The End of the Journey??

On the following Monday I received another call form Microsoft, this time from 'Charles'. He purported to be the same tech I talked to and who emailed me. So now I have three names, none of which are the real name of the person who I spoke with. Whether this person was in Redmond or not, I can't say. The accent was Indian though. I told him that I had called and asked that the case be closed after the media was marked bad, and asked why he was calling me, since the issue, I thought, was closed on their end. He had no real answer, and I wasn't on the phone all that long, he woke me up, seeing as he called almost a week after he said he would and in the middle of my night to boot. My wife tried again to get a supervisor at Journey Ed to speak with her, to no avail, and no one would call back.

At 6:54 AM on 9/6 I received an email from the BBB that the complaint had been forwarded to MS and:

"Microsoft indicated it may take some time to research your complaint and respond."

Really? They're not jumping right on it??? What a surprise. I had a voice mail from a MS tech on my cell phone when I woke up that evening and this email in my Inbox from 6:49 PM that evening:

********************** The message for you follows ************************
Randy,


I am the engineer who will be working with you on this case you have opened with Microsoft. You can reach me using my contact information below.


My goal is to make certain that you are totally satisfied and your issue is resolved. If you are not satisfied, please contact my manager, Tim xxxxxx at XXX-XXX-XXXX, or via e-mail at xxxxxx@microsoft.com.


I look forward to talking with you,

Doak xxxxx
Consumer Support Engineer



I called Doak back the next morning and again explained everything I had gone through with everyone and what I needed from him. To wit - mark the media bad and pass the information on to Journey Ed when they called. He assured me that he would, that nothing could be deleted from a case file once entered in (I expressed my opinion that Chris/Richard/Charles had deleted information in an attempt to cover his ass). I told him that I had made other arrangements for Zacks PC and that I did not want, nor require a replacement cd for the bad one I had. Just that MS needed to pass the bad media info to Journey Ed when they finally called. When I got to work that evening I had 2 emails from Doak that completley blew my mind. They are as follows:



3:49 PM

********************** The message for you follows ************************
Randy,

It was my pleasure to work with you on your Windows XP issue. I hope that you were delighted with the service provided to you. I am providing you with a summary of the key points of the case for your records.

Based on our last conversation it appears that this case is ready to be archived. If this is premature or you are not very satisfied with all aspects of this case, please let me know as soon as possible. Otherwise, I will archive this case at the close of business on 9/07/06. Thank you for choosing Microsoft.

My goal is to make certain that you are totally satisfied with my service today. If you are not satisfied with my support, please contact my manager, Tim xxxxxx at xxx-xxx-xxxx, or via e-mail at xxxxxx@microsoft.com.

Problem
Not able to upgrade to XP Pro

Resolution
Bad media. Will have to get the cd replaced




Sincerely,
Doak Moore
Consumer Support Engineer



4:08 PM

Randy,



I found out thru are escalation offices that we replace the retail copies of XP when purchased thru a 3rd party vendor. So what I need from you is a physical address that I can have the XP Pro upgrade disk sent to.



Just email me the address and I will get it shipped out to you.





Doak xxxxx

Windows Consumer Frontier Team

Email: xxxxxxxx@microsoft.com

Phone: xxx-xxx-xxxx



Delighting our customers is our top priority. We welcome your comments and suggestions concerning the support we provide to you. Please e-mail us at mailto:xxxxxxxx@microsoft.com Subject=Consumer Support Feedback:Windows XP.






Here is my response:

Doak,

Unfortunately you think that I want a replacement CD for the bad one I have. You put it into the email quoted below. I thought I had thoroughly explained that I had made other arrangements for my sons computer after I started getting the run around from JourneyEd and then Microsoft. I also thought I had made myself more than clear that all I wanted at this point was a refund of my money. At no point in our conversation did I say that I wanted a replacement cd for the bad one. Where did you pull this information from? It surely wasn't from me. You were to mark the media bad in the case, I was to contact JourneyEd and they were to get the information from you that the media was bad. Then I could get an RMA from them to send this disc back and receive my refund. Why are you insisting that I want a replacement CD? Why is everyone making this any harder than it has already been? I'm ready to send you and JourneyEd a bill for my time. Between your two companies I have wasted approximately 3 hours of my time on the phone trying to get the authorization for a simple return of a defective product. Not to mention my time (2 hours driving) and expense of driving back and forth to my son's school trying to work with your 'support' on getting the upgrade to work. Or is it the Microsoft corporate opinion that anyone who purchases your products can't be intelligent enough to install them properly unless held by the hand and walked through each and every step. Since you contacted me after my BBB complaint, I thought someone would have noticed that my resolution for this issue was a refund. Period.


Do not send me any replacement cd(s). I will consider this an unsolicited mailing and keep them no matter what the eventual outcome of this issue.


Got it? Is this clear enough? Do I have to go further to make you understand?

By the way, 20 minutes after the email I have quoted below, you sent another saying that you could ship me the replacements, when I told you and we had agreed that the issue was resolved on your end, and that all that was necessary from Microsoft was passing the information on to JourneyEd when they called to verify it. Why open up this avenue when you KNEW I was not interested in it? Just to muddy the waters a little more? So that this information was there and JourneyEd could then say that I didn't require a refund since Microsoft was going to send me replacements? Thanks, make it harder for me once again. JourneyEd already has their own BBB complaint for this very same issue to respond to. Again, muddy things up a little more for everyone.

If my $90 means that much to you, Microsoft, Bill & Melinda Gates (along with their charitable foundation), Steve Ballmer and the rest, then keep it, but don't try to let on that anyone there is interested in education, since you have been actively trying to screw a middle-class college student.

Just remember, Microsoft is not the only choice out there. Next time - IBM, and since you have no idea of what I mean this was the winning entry a long time ago to re-name the IBM PC. IBM - I'll Buy a Macintosh. And this is what I will do. I have had it.

This whole episode will be made available on my blog, as soon as I can get it posted. I will do everything in my power to let everyone know what it is like trying to get a straight answer from Microsoft, and how they don't listen to a thing that their customers say. In fact, they make things up and try to make it look like the customer was involved in the process and agreed. Thanks, but no thanks.

Let me give you some advice. When you and a customer have really agreed on a plan, don't 'go the extra mile' afterwards. The issue at that point has been handled and in doing so, you can make things worse.

You ask if I am delighted at the service I have received. Most Definitely Not. From all levels of this support problem I have been sorely disappointed, angered and put-out. No one has listened to a thing I have to say and actively make up non-existent 'facts' about my case. How could anyone be delighted with this kind of service? Put yourself in my place, would you be ranting and swearing at me had I lied and made things up and wasted your time? Exactly, you would be at the point that I am. Ready to completely lose my temper with anyone who calls or emails me about this and makes things just a little bit worse instead of resolving a simple matter.

Let me re-iterate: Don't send me any replacement cd(s). Do what we really agreed on and pass the bad media information on to JourneyEd. It's that simple. Think you can handle it?

Randy xxxxx





I think I finally struck a nerve or got someones attention. Here is the reply I received:

Randy,



I apologize for the confusion. I will close your case per your request.



My wife was finally able to get supervisor on the phone at Journey Ed too, he knew nothing about our problem, after numerous calls and voice mails and messages from his own reps with callback info. Sure. Then why wouldn't ANY CS rep get him back to us? That isn't how business from where I come from is done, but it seems that customer service is a thing of the past, for the most part.

Once my wife unloaded on the JourneyEd supervisor, he agreed to take the upgrade cd back, finally. UPS picked it up today, we'll see how long it takes for the refund now.

It's almost resolved, and it's only been 3 weeks or so!!!

Remind me to tell you about McAfee and their BS sometime.