I maybe dumb? But it shouldn't be this hard to give microsoft money?

I loaded up my xbox today, and Got greeted with a Promo for 40% off. This lead to the biggest headache.

The above says what happened, I was painfully unaware I couldn't use MONEY to pay for my gold account? So,

Then I decided to go to the xbox / microsoft chat. The spoiler is that.

The TL;DR is they won't take money that you have in your account for it. Which this is exactly how I paid for my PSN script. And a few side notes. I am currently unemployed money is tight and in there I popped off about canceling my xbox ONE which I would of had to do anyways for lack of money, But it's worth a shot right? For the record I own just about every good XBLA game and Have a stack of games 8 foot tall, I also Own DLC for the majority of those games. The end.

I don't mean to sound insensitive, but that is - and has been from the beginning - Microsoft's policy. They offer those promotions to entice people to sign up for a full price recurring membership, which they can't do with a gift card or prepaid card. Also, I understand that you were upset, but I find myself sypathetic to the customer service agent in this case. It's clear to me that I don't have the patience for that type of work.

@ccforua: I know, right? While I understand his pain being an ass to someone for doing their job is never cool.

@linus_south: I'm not one to correct grammar, but specifically when someone writes a self deprecating phrase incorrectly, I think it's my duty. "I may be dumb..." two words.

I get your frustration but you were a real jerk to that person.

She stated Microsoft's policy (your feelings about which I'm sympathetic toward) very early in the conversation.

Everything after that just makes you look like a crazy person, and as soon as you've had a chance to cool down I'm quite certain you'll agree.

@linus_south: I understand that you were frustrated with it, but you were kind of a jerk. Not cool, duder. Just take a breather. This may not be a great policy, but it has been their policy. And that person didn't have anything to do with deciding what it was.

" I recently took bankruptcy and I do not have a credit card."

I stopped there. You can't have casually dropped $40 for xbox live and have an xbox one preordered if you are in a position where you've had to file for bankruptcy. I smell BS.

Having worked in a few customer service call/contact centers, this is frustrating.

1. I see OP's side of the story. You expect to be able to redeem MSP/Currency for your Live account, and are strapped for cash otherwise.

2. I also understand the agent's requirements to do their job - in Xbox's case, their phone and chat agents are heavily scripted and don't have a lot of wiggle room. Yes, they hear your concern and some of them will certainly provide some sympathy, but remember they have to work in the confines presented by policy at their job, which this agent advised you of a few times.

Maybe, they could have generated a month of Live on your account as a goodwill, but ultimately your chat with the rep sealed your own coffin. You'll get more flies with honey than vinegar - something I'm sure you've heard plenty of times in your 40 years. Perhaps politely confirming that you've read the support document that states you need to use a Credit Card or PayPal account to update your payment method for Live and are looking to see what support can do to help you now that you've redeemed a $40 code that won't allow you to purchase Live.

But then again, looking at that transcript, the agent did their job correctly. "Don't be a dick" applies to customer service reps too.

Michael, I don't think you should be buying video games and consoles if you're currently unemployed and have recently declared bankruptcy.

Also, you're 40 Michael, you should know that you should have treated Nellie fairly. She's just a customer service rep and can only do so much.

You have calmly and eloquently what I would have said far more aggressively.

@linus_south: Be nicer to customer service people. They're doing their best and aren't the CEO of the company.

People sure are being diplomatic towards you in here, even if you don't deserve it. So that's cool.

But you don't deserve it.

@giganteus: Oh, the harsh words will come if he comes back here and tries to justify his crummy attitude.

Aside from a long conversation about a dead horse being beaten. I still like how I envisioned Nellie to be a typical computer generated AI voice. The wording sometimes feel really machine-like.

@linus_south: I'm so glad you kept a cool head and acted in a mature and dignified fashion to another human being whilst they tried in extremely polite and repeated tones to explain to you that there was nothing they could do to help someone who leaped before looking and spent their money in a really stupid way whilst bankrupt.

I'm really getting better at this sarcasm thing.

@pezen: For some reason my message blew up... Anyway, there are some pre-made responses that can be selected. It helps to save time when dealing with multiple people.

Why the OP is spending money on games when he is broke is confusing to me. Play your backlog.

"40 dollars is my entertainment budget for the next 3 months" .... "I'm gonna sell my XBOX and it's 300+ games"... Righttt.

You tell that asshole. Good guys 1 Micro$oft nothing.

@ccforua: @sammo21: Honestly, I was just more or less voicing my frustration of not getting anywhere, And knew I was kind of fucked. It also wouldn't be a big deal if I had money to dick away, But I really don't. As far as the person here. I don't think I wasn't being to big of a dick? I mean I didn't say anything personal at all minus a You and your company bit. I only went off the rails when she told me to steal someones CC so i was just fucking with her.

@creepingdeath0: @ericsmith: @icecoldgamer: Honestly the $40 for the next 3 months is pretty much on point. I don't have much money to work with. There's a great deal of other stuff to that story but on the subject of 300+ I honestly have no idea how many I have so I just tossed a number that would be close? I wasn't always broke and I got a lot of deals on said games, I own a ton. And I only took out the $40 to pay for this as I will not be buying much of anything for a while. As far as the backlog that's another story all together.

She NEVER said steal a credit card:

Nellie: at 20:07:50
If you have a relative or a friend with a creaditcard, we can use that to avail the promotion, Michael.

michael: at 20:08:04
i'm nearly 40
almost everyone i ever knew is dead

Nellie: at 20:08:22
As much as I would like to process and give you the promotion, we are unable to process it without a credit card.

michael: at 20:09:06
i come from flint which as most people know is the murder capital of the world... it doesn't lead to lasting friendships

Nellie: at 20:11:37
I see. I am really sorry, Michael. As much as I want to process it personally for you, I would not be able to process it because the system would reuqire us to use an active credit card information.

---

She said borrow a credit card.

--

Nellie: at 21:29:04
They can have your concern reviewed and check if what they can do about it.

michael: at 21:30:13
you are basically telling me your policy is to tell me to goto hell and you can't help me use the money I HAVE ON YOUR DAMN SYSTEM! SO in turn they'll say "YEP THAT FOR SURE IS OUR POLICY WE AIN'T CHANGING THAT! SCREW THAT GUY HE'S NO ONE IMPORTANT!"

minus I've gave you guys a ton of money and gave you a bunch of Free promotion in the form of mouth service telling everybody how good your systs are and how good the service is

Nellie: at 21:30:46
I am not saying that. I am just telling you what needs to be done and what can be avoided.

--

For the record, yes that is you being a "dick".

You spent nearly two hours belittling this customer service person, who probably makes fuck all money, about how they should change the rules for you because you didn't read the terms of service. We've all made mistakes, most of us just own up to it and learn from them.

@ericsmith: I see! But they should probably hire someone to work on those responses though;

Nellie: at 19:51:12 [Note: NELLIE]

Hi! Thank you for contacting Xbox Support. This is Nelly [Wait, who's Nelly? Don't know your own name?] Kindly provide me few minutes to review your concern. [Who writes like this?]

@pandabear: If it auto renews would said friend be real happy with me about it doing so? Or would they consider it theft on my part at that point? I do admit I got heated at that last point. I did lose my cool at the CC bit and That link she gave me routed to "rate xbox.com" not anything meaningful So I way lost my cool at that. I stated that I was and still am Majorly upset. I am not sorry about being upset. As my live gets cut off on the 14th and I just wasted / am being told my money on my account is just not for that, when I have no other money to spend.

If I was in your situation spending money on Xbox Live Gold, a service you don't need to play games, would be pretty low on my priorities. I get that your mad, and in truth it sounds like things are pretty hard for you, but those are the rules Microsoft play by. Credit cards are god to most online stores really. Live, learn and try and be nice to people in the customer service industry.

@pezen: I seriously doubt they talk like that by choice. They probably have a manual the size of the phone book and have all their calls recorded and would be rapt over the knuckles if they deviate from the script. Give them some credit, it's a tough job.

TL;DR Rejoice for having less ways to waste money.

@freshbandito: This is kind of funny in a way, As you are all saying "don't be a dick." I don't think I was being that much of a dick considering just how mad I am at this stupid event. I was also proud of myself for not cursing all that much and only saying fuck once. I really wanted to go full on cave guy grunts and profanity, But I refrained. Policy or no policy, I still have money they won't take and I think that is dumb as hell. I wonder if you guys are white knighting her as it's a ladies name? I'm fairly sure it's a bot, and was from the start, look at some of the times, It took her forever to respond to nearly everything. If she was human she had no business being there at that job. It kind of made me angrier that I was waiting what seemed like an eternity sometimes to get back, "nope your still fucked." I don't see what is being a dick about pointing some of the shit I point out? It wasn't personal at all. Some of the shit at the end I was just fucking with that bot to see if I could get some sort of response from it which I didn't. As far as what I own. The bot did have my info pulled up which I deleted from this but the bot at any time could of called me out for BS on my numbers or what I did or didn't have. Also, I don't think it's a dick to point out that your competition is doing something your not. In all this the only thing I really regret is not telling it that they were losing a costumer. and letting my anger not let me express that more clearly.

You obviously have never worked in a customer service role and i find you insinuations that anyone who disagrees with you or that she is a bot, frankly insulting. You messed up and bought the wrong thing, we have all done it, we have all been pissed off about it but not all of us choose to go off on a rant to someone who has neither the power nor the incentive after your ravings to help you. In customer service you are not allowed to be upset regardless of how much the customer is, you are not allowed to talk back to them like children even though they act like it half the time and you cannot ever under any circumstances circumvent a policy in place by the group as a whole. I understand you are stressed out and feel cheated out of your cash but you put in on there before reading the terms and conditions, it is not customer services fault. As for her response times, she was probably speaking to a manager to see if she could do something for you, see if there was some way to get you something back which takes time, no doubt the fact that you where becoming increasingly hostile with every passing reply meant she was also having to carefully word her responses and not reply in the same disrepectfull manor that you used on her.

I was unlucky enough to work customer services for three years so i know exactly the kind of pressures anyone in that role is under, especially when the caller/user isnt facing you in person and feels like they can call you anything they want without consequence. Try to think of someone other than yourself, you dont know the circumstances behind that persons life, you probably dont care due to your undeserved sense of entitlement but there are human beings in much worse situations than you and you have no idea if that person you berated is one of them.

I Get This Call Every Day

@linus_south: You were not calm however much your warped interpretation of the events may lead you to believe you were. You were a complete dickbag and everyone here has come out saying that to you and reiterating that your behavior was that of a petulant 12 year old screaming at someone to fix your own stupid mistakes and then screaming louder when they repeatedly tell you that they can't help your situation.

What's worse you think you were actually justified in your shameful and childish behavior just because you failed to read up on the promotion you wanted to take advantage of, then you have the gall to suggest that people who would take sympathy with the customer service representative for being the target of your lambasting and tantrum induced toy throwing are just 'herp derp white knighting for lady lololol'

Being blunt here; Grow up and act like a mature person.

michael: at 20:08:04

i'm nearly 40

almost everyone i ever knew is dead

I laughed, and then frowned because:

Ha, oh man this reminds me of my days at a customer service line.........oh god...oh godohgodohgodohgodohgodkillkillkillkilllkillkillkillkillkill

Let me tell you, that those poor bastards are by far the poorest bastards out of all the poor bastards in the video game industry. I can fully understand your point of view though.

Remind me to never get a job in customer support..

I agree.

I already hate dealing with customers at my job. Let alone dealing with it back and forth.

ctrl+f "Michael"

103 results, Michael.

@linus_south: I never saw her tell you to "steal" someone's credit card.

You acted like an asshole.

Looked like a nightmare for both of you.

I worked in a Vodafone store (an agent, so not an official store) in Ireland for about 6 months. It is hard to describe the sheer hatred and loathing that customers confronted me with on an almost daily basis.

Vodafone, like most massive corporations, have a TERRIBLE customer service history. Often, customers came into the store because they had gotten sick of being dicked around by Vodafone's customer service labyrinth.

A lot of the time I sympathized with their plight, after all, I think all of us at some time or another has had to deal with a phone/utility company over the phone and it can often be a nightmare. I would try help them as much as possible and handle the complaint for them by cutting past some of the lower level reps to get to managers etc that could actually sort something out for me over the phone. Which took a bit of doing mind you, as their reps were about as helpful to us as they were to the customers, although it wasn't really their fault either as they had no power to do anything. I gradually got to know which people could actually get things done, so I got pretty good at getting problems sorted after a while.

I have had customers call me every name under the sun, refuse to leave the store, smash phones on the floor in front of me, threaten assault, threaten legal suits and all manner of horrible shit. These people never seemed to understand that A) I was not the cause of their problem, B) I was probably the only person who was genuinely willing to help them with their problem, and C) I was a human fucking being with you know, feelings and stuff. Once I even had to tell an old lady to leave the store because she busted her way to the front of the queue and started tapping her keys on the counter in ignorance, trying to get me to hurry up while I was dealing with someone else's contract. I asked her politely to wait her turn and she started screaming about how the coverage in her area was terrible, as if we somehow had control over that, calling me a scumbag and a knacker, saying that I was the reason the whole country was going to hell (oh the irony).

ALWAYS treat people with respect and patience. It works both ways. I would bend over backwards to help nice customers (even though officially we were supposed to give them the customer service number and get rid of them as soon as possible if they were not buying anything), but if they started insulting me for shit beyond my control, that was it. No more help from me.

I'm of the opinion that everyone should hold a job in customer support, even for a short amount of time, to get an idea what it's like to have to deal with shit in that position. Seems like it would make the world a less shitty place.

My best customers were always people who worked shitty jobs in either retail or over the phone. They got it.

I understand you may feel like you got screwed out of $40, but as she said you couldn't help you, she couldn't help you. She obviously doesn't have the power to reverse a company wide policy. You seem like a real dick here. She doesn't care if you cancel your Xbox One preorder, which even having if you just declared bankruptcy seems crazy. At least you can use the money you were going to spend on the new console to get Xbox live properly now!

No two ways about it. You are a dick.

Despite the face that the OP could have been more polite about the situation, he's right. It is downright ridiculous that he can't buy a gold subscription using money already on his gold account. If a credit card is necessary, why have MSP/currency cards to buy in store at all. I understand that this is Microsoft's policy, but it's a dumb policy.

You have absolutely no idea how to interact with customer support, nor do you understand why these promotions are made.

@linus_south: If everything in this thread is true and not just a weird attempt to troll Giant Bomb, it's probably a subconscious cry for help. It's about time you looked in a mirror and asked yourself honestly if you're a crazy person.

Since MS has switched to real world currency, not being able to use your account balance isn't so clear. Especially where Sony allows people to pay for their own service out of their account balance, this could be extra confusing for anyone switching from PS to Xbox.

OP may have been impatient and/or rude to support, but I doubt he/she is the only one who was confused by the whole thing.

I'm a utility worker / grocery clerk

I can relate in someways on how you feel. I had people get upset at me over stuff my store doesn't have, and other bullshit. It can get annoying as hell at times when I'm trying to focus on my job. It can really get annoying having the same person asking me questions over and over again. Especially when I'm trying to focus on getting stuff done on time.

One time I had to control myself when a customer blocked my cart and called me boy, and I couldn't get my stuff done because he was in the way. Even then I had to remain calm without doing anything to piss-off the costumer. Hell I almost could have gotten fired afew days ago, because I made a silly mistake. Last thing I need is to have costumers complaining about me. Anyway I'll always respect people and be nice since its my job, but if people start getting violent then fuck it I'll hit them back.

It really depends on how someone can handle dealing with people. I know people that has short patience putting up with other people's shit, but even so the world will always be a shitty place.

Pretty sure you're confusing the behavior of bot with the behavior of a human. Humans need time to think, bots do not. Also, you're definitely acting like a dick - stop doing that. Grow up. You say you're almost 40? Act like it. Until I read that, I honestly thought you were, at best, a teenager. I'm also not entirely sure where Flint is, but it's not the murder capital. That "honor" belongs to San Pedro Sula, in Honduras.

@falserelic said:

I'm a utility worker / grocery clerk

I can relate in someways on how you feel. I had people get upset at me over stuff my store doesn't have, and other bullshit. It can get annoying as hell at times when I'm trying to focus on my job. It can really get annoying having the same person asking me questions over and over again. Especially when I'm trying to focus on getting stuff done on time.

One time I had to control myself when a customer blocked my cart and called me boy, and I couldn't get my stuff done because he was in the way. Even then I had to remain calm without doing anything to piss-off the costumer. Hell I almost could have gotten fired afew days ago, because I made a silly mistake. Last thing I need is to have costumers complaining about me. Anyway I'll always respect people and be nice since its my job, but if people start getting violent then fuck it I'll hit them back.

Once we had a particularly nasty customer who INSISTED that we had a five year old blackberry phone in stock and that we were just hiding it from her, and then she spent ten minutes explaining to us that if we were doing our jobs right and weren't so "fucking useless" we would have the phone in stock at all times. I said "You know what, let me double check in the back." I went in there to get a minutes peace and calm down before I had to deal with her again, but I just thought fuck it and sat down and watched ten minutes of a Quick Look on my phone. I then went back out to her and told her I checked the whole store room and we didn't have one. She actually seemed happy then, and said "Well at least you bothered to look and didn't keep wasting my time."

After she left we laughed for quite some time.