Scott tried to take advantage of an Xbox Live promotion that would net him 800 points ($10) of bonus money if he spent 2400 points ($30) in a set amount of time. He spent the required amount of money, then received a message from a Microsoft customer service rep that said he’d get the 800 points if he kept waiting.

Eventually, though, Microsoft changed its mind, told Scott he didn’t qualify and that he wouldn’t receive the points.

Scott, who provided the accompanying photo, writes:

I wanted to write you a short story about my experience with Xbox Live
customer service and an Xbox promotion.

Xbox Live was running a promotion during the month of October, know as the Xbox Shopping Spree promotion. The promotion required the user to spend 2400 Microsoft Points during the month of October. If you spent the points you would receive 800 points as a reward within 4-6 weeks. I spent the points during the month of October and 4 weeks later I received a message from Xbox Live through my Xbox 360, thanking me for participating the the Shopping Spree Promotion and 800 had been deposited into my account. The points were now actually showing up in my account though, so I gave it a few days and when they still had not shown up I called Xbox Live and I spoke to a customer service agent. The agent informed me that yes I had qualified for the promotion and I should wait another 2 weeks since they have stipulated that it may take 4-6 weeks for the points to arrive in your account. I explained that I didn’t understand why they would bother to send me a message telling me that the points had been deposited when that had not actually done that yet. I was then transfered to a supervisor and I had to explain the entire situation to again and she also told me that I qualified and that I should wait two more weeks.

I waited the two weeks and still no points show up in my account. I call Xbox Support once again. I explain the entire story to the first customer service agent and she also tells me that I qualify and does not understand why I haven’t received the points. I am then transferred to a supervisor and I explain the entire story again. The supervisor tells me that I qualify and she doesn’t understand why I haven’t received the points. She tells me she needs to send this to some kind of investigation department and that I will be contacted within 5 days.

A few days go by and I finally get a call from Xbox. They have investigated the problem and have determined that I did not qualify for the promotion and they are sorry but there is nothing more they can do. At this point I am beyond upset having spent more than two hours in total on the phone telling my entire situation 4 different times. I tell the representative that I don’t agree with their determination and I am very upset over the time I’ve spent trying to get this corrected. Even if they have decided that I didn’t qualify, I’ve had 4 of their employees tell me that I have qualified and I received a message through my Xbox telling me congrats and we are giving you points. They have refused to compensate me in any way for the time I’ve spent trying to resolve a message they have sent to me in error. I was never even apologized to for the message that was sent to me. They didn’t even admit they had made an error. I feel lied to and cheated.

If you participated in the promotion, did it work for you?

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