L
LoganRC
Guest
Recently I purchased Xbox Game Pass for PC and downloaded the Xbox App hoping to painlessly install and play some games. That is not what went down.
Problem:
The Xbox App crashes every time I hover over the title of a game in the main menu. It briefly (0.5 seconds or less) brings up an info pane overlay over the game's menu image, then I get the spinny loading wheel and the window closes. The app doesn't entirely crash because I can still access it from the hidden icon tray in the task bar where there's a little xbox icon, but it abruptly closes the window without any error message.
I can make it to a specific game's page via workaround, but if I hover over an embedded trailer for the game it will crash the app. It seems like the app crashes when I trigger certain type of request(s) to fetch data. In any case, it renders the app utterly unusable.
I also know I am not the only one experiencing this issue:
View: https://www.reddit.com/r/xbox/comments/ie23lw/help_xbox_app_for_pc_crashes_whenever_i_hover/
Xbox Win 10 app crashes whenever I mouse over a game from the landing page.
Both of the above users were not able to resolve this issue.
Now... for the real story. Microsoft, you really, REALLY need to work on your customer service. I'll try to keep this incredibly painful story short.
Customer service experience:
For starters, as a software engineer I am no stranger to computers. I went ahead and tried troubleshooting this issue on my own for a good 5-6 hours before giving up and looking for support. So I look up the appropriate Microsoft support channel, and this is my experience, I kept detailed notes:
Saturday, November 14th
Monday, November 16th:
What an absolutely abysmal product (Xbox App, Xbox Game Pass) and customer service. I feel completely disrespected. I am the only one that cares that this 'product' I bought is absolute hot garbage. The experience I outlined above doesn't even capture the incredibly buggy and unreliable support software I had to engage with to go through the steps of finding people to talk to.
I hope someone sees this and brings it up the chain so it gets dealt with properly. I will not be pushed around and disrespected anymore. I can tell you one thing Microsoft; keep treating your customers like an afterthought and an annoyance, and you'll end up like Sears.
Microsoft does NOT care about its customers.
Continue reading...
Problem:
The Xbox App crashes every time I hover over the title of a game in the main menu. It briefly (0.5 seconds or less) brings up an info pane overlay over the game's menu image, then I get the spinny loading wheel and the window closes. The app doesn't entirely crash because I can still access it from the hidden icon tray in the task bar where there's a little xbox icon, but it abruptly closes the window without any error message.
I can make it to a specific game's page via workaround, but if I hover over an embedded trailer for the game it will crash the app. It seems like the app crashes when I trigger certain type of request(s) to fetch data. In any case, it renders the app utterly unusable.
I also know I am not the only one experiencing this issue:
View: https://www.reddit.com/r/xbox/comments/ie23lw/help_xbox_app_for_pc_crashes_whenever_i_hover/
Xbox Win 10 app crashes whenever I mouse over a game from the landing page.
Both of the above users were not able to resolve this issue.
Now... for the real story. Microsoft, you really, REALLY need to work on your customer service. I'll try to keep this incredibly painful story short.
Customer service experience:
For starters, as a software engineer I am no stranger to computers. I went ahead and tried troubleshooting this issue on my own for a good 5-6 hours before giving up and looking for support. So I look up the appropriate Microsoft support channel, and this is my experience, I kept detailed notes:
Saturday, November 14th
- Got chatting with a 'fellow xbox gamer'. First of all, nobody cares that you're an xbox gamer. This is a technical Windows-related problem.
- 'Xbox gamer' takes me through the same troubleshooting steps I've already tried... uninstalling and reinstalling as admin, reseting the Windows Store app by running wsreset (as admin), logging into different accounts on the Windows Store/Xbox apps, running the built-in Windows Store App troubleshooters... Nothing works.
- After trying a few things, he disconnects me from the chat without any warning
- The disconnected message refers me to yet another online chat, this time with a 'Microsoft Support Agent'
- She walks me through the same troubleshooting steps, nothing works
- She refers me to a support line (425) 635-7102 and says they'll help by taking remote access of my machine and going through some diagnostics
- I dial the number and hear: "The number you have dialled is UNASSIGNED"
- She gave me a fake number.
- Luckily she's still in the chat
- "Hello? You gave me an unassigned number"
- "Oh, odd, try this one: (877) 568-2495"
- This is a real number, but it's one of those phone menus you navigate by pressing numbers
- NONE OF THE MENUS LEAD TO A HUMAN
- No matter what I do, I get: "Microsoft support has moved online, please visit help.microsoft.com"
- Are you kidding me
- She also gave me a link to chat with a support agent, which lead me right back to, you guessed it, my 'fellow xbox gamer'
- I opt to schedule a call with an agent instead.
- Interface says it'll be 90 minutes before they call me
- 3 HOURS later, I'm almost asleep, get a call from Microsoft
- "Due to high call volume, we are UNABLE TO ASSIST YOU AT THIS TIME"
- At this point I have spent 12 hours of my own time to get this software that I AM PAYING FOR to work on my brand new gaming PC
- I completely reinstall my OS, putting my PC back to factory settings and removing all data
- After reinstalling the Xbox App, exact same issue occurs
Monday, November 16th:
- Decide to give it another try
- Start at the start, with a 'fellow xbox gamer' boi
- This time I have a case number, so he can see right away that I'm well beyond basic troubleshooting
- Abruptly disconnects without warning, redirects me to another chat agent
- Same **** all over again, and again, and again
- Support agent decides to schedule me a call with a 'PC Gaming Specialist' who can take remote access and try other techniques
- This time the wait time is 9 minutes
- Call arrives on time
- Great, except the person on the other line is from ACCOUNTS & BILLING and can't help me at all
- I think, this is a good time to ask to be compensated for my trouble
- "There is absolutely no way we can compensate you for your trouble sir"
- So, what you're telling me is that Microsoft does not value its customers or their time. Cool.
- He says he'll redirect me to an Xbox Rep who can take remote access, and that he'll stay on the line with me until I'm connected
- Says it shouldn't take more than a few minutes
- He disappears, and puts me on HOLD FOR AN HOUR
- Finally, I'm talking to a guy from PC Gaming Support
- He takes remote access of my machine
- Has no idea **** is going on
- "I've never seen this, I need to talk to my team, hold on one sec"
- HANGS UP ON ME
- At this point I've spent two of my days off trying to get this working and I'm not about to give up.
- Decide to schedule yet another call
- Someone actually calls me within 90 minutes
- After explaining my position, they realize how long and arduous this experience has been, and that I have tried almost all troubleshooting steps
- They decide to transfer me to someone who can take remote access of my machine
- Recommends they use something to analyze my crash logs and determine root cause
- I wait on hold for another hour for this new support agent
- New support agent CAN'T HELP ME because they are in 'Windows Support' and not 'Windows Technical Support'
- So they transfer me to an agent from 'Windows Technical Support'
- Put me on hold
- Wait on hold for another hour
- GET HUNG UP ON WHILE ON HOLD
What an absolutely abysmal product (Xbox App, Xbox Game Pass) and customer service. I feel completely disrespected. I am the only one that cares that this 'product' I bought is absolute hot garbage. The experience I outlined above doesn't even capture the incredibly buggy and unreliable support software I had to engage with to go through the steps of finding people to talk to.
I hope someone sees this and brings it up the chain so it gets dealt with properly. I will not be pushed around and disrespected anymore. I can tell you one thing Microsoft; keep treating your customers like an afterthought and an annoyance, and you'll end up like Sears.
Microsoft does NOT care about its customers.
Continue reading...