Mike Benner: When Will I Learn My Lesson

When Will I Learn My Lesson

Nov 13 by Michael Benner

OK, this post is going to be more of a rant, but sometimes we just need to let things be heard. Let me start by saying I understand I am a rare case for Microsoft, Xbox 360 and Live, but that doesn't make their handling of issues any better. You see several years back I bought a Xbox (before Live was around) and enjoyed it. Then

Live came out and I was excited wired up the Xbox and discovered the network card in the Xbox was bad. I called Microsoft only to be told I was out of warranty (although I had no realistic way of testing the network card prior to Live) and that it would cost me $150 to repair, or the cost of a refurbished Xbox.

At that very moment I swore never to buy another Xbox or Xbox based product. Well, fast forward to last year and I buy not one, but two Xbox 360's (the Media Extender was too good to pass up). Everything was great, until about a month ago and the dreaded Red Ring of Death appeared. Knowing MS extended the warranty for 3 years I was not worried. They sent me a box I packed up the 360 and off it went. Then the new one arrived with a new serial number. No biggie, as long as it works I don't care. But then all my content was no longer useable unless I was signed in and online.

This is where I am a rare case for them. When you buy content from Live Marketplace it is tied to a) your username and b) (this is the big one) the console that was used to purchase it. This is why I have not moved to a bigger hard drive, it cancels half of your license. So, I call Microsoft and explain this to them. Their response...uh, give it 30 days. Are you f#@king kidding me...Give it 30 days.

First of all you have had one of my $400 consoles for the last 14 or so days, secondly, I paid a lot of money for this content and to be told to wait 30 days for content I paid for, that seems fair...So, I will give it 30 days, but I will no longer buy content for Xbox Live, I will get it from Amazon, iTunes, Playstation Network, where ever, there are plenty of options. As far as I am concerned the 360's just became media extenders on steroids and my PS3 will see much more love. I should have learned my lesson with MS last time and been patient and waited for the PS3 and ignored my friends on Live. Oh well, live and learn and share with the world...