Do you know why is Microsoft customer service so bad? Well, you are at the perfect place to find the answer to such a question.
It’s pretty hard to get through your day without using or encountering some type of Microsoft brand–windows, skype, bing, Xbox, outlook, and even Hotmail. Maybe your PC is even from Microsoft. Microsoft owns a huge share of the market, so why is Microsoft’s customer service so bad?
Complaints about Microsoft customer service include the inability to speak with a real person, frustrating limitations on support, calls that take hours to resolve, and unidentified or misquoted charges for repairs.
If you have had a frustrating experience with Microsoft customer service lately, don’t worry–you aren’t alone. Read on for the most common complaints about Microsoft customer service.
Is Microsoft Customer Service Bad?
Some users and bloggers seem to have no issue with Microsoft customer service and find that their issues are resolved in a reasonable amount of time, though what does that mean for the rest of us?
Microsoft has received a number of online complaints in recent months. According to customerservicescoreboard.com, Microsoft gets 32.13 out of 200 based upon 788 rankings, which ranks it 480 out of around 1,000 companies on the scoreboard. This is qualified as “disappointing,” according to the site. Around 93% of comments were negative.
On sitejabber.com, Microsoft received around 2/5 stars from around 280 reviews. This puts it 154th among mobile application sites.
International site Trustpilot gives Microsoft 1.2/5 stars from 2,372 reviews, a “bad” rating, according to the site.
Hissingkitty.com gives Microsoft 1.73/5 based on 519 reviews. This is typical for software/computer companies on the site.
1. Can’t Reach a Real Person
By far the most common complaint online about Microsoft customer service is that one cannot reach or speak with a real person.
Microsoft (and other tech companies) are now offering a virtual agent to help solve problems, though it seems this virtual agent is the only way Microsoft is trying to solve problems in many cases–cases too complex for the virtual agent to solve.
Microsoft prides itself on its online resources, including a chat feature, twitter help, and youtube help, though it seems that when one actually wants to speak to a person about their issue it can be almost impossible to connect, even in the middle of the business day.
2. Support Requires Microsoft Login
Many customers are frustrated that they need to log into their Microsoft account in order to access Microsoft support.
This is frustrating when the issue they are having is that they cannot for whatever reason–be it hacking or software problems–log in to their account.
In addition, many of these customers cannot access Microsoft’s online help resources and need to rely on a phone call with a person, which has become more and more rare.
3. Calls Take Too Long
One of the major complaints about Microsoft customer service is that calls can go on for hours. You may spend at least an hour trying to find the right human to talk to, having to explain your issue over and over.
When you do find the right person, you will have to go through the script of the questions they have to ask to diagnose the problem (which you may have already gone through with someone else).
Even when the problem is identified, the issue may take an hour to resolve.
It is difficult to know how to fix this issue–some repairs will simply take time to make–but Microsoft could streamline the process so you aren’t wasting time at the outset trying to find the right person and explain your issue.
In addition, there has to be a way for Microsoft to note and keep track of progress on a customer’s case rather than having to start fresh with each service rep.
4. Unauthorized Charges
Many users complained about unauthorized charges showing up on their credit cards. In some cases, these were subscriptions that they had repeatedly canceled but were still showing up as charges.
In other cases, unexpected charges would show up after customer service calls.
In both cases, calls to Microsoft support were not helpful to solve the problem. Customers have often bounced around to different departments until they gave up.
In other cases, even when a complaint was made, the charge would continue, indicating that customer service did not actually take action to solve the problem.
Part of the problem here is with auto-renewals, though customer service should be able to assist a customer who wants to discontinue auto-renewals.
5. Incorrect Amounts Quoted/Charged
Several customers who were quoted amounts for repairs noted that the amounts actually charged were different from the amounts quoted by customer service.
This seems like such a strange thing to have happened repeatedly, though it was mentioned several times in online reviews.
It’s hard to tell where this problem originates. Does customer service not have a good price list for fixes? Or is it difficult to predict the amount of a repair?
It seems like better communication might solve this problem–if the problem ends up costing more to fix, it seems Microsoft customer service should communicate this to the customer.
In many cases, the frustration stemmed from having to contact customer service again (sometimes for more than an hour) to dispute the charges. Many customers just gave up and paid the extra charge–and then suspected that that was Microsoft’s goal all the time.
FAQ
Where can I complain about Microsoft?
Microsoft has a “complaints department,” though it is actually just customer service.
You can reach Microsoft customer service in the following ways or take advantage of these resources to find a solution on your own.
- You can reach customer care at: 1-800-MICROSOFT (1-800-642-7676)
- You can visit customer care at: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/contactus/
- You can email Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at [email protected].
- Tweet Microsoft Support @MicrosoftHelps
- Watch https://www.youtube.com/microsoft for information on fixes and FAQ
Conclusion
Microsoft is a giant company with a number of brands, so they are bound to have customer service issues come up, though in recent years Microsoft has scored low on customer service outcomes and ended up with a number of frustrated customers.