Thu 02 June 2011 | tags: digital river, micro$oft, microsoft, steal, -- (permalink)

Microsoft's student "Its not stealing" campaign is supposed to make it easy for students to afford Microsoft products so they don't need to pirate them (and steal them). That's fine as long as it works and Microsoft don't steal from us!

Twice I've now attempted to place an order with the online system, twice the order has been denied however the pre-authorisation on my credit card means I'm now \$300 "out of pocket" until the transactions are reversed in the next 5 business days. I've called my bank (before trying to place the order the second time) to ensure that there wasn't a problem with my account or the credit card. No problem from the banks end, it should have gone through.

Fittingly the email I got from them after complaining comes from "The Ultimate Steal AU". We'll it sure is the ultimate steal, lets take your money and give you nothing. And yes, I know I get the money back, but it's my time and effort I'm wasting, and if I needed that money to pay a bill, it's not there. Experiences like this sure make me want to buy from Micro\$oft!! Oh, and if I was rich and had lots of money in my account, each time I hit submit to attempt again (like the text suggests) would be another \$150 pre-authorisation without success. Not a great payment system if you ask me, no safety limits to prevent you from trying again and again. You could easily have a few thousand dollars in pre-auth as you keep checking the details, sure they are correct, you hit submit.

Hopefully they can fix it faster than the amount of time I spent on hold just to be told they can't do anything!