Note: This post is on a separate issue from my other Microsoft Technical Support blog post regarding support for Microsoft Digital Image Suite 2006.
On 10/15/2006, I set up a new computer. Formatted the hard drive and went to download the Beta for Office 2007. (I’ve been in the Beta for 6 months, and much of my data is stored in these files). It is now out of Beta and in to Trial. I went to download these files, but could not. The link for download, and the product ID key, were both missing. I tried it on 2 other computers, same results.
After three days of trying to make it work, I phoned Microsoft, and the person who answered couldn’t figure out if I needed MS Office Tech Support or Internet Explorer tech support. She finally directed me to talk to Internet Explorer support, which she said is free for the lifetime I own the product. I waited on hold for twenty minutes, and a person answered who told me to reinstall IE7. I explained it began doing this immediately after formatting the hard drive, installing Windows XP SP2, and installing IE7.
He said to clear my cache. I stated that I’ve done this repeatedly. He told me to go to support.microsoft.com and look for help there. I said thanks and hung up and went to that site and looked for help. I could not find support on this topic, despite 30 minutes of searching.
I hoped they would fix the bug and waited a few days before trying again. I ran in to the same issues.
On 12/26/2006 at 8:43AM, I phoned technical support again. This time, the representative I spoke with said there is no Office 2007 support by phone since it has not been released yet. I stated I can’t even get the software downloaded, so I don’t really need support on the software. I said that I can’t download *any* trial software from their Web site because the site doesn’t seem to let me download.
She refers me to talk to Internet Explorer support, which costs $35 per call. I told her I don’t want to pay to fix a Microsoft issue, that three separate computers are having this problem, with IE6, IE7, and Mozilla Firefox 2.0. I asked for a supervisor, and got Sandra.
Sandra’s first tactic was to refer me to support.microsoft.com. I told her I would be happy to go there, as long as she stays on the phone with me and helps me find the help I need, because the last time I tried it, I couldn’t find it. She then tried to get me to go to microsoftoffice.com, and to just hang up the phone now that I have that URL. Again, I stated I would go there, if she would help me find the link to download the software, and a product key.
After some cajoling, she agreed, and walked me through the steps. We found that the link and product key appeared for her, and did not appear for me. I tried to get her to give me the link and the product key, but she refused. She said she would talk to a different department about getting me some help with this, and get back to me on the same day. I asked her how she would get back to me, and she said telephone. I asked her what phone number, and she gave me my home phone number. I also gave her my cell phone number, in case she can’t reach me by home phone.
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Two hours later, I talk a friend in to signing up, and he is able to get the links and product keys. He is able to send them to me through an Instant Messenger, and they work for me and allow me to download and install the software.
I call Microsoft Technical Support to let Sandra know that I have a workaround, and to let her know she can stop frantically trying to find an answer for me and call me back. The person I talk to has no clue who Sandra is, and doesn’t want to transfer me to a supervisor who might know, either. He tells me that if I have “worked around,” that I should contact Microsoft Corporate and let them know so that they can tell their technical representatives.
I stated that I’m talking to technical support, and want a supervisor so I can share the workaround with the supervisor. He told me again that any “working around” that I have done should be reported to Microsoft Corporate. He gave me their phone number, and then transferred me to them.
They are closed.
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Today is 12/28/2006, and Sandra has not called me back, on either the home phone or the cell phone.
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