What a nightmare! As
much as I love my Surface Pro 3, the experience of dealing with the Microsoft
store would put off buying any more there.
It might be 2014, but the Microsoft store still requires
that you call a phone number and talk to
a person to request a return material authorization. So first you have to navigate a voice menu,
to talk to someone whose first and second language are not English after
waiting in a queue for the privilege.
And then they start walking you through the script. Instead of an electronic logon to your account,
like the Microsoft store did when you ordered, to return you have to recite all
the information they already have stored on you back to someone on the
phone. Your customer service representative
and I use the term “service” loosely, repeats it back to you, incorrectly, in a
heavy accent. For your protection, if you manage to
successfully communicate your email address on the account, then they must “verify”
you.
If they wanted to “protect” me, they wouldn’t make me read
off personal information to someone on a voice call. Everyone within earshot would be able to
break into my Microsoft account for sure, and maybe a few others.
For my protection they send a code to my email. I need to access this email on the same
phone I am talking on. If I am using a
service provider that does not allow me use data and text simultaneously, I will need to disconnect the call to
retrieve new email. If I disconnect the
call, I will need to be, wait for it, re-verified when I call again.
If their goal was to make people give up on the returns
process, and not return items, this experience will do that. I won’t return anything to Microsoft store
again – because I won’t buy anything from them.
Amazon, I love you. Truly I do. Easy
to order, easy to return, no sales tax, and it shows up in 2 days. I promise I won’t cheat on you again.
