I received a $10 Credit to the Oculus store and the email said to use it "BY July 17". I told my kids on July 16 that we'd use it on the 17th, because we had more free time on Saturday.

I tried to use it on the 17th and, lo and behold, the credit had expired.

I chatted with support and, while the support agent was friendly, he couldn't help at all. He told me that you have to use the credit BEFORE July 17. Well, it didn't say "before", it said "by". He tried to give me a credit anyhow, but told me there was no way he could help. He said it's all managed by computers and the support team can't do anything at all.

Wow.

That's ridiculous, and let's count a few ways.

First, nearly every coupon in the world is usable on its expiration date. The expiration date is the last day you CAN use it. Second, they said to use it by July 17, and I tried to; they effectively lied by making it expire in advance. Third, support should be able to help customers, but their hands are apparently tied. And, fourth, "by" and "before" are, in fact different words with different meanings last I checked.

I'm sorely disappointed with Oculus here. My kids are also disappointed. Oculus's revenue is also disappointed since I'd have bought an expensive game and only gotten $10 off.

Also, the English language is disappointed.

Way to go, Oculus. I went from "excited" to "really annoyed" because you couldn't communicate clearly and then chose to stand by your poor communication.

Hop out of the headset occasionally and remember you have real human customers that you could choose to delight or disappoint.

My idea:

Transparent communication about timelines for expiration dates, preferably coupled with common English usage rules. To remove all doubt, try something like "This credit expires on July 16, 2021, at 23:59:59 GMT" or whatever time zone you intend to be the deadline.

If you'd done that and I hadn't read it, shame on me. Since you didn't do that and gave no alternative to correct, shame on you.