Microsoft UK Store SCAM - selling original substandard Surface Book as Performance!

[rtlkyuubi]

TLDR: Microsoft offload substandard obselete surface book hardware on UK consumers expecting the 965m performance base. I suspect most consumers are unaware, and have been successfully conned.

 

Microsoft have been advertising refurbished original Surface Books with performance bases on their online UK store. That performance base, makes all the difference as most of you will know, as the graphics card and battery life included in it, is significantly improved compared with the original. The original GPU (nvidia 940) also has multiple known graphics driver issues that make it unusable with various apps.

As my partner is a graphic designer, this looked to be the perfect purchase for him. I ordered the i7, 256gb variant, with dGPU (965m) on 20th November 2018. Delivery was prompt. However I was shocked to find that the base wasn't as advertised. It's an original base, not a performance base. Making the equipment purchased, not worth the £999 I paid for it.

It was at this point that I checked the reviews on the UK store (stupidly I only looked at the many on youtube prior to purchase!), to discover that the most recent ones, were 1 star, and all reporting the same issue. Quite a few reviews in fact. All reporting on top of this, an atrocious experience with customer service - leading to a return. I hope this wouldn't be the case, that Microsoft would endeavour to make this right. Afterall, I'd just spent £999 on this laptop. The most I've spent on any purchase in quite some time.

So I braced myself, and rang Microsoft. Four times over the next three weeks, I was promised by their customer service reps over and over that I would get the base that was advertised, and that someone with the power to do this would call me. I just needed to be patient. 3 weeks. I was given a case ticket, and told to wait repeatedly.

Eventually today, (almost 23 days after recieving the product - giving me only a week to organise a return, if I wished to do so), I receive a phonecall telling me that they will not supply the product as advertised. All I can get is a refund + £50 for my troubles. I was also informed by the rep that there was no manager available to speak to me regarding this. All non-negotiable. And, a manager wouldn't be able to call me back even though I directly requested it. Atrocious. There wasn't even a basic pretense of discussing the issue with a higher up, I wasn't allowed that.

I'm taking that refund, but not as a happy customer. I am also very concerned about all the other customers out there who purchased this product in good faith, and perhaps aren't as technically minded as myself to check their purchase? They've all been issued with sub-standard merchandise, and I'd imagine most aren't aware of this! To the layman, they look identical. One would have to do a hardware check. Interestingly, this could be quite a widespread issue, with many consumers unaware of how they've been scammed!

At the very least it's false advertising, if not an outright attempt to scam by offloading substandard hardware onto unsuspecting consumers. It's a blatant and provable lie. What was a wonderful present to my partner, has turned bitter in our mouths. I would appreciate any and all advice you could give on how to further rectify this issue? For now, I can only return the product.

 

PS: I forgot to mention, they're still selling it today, falsely advertised and all. Link: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/p/microsoft-surface-book-certified-refurbished/93ltm69s3rff?activetab=pivot:techspecstab

[Syntaxvgm]

this is the kinda thing you post to the right subreddit. Shaming corporations on social media is the only way to get them to right their wrongs these days. 

[wh1sp3r]

microsoft dum-goofed up

[rtlkyuubi]

2 minutes ago, Syntaxvgm said:

this is the kinda thing you post to the right subreddit. Shaming corporations on social media is the only way to get them to right their wrongs these days. 

What subreddit would you suggest Syntaxvgm?

[Syntaxvgm]

2 minutes ago, rtlkyuubi said:

What subreddit would you suggest Syntaxvgm?

idk. Somewhere technology related with a decent amount of traffic and a place that loves circle jerking about PR disasters. PCMR could be one, idk. 

[rtlkyuubi]

I'll give that a try, thanks!

[mynameisjuan]

So is this news or just one bad experience? 

[rtlkyuubi]

1 minute ago, mynameisjuan said:

So is this news or just one bad experience? 

There are four other reviews on their website, all complaining of the same experience.

 

Plus I've found this comment today: http://disq.us/p/1xl8cz2

 

And I'm still researching. Whilst I have no proof this effects all customers of this product, it's obvious that it's going to effect plenty of non-tech minded people who are woefully unaware. Microsoft are utilising a consumers ignorance for profit. I think it should be news, but then I'm pretty biased huh?

[mynameisjuan]

Just now, rtlkyuubi said:

There are four other reviews on their website, all complaining of the same experience.

 

Plus I've found this comment today: http://disq.us/p/1xl8cz2

 

And I'm still researching. Whilst I have no proof this effects all customers of this product, it's obvious that it's going to effect plenty of non-tech minded people who are woefully unaware. Microsoft are utilising a consumers ignorance for profit. I think it should be news, but then I'm pretty biased huh?

Oh no doubt it should come to light but I wouldnt put it in news because it makes it appear that this is a widespread on purpose issue that has serious lawsuits ahead. 

 

Just dont forget that Microsoft isnt a person. The people filling the orders are people like you and me. Same box, same picture, same name...its bound to get caught up reading an order and accidentally grabbing the wrong model. I am sure non-performance base purchases got the performance base on accident too. 

 

This isnt Microsoft trying to rip you off. Also no company would dare try to pull this in the EU right now with current laws. 

[AlTech]

Idk what you saw to make you think the purchase was performance base but looking at the website right now doesn't give that impression.

[Mihle]

Most likely it's isn't Microsoft themselves that do it, it's probably a subcontractor that Microsoft pays to do it for them.

[Brooksie359]

1 minute ago, AluminiumTech said:

Idk what you saw to make you think the purchase was performance base but looking at the website right now doesn't give that impression.

It says in the specification that it has a 965m. 

[Mihle]

1 minute ago, AluminiumTech said:

Idk what you saw to make you think the purchase was performance base but looking at the website right now doesn't give that impression.

The liked site says Nvidia 965m in the tech specs part

[rtlkyuubi]

Just now, mynameisjuan said:

Oh no doubt it should come to light but I wouldnt put it in news because it makes it appear that this is a widespread on purpose issue that has serious lawsuits ahead. 

 

Just dont forget that Microsoft isnt a person. The people filling the orders are people like you and me. Same box, same picture, same name...its bound to get caught up reading an order and accidentally grabbing the wrong model. I am sure non-performance base purchases got the performance base on accident too. 

 

This isnt Microsoft trying to rip you off. Also no company would dare try to pull this in the EU right now with current laws. 

Hmmm, except it would be easier for them in that situation to resolve it by offering their customers an exchange for the correct hardware.

 

They don't have it to give to me. Which begs the question, did they ever have performance bases in the first place?

 

This feels quite deliberate. Like offloading shoddy hardware quickly, and taking advantage of many of your consumers ignorance. Microsoft aren't a person, they're a massive corporation. And large corporations can commit wrongdoing just as easily as people.

[mynameisjuan]

2 minutes ago, rtlkyuubi said:

Hmmm, except it would be easier for them in that situation to resolve it by offering their customers an exchange for the correct hardware.

 

They don't have it to give to me. Which begs the question, did they ever have performance bases in the first place?

 

This feels quite deliberate. Like offloading shoddy hardware quickly, and taking advantage of many of your consumers ignorance. Microsoft aren't a person, they're a massive corporation. And large corporations can commit wrongdoing just as easily as people.

No I am not saying they shouldnt have exchanged it or refunded you, not at all. They should replace it immediately. 

 

and yes, performance bases exist and are real. 

 

This does not feel deliberate at all. Amazon, newegg, bestbuy have all sent me the wrong package of something very very similar. Look on the matebook reddit of Amazon constantly shipping the i5 model to people who purchased i7. 

 

Shit happens, this isnt a purposeful thing.

[AlTech]

6 minutes ago, mynameisjuan said:

No I am not saying they shouldnt have exchanged it or refunded you, not at all. They should replace it immediately. 

 

and yes, performance bases exist and are real. 

 

This does not feel deliberate at all. Amazon, newegg, bestbuy have all sent me the wrong package of something very very similar. Look on the matebook reddit of Amazon constantly shipping the i5 model to people who purchased i7. 

 

Shit happens, this isnt a purposeful thing.

Yeah, mistakes happen but in business when a company recognises they made a mistake, they should remedy the situation, offer an apology, and a small something for the poor experience the customer has had.

[mynameisjuan]

Just now, AluminiumTech said:

Yeah, mistakes happen but in business when a company recognises they made a mistake, they should remedy the situation, offer an apology, and a small something for the poor experience the customer has had.

Again I am not saying they should give him good customer service and get it replaced immediately. 

[SansVarnic]

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