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Another Anti-Microsoft Rant

Entry 2136, on 2021-07-01 at 20:59:57 (Rating 3, Computers)

I work in IT support. I also often help people with other technology, and I am a part time programmer. So I have had some interesting experiences with various computer and other companies. Sometimes these can be quite positive; I have to say that in general, Apple is pretty good, for example. But most times interacting with support services is a complete and total nightmare.

The last time I had an experience so bad that I had to blog about was with New Zealand's leading communications company, Spark. I ranted about their somewhat less than perfect service in a post titled "We Do Our Best" from 2020-11-12. But that was a great experience compared with my latest frustrations with... wait for it... Microsoft!

If you read this blog you will probably have gathered by now that I don't like Microsoft, for two main reasons: first, I think their software is horrible - and I might as well include their hardware and services in that; and second, I object to them "politically" because they have used their monopoly position to force computer users into using their products and this has held progress back for years.

I should moderate those two opinions a bit before I continue, just for some balance and fairness. First, I think Microsoft software has a fairly good feature set - in other words, it can do a lot of things - but I find it awkward and ugly, so it is how it does things rather than what it does which primarily concerns me. And second, I don't blame Microsoft for taking advantage of the near monopoly situation they are in, because most other companies would do the same thing.

Anyway, I'm not a big fan of Microsoft, but that isn't why I am ranting about them here. Read this description of my issues and see what you would have thought in my situation...

It all started when I was asked to set up a new M1 iMac for a friend. By the way, those new machines are really nice: they are fast, and have a nice bright screen and excellent sound. But this person decided they needed Microsoft Office, and fair enough because it was what they were used to using, and although I don't like it myself I understand when other people want to take the "easy route" and use the "standard software".

When I went to install it I just followed the instructions. This isn't something I do often, and by that I mean I don't often install a commercial version of Office and don't often follow instructions! But I did this time and it didn't work. I got an obscure hexadecimal error code and a message like "the key has been blocked". This was a legitimate key purchased from a local retailer, so that was a bit surprising.

There was an icon on the web page I was trying to download from which said "click to chat, we can answer straight away". So, of course, I gave it a try.

I like on-line chat help systems for several reasons: they tend to be less busy than the phone service, so I can usually get a quicker response; they are often staffed for longer hours than phone services; they don't cost anything in phone or toll calls (although many phone services don't either); they make transferring information like URLs, passwords, and instructions easier; they provide a log of everything you have said you can refer back to; and they eliminate the problem of understanding some foreign accents which are common on helpdesks.

So I clicked the icon to start a chat which they claimed would be answered immediately. But, of course, it wasn't. It said something like we are busy right now, leave your email address and we will quickly get back to you. So I did that and waited, and waited... and after two days I gave up. In fact, now after almost two weeks I still have had no follow up.

The next day I thought I would try again. I got the same error, so I clicked the chat icon again. This time it didn't offer an immediate response but I entered my question and waited... Again, there was never a response of any kind.

I tried it again the next day and got the same result, so I thought I might give the good ol' phone call a try. I tried the 24 hour line to be informed it wasn't available at that time. So much for 24 hours.

So I tried the Australian phone line. First, I was cut off with no response, so I tried again. I got through to a helpdesk person who had a quite heavy Indian accent. I have nothing against Indian people, but generally if helpdesks use them it is because they are cheap, so this did not fill me with enthusiasm. However I persisted.

The person made some odd comments which made me suspicious about his knowledge, but I gave him a chance to fix the problem, including letting him control the computer remotely. He eventually reached the following conclusions: this didn't work because "technology is changing quickly", the computer needed a "modern program" installed, and the firewall was configured wrongly.

None of these made a lot of sense. First, the license was purchased only a couple of weeks previously and it is unlikely anything significant had changed in that time; second, he couldn't explain what a modern program was or what program he was referring to; and third, the firewall was off, so how could it interfere with the result?

I asked politely for clarification a few times, but he just repeated the same phrases again. I was a bit annoyed at this time, so I said I have been an IT support person and programmer for 30 years and I didn't know what he was talking about. He got a little bit aggravated at that point and said "OK, fix it yourself then", although he did say to call back when/if I failed. Of course, I wasn't going to do that.

So I decided to go straight to the highest level and contacted the US phone helpdesk. No one answered and again the "24 hour" system seemed to have been a bit over-hyped.

So I tried the US on-line chat system, which I found by clicking a few links and eventually finding some contact information. This was answered after just 5 or 10 minutes but when they heard I was installing onto a Mac it had to be transferred. I thought this would be the end, but after waiting just one hour a Mac person did get back to me and this person was fairly competent. After about 30 minutes we had the answer and I got Office installed,

If you are wondering about what the problem was, it was this: the user had already installed Office on an iPad using that license key, and even though the key was good for 5 devices, you must use a different, undocumented procedure for installing after the first time. That's why I don't follow instructions!

This does illustrate a deficiency in many programs and operating systems today: they are poor at reporting errors. I often see messages like "the process could not be completed because an error occurred". Gee, thanks, that's so helpful; any further hints? And more often you don't get a message at all; you just click something and nothing happens, or a process of some sort starts and never finishes.

The case I am describing here is something a bit different, to be fair. I did get an error message: "Error 0x000016fa" (I'm OK with hexadecimal, but many people might be thinking what kind of number is that?) and "Your key has been blocked". Searching for that error gives about 20 different possibilities, none of which applied to my situation. So in some ways, this error message was worse than none at all.

And why didn't the support person from Australia know about this? Does this not often happen? And why was he waffling on about more modern programs and firewalls? If he didn't know the answer, say so and escalate me to a more senior person.

The whole situation is fairly terrible and I have to admit that Apple's error messages are probably just as bad as Microsoft's. But their technical support is actually pretty good.

Finally, here's the feedback I gave Microsoft. Is this too harsh? ...

How satisfied are you with this Microsoft Support experience? Poor
Microsoft made it easy for me to handle my issue? Terrible
Comments: I tried 4 times to contact on-line support, and three times for phone support. I either got no reply, promises of returned contact which never happened, and one person I talked to was incompetent, talked a load of nonsense, and when I questioned him he was quite insulting. The last support person (name withheld) was very good, but the rest of my experience was possibly the worst in my long career in IT. The answer was easy in the end, but thanks to poor instructions and non-existent support, it became a lot harder than it should be. Try Apple some time, and see how support should work!

Comment 1 (6789) by Anonymous on 2021-07-12 at 09:33:06:

LOL. Every experience is the worst according to your blog!

Comment 2 (6790) by OJB on 2021-07-12 at 14:59:49:

Well, maybe I am guilty of that to a certain extent. I have made similar statements in the past. But I tend to only write blog posts after a particularly bad experience, so I would say the previous times were bad, but this is even worse.

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