Michael McCabe sent a message to Satya Nadella that said:
May 26, 2020
Good Day Sir,
I am writing you because I have no way to find exactly whom I should be writing. Please do not confuse this request for help as a âdisgruntled rantâ. I am hoping this will help others in my situation.
Background:
I am currently a federal employee. After 25 years as a firefighter and, most recently, Professional Development Coordinator for the U.S. Fire Service. I service 1.1 million firefighters. I will soon be retiring and, hopefully, by then I will have created a new video production service.
My issue is this: I was, until recently, a very satisfied Surface user. I made the investment in what I assumed was top quality equipment to build a top-quality service to my clients. I say âwasâ because of the following:
About two weeks ago I was working on a video project when I noticed small cracks forming in the screen. I know I had not dropped or misused the device. After all it was to be my tool for my future livelihood.
I followed the directions on the support website and sent in the laptop. Microsoft was quick to respond by first collecting the $700 for the replacement and informing me, the next day, that I should have my replacement, refurbished machine in 3 to 5 days.
The package did arrive on Wednesday, that week. I began reinstalling all my apps and work files that were not kept in my one drive account. All was going well until I got to the Adobe Premier Pro install. During the installation, the computer crashed. I uninstalled and reinstalled the program and it seemed to be working.
On Friday the system crashed again as I was opening the Premiere Pro editor. It also crashed several times while I was on the internet trying to pay bills.
I called support and was greeted by a great gentleman from the Philippines (Rodney) who worked with me for over 3 hours. We thought we had the problem solved. But on Saturday, the machine crashed again. I assumed since I was trying to install and use the Adobe product that that was where the issue began.
So, I called Adobe support. We worked on the issue for another three hours. After all of that he determined the issue was actually a ntdll.dll file and Microsoft would have to fix it.
So, once again, I called Microsoft support. This time I got Carlos who took down my number and during the conversation we got cut off. So, I waited for him to call me back. He did not.
So, once again I called Microsoft support and this time, I got Juan. He took down my number and after I explained the issue, we got cut off. Again, he did not call me back. I waited another half-hour and no call.
So, once again I called Microsoft support and I got Jherima (?) in Nicaragua. This young woman was fantastic. She went right to work reviewing the system error messages and walking me through the process of backing up my files so we could wipe and reload the hard drive. It still took over 4 hours to get to a conclusion.
In the end, the laptop crashed, and she declared it âdeadâ. She would issue an order and a second replacement would be here in 3 to five days.
It has now been 48 hours and I am still waiting for an email saying the product had shipped and when it would arrive. However, Microsoft was very quick to put a $3,000 hold on my credit card.
Sir, this is having a serious impact on my ability to build clientele, learn my craft and preparing for my retirement business.
I am sure you can track all this in your call histories.
Here are my concerns:
1. You are giving Surface 3 users refunds regarding this very same issue. Why can I (and I am sure there are others) not get the same treatment? I am sure $700 is not going to break the Microsoft bank account.
2. I assumed Microsoft stood behind their products. Why was I sent a machine that could not possibly have passed inspection to 100% effectiveness before it left your warehouse? What happened to quality control?
3. Why do customer service technicians not return calls when they say they will? This does not bode well for feeling supported by Microsoft.
When I was in college, I learned that in company credibility terms, if you anger one client you might have well angered as few as 14 more. At this point I am not angry just really disillusioned about Microsoft and its products.
There was a saying where I grew up that the customer was always right. I believe that sentiment has long disappeared despite ads to the contrary. We, the âlittleâ guys are at the mercy of large organizations such as yourselves.
I am pretty sure this email will never be read as I am just a âlittle fishâ in the big pond. So I am going to send it to as many Microsoft execs as I am able to find emails for. I will certainly follow up to let you know when I get the next edition of the Surface computer and how that works out.
Maybe these few words will have an impact on the future of Microsoft products and particularly Microsoft support to help rebuild my confidence in your company.
I hope so.
I am including my phone number: 720-314-1176 and my website address: hilltopvideoservices.com so you will know that I am serious about all this. And not some âfly-by-nightâ complainer.
Please be safe.
Sincerely,
Michael D. McCabe
