I’m normally a pretty calm person — it takes a lot to get me riled up.\u00a0 But now, I just hate Microsoft’s “Customer Service”.<\/p>\n
I purchased my own personal Visual Studio back in 2012, since I do a little custom programming, and at now in my 60’s, just wanting to keep involved with the technology.\u00a0 I’ve played a bit with Azure, and enjoyed the meager $50\/month “free Azure account” that comes close to maxing out during every month… even those months that I don’t manage to even visit Azure.<\/p>\n
The initial license was $1200, and each year since then I’ve sucked it up and paid $800 to keep the MSDN access going.\u00a0 Apparently it expired (Microsoft says it expired in 2016, I say 2017), though I’ve been diligent about keeping it up to date whenever I get the renewal notices.\u00a0 Then, in November 2018 I get a notice that my allowance for Azure is going away because my subscription has expired.\u00a0 (At that point, I didn’t realize it had expired in 2017.\u00a0 Of course, NOW I know.)<\/p>\n
I contacted Microsoft Customer Service via Email, and was basically told that all I needed to do was re-subscribe, and everything would be okay.\u00a0 So I went online in “chat” mode and arranged for the upgrade.\u00a0 After receiving the Email confirming my purchase, I attempted to install the subscription key, and it complained — I’m not exactly sure what it complained about, since the little error window was too small for the error message to fully display.\u00a0 The next day I tried installing it again, but the error message says that the subscription code has already been installed.\u00a0 I go into my account, which tells me that my account no longer has an active subscription.\u00a0 Where did my subscription go?<\/p>\n
I open yet another ticket with Microsoft via Email, only to be “reminded” that my account was expired, and that since the subscription has been expired for longer than 30 days, “your renewal purchase can no longer be activated.”\u00a0 NOW they tell me definitively that I’m screwed… but nobody had the balls to tell me that before — or they didn’t look at it close enough to tell me the truth.<\/p>\n
I’m told “If you still want to have a subscription, I suggest to purchase a new one at https:\/\/visualstudio.microsoft.com\/vs\/pricing\/. ”\u00a0 And then they’re kind enough to add, “Since you already purchased the renewal, you can reply to this email with confirmation to request for refund.”\u00a0 Well thank you for that!<\/p>\n
I called their 800 number, and started getting the usual overly-friendly Customer Service voice on the other end trying to explain me what happened and what my options are.\u00a0 I just had to stop her and say “Look, I’m usually a pretty patient guy, but all I really want right now is for you to process my refund.”<\/p>\n
I’m done with you, Microsoft.\u00a0 I guess I’ll stick to WordPress now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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Most of my development in the last 10 years or so has been of the following flavors of things: Microsoft Visual Studio.\u00a0 I'm accustomed to it, I like it, I've grown with it.\u00a0 And I'm\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":273,"url":"https:\/\/3d.rayharwood.com\/?p=273","url_meta":{"origin":412,"position":1},"title":"4\" Print of Lifecasting Model Scanned to STL","date":"June 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"In my previous post (read it for more details on the artist and his studio), I displayed a picture of the 2 inch\u00a0print of an STL file I received from \"Gullwing\", the artist at Images in Depth\/Lifecast Arizona. 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They have strings of low-wattage incandescent lights along 6 guy wires attached to the upper portion\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Tower Lights"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/3d.rayharwood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/20151007_172323718_iOS1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":267,"url":"https:\/\/3d.rayharwood.com\/?p=267","url_meta":{"origin":412,"position":3},"title":"Lifecasting: 2\" print","date":"June 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"May 22 I attended a Lifecasting seminar at Reynolds Advanced Materials in Phoenix. While there, I met a gentleman who has been doing this for 20 years! But he has a very special approach to it. Take a look at his web site for more on that. Be sure to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3D Objects"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/3d.rayharwood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/IMG_1985.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":245,"url":"https:\/\/3d.rayharwood.com\/?p=245","url_meta":{"origin":412,"position":4},"title":"Tail mechanics!","date":"April 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's a shot of my first \"4-way tentacle control\". I can't say enough about the DVDs from the Stan Winston School of Character Arts! I've watched most of 3 DVDs, and learned so much, including how to machine parts for the tentacle control, and how to 3D print parts for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3D Objects"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/3d.rayharwood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/IMG_1971.jpg?fit=1200%2C896&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":349,"url":"https:\/\/3d.rayharwood.com\/?p=349","url_meta":{"origin":412,"position":5},"title":"A Dragon Project Option","date":"October 13, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Photo credit: @Vyeth So you've likely seen my Dragon Project link and read a little about what I've been planning: a shoulder-mounted animatronic dragon to wear with my wizard outfit. This week I've stumbled upon another option: a full-size dragon suit with its own animatronic features. 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