I wholeheartedly commiserate with you. Your situation sounds very similar to mine- except I'm now on to my 2nd fault unit (after having a replacement sent).....what a joke. I hope your issues has since been resolved.
Unbelievably Bad Surface Customer Service and Support
I am going to say straight away that this post is a total waste of my time. A waste of more of my time, because I have now wasted nearly three weeks trying to get something like timely and useful customer service out of Microsoft for a brand new Surface Laptop 3. All I want now is to be rid of this machine and buy a computer from a company with meaningful customer service.
This is the situation: I bought a new Surface Laptop on June 3rd this year. The machine came with a number of teething problems. The first was wifi dropping out, which directly cost me money in lost online business meetings. I sorted this by manually updating everything. The second problem emerged slowly: persistent intermittent audio popping and cracking. The third problem: after about an hour of online video, audio and video go out of sync.
Having wasted time with windows diagnostics and troubleshooting, I was funneled towards this forum. Lots of people have the same problem. I wasted more time diagnosing the issue as high DPC Latency, seemingly caused by the wifi drivers. I wasted more time reinstalling them. And the audio drivers. The issue persists. I ummed and ahhed over returning the unit over an extremely annoying but fundamentally minor problem. At least I paid for Complete coverage when I bought it, direct from Microsoft, I thought.
After getting no answers of use through this forum, I called Support back on 13th June. They did what I did, which didn't fix the issue, but temporarily made it slightly better. A few days later, having ascertained the issue was still there, they advised me to do a full system restore. I spent a morning trying to do this, but every time the restore failed. I told them this, and they said it was a hardware issue and they would provide me with a unit in exchange. Great!
A few days later again, when the exchange was arranged - on the faulty unit that Microsoft sold to me as a faulty unit - it emerged that I would have to send my laptop in before a new unit was sent to me. That would mean '6-8 days' without a laptop to do my job on. Because replies to my emails were slow, I eventually had to call Support again to work this out. I said this was unacceptable, and was told it was the only option.
I went away and checked my Complete terms and conditions, and found out an 'advanced exchange' was possible, where I would be sent a replacement unit before sending mine in. I pointed this out in email, and got not reply. So I called again, and was told
- after being on hold - that it would be possible, that they would cancel the original replacement order, and set up the advanced replacement order. You'll get confirmation tomorrow. Great!
No confirmation. I called again on Monday morning. Now it seems that advanced replacement is impossible because there aren't enough units coming from the factory because of Covid. But normal replacement is possible ... so there must be enough units. As I pointed out, Microsoft have sold me a computer that doesn't work properly, and a £179 service plan that provides no extra service. So no, it's not acceptable to me that, having spent £1200 on a new laptop to work on, Microsoft expect me to go a week without a laptop to work on because of an issue that is their fault.
I am very clear at this point, and tell the support guy that I understand none of this is his fault, and that he's doing his best, but it's unacceptably poor customer service. I want one of two things: a full refund, and I will just go and buy a laptop from somewhere, anywhere other than Microsoft; or an advanced exchange. I can't do that, and I don't know if that will be possible, he tells me.
So: can I speak to a complaints department. No. The very nice and personally helpful guy at Support tells me he doesn't think they even have a phone number. But he can 'escalate' my case. Great. How long will that take? Approximately 7 days. That's escalation? They will deal with my case in 7 days time? Well, perhaps you could try contacting them publicly on facebook or twitter, he advised, and I'll escalate your case in the meantime.
So I have been on twitter and facebook, and done this. Nothing from Facebook's Surface page. On Twitter: 'Thanks for reaching out' etc. Have I tried feedback hub. I have now: it's completely useless too. Having wasted my time writing up the situation in the tiny character limit, it turns out there is no complaints category. More wasted time.
So: I am now twiddling my thumbs with a faulty computer waiting for another 7 days for something to happen to my case, after nearly three full weeks of dealing with support. This is hands down the worst customer service I have received from a company ever.
If you are thinking about buying a Surface unit, don't. If you think that paying £179 for complete coverage will help you get anything resembling complete coverage, think again. While I am bound to Office for my job, I will go out of my way to never buy another Microsoft product again. At this point, I never even want to see another Surface unit.
EDIT:
Shortly after posting this, Office started refusing to open. I can neither uninstall nor reinstall it thanks to some internal error. Now the machine is useless even for basic word processing. I'd be better off with a 1980s Amstrad.
Surface | Surface Laptop | Install and update
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Anonymous
2020-08-09T11:15:25+00:00 -
Anonymous
2020-08-10T01:39:19+00:00 I think, it is because of the AMD chip they have on Surface laptop 3, if that would have been Intel then it is different from what I have heard? but I do have the same problem. I get heating just by scrolling yahoo webpage! I bought my laptop Direct also coz I thought Microsoft did a good job with the laptop. But.... ****, I get heating issues everyday! (I know prolly different that your case) yea I did all those QC checks, update my system bla blah... and now they want me to reset my computer.... I mean, a brand New laptop should not be heating up running just 1 webpage!!!! I have a Dell laptop 11 years ago running, Games, webpage, chat room, recordings, background music... and barely heats up! Now I got this laptop... I hope they do exchange yours soon or refund, But I believe, its more the chip problem not the actual Microsoft? but then MacBook soon to starts AMD aswell.
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Anonymous
2020-08-10T12:50:41+00:00 It may well be the chip, and I've had all the same issues with basic performance before any of the major stuff. Chip or otherwise, the standard of the support coverage - despite individually helpful staff - has been so low that I'll never buy microsoft hardware ever again. At this point I'm just out for my money back ...
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Anonymous
2020-08-10T12:52:30+00:00 Sorry to hear that Suzanne. Yeah ... hearing you're second unit just convinces me to hold out for a refund. None of the issues solved yet, and the whole business has been so slow that I had to buy a new laptop - a Mac, this time. Will be fighting Microsoft tooth and nail to get my money back, of course. And never buying from them again. Hope you get yours sorted.