In this case, the increased call time won't affect Microsoft. It will affect the contractor. These types of "short call" contracts are billed on a per call basis. Other contracts, such as for telephone support will be billed per hour or on a fixed cost.

Why do I say this over and over? Because people keep saying they want to "punish" MS in someway by increasing the call times. That will rarely work because of the way the contracts are written. I have no inside information on the exact wording of the MS contracts, but I spent several years in the telemarketing industry and know how these contracts are tdone.

>I don't understand, Craig, why you consistently consider Microsoft CONTRACTORS as not "being" Microsoft!?!?
>
>If Microsoft publishes a number to call, or Microsoft forwards your call to some number, that number is still, for all intents and purposes, "Microsoft" regardless of who actually answers the phone and who pays that person directly.
>
>I'll bet, in fact, that such comapnies' contracts with Microsoft stipulate that phone answerer are to never imply/suggest that they are not Microsoft employees (I suppose that if asked directly they would tell the truth).
>
>When a company contracts someone else as an "agent" then that "agent" **IS** "the company". It doesn't matter who they actually are.
>
>Using your reasoning everyone, including the government, could just side-step ANY problem by hiring contractors and then claiming contractor's fault! It just doesn't work that way!
>
>cheers
>