Xbox Live user claims Microsoft owes him $500bn

SOFTWARE DEVELOPER Microsoft has found itself accused of owing an Xbox Live user $500bn.

David Stebbins, a chap who has filed several lawsuits against big businesses over the past year, has taken Microsoft to court alleging that by changing the terms of an Xbox Live contract that both he and Microsoft agreed to, Microsoft now owes him $500bn. Stebbins filed a motion with a Seattle federal court on Monday in a bid to confirm the exorbitant arbitration award.

It's no surprise to hear that Stebbins is representing himself and he told the Seattle PI that his ploy of changing the terms of the Xbox Live contract he had entered with Microsoft was exactly the same one used by firms against their customers. Stebbins claims that Microsoft never got back to him within the 24 hour period he gave it to accept arbitration of his contract change demands.

In an email interview with the Seattle PI he defended the fact that he has sued a number of companies in the past year, saying, "In fact, I see a lot of friends and family who get pushed around and walked on, who have causes of action against them, but they choose not to pursue those causes of action. Lots of people are victims of torts ... few of them actually sue over them, but that doesn't mean they can't."

Stebbins' claims might be frivolous but he does have a point about contracts seemingly being one-sided against consumers. Everyone has read the clause that stipulates that the terms of a contract can be changed at any time, and as Stebbins has shown, why shouldn't the consumer, a legal entity in a contract, be the one to change the terms?

Of course it is highly unlikely that Stebbins will ever see his claimed $500bn, but at least he has shown that consumers can fight big companies at their own games from time to time. µ