I've posted this on Reddit a few times but I figured you guys might be interested in a tale of Microsoft support. Now grab a snack because this is going to be a long one.
So it all started in October when, after biking home from school, I pulled my Surface Pro 3 out of my bag to find the screen had shattered. This was a shock to me because I wasn't aware of anything that could have actually caused it, no major bumps or crashes on my ride so I came to the conclusion that it was me dropping my bag 1-2 inches onto the floor once I got home that did it. It still doesn't really make sense because the bag had a lot of padding but it's all I have to go with. Anyways, here is a picture of the damage:
It looks pretty bad but in reality, all of the sensors and cameras beneath is seemed fine and the outer frame was completely undamaged. The broken screen caused the touch and pen sensors to go nuts but after disabling the drivers for those the Surface was able to be used without any problems other than the lack of touch. I put a bit of tape over the damage to keep any extra glass from falling out. I didn't buy the extended warranty so it wasn't just $50 for a replacement, they did have a system in place so I could get a replacement for about $400CAD though. I decided to do that but I wanted to minimize my time at school without my surface so I waited until the midterm break to send it in.
So I sent it in on November 6th, the last day of school before the break, paying the $400 as expected. The estimated turn around time was supposed to be 5-8 business days so I was confident that I wouldn't be without my surface for long.
November 11th rolls around, the next business day and I get an email from Microsoft saying they had received it, very impressive shipping time.
November 19th, 9 business days after I sent my surface in and I was getting concerned that I hadn't received a tracking number yet so I contacted support, the representative I was talking to was not able to help much but said he would get back to me before the end of the day. Shortly later I received an email saying that my Surface was in inventory and my order was in progress. This is not really what I was looking for but okay, I can wait a bit longer.
November 22nd, still no tracking number. Now 10 business days since I sent it in, I contact support again and get the same thing, saying that I would be contacted again before the end of the day. This time, I was not contacted afterwards.
November 30th, still nothing. Getting impatient, I contact them again, this time, they say that they will escalate my issue and that I will be hearing back in 2-3 business days.
December 4th, 4 business days later still nothing. I contact again and this time, the guy promises me I will get a tracking number the next day.
December 7th, two business days later. No tracking number.
I contact support again and they say that my issue will be transferred to Tier-3 support. I should receive word from them within 2-3 business days and that I should have my surface by December 11th.
December 9th, I am contacted by the Tier-3 support personnel and I get an email about a shipping label being created for my device. At long last! Things are finally looking up!
December 11th, I get an email from Microsoft saying that my device has been shipped. Yay! Doesn't quite meet the estimate but progress is finally being made!
December 15th, the surface arrives but I wasn't around to open it.
December 16th, I get home to open my surface.
It's still broken. Not even like broken in transit, the tape was even still over the damage. Over a month of pestering support and they send me back a broken device? Furious, I send off an email to my Tier-3 representative about it only to have an automated system reject it because my account was not approved.
I contact normal support channels about how to contact my Tier-3 representative and they tell me which email to respond to, they say that I should receive a response within 24 hours. I compose and send off a new email, now slightly less furious to my representative as instructed. Everything seems to work fine.
December 21st, 3 business days later and I still haven't heard anything. I decide to contact the regular support instead, they inform me that my surface was refused for repair because of "Severe Physical Damage" and that they will be keeping my $400. WHAT? Now I'm furious.
I paid them $400 for a replacement surface, and they intend to send my surface back and keep my money because my broken screen was too damaged? I could understand if it was absolutely busted but there was no damage other than the screen. It was working just as the day I got it.
Every day following this I'm sending out a flurry of messages, over email, regular support, and twitter support trying to get my money back.
December 31st, I receive an email from my tier 3 representative saying that I will be refunded and that they will investigate why my surface was refused.
January 4th, I get my $400 back! Finally. Now, what the hell do I do with this broken surface?
January 11th, my representative has offered to replace my device free of charge this time, so I send it off the same day.
January 15th, my UPS tracking says it was delivered to Microsoft, no word from Microsoft about it being received.
January 25th, I finally get an email saying that my device has been received from Microsoft. I can only assume that my device sat in receiving limbo for the prior 6 business days.
February 1st, I get my surface back from them again. I open it up and guess what? It's still broken! Yup, they haven't even touched it, the tape is still there. I reach out to my Tier 3 representative again.
February 4th, my representative has offered me a new deal. They said that they would give me a full refund if I were to send my surface back, I negotiate sending back the type cover for a full refund as well.
As good of a deal as this seems it was actually pretty lackluster. Because of the crash in the Canadian dollar over the year that I had the surface, even after being refunded the full price I paid for it on launch week, I would have to fork out another 100 Canadian pesos to buy the exact same surface.
I take the deal anyways and send my surface in for refund, I think I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
February 6th, I check my tracking number and see something I don't want to see. It says "The receiver does not want the product and refused the delivery. / The package will be returned to the sender".
I have no idea what to do about this, I reach out to my representative again to see what they have to say about this.
February 8th, the tracking has been updated with a new tracking for return to sender. It says that it was delivered to someone named "Kola". Concerned about where my surface is, I continue reaching out to my representative.
Today, February 19th.
I have been trying to figure out where my surface is and if it even is at Microsoft but my representative seems to be avoiding the question. My latest email from them (February 12th) says that they are currently working on a way for me to send my surface to their office directly so they can deal with it.
Clearly this is not what I want to be hearing about right now because I currently have no idea where my surface actually is so I can't really send it to them. I am still trying to get them to tell me where my device is.
And so there we are, three months of absolute crap with who knows how much longer to go. In case some of you are unaware, this Friday is the last day of the midterm break, so a service ticket I expected to take a week took a full term instead. Man do I wish I could have had my device for the past months of school. My only other device has been a crappy Samsung Chromebook that I've been using to take notes on Onenote and remote desktop into my home computer to do programming.
The worst part about all of this is that I really don't want to continue supporting Microsoft after this but I can't think of any other computer to get. What I liked about the surface was being able to take notes with the pen and there just doesn't seem to be any alternatives that work as well with a pen. I don't need a gaming laptop because I don't really game away from my desktop and I don't see the point in any of the other convertible PCs if they don't work nicely with a pen.
So what do you guys think of this whole fiasco? Have any advice or input on anything? I'd love to hear it.
If you want more, including many transcripts and extra information, you can take a look at my Reddit posts here:
1. Just Broke My Screen
2. Fighting to get My Surface Back
3. Trying to get My Money Back
4. After the Second Return
Also, I'm sure there's some of you who don't want to read this so here's a TL;DR :
Broke Surface Pro 3 screen, paid $400 for replacement, sent it back a month later still broken. Got $400 refunded, sent it back for a free replacement, they sent it back broken again. Sent it back for a full refund, package got refused and returned to sender, no idea where it is not and they aren't telling me.