The tech industry’s utter contempt for its customers

Try as I might, I just can’t get my mind around the relationship between Microsoft and the consumer. Would an auto company that sold you a bad part tell you to fix it yourself or pay it to correct its own mistake? That’s ridiculous, of course. But the recent “black screen of death” incident, whether it turns out that Microsoft was the origin of the problem or not, points out once again the utter contempt that much of the technology industry has for its customers.

Microsoft moved quickly to absolve itself of blame for a glitch that essentially turns your computer into a brick in need of a data-wiping OS reinstall. That takes care of the public relations problem, I guess, but why not move at least as quickly to provide a fix for the underlying problem, no matter who’s at fault?

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What’s more, a simple analysis of Microsoft’s basic support policy shows that its response to problems like this is, well, nonsensical. I’ll get to that in a bit, but it’s worth noting that Microsoft was at least willing to discuss the problem, while Hewlett-Packard, for example, which is charged by Microsoft with supporting customers who buy PCs with Windows pre-installed, has been silent on the issue, ignoring my request for a response. OK, I’m not that important, but its customers are, aren’t they? And that underlines my point: This is an industry-wide problem.

The problem no one is owning up to

In case you missed it, here’s a quick recap of the latest Black Screen of Death problem.

There have been reports by some Windows users since mid-November that they when they tried to boot their systems, all that would appear is a black desktop and a frozen system, thus the Black Screen of Death. The problem affects operating systems as far back as XP, not just Windows 7.

[ Windows 7 driver support is a problem as well. InfoWorld’s Martin Heller tells you why. ]

Last week, the British security firm Prevx claimed that November Windows security updates changed Access Control List entries in the Windows registry, preventing some installed software from running properly. However, in a blog post on Tuesday, Prevx backed away from its assertion and said, “We apologize to Microsoft for any inconvenience our blog may have caused.”

Prevx certainly deserves a dope slap for making such a serious assertion without due diligence, but the real issue for users is what to do about the problem. Consider Microsoft’s post on its security blog: “We’ve also checked with our worldwide Customer Service and Support organization, and they’ve told us they’re not seeing ‘black screen’ behavior as a broad customer issue.”

That sounds logical, doesn’t it? Actually, it’s not, and to see why, take a look at Microsoft’s support policies. To begin with, people who buy Windows from a retailer are entitled to 90 days of free support. After that, they have to pay. Well, that’s fine for anyone who purchased Windows 7 in the last six weeks, but it fails to cover the tens of millions of Vista and XP users. Because a call to Microsoft support is costly, I doubt that many would bother to even report the problem.

Then there are the millions of Windows users whose computers came with Windows already installed. They don’t get free support from Microsoft; that’s up to the computer maker. That works for a new PC, but if you’re running anything but Windows 7, chances are very high that the computer is out of warranty. Too bad for you.

I mentioned that to the folks who speak for Microsoft and they said, “Free support is always available to all customers, regardless of where they purchased Windows 7 through Microsoft Answers, @MicrosoftHelps on Twitter, and the Windows Help and ‘How To’ center troubleshooting and solutions, too.” Excuse me — my PC is frozen and you’re telling me to go online to get help? The mind reels.

Microsoft can afford to be generous

In case you hadn’t noticed, inflation has been nearly insignificant in the last few years, and hardware prices have continued to drop. But Windows never gets cheaper, and Microsoft’s gross margins continue to be very high. Given that reality, Microsoft could well afford to have a more consumer-friendly support policy. I’d bet that the increased consumer loyalty and brand equity would more than make up for the extra cost.

I’m a bit more sympathetic to HP and other computer makers whose margins on PC sales are truly tiny. However, since the PC and Windows are quite literally useless without one another, wouldn’t it make sense for Microsoft and the PC makers to work together on problems like this, and on support issues in general?

As I and lots of other commentators have pointed out over and over again, the utter inadequacy of support, and the contemptuous treatment of consumers, are industry-wide issues. I had a home networking problem recently and called D-Link, the makers of my router. Because the device is out of warranty, I was told that I had to pay for support. OK. But then — and this could only happen to a technology consumer — the techie mentioned that I would be charged whether or not she could fix the problem.

D-Link is far from alone in that practice, but can you imagine, say, an auto mechanic saying he’ll try to fix your brakes, but there’s no guarantee and you have to pay whatever the outcome.

The mind reels.

I welcome your comments, tips, and suggestions. Reach me at bill.snyder@sbcglobal.net.

This article, “The tech industry’s utter contempt for its customers,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest developments on Microsoft at InfoWorld.com.