Recovery forum is useless

Question

Recovery forum is useless

Rafael Gumbs (Snoop) 5

Recovery forum useless. No matter what you try same repetitive results (a Bot determines if your rightful owner of the account you’re trying to recover)

Lali Bee 5 Reputation points

2026-02-11T15:45:05.44+00:00

I am experiencing the same issue, and the overall support experience has been extremely frustrating.

Tickets are being closed immediately after a reply is sent, without confirming whether the issue has actually been resolved and without allowing any reasonable SLA period. In most support environments, tickets remain open for at least 24 hours to give the customer an opportunity to respond. Closing them right away feels dismissive and forces customers to repeatedly reopen or create new tickets for the same concern.

On top of that, restricting phone numbers from certain countries as backup numbers for account security makes no sense. If Microsoft products are officially sold and used in a particular country, there is no logical reason to block phone numbers from that same country for verification or recovery purposes. The policy is inconsistent and unnecessarily restrictive.

The recovery process itself is also flawed. Asking for previous passwords or the subject lines of sent emails assumes the account was actively used and that those details exist. What if the account was never used at all? In that case, there would be no sent emails and no meaningful password history to provide. If a user actually had access to previous passwords or detailed account activity, there would be no need to go through account recovery in the first place.

I am 100 percent in favor of protecting accounts and implementing strict security measures. However, the overall support and recovery process is just stupid and clearly did not use common sense.

3 answers

Your answer

Lali Bee 5 Reputation points

2026-02-11T15:45:05.44+00:00

I am experiencing the same issue, and the overall support experience has been extremely frustrating.

Tickets are being closed immediately after a reply is sent, without confirming whether the issue has actually been resolved and without allowing any reasonable SLA period. In most support environments, tickets remain open for at least 24 hours to give the customer an opportunity to respond. Closing them right away feels dismissive and forces customers to repeatedly reopen or create new tickets for the same concern.

On top of that, restricting phone numbers from certain countries as backup numbers for account security makes no sense. If Microsoft products are officially sold and used in a particular country, there is no logical reason to block phone numbers from that same country for verification or recovery purposes. The policy is inconsistent and unnecessarily restrictive.

The recovery process itself is also flawed. Asking for previous passwords or the subject lines of sent emails assumes the account was actively used and that those details exist. What if the account was never used at all? In that case, there would be no sent emails and no meaningful password history to provide. If a user actually had access to previous passwords or detailed account activity, there would be no need to go through account recovery in the first place.

I am 100 percent in favor of protecting accounts and implementing strict security measures. However, the overall support and recovery process is just stupid and clearly did not use common sense.

Answer 1

Rafael Gumbs (Snoop) 5

The stupid for asking about email i sent no matter what I answered automatically not the owner so Feels like security will deny you no matter what you enter

Answer 2

Lester Bernard Reyes 75,325 Independent Advisor

Hi, I'm Bernard, a fellow Windows user. I'm happy to help!

Since the account recovery form didn't work on your end, I recommend contacting Microsoft Accounts and Billing support by following the steps below:

Go to this link: https://support.microsoft.com/home/contact

In the search bar, type in your issue, then hit enter.

Scroll down to the bottom and select the blue button "Contact Support"

Lali Bee 5 Reputation points

2026-02-11T15:50:45.56+00:00

Well, this is great if their "Support" is supporting. But it clearly is not. For a company as big as Microsoft and a global technology provider, the level of service is unacceptable. I do not know what kind of training they give to their “Support” team, but they are the worst and completely useless.

Instead of actually resolving concerns, they send generic replies, close tickets without confirmation, and leave customers to figure things out on their own.

Answer 3

It sounds like you're experiencing frustration with the Microsoft account recovery process, particularly with the automated system that determines account ownership. Unfortunately, the recovery process is designed to be highly automated for security reasons, which can lead to difficulties when the system does not recognize your identity correctly.

If you find that the recovery forum is not yielding results, consider the following steps:

Wait for Lockout Period: If you've attempted recovery multiple times, you may need to wait for a lockout period (usually about 24 hours) before trying again. Further attempts during this time can reset the cooldown.
Use Familiar Devices: When retrying the recovery form, use a device and network that you typically use to access your account. This can help the system recognize your identity better.
Provide Detailed Information: When filling out the recovery form, include as much information as possible, such as previous passwords, subject lines of recent emails, and any other details that can help verify your ownership.
Contact Microsoft Support: If the automated recovery process continues to fail, consider reaching out to Microsoft Support directly for assistance. They may have additional tools or methods to help verify your identity.

The recovery process can be frustrating, but persistence and providing accurate information are key to regaining access to your account.

References:

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Recovery forum is useless

3 answers

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