My xbox won't let me redeem a code that my friend gave to me as a gift

Hey there, have you tried it on
redeem.microsoft.com ?

There have been several issues with Live over the past couple of days, so you may want to keep an eye on the service alert page and try again when everything is clear. https://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-live-status?xr=shellnav

If it still doesn't work, you'll want to try contacting support. 1-800-4my-xbox if you're in the US/Canada or http://support.xbox.com/contact-us

My friend is from Argentina gave me 2 games but he won't let me redeem them for the region and told me to use a vpn to redeem

Hello, space_nebula. I'm Arturo, and I'll be glad to provide assistance with your inquiry today.

Do you and your friend live in the same country?
This question is asked because redeemable codes are region locked, so if your friend purchased the gift (for example) on the US Xbox marketplace, and you live in another country different to the US, you will not be able to claim the code.

However, if both of you live in the same country, and the Microsoft account and marketplace region are the same as well, you may want to suggest your friend to request a refund for the gift and then gift it to you again.

Furthermore, please refrain from sharing personal information, including email addresses, order numbers, gamertags, etc.

As community users, we are not able to enter or check your account information, and everything we comment can be seen by anyone on the internet.

Regards,

Arturo.

My point is I went to redeem the code on the xbox and it told me to redeem it on the website. So I went to redeem it on the website and it told me to redeem it on the Xbox. When my friend gave me his spare code his worked immediately.