Chris, I got the same problems when I ordered the Home Premium upgrades as
part of the family discount plan. However, the keys they sent me were bogus.
I spent over 6 hours on the phone with Microsoft in the past 2 days and no
one has been able to help, instead they just keep pointing fingers at other
departments.
The most interesting thing I have experienced in trying to fix this was tech
support blaming "Microsoft" for the error. Hmmm wait, I thought you were
Microsoft. But the funny thing is, every person I spoke to in customer or
tech support has an Indian accent. Can you say out-sourcing?
The product activation department wont do anything until you get to a
certain point in the activation process, which happens AFTER you enter the
key, so they can't help you. The Product Key department can't do anything,
they just refer you to tech support. Tech support won't even TAKE my product
keys and verify them (that really pissed me off), instead I have to contact
whoever I bought the keys from. And here I am back at that question again
"wait, didn't I buy them from you? Oh that's right, you're not really
Microsoft, are you?"
So around and around I go, from one department to the next and going back to
a couple of departments more than once. And not a single department will
take responsibility. On top of this, if I call the phone number thats in the
confirmation email, they aren't even aware of the family discount plan.
Actually, not a single department I talked to was aware of it. The person at
the other end of the phone was unable to look up my order using my order id,
so she was unwilling to help me further.
But wait, there was one last thing that helped. I actually sent an email to
the address included in the confirmation email. I normally hate email
support because it's slow and normally just ends up being a bunch of form
responses, but I got a response saying they will ship me DVDs in a couple of
weeks. It's not the solution I want, but it's better than nothing. Here is
the e-mail response:
Dear <YOUR NAME HERE>:
Thank you for your recent order. The product listed below is currently out
of
stock.
Microsoft Corp Order #<YOUR ORDER NUMBER HERE>
Part/Sku #66I-01525 WINDOWS VISTA HOME PREMIUM UPG ONLI
The new expected ship date for your product is 2/15/07.
If you wish to receive this product, if available by the new expected ship
date
shown above, NO RESPONSE IS REQUIRED.
If you no longer wish to recieve this product, you may cancel your order by
responding to this e-mail and placing an X in front of option #1 below or by
contacting our customer service department at .
If we are unable to ship this product by the new expected ship date shown,
but
you wish to receive the product when it becomes available, you may update
your
order by responding to this e-mail and placing an X in front of option #2
below
or by contacting our customer service department at .
To respond to this e-mail communication:
Click the reply button in your e-mail application
Place an X in front of either option #1 or #2
Click the send button in your e-mail application
Please choose from the following by placing an X in front of the desired
action:
#1 ___ Please CANCEL MY ORDER and issue a refund, if applicable.
#2 ___ Please SHIP MY ORDER when it becomes available, even if after the
new
expected ship date. I understand that I may still cancel my order at any
time
before you ship the product to me by contacting .
This address is the SHIP TO address currently in our records. If your SHIP
TO
address has been changed or is incorrect, please contact our customer service
department at and a representative will be happy to update your order.
<YOUR ADDRESS HERE>
Thank you for your interest in Microsoft products,
The Microsoft Customer Service Team
Microsoft highly recommends that users with Internet access update their
Microsoft software to better protect against viruses and security
vulnerabilities. The easiest way to do this is to visit the following
website:
http://www.Microsoft.com/protect