An Open Letter to Satyan Nadella, CEO of Microsoft
satyan@microsoft.com
Dear Mr. Nadella,
As the CEO of Microsoft, I think you should be aware of how your support staff deal with clients and how frustrating it is to try to recover an account because of a typo. As a writer/editor/on-line English teacher my world has come to a halt when my account was suspended. 
Tuesday 17 July 2018 started as a good day. Then I tried to renew my Office subscription — it had expired while I was in the process of settling in Ecuador – and everything turned to confusion.
After five days of unreturned phone calls, unanswered emails, and rejected account recovery forms I figured out the problem. My email is jh@j-hanson.com and somehow I managed to get a typo so that it read jh@Wj-hanson.com. So the correspondence from Microsoft went to that non-existent address.
Since there is an option to fix the address I am obviously not the first – nor likely the last – to make that mistake. However, after too many attempts to count, the Microsoft “system” still wouldn’t accept the correction. Could you please have your technical people fix that problem?
When I tried to get a call-back I was told my phone number didn’t exist. Live chat was a waste of time.
The problem is that your front- line people can not do anything except babble the same jargon. I received a series of messages to a gmail account – in Spanish – telling me that my application didn’t meet the “requirements” – whatever they may be.
One thing is that the credit union where I deal in Canada changed Mastercard companies in May, 2018. No, I do not have the old account number.
Instead of going around and around in circles, why doesn’t Microsoft establish what they will accept as legitimate? How about a copy of my passport? A scan of my social security number? My maternal grandmother’s maiden name? These are tangible pieces of evidence – rather than the idiotic questions like “How much was your last Skype purchase?” Really, as though I would remember the exact amount and the precise date as it is an automatic deduction.
I am writing to you with the hope that I can have my Microsoft account restored. Otherwise, Microsoft will litter my gmail-inbox with more messages – in Spanish –saying that I can’t prove I am the owner of this account.
The case number is 143-359-1726, My telephone number is 593-999-69-08-77 and my email address is jh@j-hanson.com.
I am in Ecuador with family and friends wondering why I haven’t called. Frustrating and totally unnecessary if Microsoft put a second level of “real” identification in place that could be dealt with in person, rather than another form letter. Some human interaction would go a long way to solving technical issues.
Thank-you for your help.
Sincerely,
Jody Hanson, PhD
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http://www.complaintsboard.com/ — http://www.complaintsboard.com/orbitz-worldwide-llc-b105824