get what you paid for!!

[subtitle: How to open a Service Request at Microsoft Technical Support]

I've been contacted by some developers asking details about how to open a Service Request at Microsoft Technical Support: after my interview with Chris pointed by my previous post, I'm extremely glad to provide details about this... As I said there: "It’s simply great that nowadays many developers rely on newsgroups and forums! I was there when Microsoft newsgroups were born and personally helped them to grow up, until they became auto-sufficient thanks to the great support given by Microsoft MVPs. When you don’t find an answer through your favourite Microsoft newsgroup or MSDN forums (or whatever!), just give the Microsoft Technical Support the chance to show what added value it can offer. If you have a contract (“Premier” or “Partner”) you will already be using it. If you have a MSDN Subscription or simply bought a Visual Studio box, chances are that you don’t know that you have the opportunity to open Service Requests thanks to a certain number of so-called “incidents”… so my suggestion is: make sure you use everything you’ve ALREADY paid for! :-)"

Partners and Premier Customers have their Account Managers in Microsoft, so they know how to create requests: they can contact their references in Microsoft but also have dedicated phone numbers.

MSDN Subscriptions' owners: start here and see below (it mentions VS2005, but it's the same for VS2008):

Visual Studio-boxes' owners [the first time you'll have to register the product through its PID, which you can also do through VS' menu Help\About - Register Product]

- by phone: search your local Customer Service's phone number here, by selecting your country under the "Contact Information" drop-down list (I imagine the same list is indirectly available here).

- via web: starting here, you'll need to select your product -- for example, if you select "VS2005 Professional" you'll end up here -- note "E-mail support"\"Submit Online"\"Submit Request by phone":

You've finished your incidents and need support? Then you have the "Pay Per Incident" option available. You can buy a single incident or a 5-pack: however I think this depends on your country and therefore the best approach is to engage your local Customer Service over the phone (again, selecting your country under the "Contact Information" drop-down list at this page).

Happy submitting!

~raffaele