AT A GLANCE
An approved Exchange outage claim gives you a credit against eligible service fees. It does not repay lost revenue or automatically cover the whole Microsoft 365 bill. Preserve each customer’s evidence now..... Microsoft must receive November’s complete claim by 31 December 2026.
An approved Exchange outage claim gives you a service credit against eligible fees..... it is NOT cash compensation for your business losses.
I recommend you read this!!
There will probably be a lot of misinformation circulating from Monday as everybody counts the cost..... and demands their pound of flesh from Microsoft.
Social media is already suggesting that Microsoft owes customers money and they can claim it in cash. That is misleading.
As Directions on Microsoft (opens a new tab) explains, the important contractual details are how failure is measured, what qualifies for a remedy and what the provider must actually supply.
A service level agreement (SLA) defines those commitments and limits the remedy. It is not insurance against business losses.
Under Microsoft’s standard SLA (opens a new tab), an approved credit is applied against eligible service fees. Lost revenue, operational costs and indirect losses are excluded. Certain Open licensing agreements provide extra service time instead of a monetary credit.
For Exchange Online availability, the credit bands are:
| Monthly uptime | Service credit |
|---|---|
| Below 99.9% | 25% |
| Below 99% | 50% |
| Below 95% | 100% |
The highest qualifying band applies. Actual affected users and qualifying downtime are assessed across the calendar month.
BUT..... do NOT expect claiming the credit to be easy!
A Microsoft incident number does not establish that every customer experienced the entire outage, or automatically entitle them to a credit.
Each customer must substantiate their own impact..... which users were affected, what was unavailable and for which periods.
Establishing that after the event can be difficult. Microsoft’s SLA expressly says claims without the required supporting information (opens a new tab) will be rejected (read from page 5).
An incident number is a starting point..... it is NOT an approved credit!
A 50% service credit does not automatically mean half of the entire Microsoft 365 bill!
Credits relate to eligible fees for the affected service (opens a new tab). For Microsoft 365 E3/E5/E7 and Office 365 E3 customers (for example), the eligible Exchange portion of the bundle needs to be confirmed.
These suites bundle Exchange with other services in a single subscription. Microsoft must confirm which portion of your monthly subscription charge qualifies as eligible Exchange fees before a credit amount can be established. Any approved credit percentage applies to those eligible fees..... a 50% Exchange service credit does not automatically mean half of your entire suite’s bill!
Microsoft must receive November’s complete claim by 31 December 2026.
Get it moving before the December holidays..... gathering the evidence and progressing the claim will take time!
Claim the credit..... but remember that a service credit is NOT a business continuity plan!
THE SOURCE / FURTHER READING
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Read the original feature at Directions on Microsoft (opens a new tab)