What do I have to do to speak to an actual human?

I'm literally having the same exact issue and everything I try fails. One step even said in order to get into my locked account, i needed to sign in. Really unbelievable. I don't understand why someone can't just help.

Microsoft needs to get in check, we are having genuine problems with our WINDOWS computers, and yet they have no way to actually get a functioning conversation. It’s absolutely ridiculous. I paid over $100 for this pro edition and I am having problems which shouldn’t be happening. Microsoft is falling off majorly…

Well, I FINALLY figured out how to talk to an actual person, an actual Microsoft representative!!!!

I wrote it up as a post in a Reddit forum, and it received almost a hundred upvotes and almost a hundred replies, --

-- and then it was REMOVED by the moderators!!! They claimed I was offering "third-party" support, a violation of their rules. Why explaining how to get Microsoft support is the equivalent of offering "third-party" support for Microsoft baffles me!

In any event, I posted my instructions as a comment at https://www.reddit.com/r/microsoft/comments/1ekynrn/comment/lgq4nc1/ .

In case you have any difficulty accessing that comment, or just don't want to bother with a Reddit link, here are the instructions I posted. Please let me know if they help you! Thank you. Here goes:

______________________________________________________________________________________________

I GOT IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No thanks to Microsoft! Apparently they've decided to road-block all non-business personal home phone support and to speed-bump the chat access for same so that it might as well be road-blocked as well.

First, don't even bother with the phone "support" number, 8006427676. It's now programmed to DENY support for ANY AND ALL ITEMS!!! For thirty minutes, I tried various responses to get it to transfer me to an agent; the response was always the same: "Go to help.microsoft.com." It appears not only that they've discontinued customer access to phone support but, to add insult to injury, they're hiding that fact.

Here's how I managed to do it.

Go to microsoft.com . Sign in to your Microsoft account. If you do not have one, you will need to create one.

Go to help.microsoft.com .

In the "We're here to help" field, type "I don't know". (A word to the wise here; just as an experiment, I typed "I don't know!" like that, with an exclamation point, and my system, described below, did NOT work. Apparently, if they suspect you're irritated or frustrated, that is another basis on which they will deny you live support access! So I would say avoid caps, exclamation marks, repeated words, obscenities, profanities, or anything that might indicate you are a dissatisfied customer.)

Then click Get Help.

You will see a message from AI; ignore it and scroll down.

Below that, there will be a list of pointless article links; at the bottom of the list, there is a Contact Support link; click it.

The next page will ask which product and service you need help with. No matter what product you need help with, DON'T tell them!!!! You'll just get shunted to a knowledge base article and will be barred from any chat support. Instead, select Other Products!

It will then ask you which category. THIS IS THE ONLY QUESTION WHICH YOU SHOULD ANSWER TRUTHFULLY!!! In my case, I answered Windows. Be advised that this system does not work with two categories, Password Reset/Recovery and Xbox.

Click Confirm.

A minute or two will pass while the system searches desperately for an exit ramp by way of some support article. But, because you wrote "I don't know," the system eventually gives up and gives you the option of chatting with a support agent in your browser. Click that link.

You are then told the chat window will open up shortly. You are also given a link to click if it doesn't open up within a minute. In my case, it didn't open up after a minute, so I clicked the link. Immediately the chat window opened up.

After about ten minutes, a chat support agent said hello, and I gave him my number and asked him to call me.

HE CALLED ME IMMEDIATELY!

Moreover, he actually knew what he was talking about, wasn't reading from a script, and solved the problem in about two minutes flat.

As far as I know, after almost FOUR HOURS of beating my head against a wall, this is the ONLY way to get Microsoft customer support now.

I really hope that others, in the same position as I was earlier today, find this response of mine when googling. This solution needs to be disseminated FAR AND WIDE!!!

Good luck, everyone! You'll need it!

Hello, Troy Howell

Welcome to the Microsoft community.

Thank you for your feedback. You can describe your problem specifically here and I'll always be here to try to help you, but it may not be very current. You can contact online chat support or phone support, you can try to go through the following methods:

Go to the following Web site: Contact - Microsoft Support. 

Select Contact Support(sign in to your personal Microsoft account). 

Under Products and services, select options related to your product. 

UnderCategory, selectManage my subscription. 

Go to Confirm. 

Select Chat with a support representative or request a callback. 

Thank you for your understanding and patience. I hope your problem is solved successfully.

Global Customer Service phone numbers - Microsoft Support

Please let me know if you have any other questions or if I haven't explained something clearly.

Best Regards, 

Aaron| Microsoft Community Support Specialist

I worked online in a chat for 4 hours yesterday. How can I speak to a person at microsoft.

I have been trying to reach a human as I am the admin and I am locked out of admin for my new Microsoft business license and I would like to cancel my subscription since Microsoft offers no support for people