EDIT: :shocked: This certainly ended up longer than I intended...
I debated whether to post this but I am growing more and more frustrated as I wait for a reply (any reply) from my Surface Care Team member.
So, I might as well start at the beginning. Having been rather happy with the SP1 I decided to Jump on the SP2 as soon as it was a available at my local Best Buy. While satisfied with the SP1, I really like the increased storage, memory, and battery efficiency of the SP2. About a month into using the SP2, I started to notice the screen creaking on the right side of the SP2. It didn't seem like a huge problem so I decided to live with it. Then, the battery capacity indicator started to rest to 100%. Initially, it only reset infrequently, but then it got worse, resetting constantly. I waited until the January firmware update to see if that would fix anything, but it did not. By now the screen creaking was quite bad so I placed an order for an advanced exchange.
This first exchange seemed to be quite painless. The replacement was in excellent condition and it did not exhibit the capacity resetting issue of my initial unit (of course, my initial SP2 did not exhibit the problem until more than a month of use). During the process of testing the new SP2, I noticed an odd issue the battery capacity. Once the capacity dropped below 25% the capacity indicator became erratic. Despite discovering this issue while I still had my original SP2, I decided to return the original since it still had the "bad" screen. I had to wait until they closed my existing order before I could place a new order for replacement. This took about a month.
After that order was closed, I placed my second order for an advanced replacement. It seemed be taking a while for them to ship the replacement and by the weekend I checked the status on the myservice site. Much to my surprise, it indicated that I had already received the replacement SP2. I had not received a tracking number, nor the Surface. Since it was the weekend, I called MS and I wanted to make sure that I wouldn't be charged for the Surface. They said that they would look into and be in contact with UPS. I checked the tracking number from the myservice site and under "Left at" it listed "Other" (this will be important later). Shortly, I was contacted by the Surface Customer Care Team member Tay and informed that He contacted UPS and that they would have to perform a trace. He said that the trace should not take any longer than 7 business days. Well the trace dragged on for weeks. I reiterated to Tay, that I did not want my credit card card charged, but he was unwilling to prevent the automated system from charging my card and said that he could easily remove the charge. After nearly a month, Tay finally said that if he hadn't heard from UPS by Monday, he would send my a replacement Surface. Well lo and behold, Monday arrives and my credit card ends up charged. I immediately emailed Tay to have the charge reversed, but I got no reply. A couple of days later, I heard directly from UPS. And this is were things get really interesting.
So Sheila from UPS calls and said that I must have the package since it was left in my mailbox. Well, this is a neat trick since I know from the previous replacement that it is impossible for the boxed SP2 to fit in my mailbox. She did not have an answer for this nor for why "Left At" was listed as "other" rather than "mailbox". Also, during this conversation, I learned that there was no signature required for the package which is why it was not delivered to my door. I don't know why MS would not pop for signature service on a $1000+ item. The day that tracking indicated it was delivered, there was actually someone home at the time. I live in a rural area with a somewhat long driveway with a turn in it. Due to the turn, and trees, the house is not visible from the end my driveway. The lack of signature requirement seems to give to UPS drive a wide berth in where packages can be dropped. In the following weeks, I had a UPS package left basically on the side of the road at the end of my drive and another one dangling from the mailbox in a plastic bag. Not expecting the package containing the SP2 (since I was never emailed a tracking number) it is quite possible that the package could have been out there all night in a rather unsecured location. Back to Sheila, she seemed unwilling to accept that the package could not be left in the mailbox. She then insisted that I call the local police to file a report which I did. The Officer was helpful and also surprised that there was not signature requirement for delivery. After all of this, I relayed the events, via email, to Tay, along with Sheila's contact information.
Still no response from Tay. I continued to send several more emails over the course of a couple weeks with no response from Tay, and my credit card still charged. After over two weeks of no communication from Tay, I finally called support and relayed my tail of woe. A couple of hours later I received a phone message from Tay apologizing and blaming UPS. Shortly after, I receive an email from Tay, again apologizing, but this time blaming his workload. He must have read my previous messages and saw the information regarding UPS. Anyway, after another week, the credit card charges were finally reversed. After all of this I felt that perhaps a NEW SP2 was in order, but alas, Tay was unwilling or unable to accommodate that request. He offered to try and make sure I get a clean SP2, but by this time I was done with Tay. Which brings me to Josh. I called Surface support hoping that these extraordinary circumstances might warrant some special consideration. Anyways, I explained the battery issue and my previous problems, and he seemed quit helpful. He insisted on some troubleshooting (that I knew would be unsuccessful). Since testing required to the battery to drain, he sent me his email address. After I confirmed that the troubleshooting was unsuccessful, I sent an email to that effect to which he directed me back to the myservice site to place another order for a replacement. I replied that I would like a new replacement considering the trouble that I have had. I never ever heard from Josh again....
So, back to myservice.com for another replacement. This one took a little longer than expected, but I received a phone message stating that there was some sort of delay. A couple days later, I received the tracking number and then I received the package the following day. I was a little disappointed with the condition. It had some scuffs and scratches on the back and quite a few scratches around the charge port. When I turned it on, I noticed some backlight bleeding on the lower left edge of the screen. The screen in that area did not seem rigidly secured since I could feel it "give" when pressed. Also when the lower left bezel was pressed lightly, the backlight bleeding would dramatically increase. When I looked at the bottom bezel "edge on", it looked uneven. So, despite the defects I decided to test the battery issue. And of course, it exhibited the same erratic battery behavior below 25%. So, another call to MS. The gentleman I spoke to was quite nice (I did not get his name) and seemed to be understanding. He proceeded to take down all of my information and he thought that given everything thus far that I was at least entitled to a new SP2. Of course, he didn't have the authority to guarantee such a thing, but he emphasized it in his report to the Surface Customer Care Team. He also said that he would check in with me the following week to see how things went (he never did). So, I sent the same Surface that I just received back to MS (initially the wanted me keep the defunct replacement and send in the one that I currently have).
And that bring me to Daniel. Earlier this week, I received a message from Daniel saying that he was sorry for my problems, but that he could do nothing other than offer me another "like-new" replacement. I informed him of this issues with my last "like-new" replacement and told him that the only satisfactory outcome, at this point, is a new retail boxed replacement. Given the extraordinary circumstances, I do not think that is unreasonable. Also, if I lived near an MS store, I would have been able to do an in store exchange for a new unit. Finally, I told him that if he is unable to authorize such a request to escalate the matter someone who could. I have yet to hear a response.
I seem unable to get beyond the unprofessional and unhelpful Surface Care Team.
For those who made it through this tome, I congratulate you... To add insult to injury, when I removed my Type Cover 2 after composing this post, my SP2 restarted...
I debated whether to post this but I am growing more and more frustrated as I wait for a reply (any reply) from my Surface Care Team member.
So, I might as well start at the beginning. Having been rather happy with the SP1 I decided to Jump on the SP2 as soon as it was a available at my local Best Buy. While satisfied with the SP1, I really like the increased storage, memory, and battery efficiency of the SP2. About a month into using the SP2, I started to notice the screen creaking on the right side of the SP2. It didn't seem like a huge problem so I decided to live with it. Then, the battery capacity indicator started to rest to 100%. Initially, it only reset infrequently, but then it got worse, resetting constantly. I waited until the January firmware update to see if that would fix anything, but it did not. By now the screen creaking was quite bad so I placed an order for an advanced exchange.
This first exchange seemed to be quite painless. The replacement was in excellent condition and it did not exhibit the capacity resetting issue of my initial unit (of course, my initial SP2 did not exhibit the problem until more than a month of use). During the process of testing the new SP2, I noticed an odd issue the battery capacity. Once the capacity dropped below 25% the capacity indicator became erratic. Despite discovering this issue while I still had my original SP2, I decided to return the original since it still had the "bad" screen. I had to wait until they closed my existing order before I could place a new order for replacement. This took about a month.
After that order was closed, I placed my second order for an advanced replacement. It seemed be taking a while for them to ship the replacement and by the weekend I checked the status on the myservice site. Much to my surprise, it indicated that I had already received the replacement SP2. I had not received a tracking number, nor the Surface. Since it was the weekend, I called MS and I wanted to make sure that I wouldn't be charged for the Surface. They said that they would look into and be in contact with UPS. I checked the tracking number from the myservice site and under "Left at" it listed "Other" (this will be important later). Shortly, I was contacted by the Surface Customer Care Team member Tay and informed that He contacted UPS and that they would have to perform a trace. He said that the trace should not take any longer than 7 business days. Well the trace dragged on for weeks. I reiterated to Tay, that I did not want my credit card card charged, but he was unwilling to prevent the automated system from charging my card and said that he could easily remove the charge. After nearly a month, Tay finally said that if he hadn't heard from UPS by Monday, he would send my a replacement Surface. Well lo and behold, Monday arrives and my credit card ends up charged. I immediately emailed Tay to have the charge reversed, but I got no reply. A couple of days later, I heard directly from UPS. And this is were things get really interesting.
So Sheila from UPS calls and said that I must have the package since it was left in my mailbox. Well, this is a neat trick since I know from the previous replacement that it is impossible for the boxed SP2 to fit in my mailbox. She did not have an answer for this nor for why "Left At" was listed as "other" rather than "mailbox". Also, during this conversation, I learned that there was no signature required for the package which is why it was not delivered to my door. I don't know why MS would not pop for signature service on a $1000+ item. The day that tracking indicated it was delivered, there was actually someone home at the time. I live in a rural area with a somewhat long driveway with a turn in it. Due to the turn, and trees, the house is not visible from the end my driveway. The lack of signature requirement seems to give to UPS drive a wide berth in where packages can be dropped. In the following weeks, I had a UPS package left basically on the side of the road at the end of my drive and another one dangling from the mailbox in a plastic bag. Not expecting the package containing the SP2 (since I was never emailed a tracking number) it is quite possible that the package could have been out there all night in a rather unsecured location. Back to Sheila, she seemed unwilling to accept that the package could not be left in the mailbox. She then insisted that I call the local police to file a report which I did. The Officer was helpful and also surprised that there was not signature requirement for delivery. After all of this, I relayed the events, via email, to Tay, along with Sheila's contact information.
Still no response from Tay. I continued to send several more emails over the course of a couple weeks with no response from Tay, and my credit card still charged. After over two weeks of no communication from Tay, I finally called support and relayed my tail of woe. A couple of hours later I received a phone message from Tay apologizing and blaming UPS. Shortly after, I receive an email from Tay, again apologizing, but this time blaming his workload. He must have read my previous messages and saw the information regarding UPS. Anyway, after another week, the credit card charges were finally reversed. After all of this I felt that perhaps a NEW SP2 was in order, but alas, Tay was unwilling or unable to accommodate that request. He offered to try and make sure I get a clean SP2, but by this time I was done with Tay. Which brings me to Josh. I called Surface support hoping that these extraordinary circumstances might warrant some special consideration. Anyways, I explained the battery issue and my previous problems, and he seemed quit helpful. He insisted on some troubleshooting (that I knew would be unsuccessful). Since testing required to the battery to drain, he sent me his email address. After I confirmed that the troubleshooting was unsuccessful, I sent an email to that effect to which he directed me back to the myservice site to place another order for a replacement. I replied that I would like a new replacement considering the trouble that I have had. I never ever heard from Josh again....
So, back to myservice.com for another replacement. This one took a little longer than expected, but I received a phone message stating that there was some sort of delay. A couple days later, I received the tracking number and then I received the package the following day. I was a little disappointed with the condition. It had some scuffs and scratches on the back and quite a few scratches around the charge port. When I turned it on, I noticed some backlight bleeding on the lower left edge of the screen. The screen in that area did not seem rigidly secured since I could feel it "give" when pressed. Also when the lower left bezel was pressed lightly, the backlight bleeding would dramatically increase. When I looked at the bottom bezel "edge on", it looked uneven. So, despite the defects I decided to test the battery issue. And of course, it exhibited the same erratic battery behavior below 25%. So, another call to MS. The gentleman I spoke to was quite nice (I did not get his name) and seemed to be understanding. He proceeded to take down all of my information and he thought that given everything thus far that I was at least entitled to a new SP2. Of course, he didn't have the authority to guarantee such a thing, but he emphasized it in his report to the Surface Customer Care Team. He also said that he would check in with me the following week to see how things went (he never did). So, I sent the same Surface that I just received back to MS (initially the wanted me keep the defunct replacement and send in the one that I currently have).
And that bring me to Daniel. Earlier this week, I received a message from Daniel saying that he was sorry for my problems, but that he could do nothing other than offer me another "like-new" replacement. I informed him of this issues with my last "like-new" replacement and told him that the only satisfactory outcome, at this point, is a new retail boxed replacement. Given the extraordinary circumstances, I do not think that is unreasonable. Also, if I lived near an MS store, I would have been able to do an in store exchange for a new unit. Finally, I told him that if he is unable to authorize such a request to escalate the matter someone who could. I have yet to hear a response.
I seem unable to get beyond the unprofessional and unhelpful Surface Care Team.
For those who made it through this tome, I congratulate you... To add insult to injury, when I removed my Type Cover 2 after composing this post, my SP2 restarted...
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