Rather Rough Rollout for Redmond

I can tell right now the Gripe Line is going to be a bit Microsoft-heavy in the coming weeks. Not only are Vista and associated new business products bound to raise hackles on DRM and other fronts, it would appear Microsoft was not really all that well prepared even to help customers buy the software. One reader buying Office 2007 Pro Plus under his company's volume license agreement was left empty-handed after

I can tell right now the Gripe Line is going to be a bit Microsoft-heavy in the coming weeks. Not only are Vista and associated new business products bound to raise hackles on DRM and other fronts, it would appear Microsoft was not really all that well prepared even to help customers buy the software.

One reader buying Office 2007 Pro Plus under his company's volume license agreement was left empty-handed after paying his money. "Since the media is not available until January, it appears that I just spent $15,000 in licenses for software we cannot use, since Microsoft themselves cannot tell me where to download the media. My reseller is also trying to figure this out right now, but can't find anyone to tell us what to do. Chat support directed me to their support number, who refused to help. They even told me that the product was still in beta, then told me that they cannot support it and told me to go to the office web site. I asked to speak to a supervisor, and was hung up on. No one at Microsoft even seems to realize that the software has been released yet. I have spoken with about six people and chatted with three people, who all redirect me to someone else."

Microsoft continued to lead the Office customer on a merry chase for hours. "One rep did not seem to be aware that the media kit was still unavailable and acted surprised that my reseller did not have the CD available. Then the rep transferred me to someone else, who took me to licensing.microsoft.com, which I was already logged into. Nothing there for me. I entered my enrollment number but still do not see my software, so now I am being transferred to support for that sight, who told the tech after 5 minutes of waiting to go to a different number for media kit support. Now after 20 minutes on this call, the rep said that this media is available, but he is going to ask his supervisor for an updated sheet for some reason. He came back and said I need to get the media from my reseller. I told him that no reseller has this and that Microsoft is supposed to have it available for download. He is going back to his supervisor. When he came back he told me that my reseller should have the web site info to get my download. My reseller doesn't."