Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire In Microsoft Hell – Need Help

Anyone here with successful experience getting attention from MS customer support?

Last week, I did something I never thought would happen. I clicked on some link in a seemingly-legit email supposedly from MS that was supposed to allow me to archive older emails that, otherwise, would be deleted on my decades-old msn email account. So, my email got hacked.

On Thursday, MS apparently figured this out, and I received an email, stating: “We noticed some unusual activity in your Outlook.com account. To help protect you, we've temporarily blocked your account.” It then provided a link to “The fastest way to unblock your Outlook.com account is to verify your account.” I went through the process, which included providing an alternative email. I provided my work email.

Promptly, at 8:15 a.m. on Friday, I received an email at my work address from MS (msftcsmicrosoft.com) stating:

“Dear Customer,
This is an automated message to let you know we have received your inquiry regarding your Microsoft account. Please note that we are experiencing higher than normal volumes, and our response will be delayed.
We sincerely apologize for this delay as we know this means you may not have access to your account. We are working to resolve your case and will update you as soon as we have additional information.
All duplicate requests will be closed and responses will be sent on the original escalation.
Sincerely
Microsoft Customer Protection”

So, basically, it’s saying fugg-off; we’ll get to you whenever we get to you; don’t contact us again.

I disobeyed its instruction and tried the same process again with no effect.

I also replied to the email later in the day on Friday and asked for this to be expedited.

I also called a MS customer-support number (800-642-7676), and a recording basically said that they have migrated to all-online customer service—“goodbye.”

My fiancé found a different way to unlock an account online that had me answer a bunch of questions, the answers to which no one else would know, such as the last-four of the CC number I used to pay MS. However, after all of that, it still sent me back to the same link to unlock my account which resulted in the email saying that they are delayed and not to contact them again.

I have had the account for so many decades without a problem that I may not have my current cell number associated with my account, and the old work backup email on it was discontinued last week when I started a new job.

For any of you IT-ish experts, is there anything I can do to get my email working again?

Many thanks in advance. If anyone solves this for me, I will be grateful and send you a nice gift if you will share your address via PM.

I'm not an IT expert, but it seems that you were the victim of a phishing scam. Never give out personal information when it's solicited through an e-mail that you've received. You may have to rebuild your computer, which involves wiping the hard drive and reinstalling the operating system and all your files and software from a back-up. If you had a MAC, you could simply restore your hard drive from a point prior to the "virus," using the Time Machine. You should consider informing your cc company and changing the relevant passwords as well.

MS Customer Service is a joke.

Thanks HN. I do know that I shouldn't do what I did. I think the only thing that happened was that the perpetrator hacked my msn email account, which is now locked. I don't think it did anything to my sys 32 or anything. I have the premium Malwarebytes protection running all the time. In any event, the only thing that seems affected was my msn account. I did finally find a number, just now, that a lady answered and gave me a new link to try (aka.ms/privacyresponse), which had me enter some information again and said that they would get back to me. In the comments section, I entered the story I wrote up above, but omitted the faux profanity.

Short answer is No. MS has to unlock it on their end.

Thanks. I do get that. I mostly was hoping that someone had a number or email address for Bill Gates or someone else who actually might be able to help me. Someway to escalate it effectively. I'd be willing to pay some extra premium fee to get it resolved.

Simple solution.

Take your Microsoft stuff and throw it in the river.

Get an iMAC. Apple charges me $0.99 per month for Applecare. Any problem? I call them and usually experience a wait time of 3 minutes or less. I talk to a human who speaks with an AMERICAN accent. If worse comes to worse, I can take it to the genius bar at the nearest Apple store, which is about 15 minutes from here. No charge. I can also take free courses at the Apple store.