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149 Comments
- Scroogl, on 01/14/2008, -8/+215Say what you will about Microsoft, 10 years of backed-up support calls is impressive.
- mercury187, on 01/14/2008, -0/+132"Yes hi, I see you scheduled a call back 10 years ago from yesterday. We still haven't found an answer yet and need more time to research. Does 5 years from tomorrow work for you?"
- jmpeagle, on 01/14/2008, -4/+95how did they figure this out? Does the consumer honestly remember placing that call 10 years ago?
- BoneStamp, on 01/14/2008, -18/+101"Ya, upgrading to Windows 2000 resolved the issue. But now Vista has ***** it up again. I don't mean to be a smart ass, but this time can you try to get back to me this century? "
- binnis, on 01/14/2008, -14/+92Who doesn't use the Num pad for numbers?
- itsJALbert, on 01/14/2008, -5/+72"Ha! I bet you even a story about a meaningless typo at Microsoft can make the Digg front page!'
- kacymartin, on 01/14/2008, -2/+64Honest mistake really..
- pwnies, on 01/14/2008, -0/+49Oh they do, but we wont be getting calls back from microsoft on those calls until 2018
- MikeWanDo, on 01/14/2008, -6/+46I was going to digg you up until you slide in that fanboy comment about macs. Not to mention the fact that your shift key is obviously broken because none of your i's are capitalized.
- alexanderhazard, on 01/14/2008, -15/+54"Sir can I recommend you try upgrading to Windows ME?"
- rudy23, on 01/14/2008, -14/+45what sucks is that they seem to be using the same system since the last 10 years
- SkippyDoorknob, on 01/14/2008, -3/+34They could have easily migrated their support data to newer systems over the years and still preserved the incorrect date.
- fkr3, on 01/14/2008, -2/+32Only downside is they're fricking huge laptops and you lose any semblance of portability. You can get usb numpads but I'm not a fan of them.
- lukas88, on 01/15/2008, -0/+29I had the same thought, I am actually kind of impressed. I mean, who would blame someone for such an easy typo? I am sure nearly everyone has accidentally hit 0 when trying to hit 9 before, pretty common. (side note: the keypad is your friend)
What is unusual is that the note stayed in the system that long. It could have been lost due to system upgrades, change of staff, change of hardware, etc.. If anything, it is a testament to efficiency. The digital age equivalent to a message in a bottle. - BoneStamp, on 01/14/2008, -6/+31Sadly, most people. I'm glad you can get laptops now with a dedicated number pad.
- inactive, on 01/14/2008, -4/+26Antoer one of those stories that Consumerist never bothered researching to check it authenticity.
It is VERY easy to write to Consumerist, make up some ridiculous story about a company, and have them claim it happened to you, and they will post it, no questions asked.
They don't care if it is true or not. As long as they can submit it to Digg, and get their employees to digg it to the front page using multiple accounts, they are fine with it. They are not about helping the consumer. They are anti-business. ANY business. - OmniZero, on 01/14/2008, -0/+21Well if this IS true, then think of the customer service dedication.
They called back 10 years later, and with Microsoft's software most likely managing their schedules, that's pretty good. Have to give them credit for still caring 10 years later. - jmpeagle, on 01/14/2008, -1/+21yet he has an exclamation point!
- inactive, on 01/14/2008, -0/+20Not really, if it runs on Windows. My wife still runs Corel 3.0 (yes, 3.0) on XP SP2, more than 16 YEARS after it was first released.
- studdenfadden, on 01/15/2008, -0/+17The exact reason I do land lines is because i have had the same number since 1998
- richlizard24, on 01/14/2008, -0/+17I have one of those huge laptops. I regret getting it since it is a bitch to haul to class and the battery life sucks.
- MOJIRA, on 05/17/2008, -0/+14"Only if you want to download my foot into your ass."
- zackkitzmiller, on 01/14/2008, -3/+16RTFA?
- theworldisflat, on 01/15/2008, -0/+12I worked on the Microsoft PSS team for several years. In all chances someone was doing a follow up on someone else's case (which would happen if they were stuck on a call or absent) and fat-fingered the number when they pulled it up. Microsoft support cases usually start w/ SRX followed by the date in month/day/year format, then the generated string for the actual case number. For example, if you called in today you'd get a case of SRX011408xxxxxxx. It is very easy to quickly glance at a case a know how old it is. Also, the closed status would have been a dead giveaway, but they were most likely just in a hurry. Rather than go "oh...I screwed up, never mind" they just followed the motion of checking to see if the issue was resolved.
And yes, metrics go back 10 years. I've pulled up case notes from the Win95 release days...talk about a trip. - MOJIRA, on 05/17/2008, -0/+11Most laptops have a Function button that switched a part of your keyboard's letter keys to a number pad. Yeah, I don't use that either.
- dpvu, on 01/15/2008, -0/+11If the story was "Apple Customer Service Calls Back 10 Years Later" everyone would be applauding Apple's great customer service.
- BoneStamp, on 01/15/2008, -1/+11You move your hand "way" over there so you can haul ass at typing numbers with one hand. The numbers at the top of the keyboard are so you can interject numbers with letters while you're typing text. The number pad is for typing successive numbers.
- NathanielJ, on 01/15/2008, -0/+10No, he changed his phone number, but the tech support representative fortunately made a typo in the phone number as well, which, by a remarkable coincidence, was exactly the new phone number.
- inactive, on 01/15/2008, -0/+9Ho-ho, that's clever. No, actually it's because that version of the application does exactly what she needs. No more and no less.
- likwidfuzion, on 01/15/2008, -0/+9I don't know what's funnier. The Mirosoft Customer Service Rep calling him back after a decade later or the fact that he actually called Microsoft Customer Service.
- pheedback, on 01/14/2008, -2/+10How can you receive a call back on 1/8/*8 or 1/8/+8?
- SonicAD, on 01/15/2008, -0/+8Yeah, I was just fixing someone's computer, and they still use QuickBooks 99. Not quite that old, but it was still pretty ridiculous.
- ColdDimSum, on 01/14/2008, -1/+8Why would you want to move your fingers way over there? Besides, just using numpad isn't some kind of magic that prevents you from making typos. What would probably help prevent this in the future would be three things... better defaults for the application (probably tomorrow makes sense as a default for a follow-up call date), better sanity checking (maybe mark the date red if it seems unreasonable and possibly a dialog warning as well), finally fix the UI so errors are less likely... for a follow-up it probably doesn't make sense to make it more than a week into the future so just present a few options for the operator to select from with one allowing arbitrary dates to be selected.
- jamesallen74, on 01/14/2008, -5/+12I am surprised the person had the same phone number 10 years later. I don't do land lines, and I have had probably 6 different numbers since 1998.
- SkippyDoorknob, on 01/14/2008, -0/+7They could have easily migrated data from older systems several times in that time frame and still preserved the incorrect date all this time.
- selfdisplaced, on 01/14/2008, -0/+7Oh, when it said try to figure out the problem before reading the solution, I thought the article was going to say what the person originally called in about?
- AndrewWiggin, on 01/15/2008, -0/+7Why are they "normal numbers"? Seems like a funny way to put it.
- BoneStamp, on 01/15/2008, -2/+9Why? You probably use your right hand to type some letters right? Isn't it fairly dexterous on the keyboard? My wife is left handed and she uses the mouse with her right hand. Sorry, left handed is not an excuse for not using the number pad.
- jakem1, on 01/15/2008, -0/+7You're crazy.
- phr0stbyte, on 01/15/2008, -2/+9the same people that would call microsoft for tech support are the same people that would have land lines 10 years later. businesses and old people.
- BinaryFragger, on 01/14/2008, -1/+7And his user name contains capital letters. Hmmmmm
- BoneStamp, on 01/15/2008, -0/+6It's the same people who don't use cruise control in their car.
- JK1150, on 01/14/2008, -0/+6surprised microsoft keeps records back that late. that's actually fairly impressive even though it was a mix-up.
- inactive, on 01/15/2008, -1/+7I don't do landlines and have had the same number for over 6 years. You do know you can keep your number when you switch providers, right?
- yomamaisfat, on 01/14/2008, -2/+7The call wait time sounds about right to me.
- DrDabbles, on 01/14/2008, -0/+5While most people will be astonished at the idiocy of the situation, or the lasting effects of a simple mistake, I have a different take on this situation. As the maintainer of a CRM system, it is clear to me they have retained ACCURATE data for over 10 years. That's a hell of a track record!
- FredFredrickson, on 01/14/2008, -0/+5I think there are a lot bigger problems with companies in America today than one who follows up on a call from 10 years ago.
- fkr3, on 01/15/2008, -0/+5"... Cause my suitcase has wheels and a handle."
- OutrightLie, on 01/15/2008, -0/+4I think that shows that Microsoft is dedicated to providing continued backwards compatibility. Even though sometimes this compatibility gets them in trouble with security issues and whatnot.
- Manuelmty, on 01/15/2008, -0/+4Heeey, 80s called, they want ... nevermind....
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