Surface bought at BB, will MS support them?

[theefman]

Since the Pro isnt on sale yet, I have to ask RT owners. If anyone has bought their Surface at Best Buy have you had to go to BB for support or will Microsoft support the device as if bought from their store? BB is the nearest option to buy a Surface Pro so just wondering how that would work if needing support later on. Thanks.

 

[Sam Sabri]

I'm 99% sure Microsoft will support it. Let me snoop around and find that post to back up my claim. But most people went through Surface Support for RT.

 

[inteller]

If what you mean is, I buy it at BB but want to return it to MS Store I'd say that is at their discretion. Chances are they would out of good will, until that goodwill is abused to the point they crack down. For general hardware support, once you are outside 30 days you have to work through Microsoft support anyways and if they handle warranty claims at an MS Store then you would be supported that way. BB isn't going to handle your warranty claim unless you get an extended plan with them. They have always done that for even the smallest of things.

 

[theefman]

Thanks, I'm looking more for long term hardware support than anything else and BB is just more convenient to buy from but I think i'll just go direct to MS and keep everything under one roof.

 

[inteller]

long term, as in, beyond warranty, MS has promised to support the Surface RT until 2015. Dunno if the Surface Pro will see that sort of support but I'm guessing you will see better support than say from some fly by night joint like hp or Acer who have a bad habit of not supporting machines past the initial drivers release.

 

[theefman]

Believe me, I know that feeling. The lack of support for my Asus Vivo Tab is the exact reason I'm moving to a Surface Pro, I feel like I'm being taken for a fool by Asus as they release updates for their other Windows 8 devices but my own while it suffers from problems that could easily be solved by a firmware update and new drivers. At the very least MS will be supporting the Pro 100% as its such a high profile device, and its sure to keep its resale value better over time.

 

[ninjaap]

If you're looking for extended warranty, I called MS about purchasing at BB and if its possible to pick up the extended warranty that MS offers, because it was cheaper than BB. They said yes I could.

 

[aubreyq]

I was reading this thread and wondered what you guys meant by support. At one point support of the platform is mentioned, and other times support of firmware/hardware is referenced. For some of those it shouldn't matter where the Surface is purchased, no?

 

[inteller]

The only time you are going to need to worry about where it is purchased is if you either want to return it or make a hardware warranty claim. Within 30 days it will be the store you got it from, beyond that to a year it will be dealing with MS.

 

[stephen_az]

Since the Pro isnt on sale yet, I have to ask RT owners. If anyone has bought their Surface at Best Buy have you had to go to BB for support or will Microsoft support the device as if bought from their store? BB is the nearest option to buy a Surface Pro so just wondering how that would work if needing support later on. Thanks.

If I understand what you mean. The answer is Microsoft will support per the terms of the warranty via standard customer support. As far as a Microsoft store providing you with support, they will probably be happy to answer questions. Beyond that they will almost certainly not provide any other support, anymore than they service laptops bought at BB or another retailer. When you buy a product at a Microsoft store you get some perks and advantages that simply do not come with purchasing from another retailer. It is unreasonable to assume they will act as if you bought your product at a Microsoft store if the purchase was made someplace else.

 

[inteller]

they may process a warranty claim in the store though, just not sure...

 

[dark.davy]

I have not had any issues. I bought it on launch (but Canada only had black keyboards) Was in texas a few weeks later and bought the White Touch keyboard. Stopped working when I got back and they swapped it out without any questions. They actually were going to just swap the whole unit out (guy grabbed a new one from under the counter) but I had worked out all the kinks on mine already.