13 month subscription from amazon for $38.99 w/ free shipping and no tax in most states.

 

[Injury]

I ran in to this problem too when I purchased my 360.

I had 3 separate people tell me that if your account OR linked credit card expired on your original Xbox, the gamertag associated with it can NEVER be recovered. Which is a really stupid concept.

 

[Oyeve]

That really sucks. My Live is gonna expire soon, I better make sure its on auto.

 

[tatteredpotato]

FYI you get 3 one month gold trials on the first 3 gamertags you create on your xbox, so make a new hotmail account and sign up for a GT to use in the meantime.

 

[tfinch2]

Sucks about your gamertag, but how is your 360 useless again?

 

[Pheran]

Originally posted by: Injury
I ran in to this problem too when I purchased my 360.

I had 3 separate people tell me that if your account OR linked credit card expired on your original Xbox, the gamertag associated with it can NEVER be recovered. Which is a really stupid concept.

Well, that's not very encouraging. I'm out of town for most of this week, so I'm ingoring the Xbox until Thursday/Friday night. At that point two weeks will have gone by. I'm going to call in and either get them to fix it or cancel my live account. I refuse to reward such gross incompetence by setting up another account - they aren't getting any more of my money through that channel at least. I'll return the 360 and get a network media player for my video needs and stick to PC and DS gaming.

 

[Pheran]

That ended in an unexpected way. They were still too incompetent to fix the problem, but bribed me into creating a new Live account/gamertag by giving me a 12-month free Live subscription. It's incredible that they cannot fix something so simple, but at least I still have a 360.