You Reply: Hi,
Its true the product is not well documented
I just bought the DFR0088 and got the same problems with an XBeePro series2.
If you want to program the arduino while the shield /Xbee is pluged to it, simply remove the jumper between J13-1& J13-4.
Its the jumper on a 3x3 header which is marked APC/485.
If you want to use the Arduino board with the shield to talk directly from your PC to the Xbee, make yourself a 4x4 female header with pins cross connected. and place it on J13( the 4 pins closet to the 1x4 termnal bloc)
This will connect the output of the USB-U3 chip to the input of the Xbee ans same for USB-U3 input pin to the Tx pin of the Xbee. You also need to remove the microcontroller.