HEY, ALLEGED TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE!!!

Yeah, you. The team we contact by email and receive an automated response
that says we will hear back from you within 24 business hours when we are
LUCKY to hear back from you in a week. If ever. What gives? You think
we're going to forget that things like the critical updates to the SP2 and XP
Office Download can't be downloaded. Or maybe the trouble will somehow get
fixed and after we have tried and tried and tried and tried and tried to do
these downloads and give it one last shot before trading out for a Mac and it
works, that we will just be grateful and keep our mouths shut? NO WAY!!!
Okay, fellow Windows Users, I call upon you to list your own complaints here,
maybe someone with a little authority will happen to cruise by and decide to
"motivate" those as are supposed to be helping the customers.

Sojourner Wolf wrote:
> Yeah, you. The team we contact by email and receive an automated
> response that says we will hear back from you within 24 business
> hours when we are LUCKY to hear back from you in a week. If ever.
> What gives? You think we're going to forget that things like the
> critical updates to the SP2 and XP Office Download can't be
> downloaded. Or maybe the trouble will somehow get fixed and after we
> have tried and tried and tried and tried and tried to do these
> downloads and give it one last shot before trading out for a Mac and
> it works, that we will just be grateful and keep our mouths shut? NO
> WAY!!! Okay, fellow Windows Users, I call upon you to list your own
> complaints here, maybe someone with a little authority will happen to
> cruise by and decide to "motivate" those as are supposed to be
> helping the customers.

Um - this is a public newsgroup, not a direct line to PSS. What exactly are
you having problems with? If you want help in here, remember that this is
*free* peer support, nearly everyone in here is volunteering their time to
help others, and if you're nice to people you'll usually get a lot of help.
If you just want to rant, fine, but if you have an actual question, post
again.

I agrree, same situation here. It has been since October 14th and i am still
waiting for that one day email assistance!

"Sojourner Wolf" wrote:

> Yeah, you. The team we contact by email and receive an automated response
> that says we will hear back from you within 24 business hours when we are
> LUCKY to hear back from you in a week. If ever. What gives? You think
> we're going to forget that things like the critical updates to the SP2 and XP
> Office Download can't be downloaded. Or maybe the trouble will somehow get
> fixed and after we have tried and tried and tried and tried and tried to do
> these downloads and give it one last shot before trading out for a Mac and it
> works, that we will just be grateful and keep our mouths shut? NO WAY!!!
> Okay, fellow Windows Users, I call upon you to list your own complaints here,
> maybe someone with a little authority will happen to cruise by and decide to
> "motivate" those as are supposed to be helping the customers.

So how is posting in Windows Update going to help ?

Dave



"Sojourner Wolf" <Sojourner > wrote in message
news:6B2ECD79-ACB4-4FC1-AFCC-...
| Yeah, you. The team we contact by email and receive an automated response
| that says we will hear back from you within 24 business hours when we are
| LUCKY to hear back from you in a week. If ever. What gives? You think
| we're going to forget that things like the critical updates to the SP2 and XP
| Office Download can't be downloaded. Or maybe the trouble will somehow get
| fixed and after we have tried and tried and tried and tried and tried to do
| these downloads and give it one last shot before trading out for a Mac and it
| works, that we will just be grateful and keep our mouths shut? NO WAY!!!
| Okay, fellow Windows Users, I call upon you to list your own complaints here,
| maybe someone with a little authority will happen to cruise by and decide to
| "motivate" those as are supposed to be helping the customers.

"Sojourner Wolf" <Sojourner >
wrote

> The team we contact by email and receive an automated
> response

There's a team that you can contact by email?

--
Bob
Kanyak's Doghouse
http://www.kanyak.com

Opinicus wrote:
>> "Sojourner Wolf" <Sojourner >
>> wrote
>>
>>> The team we contact by email and receive an automated
>>> response
>>
>> There's a team that you can contact by email?

Yes, via the WU site. I just did so, concerning an error that I was
receiving trying to update (turns out it was my firewall). The first time I
did not get a response (other than the automated one acknowledging receipt),
but the second attempt I did within one business day. It was a very detailed
troubleshooting guide (most likely generic), but I was able to solve the
problem myself by digging through the WU's forum posts.

I was more surprised by the two follow-ups e-mails form the tech inquiring
how I was getting on, that he would like to close my case number if I had
resolved the issue.

You have a point and I regret if my rant, which has been building up since,
oh, 1998 or so when I began to become more involved in use of a PC as more
than a glorified word processor. I am, by nature, generally far more easy
going. However, I do not regret the results which amounted to receiving in
three hours and eleven minutes of my original post an email dealing with the
question sort of buried here about the critical updates for the SP2 and XP
Office not downloading, this after several days of not hearing back on the
issue. Did my rant have an effect on that reply being expedited? Not sure.
It wasn't extremely helpful but did indicate that the issue was being passed
from Customer Support to a Support Professional (though without time period)
this may seem long winded as an explanation, and I've absolutely no intention
of hammering anyone's eyes with similar rants, but both problems, the
critical updates not downloading and the glacial slowness or lack altogether
of promised responses might need to be addressed in public forums as well.
Sometimes it is not just a matter of a single squeaky wheel (please note
Poston192's response here) but that this might be something that, since I am
pretty sure MS staff looks here from time to time, if addressed by more of us
might be rectified. So, regrets but no apologies and, hopefully, no chagrin
if the promised follow up does not occur. If a fix is provided or
suggestions made, I will come back here and share them as it looks like I am
not the only person experiencing the failure of these downloads, as well as
the .NET Framework 1.0 and 1.1 downloads and the GDI+ Detection Tool
download. If you do have suggestions, would greatly appreciate hearing them
while I await the Support Rep's response. Thank you.

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]" wrote:

> Sojourner Wolf wrote:
> > Yeah, you. The team we contact by email and receive an automated
> > response that says we will hear back from you within 24 business
> > hours when we are LUCKY to hear back from you in a week. If ever.
> > What gives? You think we're going to forget that things like the
> > critical updates to the SP2 and XP Office Download can't be
> > downloaded. Or maybe the trouble will somehow get fixed and after we
> > have tried and tried and tried and tried and tried to do these
> > downloads and give it one last shot before trading out for a Mac and
> > it works, that we will just be grateful and keep our mouths shut? NO
> > WAY!!! Okay, fellow Windows Users, I call upon you to list your own
> > complaints here, maybe someone with a little authority will happen to
> > cruise by and decide to "motivate" those as are supposed to be
> > helping the customers.
>
> Um - this is a public newsgroup, not a direct line to PSS. What exactly are
> you having problems with? If you want help in here, remember that this is
> *free* peer support, nearly everyone in here is volunteering their time to
> help others, and if you're nice to people you'll usually get a lot of help.
> If you just want to rant, fine, but if you have an actual question, post
> again.
>
>
>

Well, it might only be coincidence, but after waiting several days for a
reply to my original email to the support staff at MicroSoft about this
issue, I received a follow up to one of the several emails I had sent about
the failure (the most recent one) in just over three hours after posting my
rant. (Please see reply to Lanwench here.) I regret any discomfort my rant
may have caused, but not that I got at least a little something more in the
way of response than I have during most of my communications with MicroSoft
about technical issues since 1998.

"David H. Lipman" wrote:

> So how is posting in Windows Update going to help ?
>
> Dave
>
>
>
> "Sojourner Wolf" <Sojourner > wrote in message
> news:6B2ECD79-ACB4-4FC1-AFCC-...
> | Yeah, you. The team we contact by email and receive an automated response
> | that says we will hear back from you within 24 business hours when we are
> | LUCKY to hear back from you in a week. If ever. What gives? You think
> | we're going to forget that things like the critical updates to the SP2 and XP
> | Office Download can't be downloaded. Or maybe the trouble will somehow get
> | fixed and after we have tried and tried and tried and tried and tried to do
> | these downloads and give it one last shot before trading out for a Mac and it
> | works, that we will just be grateful and keep our mouths shut? NO WAY!!!
> | Okay, fellow Windows Users, I call upon you to list your own complaints here,
> | maybe someone with a little authority will happen to cruise by and decide to
> | "motivate" those as are supposed to be helping the customers.
>
>
>

Please see my replies to Lanwench and David Lipman here. Maybe this somewhat
followup was a coincidence, but it certainly came rather close on heels of
posting here. It may be not just technical issues but customer service
issues should be addressed here IF they become as severe as yours and mine
and I suspect some others have seen. At least some others. Thanks for your
reply. The peoples' voice and all...

"Poston192" wrote:

> I agrree, same situation here. It has been since October 14th and i am still
> waiting for that one day email assistance!
>
> "Sojourner Wolf" wrote:
>
> > Yeah, you. The team we contact by email and receive an automated response
> > that says we will hear back from you within 24 business hours when we are
> > LUCKY to hear back from you in a week. If ever. What gives? You think
> > we're going to forget that things like the critical updates to the SP2 and XP
> > Office Download can't be downloaded. Or maybe the trouble will somehow get
> > fixed and after we have tried and tried and tried and tried and tried to do
> > these downloads and give it one last shot before trading out for a Mac and it
> > works, that we will just be grateful and keep our mouths shut? NO WAY!!!
> > Okay, fellow Windows Users, I call upon you to list your own complaints here,
> > maybe someone with a little authority will happen to cruise by and decide to
> > "motivate" those as are supposed to be helping the customers.

"Sojourner Wolf" <Sojourner > wrote in
message news:6B2ECD79-ACB4-4FC1-AFCC-...
> Yeah, you. The team we contact by email and receive an automated
response
> that says we will hear back from you within 24 business hours when
we are
> LUCKY to hear back from you in a week. If ever. What gives? You
think
> we're going to forget that things like the critical updates to the
SP2 and XP
> Office Download can't be downloaded. Or maybe the trouble will
somehow get
> fixed and after we have tried and tried and tried and tried and
tried to do
> these downloads and give it one last shot before trading out for a
Mac and it
> works, that we will just be grateful and keep our mouths shut? NO
WAY!!!
> Okay, fellow Windows Users, I call upon you to list your own
complaints here,
> maybe someone with a little authority will happen to cruise by and
decide to
> "motivate" those as are supposed to be helping the customers.

I also had a problem with an apparent failure to respond by the
Microsoft technical assistance team. I subsequently discovered the
apparent lack of response was NOT their fault.

If you are using Hotmail or similar web-based email system, check the
junk mail settings. In my case, Hotmail had treated the responses
from Microsoft technical assistance as SPAM - and had promptly deleted
the emails

You can find out whether responses have gone astray by visiting
http://support.microsoft.com/.

Sign in, using the Microsoft Passport log-in that you used, when you
asked for assistance.

Then, click on the second option under "Assisted Support".

This will enable you to check your original question - and read any
responses.

--
Bob

To reply, remove "Killspam" from address