I've owned an XBOX 360 ever since they were launched here in Australia. I started subscribing to Live a few months later. I've purchased heaps of games, and loads of online content through Live. I regularly play off line with friends at work, often using downloaded content which we all have payed for. We can play offline only, as we cannot get outside of the work gateway to log into Live.
My box has died once, (RROD),and as a result been sent in for repairs (turnaround less than two weeks), otherwise it has worked well.
About two months ago, the graphics output started screwing up. I thought that another RROD was on the way, but instead wound up with an error where the box would turn on, work, play games, make sounds, just no video output. I contacted MS and after running through several scripted repair scenarios, the repair person determined that the box was faulty, and would need to be sent to MS for repair. He said that it was NOT covered under warranty, and would cost at least $150AU to look at, and as much as $450AU to repair.
I quickly came to the conclusion that it would be better to purchase a new box, and get HDMI into the bargain. I asked the MS person if I could get the DRM on my downloaded content changed over to the new box. Before he would answer, he wanted to know what I would be doing with the old box. I told him that I would be throwing it out. He then informed me that he could change over the content to the new Xbox, once I had purchased it. He then gave me a reference number for the change over.
I wnet and purchased an Elite, and contacted MS to arrange the transfer. This is where the fun started. After telling me that it could be done straight away, the next person told me that it would be three weeks. I waited three and a half, but no joy, any content I downloaded would not work if I was offline. I contacted MS again, and was told that the three weeks wait was a mistake, and that it would be six weeks.
So I waited another three weeks, and still no change. I again contacted MS, and was told, "sorry, another week". So again, I waited, this time a week and a half. Still nothing, so I contacted MS yet again. this time, the person told me that the problem had been "referred to a higher level of support", and that there was no resolution, nor a time frame for one. The tech person also asked me to stop calling MS, and that they would call me when a solution presented itself.
I now feel like disabling the box, and taking it back to the shop as "faulty", and demanding a refund, then selling off all of my games. The most frustrating bit, is that even the content that I would be willing to "buy again" in order to play offline, the stupid MS system tells me that I already own, and wants to download the file for the old Xbox.
As for work, we now mostly play PS3's, where we dont have to worry about the DRM crap.
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Topic: Microsoft's Crappy Drm Gives Me The $#its (Read 102 times)