The Microsoft Terms and Conditions that took 24 Hours to obtain!
- Short cut to download agreement if you don’t want to read this.
- Summary: First I asked the M$ rep. for it, she said, I am sorry but I cannot give that to you… anyway after a lot of demanding and being put on hold for at leat 20min in total. I got it after a “24 hour timeframe” due to internal things, when I asked why, she replied I cannot tell you that..
Lets Start
You may or maynot know about the [some what hidden] Personal Support Consolidated Agreement, the one where the lady when you call Microsoft for Technical Support, and says “to listen to a summary of the key terms and conditions, Press ‘1′ . For a full copy of the terms and conditions, please ask your Microsoft Representative to send to you a copy.” Now my understanding of that is that it is illegal, however as my lawyer Co. is closed over the weekend, I can’t call them to confirm that. As I belive that you cannot force someone to accept an agreement that they have not read. Ok… So I pushed my way through their out-sourced fortress of secret records:
Transcriptish: (This is off the top of my head)
Lady: Could I have your full name, email, and phone number?
Me: Ah.. No, I would like to request the full terms and conditions.
Lady: I cannot give that to you!
Me: Umm.. Why not, the lady before says, “For a full copy of the Terms and Conditions please ask your Microsoft Representative to send to a copy.”
Lady: I am sorry, I cannot give that to you!
Me: Well, I cannot continue without it.
Lady: Ok, Please Hold.
Time:5:30 Minutes pass.
Lady: Hello?
Me: Ah.. Yep.
Lady: I need your par-tic-ula-rs?
Me: My what. (I couldn’t understand her voice)
Lady: Your par-tic-ula-rs?
Me: My details?
Lady: Yes your details.
Me: That’s why I want the Terms and Conditions, so that I know my personal information is not going to be misused. So what are you just under the Australian Privacy Act?
Lady: We will hold you infomation under the strictest confidence.
Me: Well, I cannot give you my personal information until you give me that agreement! Can I just give you my first name and my email address? (I created a temporary email account.)
Lady: Ok, Please Hold.
Time:3:30 Minutes pass.
Lady: Ok, my I have your First name and email?
Me: Steven
Lady: With a ‘v’ or a ‘ph’?
Me: A ‘v’ for ‘victer’.
Lady: Ok and your email?
Stuff: Sends over temporary email address and confirms it three times using the NATO phonetic alphabet so that they could not get my email address wrong.
Lady: Ok, there will be a timeframe of 24 hours, in that time you will receive it.
Me: May I ask why?
Lady: Internal processing.
Me: What about the internal processing?
Lady: I don’t know.
Me: Is their someone that I can talk to who that does?
Lady[SMART ALEC REMARK]: NO! Steven how about you read that agreement and come back to us?
At this point I would of said something like, how about you do not address me in that smart alec voice. But I had lunch to eat, drink to drink.
Me: Ok, I will then! Have a nice day… :)
[Hangs up]
Total Time: ~34 Minutes (I timed it) Please note that I was put on hold more times than specified above, however I couldn’t remember where, so I am telling you now.
Ok I rang at 11:26am the phone call ended at 12:00pm, and I got the agreement via email at 11:45am the next day!
They took all of the 24 hours except for 15 minutes! (I think they went, cr@p! Called their legal team together, and makes the agreement up.) as Google doesn’t come up with one result. Ok, now for the fun part:
Here is the agreement they sent me!!!
Download:
Again more reasons to not trust M$.
Steven Roddis
Stephen said,
January 14, 2006 @ 1:26 pm
Nice… I discovered a similar pain, when I called for tech support on my Win98SE install a few years back… It was a bit out of date, but I got it at the time because the other options sucked for gaming.
When I called, MS said They didn’t support 98 any more, so my 2 free tech calls were now null and void… the woman told me, if I upgraded to XP, that I would get 2 new free tech support calls… or it was a $40/incedent charge, with no guarentee of a resolution (or my money back).
I was not amused.
PS you got Dugg. ;-)
Microshaft said,
January 14, 2006 @ 1:45 pm
Sweet! We need more people to challenge M$. I work as a cust service rep. When one of my end users call, I better have the answer, and now. Not 24hrs later. And I do know a M$ employee, he thinks he’s above everyone. Not to mention, gives me and my buddy shit about Linux. It should be posted on their website. PERIOD! Good job Steve.
PressD 2.1 » The Microsoft Terms and Conditions that took 24 Hours to obtain! said,
January 14, 2006 @ 1:48 pm
[...] read more | digg story [...]
Abram said,
January 14, 2006 @ 1:50 pm
No suprise there Raijin
Tropez said,
January 14, 2006 @ 1:52 pm
I disagree with above posters. It perfectly fine to want a copy of something your ‘abiding’ by before agreeing to it. Also, if you read through the document its kinda funny how many misspellings there are…you would think that MS might use spell check in Word… guess not
Sam said,
January 14, 2006 @ 1:53 pm
Hold on, he’s told that all he needs to do is ask his Microsoft representative for the terms, and they will send them. If they offer it, he has every right to ask for it. If they aren’t allowed to give them out, they shouldn’t offer it in the first place.
He wasn’t asking for anything extraordinary of them, nor was he being intentionally rude. He was just insistant. Good on him.
says said,
January 14, 2006 @ 1:55 pm
Thanks Steve! Although I’m sure the girl was surprised, it was only cause not enough people read the fine print. They are not going to take your first born on these things, but they will take as much as possible without causing TOO much outrage/badpress.
More should be doing this, and companies could easily post one little htm doc on their site with this if they really wanted people to review it. A weblink to that page for those with internet access is just as easy as writing a phone number on the packaging.
Dan said,
January 14, 2006 @ 1:55 pm
Uh, I’m gonna call the last three commentators total asshats.
Why? B/c you paid for a product, and support should be guaranteed without question, and without warrant. I worked for Stream International, and we handled calls for Dell. Windows is crap, and M$ is crap.
Employees who work for them are just willing to compromise justice in exchange for cash. The above three employees of M$ are probably paid to watch for blogs like this. Why? B/c I know M$ continually pays its employees bonus checks for “positive marketing” etc. I’m not stupid, but Bill Gates and Co. obviously think the rest of the world is.
Hands down, Mr. Blogger, you were the right one here. The lady with the funny accent has an obligation to do her job. She doesn’t do it - she’s the one in the wrong, not you.
And to the commentors above…man, really, you make me feel real bad about humanity in general. Stop being a jerk? How is a company that is nameless, faceless, and asks you to say yes to something in the dark right?
It’s like getting screwed by rabid hyenas, and then saying “Oh wait, I paid for it..and it was in some fine print….so it must be ok…right?” I’m betting the above folks would probably say “Yeah, if you paid for it!11!!”
anony mouse said,
January 14, 2006 @ 1:56 pm
What’s with the haters in the comments? MS is a big corp with a big website. They should have this on the web.
The support had no reason not to comply with the request: it is her job. If she feels it isn’t her job, she should bring it up with her employer. It is reasonable to expect that MS should promptly disclose their terms & it is responsible to ask for them & to read them!
Further-more, I have gotten support from a Linux shop. Some commercial distros used to ship apps with no licenses & I had a coworker who called up & asked for one & promptly received them.
hello said,
January 14, 2006 @ 2:00 pm
What’s the point in doing this? Sounds like you where just having fun.You know there are better ways to get back @ microsoft : http://www.linuxiso.org/ (try one free) :)
empty01 said,
January 14, 2006 @ 2:01 pm
I wonder if these aren’t all microsoft reps calling him an ass. Everybody that says they work at a call center then say “You were being a jerk, you deserved it.” Needs to take a step back and realize he did not do anything abrasive but refuse to give out personal information when he did not know how it would be handled. Being asked to agree to something without knowing what it is is a big no-no in my book. MS sucks, switch to linux, everyone that’s critical has an agenda.
shrimp said,
January 14, 2006 @ 2:03 pm
Companies should have Terms and Conditions for those who want it. Simple. Especially if they have a recording on their phone system that says you can get them.
Maybe Steven could have been nicer, but I’m sure that lady could have been as well.
muh said,
January 14, 2006 @ 2:16 pm
I dont think microsoft’s subcontracted call center lady cared about your terms and condition , just to get you off of her phone and get on to the next person!
muh said,
January 14, 2006 @ 2:17 pm
Bloody Rids Says it right ;)
Sam said,
January 14, 2006 @ 2:22 pm
Sounds like you talked to a router. She probably didn’t know where to send you for support. Good job on asking for terms. How many people really do that?
Anonymous said,
January 14, 2006 @ 2:26 pm
BS
1. microsoft would never refer to themselves in a LEGAL DOCUMENT as MS
2. “licence” is mispelled
muh said,
January 14, 2006 @ 2:39 pm
So everyone who dissagrees with this guy works for microsoft huh?
Steven Roddis said,
January 14, 2006 @ 2:57 pm
Firstly I didn’t make anything up about the call, it is all true.
Next that document is the exact thing that I got via email.
Here is the MD5: 5e6caab057a397b3c5abfc0c05d717d9
I don’t know why M$ would write like that, but I am giving you exactly what I got from them.
Steven
Steven Roddis said,
January 14, 2006 @ 3:42 pm
I don’t see what your problem is “ThatHorseAintDead”, do you work at one of these [out-sourced] Microsoft Support centres?
Paul said,
January 14, 2006 @ 3:42 pm
Steve had every right to ask for a copy of the agreement. Since when is it wrong to ask for a copy of what you’re agreeing to, particularly when it is offered right up front. ALWAYS read what you are agreeing to and get a copy. And if it “rocks the boat,” that’s too bad.
For all those who thought Steve was rude and unreasonable, next time you go buy a car or whatever, just assume everything is fine and sign the loan form. God forbid you should offend someone. Jeezus.
Steven Roddis said,
January 14, 2006 @ 3:47 pm
Thanks Paul for backing me. :)