Guest Post – Calling Microsoft For Support

Calling for support from Microsoft or other IT service providers can be daunting.  Today I am sharing a n article from my colleague Lisa Hendrickson.  Lisa is an Office 365 specialist and expert.  She sent this article to me in a recent newsletter, and I just had to share it.  The newsletter article follows immediately.


Hey folks! Today I will discuss calling Microsoft support for home and business users. I support both and know how to call in and get things accomplished pretty quickly these days. Since I’m an Outlook and Office 365 technician, I have the experience and knowledge on how to present the issues and get the resolution faster.

Before I get started here, please always try to call me first for your issues and if we need to call Microsoft, I can make the call for you. If you don’t want to pay me to call, then just be sure you have everything backed up before you call them. Not all Microsoft technicians backup Outlook/IMAP and PST before performing work like I do.

Office 365 Business 

If you are a paid subscriber to this plan, you can submit a ticket in your admin control panel under “new service request”. They usually call back in less than 10 min. You can also schedule for a call back time that is more convenient.

My call to Microsoft yesterday was 36 min and the tech walked me through all the steps to get the snagged up accounts fixed. I learned something from that call, that’s why I like calling in. You don’t need to learn, so you calling might not be as beneficial as they have you do the work, they have a red mouse pointer.

TIPS! 

  • Be sure to have your own backup before calling in. Do not assume they will do this!
  • Be very clear on what you need done, create a list if you need to. Know the details and have passwords ready. This will make your call to them much easier.
  • Be prepared for usually an hour or more of your time to make this call. When I make calls for clients, sometimes I do a partial bill for the time if I’m learning something that I can share with other clients next time they have a similar issue.

Office 365 Home

Since it’s above the free support you would get with an Outlook.com account but below the business premium, your choices for help are not as great and take much longer. The steps to get connected to a tech will take probably 4x as long and they will most likely offer you links to fix things yourself which is what I see more of lately.

You can try to bypass and get them to call you or just remote in but they will not drive the mouse, again you have to do the work and they use the red pointer. Expect this call to be much longer as it’s not business support. Want to get started with business support? Email me for info lisa@callthatgirl.biz

Office Products (purchased)

I have a hard time recommending purchasing this product anymore. I have found that the purchased versions are troublesome and Microsoft will charge you for support. If you buy the Office 365 subscription, support is included and that’s helpful as some requests might take a while to fix. IT providers that manage your Office 365 and your computers will usually install products as its part of their accounts but they will take care of you if you have an issue.

What if you’re not paying Microsoft?

Many of my clients have IT providers that will bill and support your Office 365 accounts. You should always call them first before calling Microsoft.

Benefits of having an IT Provider

They keep your Windows computers, networks and Office 365 running and paid for. Support is usually a ticket away and no calls to Microsoft yourself, no keeping track of many passwords, wrong accounts, double billing and they do all the admin support.

I do not offer this type of service, these companies are called “Managed Services Providers (MSP) but I call them IT Providers too. I prefer to keep my business pay by the hour. Most have a team to help support you and some have 24×7 support. If you want a referral, please let me know.


Bio:

💗 Outlook Expert PC and Mac: I specialize in troubleshooting Microsoft Outlook & Exchange and Office 365 issues for small businesses. My specialty is figuring out difficult issues such as too much email, contact management, calendar confusion, Gmail and IMAP slow synchronizing, calendar and contacts syncing between iPhone and Android, broken iCloud, GSuite Setup, Outlook.com, gSyncit, iTunes, etc. Pretty much do anything related to Outlook I can support.

💗 Office 365: Here is a short list of areas I get hired for the most…migrating to Exchange from your pop/IMAP/other Exchange (GoDadady), learning the Admin control panel, setting up security (MFA), Outlook sharing for calendars/contacts, SharePoint, OneDrive and other questions that come up. You have questions, I know the answers. I also have a great referral team for more advanced Office 365 requests, SharePoint, Teams, Dynamics, etc.

💗 Looking for training? I offer scheduled 1-hour training sessions for Outlook Best Practices, Email Management, Smartphone, SharePoint basics, Teams, Office 365 Home vs Business, Office 365 Security (2-Step and MFA), Admin Control Panel, SEO for WordPress, and more to come. My training is not cookie cooker, all training is done live with question and answer after each segment. I also record each session for each attendee to watch after if they miss it. I am available for group/team training for your company and offer affiliate and white-label training as well. Check out my December Training program

💗 Join my newsletter list https://callthatgirl.com/newsletter-sign-up
💗 Schedule time on my calendar here http://bit.ly/1C2IoEO
💗Real testimonials from real clients https://callthatgirl.biz/testimonials

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About the Author:

I am a cybersecurity and IT instructor, cybersecurity analyst, pen-tester, trainer, and speaker. I am an owner of the WyzCo Group Inc. In addition to consulting on security products and services, I also conduct security audits, compliance audits, vulnerability assessments and penetration tests. I also teach Cybersecurity Awareness Training classes. I work as an information technology and cybersecurity instructor for several training and certification organizations. I have worked in corporate, military, government, and workforce development training environments I am a frequent speaker at professional conferences such as the Minnesota Bloggers Conference, Secure360 Security Conference in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, the (ISC)2 World Congress 2016, and the ISSA International Conference 2017, and many local community organizations, including Chambers of Commerce, SCORE, and several school districts. I have been blogging on cybersecurity since 2006 at http://wyzguyscybersecurity.com
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