Advanced Exchange - Beware

Currently having an awful time dealing with Xbox Support over an Advanced Exchange. Contacted support initially to check whether the audible noise coming from my console was normal due to it apparently running "silent" and being audible only if you put your
ear close to it. The support agent told me I should get the console replaced and instigated an advanced exchange. The console arrived in 48 hours but when I wired it up and began updating it the power button began to ding on/off repeatedly for about 5 seconds
before completely powering the console off. This happened 3 times in about 10 minutes. I instantly contacted support to let them know I would be returning the faulty replacement rather than my original xbox and was told this wasn't a problem. I used the UPS
website to arrange a collection from my house and within 15 minutes the driver was knocking on the door, incredible service. I boxed up the faulty console and applied the prepaid return label. My console arrived in Frankfurt within 24 hours on a Friday and
first thing on Monday morning the tracking number showed it had arrived at the Xbox facility.

When I re contacted support to arrange a second advanced exchange I was told my case had been escalated to the advocacy team and they would contact me within 72 hours. 11 days later and after 3 more conversations with support who kept assuring me the case
was still being investigated, they had received the faulty replacement and the service center would be able to process a second replacement, I finally received an email from Xbox Customer Support. Only to tell me that I had not returned the replacement console
to them and they were going to begin the process of charging my debit card. Just got off the phone with support again and I was assured that this was just an automated response and they can see they clearly received the console from me and I will not be charged.
Also, the advocacy team will be contacting me ASAP. The problem is, if an automated system sends those emails what is to stop an automated system charging me?

Just a warning to anyone thinking of going down the advanced exchange route. You might end up in a position doing the rounds with Xbox support over the fear of being charged £300 for a faulty replacement console which Xbox themselves acknowledge they have
received.

:)

 

Advanced exchange

Tomorrow is the last day before I'm suppose to get an email from the advocacy team- it's been pushed back everytime I called and ask why I wasn't contacted. Been through 3 now and the latest one I received on an advanced exchange was a used one with an
error code- so if you add the total time it's been well over 3 weeks on just this last exchange. Talk to someone different everytime so they don't care what they tell you. Advocacy team can't respond because they have no solutions- I was originally told
I was one of very few people having issues but after venting in these forums you just see issue after issue. I've been on live for 6-7 yrs now and I have never had so many problems with a console- everytime I've had to call and trouble shoot or uninstall and
reinstall my disks I have told them that everything will be cool with me if you send me a working Xbox one- and that's 3 consoles with no luck. So I'm left just waiting still from this phantom advocacy team.

 

Advanced exchange?

Problem is Akame that a lot of the time Microsoft aren't sending new consoles but refurbished ones.

Why hold the price of a new console console if they aren't providing the customer with a new console.

 

Huggs! I'm right there with ya, buddy. Dealing with very similar issues due to a faulty Advanced Exchange unit that they sent me.... <sigh> No one has customer support that is this detestable...

 

The majority of the support staff themselves I have spoken to have been pretty understanding and helpful, it just appears from my experience so far and from other posts I have read that once you end up with a case being escalated, the normal support staff
are rendered more or less useless because they seem to have no authority to do anything whilst your case is in this queue for the higher support. It just means if you have to contact them all they seem to be able to do is just tell you to wait.

When whatever this advocacy team has done whatever it is they do I am really considering whether or not I want to go through all this for another advanced exchange, but that leaves me with sticking it out with my current console which is noisier that its
meant to be, or returning the whole damn machine and buying a PS4. I don't want to do either of those things!

 

I got the same thing when I sent back my faulty Kinect. A few days later I got an email saying they didn't receive it and were going to charge me. I sent it back through fedex using the label that Microsoft themselves supplied, so how could they not have
it? And I got the same thing, my case was escalated. I have yet to hear anything more, and it has been a week. I am starting to wonder how often this happens!

 

Hi Carltonec: Do you have the tracking number to confirm if MS received the Kinect? To answer your question: It may have been misplaced by the shipper, or MS misplaced it. But if you track it and get the information, at least you will be prepared when
you speak with someone.

i have had several packages lost -especially over the holiday season with one carrier in particular- so it can happen. I hope you get it resolved.

 

A week on since receiving that email, I was not charged anything and I was told by Xbox Support on Tuesday that they had finally located the replacement console I had sent back to them and they had closed the initial case. Good news. A very helpful Xbox
Support agent then processed a new advanced exchange for me and sent a new case to the Advocacy Team.

I received the new replacement console within 48 hours and also received an email from an Xbox Advocacy team specialist confirming the first case was now closed and asking if there was anymore they could do for me.

Initially, I was very pleased with my new replacement console, it was working noticeably quieter than my original console which by comparing the two I can now identify a definite humming sound from the original. However, within 2 hours of use I could hear
a ticking sound from the console, as if there was something wrong with the fan. This noise become much louder and more frequent. In addition to this, I then discovered the sticker on the bottom of the console showed a 'Service Date' as opposed to a 'Manufactured
Date' suggesting this console is refurbished as opposed to brand new, which Xbox support stress advanced exchanges will be if you ask them. Just unacceptable. Two legitimately faulty replacements have now been sent to me, this second one is going back on Monday
and I have emailed back the Advocacy Team specialist to let him know of this.

- Video I uploaded of the fan noise from this second replacement console.

 

No. I accidentally threw the paper away that I peeled the label off of. I had called Microsoft to see if they had the tracking number on file, since they provided the return label. They said they would get back to me. So far I have not seen a charge, and
have not heard anything back.

 

Having the same issue as carltonec. Returned my broken kinect about 3 weeks ago and got a charge for it on friday. Talked to about 4 different people so far, first one tells me after talking for about 40 minutes that my account shows no charge...really??
my bank account says differently. He tells me their have some one call me who talks for 20 minutes only to tell me their not the right department. Ughh then why'd they have you call me? Finally on my 4th try i got someone helpful who escalated me to the Advocacy
Team and so now we play the waiting game.

Idk why this is so difficult for them? You sent me a return label look up that number see where it is and refund my money. I can't be the only person whose since lost/thrown away my receipt with the tracking number I got 3 weeks ago.

 

An update on my situation. Was not charged anything and my advanced exchange was 'cancelled'. I sent my second faulty replacement back and within a week the second advanced exchange was also 'cancelled'. After the experience I had with this system, I took
it upon myself to get the console replaced with the retailer I bought it from who were more than happy to exchange it for a new console. Had the new console a week now and it's been working great, can't hear a peep out of it. Waiting on a second email now
from the specialist advocacy team.

To those having issues returning the Kinect, from my experience with my failed advanced exchanges, I found the Xbox support staff you speak to by phone or chat do not have the tracking numbers, the service center and advocacy team will have them though.
Most of these sorts of issues, the staff you contact are pretty much powerless and can do nothing for you, all you can do is wait for the specialist to contact you, you have no means of contacting them yourself first though. The whole process is very tedious
and despite all of the staff being very apologetic and accommodating the best they can be, the system is very poor and leads to pretty bad service overall. Best of luck.

 

Last posted in this thread 26 Feb 2014

Today, 27 April 2014, over 2 months later, I was out and about and had to use my debit card, unfortunately it was not allowing me to make purchases or withdraw any money. I came home to check my Internet banking to find to my horror that I had a pending
payment to Microsoft/Xbox for £390!

I managed to cool my rage and call Xbox support, turns out I had been charged for "failing to return my advanced exchange console" for my 2nd Advanced Exchange I did... back in February!!!

I managed to locate my UPS tracking number which support has now sent to the higher support when they look into the matter. The UPS tracking number clearly shows the successful delivery of the replacement console to the Xbox support center in Germany on
the 19th Feb. Well over 2 months ago.

I've now gone from disappointment to downright disgust with Xbox. Totally unacceptable. Atrocious service. DO NOT DO ADVANCED EXCHANGES, you'll only get shoddy refurbished junk that you may still get charged for even when you send it back, even 2 months
later when the case has been closed.

I got my original console replaced by my retailer and it works fine and I love the thing, but my loyalty to Xbox has been all but destroyed completely now. Disgusted.

 

I preordered XBox One, and now the console won't read any discs. I have that grinding noise. My wife warned me. She asked me, "Are you sure you want to preorder the XBOX One, given the problems Microsoft had with the XBOX 360 and the red ring of death?"
I should've listened. Now I have to bring it back to the Microsoft store, exchange it for a new one, and have them do a data transfer so I don't lose all my crap. ***. And I just bought Dead Rising 3 at Best Buy today. So *beep*ing *** off.

 

You wont have to do a data transfer.All your game saves are stored on the Cloud as well as your hard drive so when you first start the game on your replacement console it will sync for a while & then your saves will be there.

Any games,dlc etc will be in "my games & apps" & you can just redownload them.

 

I wanted to chime in because I'm having similar problems with the Advanced Exchange program...going on for 4 months now. I sent back a Xbox One Console via FedEx using the prepaid label that came with the box. The console was ordered by mistake, I just
needed a Kinect. So I sent back the original one they sent (which I now found out can cause problems in their inventory as they're expecting the "broken" one). I waited for at least a few weeks and they said they never received it, did multiple case escalations
and no one could really help. So they charge my credit card 4 months later out of the blue, with no notification or email/etc.

Anyway, it boils down to me not having the FedEx tracking number from 4 months ago, and the Tier I/II folks not being able to locate the package. As others have mentioned, how can all of these problems hinge on the user remembering a tracking number from
months ago? How can MS not have that information in a database somewhere, or at least look up the console by its serial number?

But they tell me the Tier III/Advocacy team can access the tracking information. I called FedEx, and while they couldn't give me the shipment info, they said if MS called them, they would be able to locate it *without* a tracking number.

After talking to a more knowledgeable Xbox tech support person, he realized the most likely cause of all this confusion is the fact that I sent back the Console that they originally sent me (not mine). This messes up the inventory as they are expecting
a certain serial number. So he opened a new Tier III case and hopefully it will get resolved. I really hope this whole problem isn't based on not having a tracking number from 4 months ago - that is ridiculous.