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Outlook Went Down? Microsoft May Owe You Money
Microsoft business customers may be eligible for service credits after the recent Outlook outage, under the uptime guarantees in their Microsoft service agreements. The credits are not automatic: customers must submit a claim, and eligibility depends on the products affected and the measured downtime.
For Exchange Online, Microsoft defines downtime as periods when users cannot send or receive email through Outlook Web Access. Uptime below 99.9 per cent can qualify for a credit: 25 per cent below 99.9 per cent, 50 per cent below 99.5 per cent, and 100 per cent below 95 per cent. An 18-hour outage in a 30-day billing cycle would mean about 97.5 per cent uptime, which falls in the 50 per cent credit tier; personal Microsoft plans do not have the same SLA entitlement.
In short
- Some Microsoft business customers may claim service credits.
- An 18-hour outage could mean a 50 per cent credit.
- Personal plans have no equivalent uptime guarantee.
Explained simply
Outlook is Microsoft’s email service, used by individuals and by organisations through Microsoft 365. Businesses may use Exchange Online to manage staff email, and their service agreements can include a service-level agreement, or SLA, setting a minimum level of availability.
Under Microsoft’s terms, an eligible business customer may claim a service credit if measured uptime falls below the agreed threshold. The amount depends on how much downtime Microsoft records and which product was affected; customers must submit a claim, and personal plans do not have the same entitlement.