The Cost of MS Tech Support for XP Pro?

[W. Watson]

I believe I have this pretty close to the truth, but let's find out. About a year
ago, I called MS about solving a somewhat knotty problem on W2000 Pro, and asked how
much it would cost for them to unravel the problem. They said, I believe, $350. It
was the standard cost. I was taken aback, since about 4 years before that they were
charging $95 per incident on NT 4 problems. I think later I found that on XP Home
they were charging $35 per incident. If W2000 Pro was $350 not long ago, I'd have to
believe it's about the same for XP Pro.
--
Wayne T. Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)
(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet
(Formerly Homo habilis, erectus, heidelbergensis and now sapiens)

"There's no such thing as a stupid question,
but they're the easiest to answer!" -- anon.

Web Page: <home.earthlink.net/~mtnviews>

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I believe I have this pretty close to the truth, but let's find out.
About a year ago, I called MS about solving a somewhat knotty problem on
W2000 Pro, and asked how much it would cost for them to unravel the
problem. They said, I believe, $350. It was the standard cost. I was
taken aback, since about 4 years before that they were charging $95 per
incident on NT 4 problems. I think later I found that on XP Home they
were charging $35 per incident. If W2000 Pro was $350 not long ago, I'd
have to believe it's about the same for XP Pro.

Was there a question in there somewhere?

--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH

 

[Guest]

What is your question? $$$
You can post it here and you could receive a response for FREE!

 

[Bruce]

Reading that post it was very clear to me that he was asking whether or
not the facts and conclusions that he was stating were correct or not.
I was able to easily determine that even though there was not a question
mark ('?') present.

For the sake of Bruce Chambers: This is a comment not a question.

 

[Kelly]

Hi Wayne,

You would have to check with one of the W2K groups for a verification.
Retail Home and Pro fees are the same. As for XP OEM versions, the price is
"not" $35.00. Was your W2K version and OEM. Either way, check here and
good luck with your answer and XP.

NT Support
http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver/ProductInfo/Availability/FAQ.asp

OEM - Definition and explanation of how it works:
http://www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk/Software.htm

W2K - Newsgroups and Support FAQ's:
http://support.microsoft.com/ph/1131
http://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?gprid=1131
--
Happy Holidays,
Kelly (MS-MVP)

Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com

 

[Answerguy]

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/le
arnmore/tips/kelly96.mspx

 

[W. Watson]

What is your question? $$$
You can post it here and you could receive a response for FREE!

:

Free answers! Wonderful.

I just forget to put those question marks in from time to time. I could have put on
at the end of the last sentence, but missed the *last* opportunity there. Here's a
couple of questions. Is this true for XP Pro? Nuts! I only had one question afterall.

--
Wayne T. Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)
(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet

"I'm sure we all agree that we ought to love one another and
I know there are people in the world that do not love their
fellow human beings and I hate people like that." -- Tom Lehrer

Web Page: <home.earthlink.net/~mtnviews>

 

[Kelly]

Depends.....is it an OEM version or retail?

--
Happy Holidays,
Kelly (MS-MVP)

Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com

 

[W. Watson]

Hi Wayne,

You would have to check with one of the W2K groups for a verification.
Retail Home and Pro fees are the same. As for XP OEM versions, the price is
"not" $35.00. Was your W2K version and OEM. Either way, check here and
good luck with your answer and XP.

NT Support
http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver/ProductInfo/Availability/FAQ.asp

OEM - Definition and explanation of how it works:
http://www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk/Software.htm

W2K - Newsgroups and Support FAQ's:
http://support.microsoft.com/ph/1131
http://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?gprid=1131

I bought XP Pro via an academic discount house. It came directly from MS. (It was
also an interesting purchase. I bought the Home version. I had been told by a friend
I could install it over W2k. Not true. I asked for money back, and they wouldn't give
it to me; however, somewhere along the line, I found MS would, within 30 days of the
purchase. They did, and I bought XP Pro from them.)

I guess somehow I wandered off to W2K in this discussion, since that was the last
time I asked about support from MS. I was stunned by the NT 4.0 to W2K change, $95 to
several hundred dollars over a year ago when I asked for support on a W2k problem.

It turns out tech support is FREE in one important instance to me--the SP2 install. I
had been beating my self silly for almost a week trying to overcome a local network
problem produced immediately after the SP2 install. In frustration I called MS to
find out what the skinny was on their paid tech support. Incredibly, it was free for
SP2 problems. It took 2 hours to arm wrestle the problem to a solution.

The little answering message at their site, said for advanced help it costs $245.
When I got to a support person and asked how much it would cost to repair my SP2
problem, they said it was free, and in the transition to tech support never got the
price question answered for either general or advanced questions.

In any case, I'll look at the URLs above to see what they hold.

--
Wayne T. Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)
(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet

Web Page: <home.earthlink.net/~mtnviews>