The Problem
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Here’s the issue. I had an Xbox 360 that I was quite happy with. It got the RROD. Luckily I had the product replacement plan at Best Buy so I did not have to wait the 4-6 weeks to send the console back to Microsoft (Bioshock and Two Worlds). When I took my console back to Best Buy they did not have any Premium consoles to replace it with and they had no idea when they would get them back in. I was talked into getting an Elite.

About a week later the Premium consoles started to come back in stock and I re-evaluated if I wanted to spend the extra money for the 120gig drive. I decided to return the Elite and get a Premium. After using the new console for a few days we noticed that my wife could not play my purchased content on my her profile or when I was disconnected from Xbox Live. There are a few arcade games she played but this was mostly an issue for Oblivion content we purchased. All those hours of Oblivion saves can’t be loaded because she is not authorized.

I realize that broken Premium->Elite->Premium is a little hard to understand, but I had no idea it would be such a fiasco to get access to the content I paid for.

The Calls
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8/17 20+ min

The lady did not understand the issue. I was put on hold multiple times. Eventually she said I need to create a silver account and call back and they will refund the points. This confirms what I read online.

8/17 45+ min

Spoke to a different person. I was told that a silver account is not good enough. First I must attempt to redownload everything and make a list of everything that did not work and call back. I attempted to redownload some stuff while on the phone. None of it worked. I was told to make a list because they were unable to find some of my purchased content in the computer.

8/17 30+ min

Time spent reviewing all downloaded content, redownloading, and attempting to play.

8/17 10+ min

Someone else. I was told that a list of non-working content was not needed. And a silver account is not good enough. I was then told I need to fax in a copy of my receipt. I was told to call back in 24-48 hours after sending the fax.

8/18 10+ min

Documents scanned and fax sent. I also included the list of content that did not work.

8/20 15+ min

Called to see about my fax. They had received it and she was going to escalate the issue. I should expect a call in 2-3 days with some points. I requested the call be after 6:00 since that is when I am around my 360. Too good to be true?

8/23 30+ min

Called in again to check my status because I had not received my call. I was told I had already been called and gotten the points (huh?). Then I was they just got my fax and had not had time to look at it yet (huh?). My issue had not been escalated yet (huh?). I would need to talk to a supervisor and the wait was 15 minutes. I was put “on mute” while waiting for the supervisor. Sometime around 15 minutes of being on mute the guy hung up on me.

8/23 30+ min

Called in a few hours after being hung up on. Talked to someone else that said they received the fax on the 19th and I would need to talk to the supervisor. After waiting on hold for a while I talked to “Ray” the supervisor. He said they just received the fax and that he would escalate it and I should expect a call back in 10 business days. I said I talked to a lady on Monday that said she had the fax and had already escalated it. He had no record of this information. When I asked for someone who knew what was going on or could help me he said no one like that was available. Apparently they “talk through computers” and there is no one else I can talk to and since the lady on Monday was not in the computer it never happened.

8/24 15+ min

I called to make sure my issue had been escalated. The dude said it had not. It was, however, “stuck in a queue” and I was told to call back in 3-5 business days to check on the status.

8/31 25 min

Called in the check the status of my request. Lady had no idea what I was asking about. Put on hold while she “researched”. She wanted to walk through the whole script again. Keep getting put on hold every time I say “I’ve done that”. She did not realize I had faxed in my receipt. She hung up on me after being on hold for a while.

8/31 5 min

Called in and the “tools were down” so they could not look up my reference number. I hung up.

8/31 45+ minutes

Called in and the system was up. She actually knows what she is talking about. I had to give all the information again but we are getting somewhere. My Pro with HDMI serial number shows up as an Elite and they will not transfer content to it. Talked to a supervisor and I need to fax in the receipt for the purchase of the Pro system to prove that I am not trying to upgrade to an Elite and then call back again. Once I do that they will send it to Microsoft and I can expect a call about my points.

8/31 10+ minutes

Collected all the information and faxed it in. 2 faxes. One of the receipt for my premium console and one of this log.

9/3 45 minutes

Talked to Alan. He collected the standard info and then transfered me to a supervisor. This took 30 minutes. Supervisor told me it would be escalated and then to expect a call in 3-5 days. I’ve heard this before.

9/4 0 minutes

Missed a call from support. Said to call them back.

9/5 10+ minutes

Apparently they just needed the serial number of my new console. I have given this to them like 20 times now and it is on the receipt that I faxed in. I should expect a call back in 3-5 days. They forgot (again) that I wanted to be called after 6:00pm.

9/11 7 minutes

Talked to Anthony wondering about my callback. Microsoft is still “investigating”. Expect a call back in the next two weeks. Seriously.

9/18 3 minutes

Attempted to talk to “Mark”. The connection was really bad and it took over a minute to get the spelling of my last name right. I kindly hung up.

9/18 53 minutes

Talked to “Trudy” or something. “The Microsoft is actively investigating the issue”. When pressed for a specific timeframe I was put on hold while she did some research. Asked for my serial number again. After 34 minutes I’m being “transfered to the right department”. After another 10 minutes she came back and just told me to wait indefinitely for information from Microsoft. And she assured me that my content would work while online. Awesome.

9/26 45min

Talked to some guy that eventually passed me to T2 “Jack”. I spent a long time on hold while he researched my history. He was able to explain my case to me and why he thought it was taking so long. Still makes no sense. He said that he would take ownership of this case and make sure that he called me back. He seemed genuine but I can’t help but think it is a bunch of BS.

10/3 22 min

Talked to Joey. There is a note on my account to forward me to a T2 person if I call back. Got transfered to “Jerry”. He said the license transfer started on Sept 13th so I should expect a callback on or before Oct 13th. The investigation procedure is over so my request won’t be denied now. I’m just waiting for the transfer to complete and it takes 30 days.

10/13 20 min

Elroy. Fairly quick transfer to a supervisor. Transfer takes a while. Rina says she has no one there has any power to fix things. Same old story. Wait forever for a callback. I was a little frustrated with her.

10/16 15 min

I missed a couple unknown calls on my phone in the evening so I thought it might be Microsoft calling me. I called to see if they had any updates. Spoke with Sara. She spoke to a supervisor after putting me on hold for a while and said no one was calling me. She scheduled a callback for tomorrow. I have no idea who it will be or if they will have any information.

10/17 0 min

Sara lied. No callbacks today.

10/18 40 min

Called back to see why I did not get a callback. Did not get the first lady’s name. She tried to go through the whole process again. I kept having to stop her. It took forever and then she had to transfer me to a supervisor. Apparently Sara had setup a new reference number to schedule the callback. Transfered to Emma the supervisor. She was he worst support person I have encountered yet. She was mean and did not even try to be helpful.

10/25 20 min?

Got a call from someone who actually works for Microsoft. He had been tipped off to my issue and was very apologetic. He thinks my content will be updated within the next week and he scheduled a callback to to check up on me. For the first time since day one I am starting to feel a little better about things.

10/30 2 min

The guy called back (first callback ever) today but my licenses have not been updated yet. He said they would try and get it done for next week (another callback) or maybe do a one-off exception thing. We’ll see.

11/06 0 min

I was hoping to get a callback since I thought I remember the guy saying that he had setup another callback for Tuesday. Hopefully he calls this week and hopefully it is good news. I tried my content over the weekend and it was still broken.

11/13 0 min

Still no call from the guy. Tried my content and it is still broken.

11/14 2 min

Left a message for the guy asking him to call me back.

11/15 15 min

Got a call back from the guy and we got my issue resolved as an exception case because it had taken so long. Finally done.