Looking to buy an Xbox One this holiday season? Don’t; should a thing go wrong, Microsoft will not bother.
The deals can seem enticing, but Microsoft’s horrible support means should you get stuck in a rut, you’ve nowhere to go. Sooner than later, you will need to reach out to someone, and a hundred dollars or so saved on a Black Friday or Cyber Monday deal will make no sense when you’re lost.
My experience has been harrowing, to say the least – over 2 hours on the phone calls and chat, and nothing.
My Horror Xbox One Story: Microsoft Doesn’t CARE!
I bought a Limited Editor Xbox One X Gears 5 console this Black Friday – from the Microsoft Canada store itself. The company ships by UPS for some reason, one of the most horrible delivery couriers around. They have a 1-star on Trustpilot – but that’s another story. Plus, UPS drivers have been caught previously stealing game consoles too.
The delivery date, according to UPS, was Monday, 2nd December 2019, as you can see from the screenshot below. UPS World Saver promises delivery to Canada the next business day.
When it didn’t arrive, I sent UPS an email on Tuesday, to which they replied on Wednesday.
Here is the thing – UPS does NOT care about your lost package. They can lose whatever they want, but they aren’t going to do a dime till the shipper (Microsoft) contacts them. Wow. (Should you still want to go ahead and file, they will not entertain any ‘claim’ for that package – a nice way to get rid of their burden of losing it.)
Then on, started my tryst with Microsoft customer support. Here is the thing – nobody knows how to deal with a lost package.
I go to the Xbox Games support team – and am told the Hardware team can help with sales and support. I try them, and then they tell it’s the Xbox Games team support to go to instead. They finally give me a number to call – and someone makes a reference number. I point out that I need to have the console by this Saturday, as am going out on a vacation on Sunday. I am told that someone will get back to me soon, in around 24 hours or so.
Thursday comes, and nothing happens.
This time, I use Microsoft website’s ‘Call me Back’ option twice for someone to call me instead. Nobody does. I now call up the Billing department, since Games and Hardware departments didn’t work. Guess what? It’s the same thing again – they direct me to another department.
Worse, the department that they direct me to, is closed, at 3:45 P.M. PST till Sunday; the call gets dropped.
I use the chat option one final time, to let the customer support know that I am filing a chargeback. Again, as you can see below, nobody knows UPS policies, and who can help me.
Guess, I am out $700-$800 trying to get a Black Friday deal from Microsoft. Just trying to get it back by filing a credit card dispute. Never in my life. Plus, I had bought three controllers from Amazon, and now I have to pay a shipping fee to them for refunding the three.
To be honest, I have been vouching for Microsoft products for a while, owning everything from the Surface Pro 4 to the Surface Book 2 (SB 2). I remember me breaking my first SP4, and paying around $620 to get a replacement. The guy at the service center gave me an extra keyboard cover for free – and I couldn’t be happier. That’s what made me buy the SB 2, as I thought Microsoft cared about its customers.
Back when I faced the screen flickering issue on the Surface Pro (SP4) 4, I got a new one from Microsoft. I still had to speak to the supervisor, because they were initially not agreeing to a replacement but a ‘$200 off’ the next Surface device you buy, for an-built device issue. It’s a horrible way to upsell frankly, and you’re telling the customer that the last product that you bought – which had a real worrisome issue – was normal, and the only way to avoid it was upgrading. Thankfully, when I talked to the supervisor, he was understanding and decided to replace it even though the device was one month out of warranty.
It’s what made me stick to them till now.
But well, never again.
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Update:
I contacted the Support one final time before initiating the dispute. Again, I was asked to go from the Xbox Games department to the Hardware department!
When I told the rep about the story, he couldn’t help himself.
It’s perhaps the first time when I saw a Customer rep asking you to dispute it with the bank, because even he can’t do anything about the shitty service Microsoft has!
I have disputed the charges now.
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By Soubhik Chakrabarti, writer, journalist, and former Xbox gamer.
Featured image source here, taken by Marco Verch Professional Photographer and Speaker.
Last Updated on by Laveleena Sharma