Microsoft: Worst...Customer...Service....Ever

• gut

  Holy christ the foreigners they have in BFE India are dumb. Second time I've dealt with them - first was a Win7 re-install, and this was an Office re-install.
  
  For starters, I was unable to download the installation software in either case. So I go online for tech support...
  
  The Windows dude gave me some bullshit about a mass restricted commercial license and that I would need to purchase a new license for Windows. Bullshit. Found an ISO and the OEM license on my laptop was, as I expected, perfectly valid.
  
  Now I can't download Office 2010 software to re-install. I go to my original receipt, and it simply won't let me download the installation package. Another chat with an online support moron. Right off the bat I asked for a link to download the install pack....after 10 minutes I FINALLY get the dipshit to provide link to download install software....for 2013.
  
  Holy christ MS why even waste your money on these people. I totally wish i could use Linux...this makes me want to make my next computer an Apple (but I'd STILL have to deal with Office).
• gut

  Anyway, I thought I'd nominate MS up against, I presume, Comcast and Dell (among others).
• Pick6

  

  Office reinstall has been fairly simple from my experience. Pretty sure I just downloaded off the website and emailed the support asking for my code again. My email was registered when I initially bought it so it was no big deal.
• gut

  Pick6;1655859 wrote:Office reinstall has been fairly simple from my experience. Pretty sure I just downloaded off the website and emailed the support asking for my code again. My email was registered when I initially bought it so it was no big deal.

  Oh, yes, it seems simple. But apparently it now has me restricted as having purchased the software in another country. It worked for me in the past, and now it doesn't so I went to the most worthless tech support I've ever encountered (two times makes a trend!)
  
  I get what you are saying - why I have that page bookmarked. The links - MICROSOFT links - no longer work for me. And I think that's intentional. I now understand why people support pirating.
  
  
  Had to rant because, as far as computer issues go, these were two of the worst experiences I've had. And not only was MS support useless, both gave me the wrong advice that, basically, I needed to buy new licenses.
• like_that

  

  Comcast and the DC DMV take the cake for me.
• SportsAndLady

  

  Any student loan company
• slingshot4ever

  ^^^
  
  I just had a federal loan and they sold it off to Mohela. Never had any problems with any of them. Direct withdraw monthly and paid it off without a problem.
• SportsAndLady

  

  slingshot4ever;1655978 wrote:^^^
  
  I just had a federal loan and they sold it off to Mohela. Never had any problems with any of them. Direct withdraw monthly and paid it off without a problem.

  Last week I called in becUse my payment went up $100. From $500 to $600.
  
  I guess I had a deferred loan that is finally come due to start paying. Okay, no problem, but I need to figure something out because I'm trying to keep it around $500.
  
  So the lady I speak with says the $100 loan that is coming due cannot be touched but my other 4 (that total $500) can be put on a different payment plan that would total $400, plus the $100 so $500 total. I said great.
  
  She then tells me that because she's doing this, the $400 isn't due in September and that I would basically be able to skip a month. I didn't think that sounded right but she assured me that's how it was.
  
  So I pay the $100, and don't pay the $400. Well, you guessed it, she was completely wrong.
  
  I get a nice email saying my credit is damaged due to being late on my payment and when I call in they also tell me they've tagged on late payments.
  
  I speak with the most high up supervisor that would talk to me, and they basically said she said the wrong thing but there's nothing they can do. AND would not reverse the late charges.
  
  I couldn't believe it.
• gut

  So I still couldn't find the 64-bit install. But today MS had the download links fixed on my account, so they actually did something right! Of course, they sent me no notification of the fix.
• bigdaddy2003

  

  Apple and Time Warner are the two worst I've dealt with.
• gut

  bigdaddy2003;1656374 wrote:Apple and Time Warner are the two worst I've dealt with.

  I don't think I've had a good experience with any cable company - Time Warner and RCN both sucked. Actually I'd say Comcast customer service has been pretty good for me (although their cable/internet service lately has not been good).
  
  Back in the day when everyone was bailing on AOL they made canceling your service no small feat.
• gport_tennis

  I had insight cable three different times over the course of 15 years. The actual service and the customer service are light years ahead of Time Warner. Too bad Time Warner purchased insight and ruined it
• raiderbuck

  Trying to cancel my service with RCN, and I'm getting the run around. Not as bad as that Comcast call, but it's getting there.
  
  Which is odd, because I've never had an issue with RCN before
• Belly35

  

  Belly rules on service/support call:
  
  If the service / support individual does not have a direct line that I can call back to ... I ask for a manager ASAP
  If the reps name first or last I can't understand .... I ask for a manager
  If the service center has to transfer me more than twice ... I ask for a manager
  If I'm on hold for more than a minute .... I ask for the superviser over the manager
  If the call is recorded I want a copy of the call send to me ... or the work order email or faxed...
  
  if i get the feeling I'm not going to get the support I want ... I just fuck with them...
• raiderbuck

  Belly35;1656431 wrote:Belly rules on service/support call:
  
  If the service / support individual does not have a direct line that I can call back to ... I ask for a manager ASAP
  If the reps name first or last I can't understand .... I ask for a manager
  If the service center has to transfer me more than twice ... I ask for a manager
  If I'm on hold for more than a minute .... I ask for the superviser over the manager
  If the call is recorded I want a copy of the call send to me ... or the work order email or faxed...
  
  if i get the feeling I'm not going to get the support I want ... I just fuck with them...

  I used to be one of those "managers" and "supervisors" in call centers. I never actually managed anyone, I just worked in the escalations queue. The real managers were busy measuring SLAs and call hold time. I loved talking to people who believed they were actually speaking with a supervisor. Nine times out of ten, I could fix whatever they wanted and the customer was never the wiser.
• gut

  raiderbuck;1656462 wrote: Nine times out of ten, I could fix whatever they wanted and the customer was never the wiser.

  For 9 of those customers, that's all the matters whether you're a supervisor or not. I'm guessing the people in the "escalation" queue might be better trained or experienced?
  
  But, yeah, I have little expectation of getting a real manager. I try not to lose patience with these people as they are just reading from scripts and following whatever the company has decided they want to handle this. Bad customer service is ALWAYS the company, either training or procedure and not the poor schlubs making $1.58/hr in an India call center.
  
  To make things worse, companies - particularly software companies - view customer service as an opportunity to upsell you rather than fix your problem. Back to my Win7 issue, the guy was trying to get me to purchase a new license when I was quite certain my OEM license was good (some BS about the license being tied to the hard drive, which I had replaced). I find it very hard to believe he pulled that out of his ass (again, I was just looking for an Win7 ISO to download) and that wasn't how they were trained/scripted.
• WebFire

  gut;1656470 wrote:For 9 of those customers, that's all the matters whether you're a supervisor or not. I'm guessing the people in the "escalation" queue might be better trained or experienced?
  
  But, yeah, I have little expectation of getting a real manager. I try not to lose patience with these people as they are just reading from scripts and following whatever the company has decided they want to handle this. Bad customer service is ALWAYS the company, either training or procedure and not the poor schlubs making $1.58/hr in an India call center.
  
  To make things worse, companies - particularly software companies - view customer service as an opportunity to upsell you rather than fix your problem. Back to my Win7 issue, the guy was trying to get me to purchase a new license when I was quite certain my OEM license was good (some BS about the license being tied to the hard drive, which I had replaced). I find it very hard to believe he pulled that out of his ass (again, I was just looking for an Win7 ISO to download) and that wasn't how they were trained/scripted.

  OEM licenses are tied to the mother board.
• gut

  WebFire;1656522 wrote:OEM licenses are tied to the mother board.

  Which is what I figured. This moron told me otherwise and said I'd have to buy a new license. You won't convinced me that wasn't intentional on MS part - the average user wouldn't know they can track down an ISO and so would either buy a new computer or simply shell out for a license they already had. In the old days you would have just busted out the Windows CD/DVD, but they stopped providing those years ago.
  
  It's my own fault for not backing up when I purchased, but not sure how the back-up programs work if it would fly with a different harddrive (don't know if the back-up is an ISO image or not).
  
  I had actually asked that clown something about the license being tied to the computer serial # or something like that, and he tried to feed me some BS about a "factory OEM license is unique to the hard drive". Made 0 sense because people replace/swap hard drives all the time. Even if there was such a thing, he didn't know what license my OEM had. Had he been correct, then what would have happened is Win7 would have rejected the license key. He wouldn't point me to a link I could download the install package.