How does Microsoft get away with this ****ty customer service:
According to The News Reports, they received a report from a customer who purchased the Xbox One and had to return it – that's because it turned out to be a faulty unit and they were instructed to return the unit to Microsoft... for a price.
Technically, they were given options: pay more to get your Xbox One replaced quickly or pay nothing and wait up to 14 days. As noted in the article...
“They were told that they could pay Microsoft £381 (US$621) and receive a new Xbox One within 2 days, with the fee paid being refunded if Microsoft receives the defective unit back within 14 days. The other option was to wait for a free shipping box to arrive, send the console back and wait for it to be repaired and returned, which would take a minimum of 14 days. “
Yep, $621... that's a lot of money to pay in addition to the $500 you already spent to get the console.
Technically, the money you put down for the two-day turnaround is more like a deposit than an actual fee, but it's steep and unwelcoming nonetheless – unless, of course, you have extra income to burn like that?
So you spend $500 for a product that doesn't work and Microsoft takes two weeks to replace it for free?