Can't do right for doing wrong, as they say.

It appears that - as is the norm - Microsoft is under attack from a section of the Internet today, following claims by a relatively unknown site that the company is charging users in order to replace faulty Xbox One consoles.

The report, published by "TheNewsReports.com" claims that one person in the UK was told that in order to get his Xbox One replaced within two days, he would have to pay a charge of £381. Failing that, he was told that he could wait for for the standard 14-day turnaround on repairs, for which Microsoft would not charge, and would also pay the shipping fees.

The actual facts of the matter are that if you wish to have Microsoft send you a new Xbox One within two days, they will place what is known as a "pre-authorisation" on your card, for the value of £381. This acts much like a deposit, even though the money is not fully charged to your card. When your brand new Xbox One arrives, you send your system back within 14 days and Microsoft will cancel the pre-authorisation, meaning that you've paid nothing. If you don't send your machine back, you're charged the £381 - which is about £49 cheaper than the actual price of a new Xbox One. (Ed - For the record, pre-authorisations on my bank card allow me to still spend the money elsewhere in the meantime. Your bank may be different.)

If you don't like the idea, you can wait for Microsoft to send you a shipping-paid box in which to put your console. You send it back to them, they fix it, they send it back to you within 14 days. All for free.

This move is designed solely to trip up fraudsters who would call in and claim that they have a faulty console, have a new one sent to them, and then never send the non-existent defective unit back. It also prevents people from getting their new console from Microsoft for absolutely nothing, and then selling the old faulty one on eBay for cash, listed as "fully working" - we've seen it happen many times.

If Microsoft pulls what would be a nasty move such as this, they're fair game not only to everyone on the Internet, but to us as well. You mark our words, we'll go after 'em where appropriate. In this case though, they aren't doing anything wrong. We're publishing this as this "story" has been retweeted, shared, and passed around a bunch already, with nobody really looking at the facts so far. The more you know, and all that.

[source thenewsreports.com]