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My horror story with Micosoft's service so far

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tony8154

Member
How do you come to that conclusion?



No different to what MS would do then..

Well there's a difference between the fan being audible when it's on full blast, and the fan itself making noises like when it vibrates. If it's the latter, then yes it's a defect.

That's what MS should be doing yes, but I can't seem to get any higher up the service ladder and no one seems to care nor have the authority to do anything about my situation. I'm stuck with the surface care team and according to the phone reps, that's as high as service goes. He usually takes a day or two just to reply an e-mail btw.
 

hughlle

Super Moderator
Staff member
If I was dealing with Apple service, they would have given me a new one on the spot, but there's no inking with macbooks. Sigh..
Well there's a difference between the fan being audible when it's on full blast, and the fan itself making noises like when it vibrates. If it's the latter, then yes it's a defect.

That's what MS should be doing yes, but I can't seem to get any higher up the service ladder and no one seems to care nor have the authority to do anything about my situation. I'm stuck with the surface care team and according to the phone reps, that's as high as service goes. He usually takes a day or two just to reply an e-mail btw.

I see what you were refering to. I thought you just meant if the fan makes noise it is faulty.

As to service, I have friends who have had equally frustrating times with apple (including my dad with his new iphone 6) via phone or email. walking into a store though, straight swap out, which seems to be the same story if you were to walk into an MS store. I've no apple or MS stores where i live, so i resort to live chat on the MS site and any warranty issues have been sorted out with a replacement in the post within 15 minutes of starting the chat. My point being that no company is perfect, and everyone can experience issues regardless. Apple is not perfect, and neither is MS. When you are a company as big as these two, there is always going to be an instance of a cutomer not having a good experience no matter how much money, time, and staff they put into training and protocols and all that lot.
 
OP
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tony8154

Member
I see what you were refering to. I thought you just meant if the fan makes noise it is faulty.

As to service, I have friends who have had equally frustrating times with apple (including my dad with his new iphone 6) via phone or email. walking into a store though, straight swap out, which seems to be the same story if you were to walk into an MS store. I've no apple or MS stores where i live, so i resort to live chat on the MS site and any warranty issues have been sorted out with a replacement in the post within 15 minutes of starting the chat. My point being that no company is perfect, and everyone can experience issues regardless. Apple is not perfect, and neither is MS. When you are a company as big as these two, there is always going to be an instance of a cutomer not having a good experience no matter how much money, time, and staff they put into training and protocols and all that lot.

Yeah you're probably right. With companies being as large as they are, I'm sure it's just a matter of time until there is a disgruntled customer like me. What really sucks is the fact that it's not a one time issue and it's a constant issue, and there's no one that I can complain to, nor is there a way that I can talk to the supervisors of whomever I'm dealing with to tell them to get their shit together.

Where is the MS chat located? Do I just go to the website? I guess I'll give that a try tonight.

BTW.

Just received an e-mail this morning from a service rep, asking when was a good time to call. I replied instantly saying now is a good time. I didn't receive a call after 3 PM, so I gave her a call instead. After 20 minutes of waiting on the line, she asks me if I want to continue with the online replacement order.

Wait what? So I ask her when was this case dated for?

"June 10"

I hang up.
 
The problem is when you're located in a place without any MS store and a well established support system.

In this case, Hong Kong, but I'm sure there are other places like this as well.

OTOH, Apple's retail presence is far more common around the world.

Not saying either one is better, but just the reality we're in.
 
OP
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tony8154

Member
The problem is when you're located in a place without any MS store and a well established support system.

In this case, Hong Kong, but I'm sure there are other places like this as well.

OTOH, Apple's retail presence is far more common around the world.

Not saying either one is better, but just the reality we're in.
Well HK does have a MS store, but I can almost guarantee you they'll just tell me to call the customer service hotline.

I just tried the chat, and they said they're not the chat for service. They said either try again tomorrow or call the hotline.
 

hughlle

Super Moderator
Staff member
The problem is when you're located in a place without any MS store and a well established support system.

In this case, Hong Kong, but I'm sure there are other places like this as well.

OTOH, Apple's retail presence is far more common around the world.

Not saying either one is better, but just the reality we're in.

I'm in the UK, and i have access to neither a microsoft store nor an apple store. My options are online support or online support. HK definately seems a bigger issue though given their use of what sound like 3rd party service companies.
 
OP
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tony8154

Member
Final Update:


Sorry for the late update everyone. Here's the conclusion..


After going to the walk in center on July 7th, and them saying my serial number does not match with the one they have, I had to e-mail the service rep again about the issue present. I spoke with the manager of the walk in center on the phone that day and he says that it's MS fault for screwing up their records and not the shop's fault. Even though they had a few Surfaces there at the time they were not allowed to give me one because it was against their policy.

As soon as I get home I send an e-mail to the service rep:

I called the walk in center to check if they had the replacement available. They did so I went in.
The replacement product's serial number was XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Under their records, my surface serial number was supposed to be XXXXXXXXXXXX
The serial number on mine is XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Therefore I was not able to get the replacement. They told me to contact MS support. Please sort this out ASAP.


He sends me an e-mail saying this will be resolved within the next two business days:

This is Josh with Microsoft Global Escalation Services. I see that a new order was made under Service Request XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX. The replacement device should be available for pick up within the next 2 business days. I will check back with you on Saturday to confirm if you the replacement device is in acceptable condition.

I hope you have a good day!


Friday July 10th, I call the walk in center, but the rep there says it hasn't arrived and I should call back Monday. Oh well no biggie. A few hours later the store manager calls. He says my surface is there and I should come pick it up today. I tell him your rep said it wasn't there and that I have to wait until Monday for it to arrive. He says the device has arrived and has been signed off at 11AM.

WTF.

So I head over to the shop again.

Yup. You guessed it. Not there.

LOL.

So I tell the rep to call the manager and I speak with him on the phone. He now blames UPS saying they were supposed to bring it in but it was their fault for leaving mine out, and that I have to wait till Monday.



Monday July 13th arrives.

At this point I have pretty much lost all faith in MS service.

A call comes from the manager at the walk in center and assures me that the product is there for sure.
I go in.
It's there.

After careful visual inspection, I'm surprised to see that the refurb is finally flawless with not even a single scratch on it. I hand mind in after factory resetting it.

I've been using this Surface (5th one now) ever since with no issues yet.

This was the final e-mail:

This is Josh with Microsoft Global Escalation Services.Since you have confirmed that you have received your replacement Surface and everything is working as it should, I will be closing your Service Request at this time. As previously offered, I have extended your standard warranty an additional 3 months on top of the 1 year warranty that came with your replacement device.


Considering that the very first phone call to contact MS serivce was made on June 8th (SIX WEEKS AGO) you couldn't really say that this was an enjoyable nor satisfactory experience.

Was the final product received satisfactory to my standards? Yes.

How would I grade the overall experience? F-.

The End.
 

Echrada

Member
I pretty much had the same experience (bar the walk ins) mine was all online and it was horrific as well. In the end I also received a satisfactory outcome, but all the brouhaha was totally unnecessary and Microsoft should definitely update their very bad system, and customer service.
 
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