Account Locked through Violation of Microsoft terms

Hey, can you share roughly what was in your appeal letter and do you have the addresses for MS Reading and Dublin you can share? It would be interesting to hear what the law firm have to say, even if you didn't answer any questions or have a lawyer handy, but just to hear what their apparent reasons were for locking you out. No one here has got a decent explanation so it might've shed some light. Cheers

Happened to me on 9th April 2021 - compliance locked & still locked out. I have submitted the compliance locked form multiple times & password reset form too

I have had the account 17 years & have bought >2500 digital games and thousands of items of DLC ( I am afraid to think about how much I have spent but reckon ~£50000)

I have only used my account for XBox & as a spare email account; I have not used Onedrive as backed up locally on a NAS

I have sent a letter to Microsoft UK & had nothing back, joined reddit & their MS support thread - I actually got a reply & was told my case is still open & under review by escalation team, at least an actual human replied with a clear answer, but I am not hopeful

The UK chat is utterly useless - scripted & full of meaningless platitudes that are just plain insulting & obviously "to get you onside"; and as for speaking to someone it is just impossible - the only option I could get to work was to query an unidentified charge, but they have limited scope for "helping"

I am so down about losing access to 15 years of games saves and so many games (XBox 360 & XB1) that are now delisted and irreplaceable - as a games collector this has devastated me

The only areas where I can possibly see an issue is:

querying why a refund was turned down & seeking clarification what their criteria was (account was locked a few hours after sending this email)

or

buying games from multiple regions (I know this is frowned upon, but tolerated by MS)

If it is the former, locking my account is completely ridiculous as I had accepted the refund was not going to happen but sought clarification for the future. If it was that latter then why pick on me when this is a method used by many for buying games without issue.

Why they cannot tell you what you have done is crazy & surely must be in violation of some law; if you look at the XBox Enforcement page even they say that Enforcement cases will tell you what you have done wrong so that you can learn from your mistakes

I have sent an email to BBC's Watchdog but didnt get any reply from them beyond their usual acknowledgement

Like one of the earlier replies its not about the money - I just want my games & game saves back

Has anyone tried the GDPR route & got any advice?

Everybody ignored me, all the MS executives either on Twitter or LinkedIn, nobody in the British media was interested, the only bite I got was sending two appeal letters via registered post to MS Reading and MS Dublin.

They eventually sent me this reply below, but I don’t have the finances to take on MS’s legal team so I’ve had to give up. The only slight avenue left open to me is a subject access request. MS have acknowledged my SAR, but are now way past 28 days and I have received no further information. My next step is to launch a formal complaint with the ICO, I’ll update in a week or two once I have started the process.

Dear Mr X

I am contacting you regarding your Microsoft account with alias ******@hotmail.com which you have been unable to access since 16 April 2021.

We are a law firm and represent Microsoft, and we would like to arrange a telephone call with you to discuss why your account was closed along with the Legal team from Microsoft. I strongly advise you to take your own legal advice and to have that advisor on the call, if possible.

Please can you provide some dates and times that would be suitable for you so that we can send a calendar invite.

Yours sincerely

Clive Gringras
Partner

Alasdair you went wrong when you assumed you did something wrong. 25 odd pages of proof (including this thread - Microsoft Account Locked (Compliance Lock) - Microsoft Community ) of it happening to others should be enough. Microsoft just don't give a cr4p about you or me.

Happened to me on 9th April 2021 - compliance locked & still locked out. I have submitted the compliance locked form multiple times & password reset form too

I have had the account 17 years & have bought >2500 digital games and thousands of items of DLC ( I am afraid to think about how much I have spent but reckon ~£50000)

I have only used my account for XBox & as a spare email account; I have not used Onedrive as backed up locally on a NAS

I have sent a letter to Microsoft UK & had nothing back, joined reddit & their MS support thread - I actually got a reply & was told my case is still open & under review by escalation team, at least an actual human replied with a clear answer, but I am not hopeful

The UK chat is utterly useless - scripted & full of meaningless platitudes that are just plain insulting & obviously "to get you onside"; and as for speaking to someone it is just impossible - the only option I could get to work was to query an unidentified charge, but they have limited scope for "helping"

I am so down about losing access to 15 years of games saves and so many games (XBox 360 & XB1) that are now delisted and irreplaceable - as a games collector this has devastated me

The only areas where I can possibly see an issue is:

querying why a refund was turned down & seeking clarification what their criteria was (account was locked a few hours after sending this email)

or

buying games from multiple regions (I know this is frowned upon, but tolerated by MS)

If it is the former, locking my account is completely ridiculous as I had accepted the refund was not going to happen but sought clarification for the future. If it was that latter then why pick on me when this is a method used by many for buying games without issue.

Why they cannot tell you what you have done is crazy & surely must be in violation of some law; if you look at the XBox Enforcement page even they say that Enforcement cases will tell you what you have done wrong so that you can learn from your mistakes

I have sent an email to BBC's Watchdog but didnt get any reply from them beyond their usual acknowledgement

Like one of the earlier replies its not about the money - I just want my games & game saves back

Has anyone tried the GDPR route & got any advice?

What did you do or was it just waiting? This happened to my little brother and I'm trying to help him.