Can I take my Surface to Microsoft Store for support if I didn't buy it from there?

[baydude]

It's registered and still under warranty. Can I take it to the MS store or do I need to call tech support?

 

[leeshor]

If you have a Store you can take it to that's the way to go. They will take care of it.

 

[flar]

For the record I bought my SB at Best Buy, and I just had a very positive experience at an MS store. My SB recently developed some pretty bad light bleeding right around the top center of the screen - near the camera. I took it in to the MS store expecting to have to fight for a replacement, but it was quick, painless, and very hassle-free. Basically the conversation went:

Hi, my name is XXX, may I ask your name?
Jim
Hi Jim, what's the problem?
I have some light bleed, let me show you (shows the screen).
(MS employee glances at screen) Yes, that's pretty bad, let's get you a replacement. I'll be right back and YYY can help you if you have any questions while I get a new machine. (heads off to grab a brand new SB)

At that point another employee came up to me to ask if they could get me anything while I waited and went and brewed some hot green tea for me. We were about half way through the return process before he even asked where I bought it and didn't balk at all when I told him Best Buy.

 

[baydude]

For the record I bought my SB at Best Buy, and I just had a very positive experience at an MS store. My SB recently developed some pretty bad light bleeding right around the top center of the screen - near the camera. I took it in to the MS store expecting to have to fight for a replacement, but it was quick, painless, and very hassle-free. Basically the conversation went:

Hi, my name is XXX, may I ask your name?
Jim
Hi Jim, what's the problem?
I have some light bleed, let me show you (shows the screen).
(MS employee glances at screen) Yes, that's pretty bad, let's get you a replacement. I'll be right back and YYY can help you if you have any questions while I get a new machine. (heads off to grab a brand new SB)

At that point another employee came up to me to ask if they could get me anything while I waited and went and brewed some hot green tea for me. We were about half way through the return process before he even asked where I bought it and didn't balk at all when I told him Best Buy.

Here's my experience w/ the MS Store support..

I bought my SB brand new from eBay a few weeks ago w/ 30 day return guarantee and everything was running fine until constant crashes so decided to reset to factory but was having issues w/ recovery. I took my SB to the MS Store this weekend and told them of a problem going into UEFI and running a recovery from USB. The guy spent 15 minutes on my SB and said he's having issues w/ changing the boot order in UEFI and asked if I could still return it to eBay or I could leave the device at the store for a few days so they could try some other methods.

 

[Cimmerian]

I have personally had nothing but good experiences when going into the Microsoft Store regardless of where my device was purchased as long as it was still in warranty.

 

[bangsters]

yes you can. i got mine at CDW and had it serviced at MS store

 

[baydude]

Update:

The tech at MS Store couldn't fix it so I went in w/ my old charger and pen and they exchanged it for a brand new one. Also bought the protection plan since I bought it from eBay new within 45 days. Kudos to MS Store.

I guess my issue is an outlier because from all the googling I did the consensus seems to be either Recovery Image or Win10 ISO should work.