Will Microsoft Refund my Money?

I'm waiting to talk to a Microsoft agent to see if they'll refund the $200 my 3 year-old spent on X Box games. In the meantime I posted a Facebook poll to see if they think Microsoft will refund the amount.

I got some of the more politically active people voting in my poll. My guess is that if they're right they'll interpret it as vindication of their pro/anti- market outlook. Whereas if they're wrong is was just a fluke and proves nothing. I however, prefer to use statistics, not anecdotes, to influence my economic beliefs. I just want to see what people think.

One thing I expect is that X Box will make the profit maximizing choice. If they give a refund that means the $200 isn't worth the loss of my extra loyalty as a consumer and the negative PR my incident creates. My friends are sure to absorb my negative impressions of XBox if I don't get a refund.

And it's not like PR is necessarily about my complaining about today's experience or starting a boycott or something. It's about the feeling you get when you hear the word, "Microsoft". Compare that to some other companies, "Google" "Nintendo" "Disney". I'm skeptical of consumer's ability to make an impact through cognitive decisions because most of our decisions are made at an intuitive level.

The other option is that the profit maximizing choice is to refuse refund, or do a partial refund. This means Microsoft's worry about being ripped off trumps the negative impression they give by not refunding the money. Once you set a precedent of refunding money any time someone tells a story, you get a whole bunch of scammers trying to get a quick hundred bucks.

Every big company I've worked for (I've worked for three of them) basically had the policy of "just make it right." It doesn't matter, just fix it. It's hard for me to believe that other big companies have radically different policies. Under very specific circumstances you may have to tell a consumer, "no," But almost always the policy is "just say yes."

Why doesn't it always work like this? My experience is that workers on the ground have a hard time following through on the policy. They feel personally taken advantage of. Their fairness receptors are triggered by the situation and they fight against any refund or replacement. Or if they have to it's hard for them to do it kindly. There's always complaining after the customer leaves about what they got away with, even though it's not the worker's money or product.

I notice that this is about as big as any difference between rich people and poor people. Poor people do a fairness analysis and rich people do a cost-benefit analysis. You can tell two different stories about that. Maybe rich people are neglecting some important aspect of morality, or maybe they're just better at staying level-headed and not letting their knee-jerk emotions lead them to bad decisions.



My dad was always clued into the fact that the first person you talk to is not a perfect representative of that company's policy. He always explained that if the first person can't help you, ask someone else, especially if it's higher in the management chain.

I can't tell you how many times I had to bypass another employee's unhelpfulness which went against our employer's wishes.



I will post about my experience with Microsoft after I speak with one of their customer service people. Needless to say, I'm hoping for the best!