Why Microsoft Sucks #2349: Xbox ID - gone!

So I get this e-mail from Xbox telling me that my credit card on file isn't working. (They were trying to charge me for my next year's Gold subscription for Xbox Live, which I probably don't need anyways since my Xbox is in storage and I'm homeless and jobless.)

So I tried logging into my Xbox account online to update the credit card. (Again, probably shouldn't have been doing that.) As it turns out, none of my passwords worked, and because my Xbox account name was my Accenture e-mail address, there's no way I can ask them to e-mail me a new password. Clearly, my only option is calling them.

So I call the Philippines, which is apparently where Xbox support is housed. I talk to a very nice man who reads through the standard script ("may I call you by your first name?" "gosh, I understand your problem and I'm so sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you." OMG JUST GET TO THE POINT.) This nice man then puts me on hold for 15 minutes to get someone from technical support.

I talk to a new nice man in technical support, who also goes through the standard, three-times-as-long-as-it-needs-to-be script. After talking for a while about how I can access my account, he tells me he needs to get his supervisor.

So we're now like 25 minutes into this escapade, and I talk to nice man #3. It takes about 10 minutes, but by the end of it the story is thus:

1. A while back, Xbox moved away from validating accounts by asking for credit card information, and decided instead to use Windows Live IDs. (I consider Windows Live IDs to be Microsofts failed attempt to be "cool", by theoretically allowing you to access all things Microsoft through a single e-mail address. It works for Google, but for some reason seems to me to be an utter failure for Microsoft.)
2. My Accenture e-mail address was converted into a Windows Live ID. I'm pretty sure it conflicted and/or was merged with my MSN chat ID by the same name.
3. If you don't log into your Windows Live ID in a 4-month period, they delete it. No warnings, no questions. Just BAM it's gone.
   
4. I didn't log into my Windows Live ID because, hey, why would I? To check my Xbox account credit card? God knows why else I would. Maybe logging into my Xbox would count, but it's been in storage for a few months now, and I wasn't playing it for a while anyways...
5. So my Xbox account was deleted.
6. Nice Man #3 told me that they miiiiight be able to recover it. But it'd be 3-5 business days before they'll know. And it's entirely possible my account is just plain gone.

I asked Nice Man #3 if Microsoft was planning to revisit this idiotic policy of deleting an account that hasn't been touched in 4 months. I mean seriously, 4 months?! Four!!! That's like, summer. What if I decide not to turn on my tv or Xbox for a couple months because I want to be outside? I guess that means I'm dead to Microsoft, eh?

Anyways, Nice Man #3 told me that they may be looking at that policy again. But I'm not holding my breath. I just chalk this up to very bad policy design on Microsoft's part. I wish there was someone I could go rail at for a few minutes about this. Stupid faceless corporate world. Blahs.