Reader Mac’s XBOX 360 was out of warranty when it broke, so he decided to buy a new one thinking he could just transfer his old hard drive to the new XBOX. Sadly, no matter what he tries he can’t get his content to work properly on the new machine. He called Microsoft to see if they could help him out (after all they do this sort of transfer all the time for people whose boxes are replaced under warranty), but Microsoft’s only answer was “buy all your content a second time.”

Hi guys, not sure if you’re interested in putting this sort of thing on your site anymore, but I’ve had my own problems with Microsoft, the 360 and their support.

In a sentence, I called their support after replacing my busted 360, and their response to my question as to why I can’t access most of my content either online or offline from my old hard drive anymore was “Can’t help you, sorry. Buy all of the content a second time.”

Now here’s the long version:
I was kindly greeted by Alex, the automated system guy (I’ve never seen any company give theirs a name), then transferred over to a man who I believe went by the name “Jeeves” (at least that’s what it sounded like to me through the accent). After a bit of friendly banter and him asking me for a whole bunch of different information, I explained to him the following situation of which I will attempt to detail here in as few words as possible:
– My launch 360 broke about a year and a half ago, but it wasn’t under warranty, so I cracked it open and fixed it, making the new extended 3-year “three red ring” warranty void.

– My launch 360 red ringed just a little while ago.

– I decide to purchase a new console, figuring I’d like the fresh warranty and the new (instead of refurbished) console, and I’d just put my old hard drive in the new console and things should work alright.
– Even after logging into Live, I can’t access the full games that I’d purchased over Live, so I call Microsoft’s Xbox support line, expecting someone to be friendly and help me with my problem. While they were friendly, the only solution I was offered was to buy all of my content a second time. Yes, they instructed me to buy the content AGAIN.
I promptly explained to them that they’ll transfer licenses between the broken and refurb consoles they send out, so I wondered why they couldn’t help me. I could prove that the consoles were both mine in whatever way they wanted, verify hard drive serial numbers, give them receipts, Xbox Live account information, etc… And I got nothing other than the exact same line about not being allowed by publishers to transfer licenses, and that they have to contact them about transferring licenses and get the publisher’s approval for each game.
Then I asked to be elevated, and “Jeeves” politely transferred me to his supervisor, Ian. I spoke with Ian briefly and he gave me the same response: “Buy the content again.” To his credit, he did get me to attempt some other things to at least get my content working when I’m online, but he ultimately said it’s not up to him.
It’s very frustrating, seeing as I’ve gifted consoles to friends, bought a launch 360, and even replaced my 360 when it broke, and now this is the sort of awesome customer service I get for being a dedicated 360 user.

I’ll probably end up selling my two 360s and accessories, and buying something else with the money I get from it. This experience with Microsoft’s DRM has absolutely put me off of any of their products in the future, game-related or not.

– Mac

Any XBOX 360 experts have better advice for Mac than Microsoft did? Or does he really have to buy his content a second time?

(Photo: Milkham )

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