Microsoft Returns and Refunds

Please find details regarding the return and refund policies for Microsoft below. We encourage you to leave a comment regarding your experience requesting a return or refund from Microsoft so others can benefit from what you learned.

Microsoft North America

Microsoft North America has a 45 day refund policy for retail products. We will refund you the purchase price based on our current policies, as well as warranties and license agreements.

To return a product for refund:

  • Send the product back to use within 45 days of purchase.
  • Provide proof of purchase, such as the original receipt, canceled check or credit card statement showing the purchase.
  • Provide your contact information (name, full address, phone number and e-mail).
  • Uninstall any software products returned from your computer and destroy all backup copies.
  • Include any manuals that came with the product.
  • Provide a brief explanation for the reason of return.
  • Provide the name and address of the retailer where the product was purchased.
The product must be sent to our return center by a traceable method of shipping, such as FedEx, UPS, certified and insured mail, DHL or Airborne.

Note that certain products, such as XBOX consoles or Zune Media Player are not eligible for a refund.

Valid refund requests will be processed in 2 – 4 weeks from receipt by the Microsoft Return Center. We will refund you a maximum of $7 for the cost of shipping the product back to Microsoft, unless you can provide valid proof that the cost of shipping was greater than $7.

See what others are saying about Microsoft returns, refunds and exchanges

Posted by adamboomb78


Don't even try they added the 14 day/2 hr bs for legal reasons. 15 years using xbox and windows first time I ask for a refund one a broken trash game out of many and because I had 14 minutes of game time I was denied a refund! Never again,look out steam here I come

Posted by Maximus


Rude Customer Service at Microsoft Money back guarantee:
It was the first time I spoke to someone at Microsoft and I'm appalled at the customer service at Microsoft. I called regarding a return for Office( Home & student 2016) Edition on 11/30 at around 4PM(PST),Customer service representative was rude & loud, Started shouting on me & when I requested her to slow down, she hung up on me. Still trying to get info regarding that return. Horrible. Microsoft needs to get more customer friendly agents.

Posted by Anonymous


I have had 2 micro soft computers now, neither lasted more than a year getting any help from micro soft is impossible. I have spent almost a $1000.00 dollars trying to keep both computers running and failed tried to take the 2nd one back for a return at the store i bought it at and they would not take it back. Have tried over and over to contact micro soft without any success. Well now i have started a conversation on fb to inform others not to buy their products. Have now a dell and wow what a difference. And their computers are the only ones that are made in america. Who would have thought. i will never go back.

Posted by JAM


I am very frustrated by this last experience with Microsoft. I placed an order online for a product, and was notified a short time later that the order needed to be cancelled. I called and spoke with "Jay" at Microsoft, who managed to get the order canceled after about 10 minutes (or so I thought). He gave me a confirmation number and assured me that the order was canceled.

A couple of hours later, I received a shipping confirmation and a notice that the charge had gone through. So much for canceling the order. I now have to receive the item first, initiate a return, and take it to UPS. Plus, I will have to wait for the charge to be credited back.

There is no excuse for this lousy service from Microsoft.

Posted by Andrew


As discussed with one of your cutomer care executive (microsoft) i am leaving my contact detail please do give me a call and refund back my money. Andrew.

Posted by Anonymous


I Have Spent In Excess Of 9 Hrs Tring To Reach Some Who Could Refund The Amount Spent On A "genuine Windows 7".
You Sent Me A Message On My Computer That Said Mt Windows 7 Was Conterfiet And Implied That I Must Buy A New Windows 7. Safecart Analsist Determined That My Original Was Ok. That Being True, I Started To Try To Have My Purchase Price Refunded. Your Wwire Wall Of People Starting In India And Through Out The Usa Kept Me Waiting On The Phone For Hours. Noone Had The Authoity To Help Me, It Was Always Just A Phone Call Away. Your Support Stinks!!!!

Posted by Thomfitz


Yesterday I called ms customer support to get a refund (very simple). I spoke with an overseas rep named "Erika", she ... my name or my order number, and then hung up on me. Microsoft wake up and hire people with good command of english!

Posted by ryuraze


This is towards Microsoft's online store... So i preordered Halo 4, which came out on November 6th. I called ..., her only answer to why the game hadn't even been shipped yet was that "the game hasn't been released"...... YEAH ..., after 25 more minutes of getting nowhere, I just asked for a refund. She took the next while asking me if i &... yes several times, and asking when i would get my money, she said "it should take 3-5 business days, but it won't take that long". So i asked her, "which one? will it take 3-5 business days, or not that long?" Her response- "it ...

Posted by DebR


... knew what they were doing was appalling. In summary - they can't refund my money for 5-7 business days (are you kidding?) and the only time that a technician is available is between 10-11 PM Eastern on a Sunday night... how to access ANYTHING - I had to take over the controls. FED UP with Microsoft - all I wanted was the ability to access Word and Excel -

Posted by crashed


... us, obviously does not care about customer service or his customers and should not be in his position. If I had a higher up contact, I definitely would make my dissatisfaction be known. 3 weeks later, and a lot of lost time on both school and business projects your company won't even refund the cost of this program, which I am sure is pennies to your organization, but the hours we both lost is not pennies to a small business. My friends with Apple computers only brag about their customer service, I unfortunately cannot do the same. Your company has left a very bad impression on us for future ...

Posted by damnwindows


... HP G60 that had been working perfectly, until I installed several security and sliverlight updates. I left my computer for one hour and returned to find the spacebar did not function. Nothing was spilled on it, no crumbs underneath the keys, it wasn't dropped--- nothing .... I called HP who stated it sounded like a software issue, and had me restore my system. didn't help, so I called microsoft to see if they could help. No such luck, I got a lazy representative, who took a "bathroom break" ...

Posted by Ken123


My problems began when transitioning from exchange 2003 to exchange 2010, over 30 pages of "instructions" on how to do. Yea, right, about 5 pages in had to ditch and wing it. Well after a month of finally ...quot;Single Scope" support calls, I had one problem remaining. I decided to use their technet documentation and proceed to "fix" myself, well after following their doc to the letter my exchange server quit talking to all my outlook clients. 6 hours after opening a support ticket for this I get a call from a support tech ( from india ) and after explaining the problem ...

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