Microsoft support - downhill?
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Re: What Is Expected of Microsoft Server Support?
I've had a couple support calls in the last year that have been pretty bad though. Communication was the root of the issue. I would reach out multiple times for an update, asked for more diagnostic logs since a week or so has passed since they spoke with me last; another few weeks, rinse and repeat.
What's interesting is we're a Microsoft gold partner, so you'd figure we would get better communication. Technical resolutions though are typically >4 hours.
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This we hear a lot. Bad communications, unable to speak English, lots of passing the buck and run around, and then delay after delay presumably to push you to find an alternative to them actually doing something.
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How can they go any farther downhill when they already suck so much?
Also, If I had gold level MS partnership, I would immediately demand a native english speaker any and every time I called, right up front. No reason to listen to "Steve" poorly read a script that he doesn't comprehend.
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@scottalanmiller said in Microsoft support - downhill?:
This we hear a lot. Bad communications, unable to speak English, lots of passing the buck and run around, and then delay after delay presumably to push you to find an alternative to them actually doing something.
I couldn't get in to our Volume licensing center about two months ago. Called, got put into a queue, the girl, who could barely speak english said that she would be connecting me with someone to help me somehow just dropped the call after about 10 minutes. Called back and had to go through the whole thing over again. Was escalated but was told they'd have to call me back. 2 weeks and nothing. Turns out that Microsoft changed my account to a "business account" through O365 because the synod office is on O365 so they saw the account in their db and just merged it. Was a bigger PITA than it needed to be. Actually solved it with the help of the synod office guys. Just a plain old F story from Winblows.
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@scottalanmiller said in Microsoft support - downhill?:
This we hear a lot. Bad communications, unable to speak English, lots of passing the buck and run around, and then delay after delay presumably to push you to find an alternative to them actually doing something.
It's gone way downhill in the past year. Even our channel reps have been pretty shocked. The lack of English has been an issue for some time (obviously not the only company outsourcing though). I don't mind someone having an accent, but there have been many times over this year during those support calls where I have to request someone else because I can't even pick up on the context of what they're trying to say; I couldn't string together even a few words.
Oh, and that's after getting bounced around by the technical support router for about an hour.
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@wls-itguy said in Microsoft support - downhill?:
@scottalanmiller said in Microsoft support - downhill?:
This we hear a lot. Bad communications, unable to speak English, lots of passing the buck and run around, and then delay after delay presumably to push you to find an alternative to them actually doing something.
I couldn't get in to our Volume licensing center about two months ago. Called, got put into a queue, the girl, who could barely speak english said that she would be connecting me with someone to help me somehow just dropped the call after about 10 minutes. Called back and had to go through the whole thing over again. Was escalated but was told they'd have to call me back. 2 weeks and nothing. Turns out that Microsoft changed my account to a "business account" through O365 because the synod office is on O365 so they saw the account in their db and just merged it. Was a bigger PITA than it needed to be. Actually solved it with the help of the synod office guys. Just a plain old F story from Winblows.
I laughed out loud about the call drop. That happened to me -twice- on the last support call while trying to be routed.
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Maybe I am an anomaly here, but I have contacted Microsoft support twice and I thought it was excellent! Yes, I got an Indian tech and manager each time, but they helped resolve my issues and one issue went on for a week and was well outside the scope of MS support call. The tech I worked with on this case went above and beyond and helped me configure a third party tool to achieve my goal even though it was out of Microsoft's responsibility.
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@irj said in Microsoft support - downhill?:
Maybe I am an anomaly here, but I have contacted Microsoft support twice and I thought it was excellent! Yes, I got an Indian tech and manager each time, but they helped resolve my issues and one issue went on for a week and was well outside the scope of MS support call. The tech I worked with on this case went above and beyond and helped me configure a third party tool to achieve my goal even though it was out of Microsoft's responsibility.
It's an anomaly. Win some, lose some.
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I haven't had to contact MS that often, but whenever I contact Dell support (many of the same issues), I use chat instead of calling. Many of their techs are quite capable at typing english vs. speaking it. Seems to help get rid of the communication barrier (in my experience anyway).
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@rojoloco said in Microsoft support - downhill?:
I haven't had to contact MS that often, but whenever I contact Dell support (many of the same issues), I use chat instead of calling. Many of their techs are quite capable at typing english vs. speaking it. Seems to help get rid of the communication barrier (in my experience anyway).
I do that for HP and Lenovo as well.
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@rojoloco Yes i do chat support whenever possible to avoid this. IME reading and writing foreign language much easier than speaking.
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@rojoloco said in Microsoft support - downhill?:
I haven't had to contact MS that often, but whenever I contact Dell support (many of the same issues), I use chat instead of calling. Many of their techs are quite capable at typing english vs. speaking it. Seems to help get rid of the communication barrier (in my experience anyway).
I always preferred using chat. I started using it when communicating with Comcast (home services) and Dell support.
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Was this for Microsoft office 365 though? Because that is where there difference is on regards to support...
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@bbigford said in Microsoft support - downhill?:
@scottalanmiller said in Microsoft support - downhill?:
This we hear a lot. Bad communications, unable to speak English, lots of passing the buck and run around, and then delay after delay presumably to push you to find an alternative to them actually doing something.
It's gone way downhill in the past year. Even our channel reps have been pretty shocked. The lack of English has been an issue for some time (obviously not the only company outsourcing though).
Offshoring. It is extremely unlikely that they are outsourcing. Outsourcing means going to another company. Offshoring is what sends stuff to India.
They might be doing both. Or neither, a lot of Indian call centers are in New Jersey.
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@scottalanmiller said in Microsoft support - downhill?:
@bbigford said in Microsoft support - downhill?:
@scottalanmiller said in Microsoft support - downhill?:
This we hear a lot. Bad communications, unable to speak English, lots of passing the buck and run around, and then delay after delay presumably to push you to find an alternative to them actually doing something.
It's gone way downhill in the past year. Even our channel reps have been pretty shocked. The lack of English has been an issue for some time (obviously not the only company outsourcing though).
Offshoring. It is extremely unlikely that they are outsourcing. Outsourcing means going to another company. Offshoring is what sends stuff to India.
They might be doing both. Or neither, a lot of Indian call centers are in New Jersey.
Lol, my kinda of town ;)
