Here is a personal update, a rant about Microsoft and the technology sector.
My post on Microsoft Community:
Why is support not available? December 3, 2024
It is 3:50 AM on Tuesday, December 3,
2024. Apparently, there is no Microsoft support available. Not even by Chat. I
enter all the requested info correctly and it just says "support is not
available". Or, worse: "The request is blocked.
20241203T114858Z-16d98b95757fj6vvhC1LAXbafg00000001mg0000000013sd"
WHY? As a paying Microsoft
user I need tech support...NOW!
from a volunteer support for Microsoft
Replied on December 3, 2024
This has been explained
many times here, but I realize that it's a widespread issue, so I'll explain
again.
There are more than 1.5 billion users of Windows all over the world. If, on any
given day, 1/100th of 1% of them want to ask Microsoft a question, that's
150,000 phone calls every day. For Windows alone. And Windows is only one of
Microsoft's many products.
Unfortunately, Microsoft
is not able to hire enough people to handle that volume of requests, which is
why Microsoft employees do not provide customer support to individuals. They do
hire third-party contractors to handle calls, but there are only a limited
number of them, for the same reason.
On the other hand, there
are many thousands of ways to get help with Windows, including here in
Microsoft Community. In fact, you'll almost always get better support outside
Microsoft, since third parties have more time and resources than Microsoft can
offer. This is particularly advantageous to users, since many ask the same
question, as here, or need to have someone provide detailed instruction on how
to use some aspect of their computers.
My reply:
Microsoft pretty much has a monopoly on device operating systems (70%). That
being the case, if Microsoft cannot/will not make a product that works
properly, and cannot/will not properly support its products then it should
lower its annual subscription prices. As for bots and help articles and
communities, that ain't the same as individualized company tech support. Perhaps the new
Trump Administration will look into this, as it investigates the technology
industry.