I had my Windows account 'temporarily blocked' yesterday. The only things I'd done recently when it happened was letting the Xbox Music pass trial end without cancelling it and tried to log into this forum using my Microsoft account, not sure if that is the reason. It came up with 'linked account' and made me put my forum password in. Since then I've been locked out of my hotmail, Xbox Live and marketplace on my 8X. Nightmare. I logged a call with MS support and they gave me a 24 hour promise to get back in touch, but they haven't. But with tomorrow being Christmas, it's unlikely I'll see my account this side of New Year I guess, or are they usually quicker? Has anyone had experience of having a MS account blocked?
I must say Microsoft's customer service experience is absolutely appalling. It tells you your account is blocked, but doesn't give you a reason. You follow the 'recover my account' link and it makes you change your password before again telling you your account it blocked. It then says to contact customer service, with a hyperlink on the page that recycles you through the same screen, with no information given as to how to actually contact support like it is telling you to. The only way I found was to Google their UK customer service number. Despite today not being a bank holiday and just a normal Monday business wise, I was told by the support line to call back 'Monday to Friday 8am till 6pm'. I found a link to a live MS technician chat (Very hard to find, why is this not on the link telling you your account is suspended?) and they informed me they couldn't see any reason for my account to be blocked and gave me a link to a form which provided me with an SRX service number and the 24 hour SLA. 36 hours later, I'm still without my MS account with no explanation or contact from MS. Why they can't have a message that tells you what happened is beyond me. For example, "Your hotmail account has sent 4207 emails in an hour" or, "Your SkyDrive account is full of porn" or "?3,500 has been spent on FIFA 13 items in the Xbox store" and a phone number to ring someone who would talk you through it is beyond me.
I must say Microsoft's customer service experience is absolutely appalling. It tells you your account is blocked, but doesn't give you a reason. You follow the 'recover my account' link and it makes you change your password before again telling you your account it blocked. It then says to contact customer service, with a hyperlink on the page that recycles you through the same screen, with no information given as to how to actually contact support like it is telling you to. The only way I found was to Google their UK customer service number. Despite today not being a bank holiday and just a normal Monday business wise, I was told by the support line to call back 'Monday to Friday 8am till 6pm'. I found a link to a live MS technician chat (Very hard to find, why is this not on the link telling you your account is suspended?) and they informed me they couldn't see any reason for my account to be blocked and gave me a link to a form which provided me with an SRX service number and the 24 hour SLA. 36 hours later, I'm still without my MS account with no explanation or contact from MS. Why they can't have a message that tells you what happened is beyond me. For example, "Your hotmail account has sent 4207 emails in an hour" or, "Your SkyDrive account is full of porn" or "?3,500 has been spent on FIFA 13 items in the Xbox store" and a phone number to ring someone who would talk you through it is beyond me.