Be careful with returns, unauthorised charge to credit card from Microsoft

[cgmonkey]

MS sent a replacement for my surface and then I sent mine back, to do that they had to make a hold against my card, all fine, standard practise.
What I didn't expect was 4 months later to be charged for the returned surface. It took a whole morning of jumping around from person to person to get someone to help, support overall was terrible, I lost out on a mornings work dealing with it so it cost me money. All I got was a vague apology. No one there seems to be an actual manager, they have management titles but can't actually make any decisions.

So just keep in mind to keep checking your cards when returning items to Microsoft.

 

[stephen_az]

MS sent a replacement for my surface and then I sent mine back, to do that they had to make a hold against my card, all fine, standard practise.
What I didn't expect was 4 months later to be charged for the returned surface. It took a whole morning of jumping around from person to person to get someone to help, support overall was terrible, I lost out on a mornings work dealing with it so it cost me money. All I got was a vague apology. No one there seems to be an actual manager, they have management titles but can't actually make any decisions.

So just keep in mind to keep checking your cards when returning items to Microsoft.

Unfortunate but not surprising. Versions of that happen with everyone who does express replacements - sometimes it is human error, sometimes a lost or unlogged package, and sometimes a system crash. I always advise people to confirm receipt and back end processing to verify the defective item has been checked in and to save the verification communications.

I must, however, clarify a couple things. Standard practice is to ship the defective item first and have them ship back a replacement. As such, express is an option rather than the standard. I was given the option in the past and chose the four day conventional turn around. They don't service Surface devices, just replace with refurbished, so all they do is check it in, verify condition, and ship the replacement. It is also not in any way an unauthorized charge. You agreed to it when you chose the express option. It is an incorrect charge but you most definitely did authorize it at the time of service. Unauthorized charges are fraudulent transactions. This was either a system or human error tied to a legitimate authorization....

 

[cgmonkey]

Thanks for the response, I authorised a hold on my card until the my surface was returned, I returned it therefore the hold should have been cancelled.
The charge was taken out 4 months later and therefore unauthorised, they took money off me without my consent, they should have no right to be able to charge me 4 months later. If the charge would have happened within 30 days or with notification I would understood that. The first I noticed was the charge in my credit card statement, no communication from them, it wasn't even clear on the charge information that it was Microsoft, I had to Google the code.

Just wanted to make sure others know it can happen.