Unprofessional surface support

[enikou]

Dear forum. I am a loyal ms devices customer since the release of surface pro 1. The first time i needed to activate surface warranty, after all these years was at 09/07/0218. It was when i needed to send my device back to ms for repair due to a line of pixels flickering at the top edge of the screen. My original "faulty" device was virtually New 100% covered with skinomi skins and tempered glass applied on screen. At 10/07 ups collected my device and at 18/07 i have received the replacement device. Upon unboxing of the device, i was faced with an unpleasant surprise.The device has a crack (approximately 5mm long) in the area just above the Camera and a dent in the exterior (casing), at the right part or the tablet. Attached you can see the blemished device. Immediately i have emailed ms support, attaching these photos and clarifying the situation. When ms phone support was active i also phoned them and the response was that "the issue should be escalated for investigation". So, to sum it up, i have lost 8 days for the whole procedure, i have delivered a completely New and "blemish free" device and received back a broken one, and ms support needs extra time to decide what would be the end result. I am completely dissapointed with this unprofessional ms response and i hope that at the very end they will allow me to send this bad refurbished unit, for a legitimate replacement.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Welcome to the forums. Here at Windows Central, we are not affiliated with Microsoft. We are a collection of enthusiasts who like talking about Windows, MS, and their services and products.

Now that the official statement is out of the way....sorry that this happened to you. Have you heard form customer support yet? Have you considered escalating the problem to a manager?

 

[enikou]

I just wanted to communicate this issue and make it aware to potential surface customers... Surface support supposedly escalated this issue early in the morning that I talked to them and i am now waiting their response...

 

[Golfdriver97]

I just wanted to communicate this issue and make it aware to potential surface customers... Surface support supposedly escalated this issue early in the morning that I talked to them and i am now waiting their response...

No worries. It is disappointing that they didn't at least open yours to see if it could be repaired as oppsed to sending you a refurbished.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

No worries. It is disappointing that they didn't at least open yours to see if it could be repaired as oppsed to sending you a refurbished.

Since they will repair the OPs and give it to someone else who needs a replacement, MS didn't just fix and return the OP's device to save them time or money but to minimize the downtime to the OP.

Just bad luck that the OP got a bad device in the first place and a replacement that had a scratch. So I see its more a QA problem than a support problem. Of course, that's not any better for the customer than bad support.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Just bad luck that the OP got a bad device in the first place and a replacement that had a scratch.

Fair point.

 

[enikou]

So, what Shall i expect sirs? I have paid 1300 euro for a surface Book that I used with extra care, and ended up receiving a blemished unit that is 100% sure warranty voided (if i try in the future to send it again for repair purposes)... Are they going to act professionally and allow me to send it back again for a new replacement?

 

[Ryujingt3]

So, what Shall i expect sirs? I have paid 1300 euro for a surface Book that I used with extra care, and ended up receiving a blemished unit that is 100% sure warranty voided (if i try in the future to send it again for repair purposes)... Are they going to act professionally and allow me to send it back again for a new replacement?

They should do. But anyone who has ever dealt with MS support (e.g. B2X or the MS community forums online or online support (e.g. Xbox)) knows that the experience you get may vary. Call MS support, speak to someone, write down their name and when you spoke. That way, when you hopefully reach an agreement to send the (now) faulty one back, you can refer to the person you spoke to and when so they can't give you any further excuses. Good luck!

 

[enikou]

They should do. But anyone who has ever dealt with MS support (e.g. B2X or the MS community forums online or online support (e.g. Xbox)) knows that the experience you get may vary. Call MS support, speak to someone, write down their name and when you spoke. That way, when you hopefully reach an agreement to send the (now) faulty one back, you can refer to the person you spoke to and when so they can't give you any further excuses. Good luck!

Thank you for your support. I live in Greece and bought surface Book from uk ms store. Microsoft Greece doesn't support surface devices, my case is being handled directly by surface support dpt located in uk (greek fellows connect landline directly to them). So, i am obliged to wait for the escalation team response - i am afraid i can't do much more than that. I have the email of the ms guy that informed me that my case is being escalated, so lets hope that ms will not make me throw 1200 euro out of the Window, without being my fault...

 

[Golfdriver97]

So, what Shall i expect sirs? I have paid 1300 euro for a surface Book that I used with extra care, and ended up receiving a blemished unit that is 100% sure warranty voided (if i try in the future to send it again for repair purposes)... Are they going to act professionally and allow me to send it back again for a new replacement?

I am going to be honest....I have never had to deal with sending any type of consumer electronic device in for repair. I'm not sure what to expect. If it were me personally, I would go for the live chat option, and hopefully you can request an email copy of the transcript. If not...take a bunch of photos of the chat window.

 

[ven07]

out of the window

looolllll

 

[Andreas Melin]

isnt it a bit to early to judge. It was obviously an error from Microsoft which could happen even by the best.
I think that this discussion should continue when the case is closed, not before that. give them a chance to redeem the error.

 

[wpcautobot]

I've had fantastic support from Microsoft at their Santa Clara, CA store. Never had issues with returns or replacements or help.

 

[Dusteater]

My last Surface device was the Surface 2 (non Pro). the touch screen died the week after the warrantee expired, and of course Microsoft refused to do anything about it. The warrantee time was so short, and the hardware quality so bad, I've never bought a Surface since.

 

[Wevenhuis]

Not trivially bad experiences, but I have heard of si.ilar horror stories about broken replacements. I've had a weird ecmxoerience where customer support MSFT adviced me to reinstall windows to fix a slow and crashing browser on a brand new device. This while I had just stop the whole device for work and workflow. The problem was not really solved after the complete reinstall of windows. It felt like breaking my device by following the advice of customer support. I found it a quite drastic solution for a minor issue.It might be best practice, bit it felt like higher tier problem solving, that was and in hindsight was not necessary. I felt confident enough with my years experience on windows devices but my heart sank thinking what the situation would have been if I was less experienced. It certainly made be think twice about the state and quality of windows as a service for high end devices. I don't think windows 10 is up to par with quality for high end windows machines. It is indirectly also reflected by how I experienced customer support as a service with regard to employee knowledge of troubleshooting. I think the problem with windows is systemic.

 

[beman39]

My last Surface device was the Surface 2 (non Pro). the touch screen died the week after the warrantee expired, and of course Microsoft refused to do anything about it. The warrantee time was so short, and the hardware quality so bad, I've never bought a Surface since.

I call BS... I have owned SEVERAL Surface devices and ALL of them are amazing quality which is why I keep buying them! I bought surface rt, Surface 2 RT, then Surface pro 3 (broke that one when it fell) and I just recently got a Surface 3 (atom) and you know what? they all work perfectly! also my GF's father was so impressed with my Surface 2 (that I gave to his daughter) that he went out and bought one himself! and you know what else? it works perfect! accept the paint is peeling on that one.. pretty bad! but he bought it used this way and I don't think the person took care of it at all lol

 

[ven07]

I call BS

Well it's his experience

 

[beman39]

Well it's his experience

wasn't talking about his experience :wink: but was referring to 1) the warranty was so short (1 year!) like every device on the planet and 2 the hardware quality being bad,,, refer to my post for examples of great quality with each device I've owed... so yeah... I call bs lol :winktongue: