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* * Mod note on March 13, 2025.
Brought here by a search? Two posts in this thread, both on page 5 may be helpful. The post by neilpzz and the post by criggs. The thread is locked because it's not at all likely that another helpful post will appear.
In an attempt to remain cordial. Could someone please point me in the direction of an actual working support number, that will have an actual human on the other end. I need to be able to speak to someone for the help I need because it’s a complicated issue I don’t exactly know how to explain, and poorly constructed drop down windows unfortunately have not helped aid in my quest for a solution in any way, shape, or form, for the past two hours…. And that’s just the time I’ve spent trying to find out how to actually speak to someone for help…. So can I please get some assistance in this department so I can fix this computer, and continue my work.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
HELP! I am locked out of my personal hotmail email account. I no longer have access to the email that is used to confirm my account online. I've tried to access my account multiple times and have been caught in a horrible loop. It's been 3 days of trying and 3 days of getting locked out! I need human help!
I am 100% not able to log in in any way!
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!
Unfortunately, signing into my account is the problem. I CAN NOT! The additional contact that is used to send a confirmation code is an email that is no longer available to me. When I click where it says "this is no longer available" it sends me into a loop of trying to sign in over and over using a different access email but it will never let me actually sign in! AAAGGH!
I'm in Microsoft HELL!
In that case, the only solution I can think of is to visit a friend who has a working Microsoft email, and use my system on his computer and, when the chat begins, you take over.
Great idea!! Thanks!
