A WOMAN in Sausalito, California won $10,000 in compensation from Microsoft in May after her system tried but failed to install an unauthorized “upgrade” from Windows 7 to Windows 10, leaving her with an unstable computer that she had used to run her travel agency.
“I had never heard of Windows 10,” Teri Goldstein told the Seattle Times, which broke the story about how she took Microsoft to small claims court and won. “Nobody ever asked me if I wanted to update.”
In a more detailed interview with the trade newspaper Computerworld, Goldstein also revealed a series of missteps by Microsoft that illustrate how not to do customer support.
“For months I tried to work with them, but they kept blowing me off,” Goldstein told Computerworld. She also said that she made countless calls to Microsoft’s technical support, visited a local Microsoft retail store and spent hours scouring support forums to solve her problem.
In notes she shared with Computerworld, Goldstein said one customer service representative was “continually rude” and refused to help her, and eventually told her: “Do not ever contact me again.”
By January 2016, Goldstein said she had had enough.
“That was when they offered me $150 to go away,” she told Computerworld. “I used that as proof of guilt. They knew what was happening.”
She then filed a claim for the maximum of $10,000 at a small claims court.
Her case was heard in March and Goldstein went prepared with documentation. Microsoft sent someone from the local retail store, not a lawyer.
“This very honest kid came in, and said they had pulled him out of the store at 4:30 to go to court,” Computerworld quoted Goldstein as saying. “They didn’t even prepare for it.”
Microsoft originally said it would appeal the decision but changed its mind and paid Goldstein $10,000 in May. A spokesman said the company dropped its appeal to avoid the expense of further litigation.
The Goldstein case is hardly unique. In fact, a growing number of Windows users have complained about Microsoft’s aggressive—and many say underhanded—tactics to get customers running Windows 7 (in my book, still the best version) and Windows 8.1 to upgrade to Windows 10 to boost the numbers for its new operating system.
Windows 10, which is being offered as a free upgrade from Windows 7 or later until July 29, was first offered as an optional upgrade.
Then, Microsoft made it a recommended update for Windows 7—automatically uploading it to users’ computers through Windows Update in February 2016.
By March, irate users like Goldstein began complaining that Windows 10 was automatically being installed on their computers without their permission.
Angry users this month filed a petition on Change.org asking the Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF) to investigate Microsoft’s upgrade practices, including removing software from their systems without their knowledge during the “upgrade” process. The petition says Microsoft “has been ignorantly unethical at best and malicious at worst” and that people were being “tricked or forced into upgrading to Windows 10.”
Goldstein, on the other hand, offered this advice to other users who have fallen victim to Microsoft’s aggressive tactics.
“Corporations need to be held accountable,” she told Computerworld. “My business was destroyed by a company pushing its products. You have to take the bull by the horns because as long as Microsoft can get away with this, they will.”
She encouraged others to contact her by phone or e-mail, which can be found on one of her websites, Travels with Teri.
“My position is that anyone who wants to talk to me about their rights, should call me. Or email me,” she said.
A number of websites, meanwhile, offer tips on how to roll back an unwanted Windows 10 update. If you’re a Windows 7 user who fell victim to Microsoft’s aggressive upgrade tactics, this is certainly worth exploring.
Or, you could rid yourself of all these worries for good—and install Linux. Chin Wong
Column archives and blog at: http://www.chinwong.com