Help logging back into my Xbox gamertag

[HawkMan]

4 minutes ago, Skiver said:

That office is a 15 minute drive from me, want me to go have a word ¬_¬

 

I'd assume getting your GT actually has nothing to do with things like credit card details etc? Any such details would be tied with your Hotmail account that you're not really bothered about getting? Seems silly that they would be this protective over what is essentially GamerScore

The GT is tied to the account. the account can(and seems to have been) be tied to a credit card.  I thought GT's expired if they weren't used for a certain amount of years, but I dunno. 

[Skiver Veteran]

1 minute ago, HawkMan said:

The GT is tied to the account. the account can(and seems to have been) be tied to a credit card.  I thought GT's expired if they weren't used for a certain amount of years, but I dunno. 

I may have wrongly assumed this was about getting the GT transferred to his new Gmail account rather than getting the old hotmail account back, my bad.

 

As AB has said, security is understandable but tying a user to a 360 serial number is just ridiculous. Now, given it was a 360 and lets face it, they weren't the best. You didn't perhaps have to RMA it and get the serial as part of the support? I'm going to assume it would only ever be old serial rather than new and if it is in an email it would probably be your hotmail account? Doubt that train will be of much use but it could be something to try and look into just on the off chance you can trace it?

[HawkMan]

They don't tie you to a xbox serial number, they use them to verify who you are by seeing if you can see what serial number you signed in on when they knew you where you, sorta...

 

For a GT this may seems excessive, but on the other hand, GT's especially OG (as they are called for some reason) are being sold for huge amounts of money. 

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

50 minutes ago, Skiver said:

That office is a 15 minute drive from me, want me to go have a word ¬_¬

 

I'd assume getting your GT actually has nothing to do with things like credit card details etc? Any such details would be tied with your Hotmail account that you're not really bothered about getting? Seems silly that they would be this protective over what is essentially GamerScore

Well any details that may be on the account have long since expired. Pretty certain I removed my cards at one point, although I'm not sure. Either way they obviously still have the purchase logs so that is why I provided my bank statements with all my transactions. Also account numbers and sort codes.

 

I'm confident I've been dealing with offshore, so I hope once Reading reads my letter they'll help. After I get a response I'll post my letter here.

 

By the way I'm sure if this continues to go south Kotaku might run a headline "Angry Scottish gamer drives down to MS Reading HQ to prove his identity in person"

 

39 minutes ago, Skiver said:

I may have wrongly assumed this was about getting the GT transferred to his new Gmail account rather than getting the old hotmail account back, my bad.

 

As AB has said, security is understandable but tying a user to a 360 serial number is just ridiculous. Now, given it was a 360 and lets face it, they weren't the best. You didn't perhaps have to RMA it and get the serial as part of the support? I'm going to assume it would only ever be old serial rather than new and if it is in an email it would probably be your hotmail account? Doubt that train will be of much use but it could be something to try and look into just on the off chance you can trace it?

 

I can't get the console ID at all anymore, it's in a skip somewhere or it's been recycled by now  I've tried reaching out to some friends I may have signed into their 360s on, but no such luck. As I said to MS most people, even some big Xbox fans, are liable to have gotten rid of their 360s. Especially considering the One being BC.

 

It's not the console serial number I don't think, it's some ID you need to get by turning the console on and going into settings. Unless that is just a reading of the serial number on the box.

 

I thought they'd be more chuffed I managed to actually get IP addresses from 2009! They obviously accepted them as they stopped asking me for them, but it's now just became "console ID! console ID! console ID!".

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

8 hours ago, Vandalsquad said:

Time to let it go...  Is there any reason you want the account instead of creating a new Audioboxer one? is there games linked to it? I have a 16 year old Hotmail I would love to get into but gave up on that a long time ago.

 

Spend the time and energy putting some hours into Forza / Sunset Overdrive / Tomb Raider / Halo instead 

Probably for the best, seeing as MS close them after 270 days of inactivity Your account is long gone or recycled by now.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

14 minutes ago, Andrew said:

Probably for the best, seeing as MS close them after 270 days of inactivity Your account is long gone or recycled by now.

Why didn't that happen with mine? Or did it but it still allows me to login? Or is it because a GT is linked so I guess MS along with any other spam has continue to email this inbox?

 

I genuinely haven't sent an email or read that inbox since I dunno, 2004~2006.

 

Maybe it was compromised, I dunno, still I've more than proven I originally created that hotmail/GT.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

17 minutes ago, Audioboxer said:

Why didn't that happen with mine? Or did it but it still allows me to login? Or is it because a GT is linked so I guess MS along with any other spam has continue to email this inbox?

 

I genuinely haven't sent an email or read that inbox since I dunno, 2004~2006.

 

Maybe it was compromised, I dunno, still I've more than proven I originally created that hotmail/GT.

I'm not sure, honestly. The Outlook / Hotmail and Live recycling didn't begin until 2013. Maybe your account wasn't inactive (new owner), or compromised liked you said. My first Hotmail account from way back in 2000 is recycled and has a new owner now, and that was inactive from 2003 ~ 2004 sometime. It was never linked to another Microsoft service though. Major Nelson announced in 2011 that dormant GTs would be recycled daily, but they didn't specify how long they must be inactive for or what happens if that GT is linked to other services which are still active. Although it is impossible to close a Microsoft account with any active subscription on the account.

[Showan]

53 minutes ago, Audioboxer said:

Why didn't that happen with mine? Or did it but it still allows me to login? Or is it because a GT is linked so I guess MS along with any other spam has continue to email this inbox?

 

I genuinely haven't sent an email or read that inbox since I dunno, 2004~2006.

 

Maybe it was compromised, I dunno, still I've more than proven I originally created that hotmail/GT.

 

I've also shared your frustrations in the Twitter'sphere as well (hope you don't mind)

maybe if enough noise is made, someone at MS will get a handle on this.

[1337ish]

1 hour ago, Andrew said:

Probably for the best, seeing as MS close them after 270 days of inactivity Your account is long gone or recycled by now.

No they just deactivate some of the email functions I believe but I dont even think they do that much more, they dont trash/remove the email address as that would mean people could grab your email account if they knew you had not logged in for long enough and reset all manor of passwords. The GT password is the same as his hotmail password, thats the problem, its not just recovering a GT it allows access to an email address as well as they are the same now which brings a large amount of issues.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

2 minutes ago, ZeroHour said:

No they just deactivate some of the email functions I believe but I dont even think they do that much more, they dont trash/remove the email address as that would mean people could grab your email account if they knew you had not logged in for long enough and reset all manor of passwords. The GT password is the same as his hotmail password, thats the problem, its not just recovering a GT it allows access to an email address as well as they are the same now which brings a large amount of issues.

Oh they most certainly do close the account and allow it to be opened by a new owner. I've had to do it myself.

 

Quote

Microsoft does not mention the possibility that email account names will be recycled.  The company confirms that this is the policy, however. When the account becomes inactive "the email account is automatically queued for deletion from our servers. Then, after a total of 360 days, the email account name is made available again," according to an email statement from Microsoft.

 

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2052586/microsoft-is-quietly-recycling-outlook-email-accounts.html

[Showan]

1 hour ago, Audioboxer said:

Why didn't that happen with mine? Or did it but it still allows me to login? Or is it because a GT is linked so I guess MS along with any other spam has continue to email this inbox?

 

I genuinely haven't sent an email or read that inbox since I dunno, 2004~2006.

 

Maybe it was compromised, I dunno, still I've more than proven I originally created that hotmail/GT.

i think xbox support wants a audience with you.  

They sent me a DM via Twitter...

Informed them to track you down instead of me...

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

2 hours ago, Showan said:

i think xbox support wants a audience with you.  

They sent me a DM via Twitter...

Informed them to track you down instead of me...

@XboxSupport can't help, they have even less power than customer service. They just make it their mission every time they get tagged to talk to you. Cheers anyway

[HawkMan]

8 hours ago, Audioboxer said:

 

 

I'm confident I've been dealing with offshore, so I hope once Reading reads my letter they'll help. After I get a response I'll post my letter here.

 

 

I think their support center is off shore, but they have actual local agents. when I called, well the first time they apparently where busy so I got rasmus that spoke english(Though based on the name, I'm assuming he wasn't... not sure what he would be, if he was swedish he could have spoken swedish, if he was finnish he would have had a noticeable accent, and if he was danish... well then good thing he spoke english (scandinavians get it, sorry rest of the world) :))

 

When they called back they called from country code 35 though. hmm apparently 35 has multiple country codes and my phone is in for repairs, now, but knowing the support industry, I'm going to go ahead and guess it was 351 and ireland. 

[Showan]

2 hours ago, Audioboxer said:

@XboxSupport can't help, they have even less power than customer service. They just make it their mission every time they get tagged to talk to you. Cheers anyway

 

I have to do my best to help...  I may be annoying, but I'm far from cold... :-)

 

If you can't get to your content (which is clearly yours) how are we gonna, agree, disagree, debate, etc on all things gaming...

[Vandalsquad]

On 4/7/2016 at 10:59 PM, Andrew said:

Probably for the best, seeing as MS close them after 270 days of inactivity Your account is long gone or recycled by now.

Yep can actually re-register it now, What the hell never knew that. Was trying up to 2010 at least trying to get back into it as well. 

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Nearly a week and no response from MS... 

[SnoopZ]

Any update or have you stopped trying to get your old gamertag back?

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

1 hour ago, SnoopZ said:

Any update or have you stopped trying to get your old gamertag back?

Still no response. I'll send the letter again over the next day or two. Only company I've ever experienced ignoring a written letter.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

MS haven't responded to a written letter in a month, and support just raises new tickets and say please wait. They tell me there is no way to contact Reading HQ in the UK directly.

 

Worst CS I've ever experienced in the UK. More so because every other company would at least acknowledge a letter even if their answer was still "no/can't help".

[Skiver Veteran]

Could try calling?

 

Microsoft Campus
Thames Valley Park
Reading 
RG6 1WG 

Telephone: 0344 800 2400

[dipsylalapo Supervisor]

Skiver, fancy starting a picket line seeing as you're in Reading

 

I think that you're fighting a lost cause. I don't think you'll be hearing anything from the MS campus in Reading simply because it's more of their business business rather than their customer facing business. 

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

2 hours ago, dipsylalapo said:

Skiver, fancy starting a picket line seeing as you're in Reading

 

I think that you're fighting a lost cause. I don't think you'll be hearing anything from the MS campus in Reading simply because it's more of their business business rather than their customer facing business. 

It's where customer service and twitter support told me to write a letter. I believe legally in the UK all businesses need to have an outlet for written complaints.

[Skiver Veteran]

2 hours ago, dipsylalapo said:

Skiver, fancy starting a picket line seeing as you're in Reading

 

I think that you're fighting a lost cause. I don't think you'll be hearing anything from the MS campus in Reading simply because it's more of their business business rather than their customer facing business. 

I'm not sure a one man picket line will go very far for the cause

11 minutes ago, Audioboxer said:

It's where customer service and twitter support told me to write a letter. I believe legally in the UK all businesses need to have an outlet for written complaints.

They always do a good job at making that process very well hidden though!

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

The battle continues (first below is last month contacting CS again after @XboxSupport got annoyed at me spamming them)

 

Quote

Nicca: Hello, thank you for contacting Xbox Customer Support. My name is Nicca. How can I help you today?

you: Hello Nicca, my name is . I sent a written letter of complaint to MS at Microsoft Campus Thames Valley Park Reading Berkshire RG6 1WG
you: I haven't heard anything back in over a month
you: Letter was sent on the 06/04/2016. It relates to case ID 
Nicca: Oh, I do apologized for that. No worries we will be more than glad to have this documented so that they could be aware of this. I will be needing your email address, .
you: Thanks Nicca. My email address is 
Nicca: Thank you so much, . Glad that you contacted us today. It's been already a month that you send that email. No worries, I will have this documented and give you a ticket number. I would suggest you to email them back and attach the ticket number so that they will be able to see. How's that?
you: You're welcome. It was a hand written letter Nicca, I am unsure of how to email them unless you can provide me with an email address? Thanks
Nicca: Oh, I see. We do not have any email address for the complaint on Microsoft. But I am very sure, the address is correct. No worries, I will have this documented and I will attached your email address so that there's a possibility that they will email you once they have an update. How's that?
you: That would be great thank you. I can provide another copy of my letter if need be. It is typed up on a word document on my PC.
Nicca: Yes, that would be awesome. Alright, here's the ticket number , that's for a reference number that we do value everything here for our valued customer like you.
Nicca: Anything else that I could help?
you: No that is all thanks. I appreciate your help and will sit tight a little longer to see if I hear anything. Should I come back to Xbox support if I haven't heard anything in a week or so?
Nicca: Yes, we will be glad and open for 24/7 to continue to support and help you with this. 
you: Thank you, have a good day Nicca. Bye
info: Your chat transcript will be sent to  at the end of your chat.
Nicca: You too as well. Have an awesome weekend,  Bye~

Contacted them again today, and the representative I spoke to done a bit more to help and linked me to a form I didn't know existed (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/legal/arbitration/notice.aspx). It is titled to go to America but I'll send it to the UK after he said that was okay. Tempted just to forward it to America as well.

 

Quote

Rod L: Hello, thank you for contacting Xbox Customer Support. My name is Rod L. How can I help you today?

Rod L: Hi there, How can I help you out today? Can you tell me more about what happened?
you: Hi Rod L, my name is . My original service request is . This ended without a satisfactory resolution so I wrote to Microsoft Campus on the 6th of April in the UK. I have had no response since . Nicca (ID ), told me to wait longer on the 14th of May. Nothing yet. Could you advise me on how I can escalate this? Thanks
you: It is about gaining access back to an old Hotmail account so I can use my GT Audioboxer I stopped using in 2009. I now have an Xbox One.
Rod L: Oh I see, Sorry to hear about what happened with regard to the Account . We'll check everything we can for the Account. I'm just currently pulling up these SR's so that I can review them and we can be on the same page okay? Can you spare me a couple of minutes on this one?
you: Yeah that is okay Rod, take your time. I'm on a break just now so have plenty of spare time.
Rod L: Thank you for waiting . Sorry about that one, Took longer than expected. With regard to this, We've checked on both the Case Numbers. And indeed, The Case at some point was Escalated to our Global Escalations Team. And that you've also managed to get in contact with them. We've reviewed the Communication you had and that they've told you that without the Console ID. They can't proceed to reset the Account's Password. As even though the Case has been Escalated. Without it, They're in dead spot.
Rod L: Which lead you to write a Formal Complaint to our UK Microsoft Campus. I have to be honest with you on this . Account Recovery is possible if the information needed by the Escalations Team are met. Even though you've provided more information than requested.
Rod L: We can see here as well that the case is still Open and aside from waiting a response from them and In terms of what you can do further . I can give you a link in where you can directly send it to our Main Office. I know the website is set to US as this is intended for customers sending the complaint to our Main Office. That way, You'll be sending it directly to them. And you can download the "Notice of Dispute form" from the website. Print it out and send it to them okay?
Rod L: Here's the link as well .
Rod L: CLICK HERE
you: Thank you Rod no one has supplied me with that form before. Do you think it's okay to send that to the UK head office or will I have to send it to America?
Rod L: You're welcome . We just want to help you out the best way we could. As for this, Yes. You can just send it to the UK Head Office and just change the Address as well. Instead of it being addressed to the US.
you: Thanks a lot I appreciate that Rod. I will do as you've said and thanks for taking the time to help me today. Have a good day
Rod L: You're welcome . And thank you for the time as well. Appreciate it.
info: Your chat transcript will be sent to  at the end of your chat.
Rod L: You take care now alright?
Rod L: Thank you for Contacting Xbox Customer Support! Have a good one.

Best part is "you provided more information than necessary...." but, we need that Xbox 360 console ID from 2009. Okay MS...

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

MS escalation "specialists" now trying to fob me off with free XBL Gold time. They asked what could do they do for me if I don't want free time and I said just flipping rename the old GT to something else and give me Audioboxer on my current live account. Answer was no, free Gold time till stands. Politely declined again, so much for being escalation specialists if they don't even have the authority to just rename a dormant GT a few years ahead of schedule (assume it will finally be released one day).

 

 

Wasn't a response from Reading, I just got a random email. Guess it's because my case ID has been left open and they want it closed at their end. Reading have about 50 days left before I can legally register a complaint with a 3rd party considering I submitted that arbitration notice above. I'm pretty much just going to do everything possible to cost them time and money. Trading standards usually deal with product purchases, or service contracts, but I'll go there anyway. Also ICO to lodge a DPA complaint (yeah you might say irony there, but legally in the UK I've provided MS with more than enough evidence to prove who I am and they are still refusing me access to MY account ~ Therefore I'll complain they are misusing my information by keeping me from accessing it). You aren't fobbing me off with a Live sub for a "month" MS

 

Do not expect Reading to respond. Ignored me first time around, are still ignoring me a week on this time around even with that form above. Worst customer service I have ever experienced in the UK from any company. When you go to head office they have to at least respond, which MS are deciding not to do.