Family Discount Ordering Trouble

[Guest]

Doug, Thank You for the update.
--
Harry Nicol

Hi Eveyrone. I finally got an answer. From what I have been told:

The Vista Family Discount (VFD) team has found the problem with the product
keys. Turns out they are not Vista Keys. The VFD team is working on a fix
and will email out new keys to everyone with in 4-5 days.

If your key does not work; odds are its one of the bad ones. If you do not
hear back from the VFD team with a new key next week; I would send them an
email or call:

email: (e-mail address removed)
Phone: 1-800-835-0663

I hope this helps!
Thanks and sorry for any issues...
-Doug

 

[Ben]

To clarify, MS will automatically send out new keys to those who bought
them, or we need to create some sort of work ticket with MS?

 

[Guest]

Thanks again Doug.

Hi Eveyrone. I finally got an answer. From what I have been told:

The Vista Family Discount (VFD) team has found the problem with the product
keys. Turns out they are not Vista Keys. The VFD team is working on a fix
and will email out new keys to everyone with in 4-5 days.

If your key does not work; odds are its one of the bad ones. If you do not
hear back from the VFD team with a new key next week; I would send them an
email or call:

email: (e-mail address removed)
Phone: 1-800-835-0663

I hope this helps!
Thanks and sorry for any issues...
-Doug

 

[Guest]

Thanks for all of your help!

Hi Eveyrone. I finally got an answer. From what I have been told:

The Vista Family Discount (VFD) team has found the problem with the product
keys. Turns out they are not Vista Keys. The VFD team is working on a fix
and will email out new keys to everyone with in 4-5 days.

If your key does not work; odds are its one of the bad ones. If you do not
hear back from the VFD team with a new key next week; I would send them an
email or call:

email: (e-mail address removed)
Phone: 1-800-835-0663

I hope this helps!
Thanks and sorry for any issues...
-Doug

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

Don't take it for granted. Call the numnber in Doug's message just to be
sure.

--


Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

 

[Guest]

Doug,
Thanks for the information.

Is there any way this can be escalated to let someone (with some decision
making power) know how poorly this whole Family Upgrade offer was implemented
and problems were handled? I spent about 4 hours over three days trying to
successfully get a set of working keys.
The problem seem to stem from the facts that:
1. The ordering website was broken for the first day (No Offer Found)
2. Invalid keys were issued
3. Few MS support folks were familiar with the offer (I suspect that more
folks have taken advantage of than anicipated). Each person I asked about it
was asking if I had received the disks, which implies that they did not truly
understand the offer.
4. There was no live contact (phone / chat / etc.) for the ordering site
(when there were problems) before I had actually successfully placed the
order. (There is also an issue of having to provide the 20 character product
id for chat support, but I couldn't get that until I had actually installed,
so I couldn't use chat support for an install issue.)
5. The method used to validate keys (yes I had this done twice during my
calls both stating that the key was valid) just shows the techs / CS folks
that the key is valid, not what it is valid for.
6. The phone number for the support for the Family offer once successful, is
only valid for less than 10 hous a day. During the initial couple of days of
an offer like this (especially when there are issues) it should be staffed 24
hours per day.
7. Given that the sale of a 25 character code should be pure profit as there
is no physical item being produced for the purchase price, there should have
been a much better response than having to wait DAYS for an electronic
purchase problem to have been fixed.

(I did get lucky, and was given a 1 valid key via phone[for ultimate instead
of premium]). The last person I talked to (at the number you posted, but
before reading that there was a problem) was very rude about the problem (and
didn't even take contact information until I suggested it).

Update!!!! As I was verifying the phone number - I received an email with a
new set of keys which I will try tommorrow or the next day.

Thanks,

GM Stofega

 

[Ned Buckmaster]

I received replacement keys Friday night around 8:30 CST.

Doug,
Thanks for the information.

Is there any way this can be escalated to let someone (with some decision
making power) know how poorly this whole Family Upgrade offer was
implemented
and problems were handled? I spent about 4 hours over three days trying
to
successfully get a set of working keys.
The problem seem to stem from the facts that:
1. The ordering website was broken for the first day (No Offer Found)
2. Invalid keys were issued
3. Few MS support folks were familiar with the offer (I suspect that more
folks have taken advantage of than anicipated). Each person I asked about
it
was asking if I had received the disks, which implies that they did not
truly
understand the offer.
4. There was no live contact (phone / chat / etc.) for the ordering site
(when there were problems) before I had actually successfully placed the
order. (There is also an issue of having to provide the 20 character
product
id for chat support, but I couldn't get that until I had actually
installed,
so I couldn't use chat support for an install issue.)
5. The method used to validate keys (yes I had this done twice during my
calls both stating that the key was valid) just shows the techs / CS folks
that the key is valid, not what it is valid for.
6. The phone number for the support for the Family offer once successful,
is
only valid for less than 10 hous a day. During the initial couple of days
of
an offer like this (especially when there are issues) it should be staffed
24
hours per day.
7. Given that the sale of a 25 character code should be pure profit as
there
is no physical item being produced for the purchase price, there should
have
been a much better response than having to wait DAYS for an electronic
purchase problem to have been fixed.

(I did get lucky, and was given a 1 valid key via phone[for ultimate
instead
of premium]). The last person I talked to (at the number you posted, but
before reading that there was a problem) was very rude about the problem
(and
didn't even take contact information until I suggested it).

Update!!!! As I was verifying the phone number - I received an email with
a
new set of keys which I will try tommorrow or the next day.

Thanks,

GM Stofega

Hi Eveyrone. I finally got an answer. From what I have been told:

The Vista Family Discount (VFD) team has found the problem with the
product
keys. Turns out they are not Vista Keys. The VFD team is working on a
fix
and will email out new keys to everyone with in 4-5 days.

If your key does not work; odds are its one of the bad ones. If you do
not
hear back from the VFD team with a new key next week; I would send them
an
email or call:

email: (e-mail address removed)
Phone: 1-800-835-0663

I hope this helps!
Thanks and sorry for any issues...
-Doug

 

[Guest]

Me to, two new keys last night email. Included in the email is a email
address if you have any issues. Again thanks Dough Hite.
--
Harry Nicol

I received replacement keys Friday night around 8:30 CST.

Doug,
Thanks for the information.

Is there any way this can be escalated to let someone (with some decision
making power) know how poorly this whole Family Upgrade offer was
implemented
and problems were handled? I spent about 4 hours over three days trying
to
successfully get a set of working keys.
The problem seem to stem from the facts that:
1. The ordering website was broken for the first day (No Offer Found)
2. Invalid keys were issued
3. Few MS support folks were familiar with the offer (I suspect that more
folks have taken advantage of than anicipated). Each person I asked about
it
was asking if I had received the disks, which implies that they did not
truly
understand the offer.
4. There was no live contact (phone / chat / etc.) for the ordering site
(when there were problems) before I had actually successfully placed the
order. (There is also an issue of having to provide the 20 character
product
id for chat support, but I couldn't get that until I had actually
installed,
so I couldn't use chat support for an install issue.)
5. The method used to validate keys (yes I had this done twice during my
calls both stating that the key was valid) just shows the techs / CS folks
that the key is valid, not what it is valid for.
6. The phone number for the support for the Family offer once successful,
is
only valid for less than 10 hous a day. During the initial couple of days
of
an offer like this (especially when there are issues) it should be staffed
24
hours per day.
7. Given that the sale of a 25 character code should be pure profit as
there
is no physical item being produced for the purchase price, there should
have
been a much better response than having to wait DAYS for an electronic
purchase problem to have been fixed.

(I did get lucky, and was given a 1 valid key via phone[for ultimate
instead
of premium]). The last person I talked to (at the number you posted, but
before reading that there was a problem) was very rude about the problem
(and
didn't even take contact information until I suggested it).

Update!!!! As I was verifying the phone number - I received an email with
a
new set of keys which I will try tommorrow or the next day.

Thanks,

GM Stofega

Hi Eveyrone. I finally got an answer. From what I have been told:

The Vista Family Discount (VFD) team has found the problem with the
product
keys. Turns out they are not Vista Keys. The VFD team is working on a
fix
and will email out new keys to everyone with in 4-5 days.

If your key does not work; odds are its one of the bad ones. If you do
not
hear back from the VFD team with a new key next week; I would send them
an
email or call:

email: (e-mail address removed)
Phone: 1-800-835-0663

I hope this helps!
Thanks and sorry for any issues...
-Doug





I have been off and on the phone for over 3 hrs... And my key is still
not
working!!!???

Billy

Add me to the list, 2 sets of Keys declared invalid. It is now 3 days
after
launch and nothing formal from MS regonising the problem or when it is
going
to be resolved.

Doug Hite, I am sure you are swaped with this issue but can you please
post
an update?
--
Harry Nicol


:

(Sorry if double post, web site did not appear to accept first one).

Same boat here. Doug - Have sent you email with product IDs of
Premium
Upgrade Keys. They will not validate within setup program or upon
trying to
change keys after installation without keys. Tech support agrees
that
they
are not valid keys.

:

Same boat here, got the pk's and went and upgraded my laptop with
my
Ultimate
disk, completed the install, went to activate and got the following

"The produckt key you have entered does not appear to be a valid
Windows
Vista product key.

Please check your product key and type it again."

over and over and over again.

Could it be that the family offer keys have not been added to the
activation
database?

well, I've got 3 days left for MS to figure this one out......



:

Its working now!! finally, got my 2 extra pk's!!!!!!!!

:

For over 4 hours now, I've been attempting to purchase two (2)
additional
Vista Home Premium licenses from the appropriate MS website.
Once
I tell the
website that I am in the US, enter my product key and correctly
insert the
fraud-protection letters (the letters intentionally garbled to
protect from
OCR software from using the website, I guess), the website
gives
me the
following message:

"! We're sorry, to following error(s) have occurred:
No Offer Found"

This has happened over a dozen times with no derivation in
outcome.

To be clear:

1) I have purchased a RETAIL Vista Ultimate (Upgrade)
2) Vista Ulitmate has been installed and (apparently) validated
(no warnings
otherwise, and no fruit for my search in Vista to force a
validation)
3) I have typed the product key in correctly
4) I have typed the fraud-protection key in correctly (both
visual
and audio
tried)

I've called MS and they merely (and surprisingly rudely) told
me
that the
Family Discount can only be purchased online. No amount of
explanation that
the website wasn't working seemed to get through to this person
(who is
likely suffering from a very stressful and busy launch day).

Insights or suggestions?

 

[Ben]

From what I can tell, this seems to be completely worked out now.

Thanks, Doug Hite, for all your help on this.

-Ben