Below is an email I sent to Steve Ballmer of Microsoft. The problem started on 16th December. It is now 11th April and they are still 'Kicking the Can down the Road'!! I have a complaint in to BBB but that is not doing much good so far. Like others who I see have posted complaints on web pages, I have made loads of phone calls, going round in circles and never getting to talk to anyone who is in a position of authority and able to do something.
Several people have contacted me with a similar complaint of having their computer wiped by a techi person from Microsoft. I have now decided to form as large a group as I can and maybe 'together' we will have a loud enough voice that they will listen to us. How can they 'WIPE' peoples computers, and then just go whistle Dixie. Thumbing their noses at us as they walk away. If you have a similar complaint, or one that you are looking for restitution on, please email me and add your name to the list.
My Email to Steve Ballmer
I am writing to you because I have had virtually no response from your staff in USA. I am sure that you are very busy with far more important things than dealing with everyday customer complaints. But as I have run and managed companies in the past, my motto was that no complaint was too small or unimportant enough for me 'not' to give it my full attention, I therefore hope that you have similar priorities. Customers are like snowballs, the good ones carry on growing bigger and bigger as they go, the bad ones crumble and fall by the wayside.
I do hope you will see fit to have my complaint dealt with. I will only give you a brief outline in this email. December - I cannot get Netflix to play. Several phone calls to Netflix reveals that I have a 'Silverlight' file problem. OK, no big deal. But around the 22nd December I got a call from a Microsoft Technician who told me that Netflix had put in a ticket for me and would I like him to come on my computer remotely and fix the fault. I allowed him access. He could not fix the problem and offered to come back the next night.
I told him that as it was after 10 P.M. EST where I was that his hours were too late for me. He told me that he would have someone call me the next day.'X' called me a couple of mornings later. I granted her access to my computer at about 10:30 A.M. She was on the computer until about 16:00 hrs! She could not fix the Silverlight problem and attempted to set up other 'User' files for me. I was very alarmed when, several hours later, I noticed that my Incredimail icon was missing from the desk top and I asked her about it.
She did not know what I was talking about and never heard of Incredimail - but it was gone! X came back on my computer the next day to reinstate my Incredimail and also other items that I could not find. She was unsuccessful. She again asked to come on the computer at the end of December and I told her that all I wanted her to do was to 'restore my computer to prior 22nd December' when she had eliminated most of my data. She was unable to do this. She told me that the furthest she could restore back to was 27th December! I was mortified.
After X exited my computer I clicked on various folders or icons. There was nothing there! Everything I clicked on came up 'File Empty' - 'Folder Empty'. When I contacted Incredimail which is a 'subscription' email system with back up. Support told me where to find the 'back up' folder. Unfortunately it had also been deleted, along with my iTunes, my Photographs, my Videos, my Documents - and in addition to this even the Internet did not work.
Pages opened that were blank, search buttons, action buttons, did not work, the computer was no longer a computer. I emailed the first Technician and also the Team Manager several times but no one responded. I tried phoning the numbers that were recorded when X or her Manager had phoned me, but I only got a recording. On the 4th January my husband, having had a most distressed, distraught and depressed wife for the past 3 weeks, insisted that we go and buy a new computer and that I just 'start over'.
We went to Wal*Mart and paid $473.84 for a new computer. The next day I had to start reconstructing all of the information that I had lost. I was as you can imagine, very annoyed. I posted my complaint where ever I thought it might attract attention in order that someone might contact me to resolve the matter. On the 18th February I eventually had an email from Y in your Washington Office offering to help sort out the problem. She worked with me for a few days.
Basically she went back to X's Manager and she came back to me telling me that she understood I had a 'Silverlight' problem with the computer and that Bindhu would come on my computer and sort out that problem. I was stunned by this remark and informed her of the facts as they had happened thru December... To which she then suddenly admitted that she was aware of this.
So WHY offer to fix the Silverlight problem then, if you know it has gone way beyond that point! I had had several phone calls with, I can only call them 'drones', because they really had no idea how to deal with this and they were not prepared to try to understand what had happened or to pass me to someone higher up who could deal with it. It seems to me that the people with the most authority in the company are the Team Managers of the Technicians, they tell me that there is NO ONE more superior to them?
To cut a long story short conversation with Lisa gradually dragged out that she was fully aware of all aspects of what had happened but all she would offer me was to have one of 'Microsoft's Top 200 Man' Technicians, some chap in Canada who is a 'whizz' on computers and can fix absolutely anything, come on my computer and restore it back to what it was. I told Lisa that I have no problem with that but first of all I want an undertaking from Microsoft in writing that if I am not satisfied that the computer is restored and working as it was before X then they will pay me the $473.84 for the new computer I had to buy.
I reminded her of the fact that it is now SEVEN weeks since I started trying to get attention from anyone. What does she think I would have been doing for all this time without a computer? It is SIX weeks since I had to buy a new computer and now she is proposing repairs to the old one. I have moved on, I don't even want to look at that other computer, which by the way is a Samsung 15 months old damn good computer, it was a beauty until Bindhu got at it! But now it reminds me of the most terribly distressing Christmas and New Year that I have had for as long as I can remember.
So I explained to Lisa that I was not prepared to spend more of my time working with her 'Top 200 Man' to find that he can do no better than Bindhu - because quite honestly I cannot see how he can restore my emails considering that the back up file has been deleted as well. Never mind my iTunes, Photographs etc. But I am prepared to give it a go, if the undertaking is given to me in writing. Y came back to me and advised that she had talked to X's Manager (??!!!) and they would not agree to my terms.
That was the last I heard from her. I have emailed her several time since then but she has not bothered to respond. I have at least 100 emails, names and phone numbers that I can supply to anyone who will be willing to resolve this situation. Microsoft is such a large organization, I cannot believe that there is no one in authority that is qualified and designated to deal with problems like mine. I have returned to my Summer home in France. I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.
Further to this email I have been contacted by the Paris office for Microsoft. After I had spent considerable time collating information for them they called me back and said that the USA office had told them to close the file as BBB would be getting back to me. That was a week ago. I sent a further email to them re-iterating my disappointment at this rebuttal and got another phone call today from the Paris office, somewhat dismayed that I had emailed once again, and asking me what they can do. I told them that I wanted a cheque for the computer I had to buy. The lady then told me that she is not authorized to do that - so I asked her to have the person who is authorized to contact me. I am going around in circles for the past 3 months, dealing with the same level of people who don't have any authorization to do anything!
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