Microsoft - Incompetent or Thieves?

November of last year I bought Tax Cut and Microsoft Money Plus on a rebate promotion. Most companies have listened to their customers and taken the pain out of the rebate process. However, Microsoft, that old school dinosaur of the tech biz, has decided to continue trying to skim a little extra profit by ripping off customers on rebates. Below is my email to Bill Gates. It's pretty self-explanatory.

Dear Mr. Gates,

I’m sure this does not actually go to Bill Gates, but maybe it does go to the last person at Microsoft who actually cares about the company reputation. Over the past year I’ve become so irritated with the poor customer service at Microsoft that I have canceled my Microsoft Partnership, packaged up my Action Pack stuff for shipping, bought a couple of Macs, learned Ubuntu, and downloaded IBM Symphony for all my computers. However, I did make the mistake of not warning my wife against purchasing the Tax Cut/Money Plus promotion (with rebate). So, I meticulously copied my receipts, the box top, and the rebate form. I even took a picture of me putting it in the mail. I thought about wasting my own money and sending it registered. Do you know why? Because I correctly predicted that Microsoft would try to avoid paying the rebate, and now they have. This morning I checked at the MS/Young America site and sure enough, it said that they never received my rebate. Of course, as soon as I saw Young America I knew that my rebate would not be processed correctly, because I have dealt with this incompetent organization before. They must toss half of the mail they receive right in the trash. I think somebody needs to investigate Young America.

Microsoft has not only become a highly incompetent company, but nobody there seems to care. As long as the bottom line looks good, it’s okay to not know how to do anything right? Well hey, I think I’ll run my business that way. I’ll fire my employees and get rid of all of my customers except those who pay me to do nothing. Sounds good, huh? If that is the best Microsoft can do, please stop wasting my time and yours, and just go out of business.

As for my rebate, I probably won’t waste the time being accused of trying to rip off billionaire corporations by some smug idiot whose job it is to steal from me. I’ll just eat the rebate and remember to avoid buying anything from Microsoft and H&R Block. Of course, I’ll be letting Block and Staples (where I made the purchase) know why I’m not dealing with them anymore, too.

Why Tax Rebates Are A Bad Idea

It should be pretty obvious. First, tax money belongs to the people of America. It should be used for the services that we require to run this country. Now, I know what you are thinking; you are thinking that it never gets used for that anyway. That may be true, but it sure shouldn't be used to bail out the wealthy, greedy, and irresponsible criminals who caused the mortgage and banking crisis. But that is exactly what it's being used for.

The idea is that you will get a check, essentially from yourself, and then you will go spend it on something that you don't need. That purchase will do nothing but put money in the pockets of the same idiots who caused the problem in the first place. Their stock will go up, they'll get a dividend, some CEO will get another bonus, and as soon as they suck up all that money, they'll find a way to start the whole process over again. Eventually, the whole country will be broke, government and all, and the rich will go pillage China and India. And they will do it with YOUR money!

Wake up people! The most financially irresponsible people in this country mismanaged their companies so bad that they had to take away your pensions, your benefits, your health care, most of your wages, and even your jobs. Now, they are literally reaching into your wallet and taking every last dime they can steal. Your interest rates go up so they can buy bigger houses, your health care costs go up so they can buy bigger, gas-guzzling cars. They lose millions and billions of dollars and YOU pick up the tab. What more does it take?

WAKE UP!

Forget Sub-Prime Borrowers, Let's Rip Off the KIds!

What have we learned from the current banking crisis? Apparently NOTHING. Banks can no longer commit theft by sucking the poor and the middle-class into loans that they can never afford, so now these same irresponsible lenders are preying on American youth. As education costs rise to ridiculous levels, banks are now allowed to offer "private" student loans. The average student leaves college and enters an inhospitable job market with tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt. Now, banks offer them even more easy cash for the borrowing. Of course, the American people be bailing out the banks when these loans go into default. CEOs and financial "managers" will still be hauling away huge bonuses while workers are laid off as a result of of corporate irresponsibility. Haven't we learned anything? Yeah, we've learned to eat our young!