A tale about how I won an MSDN Premium subscription in a contest, but Microsoft refused to activate it

I will start from afar - 3 years ago on Habré was held the contest " Photo session for Software People or Software in exchange for a photo ", sponsored by Microsoft. Guided by the principle “Attempt is the first step to failure,” I sent the photo. Suddenly, the number of photos turned out to be very modest, I unexpectedly won for myself, and in a couple of months MS VS came in the mail with a MSDN Premium subscription (as much as $ 10k virtual dollars!).

Then this happiness was not particularly necessary for me, I even tried to write to Microsoft in order to change it to something more useful in everyday life, but they had a crookedly tuned mail .

Well, no - no, I put it on a shelf, and I forgot ...
')
In March of this, 2012, a case finally turned up requiring the use of my “charms”. It was a resurrection. With trepidation, opening the box, took out a subscription activation card, went to the address and started registering. I was asked an email, a serial number, and then they asked me to choose the type of subscription delivery. But the dropdown was empty, neither back nor forward was impossible.

I thought, “Well, it's okay, they probably have everything just written for IE” (I was in FF). I tried to repeat the process via IE - but the registration did not start anymore, I received a message that the serial number was already wrong (!!!).

Well, apparently now you have to write to the support:

I: Good afternoon
I'm trying to activate MSDN Premium at microsoft.eu.subservices.com/msdn/Default.aspx
The first time through Firefox - at the second activation step when choosing the Media type - there was an empty dropdown, and it was impossible to advance further by activation.
When you try to activate via IE, it already writes "The Subscription Activation Key for renewing a current subscription."

Tell me how to solve this problem.

No longer expecting that the problem will be solved on Sunday, but being sure that on Monday this technical patch will be solved for sure - I went to bed.

And then began zhestkach

Microsoft: Thank you for contacting MSDN Info Center.
In this case, the key is already deactivating. Activation is necessary in our center.
To activate the subscription in our service center, we need the following documents (scanned copies):
subscription activation card with 25 digit code,
confirmation of the legality of the acquisition (invoice or invoice),
physical address and contact phone.
If you need a subscription advantage - distribution distribution, please provide the necessary language pack:
msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/ff769488
If you have any questions, please contact our information center.

I am completely shocked. Deactivated? And what was the interesting expiration date and my agreement with it? Where in the license agreement does Microsoft have the right to request some additional information for activation? Naturally, for 3 years, any legal buyer can get lost documents, and he may not be eager to leave his contact information to corporations.

I: I certainly can send you a scanned card, on the remaining points there are questions:

1) I am an individual, and accordingly it is difficult to expect the storage of all documents for 3-4 years.
2) I understand correctly that buying a product for 10k $ the buyer is forced to subsequently disclose personal information about himself in order to take advantage of the purchase?

Microsoft: Thank you for your reply.
Under the terms of the MSDN subscription licensing (application), we can activate the subscription only if there is written evidence of the initial order payment or documentary evidence of the transfer of the subscription from another person;
to activate the subscription, we need MSDN user data:
Licensing requirements and confidentiality information:
msdn.microsoft.com/en-ru/subscriptions/cc150618.aspx
www.microsoft.com/About/Legal/EN/US/IntellectualProperty/UseTerms/Default.aspx
www.microsoft.com/downloads/ru-ru/details.aspx?familyid=2b1504e6-0bf1-46da-be0e-85cc792c6b9d
privacy.microsoft.com/ru-ru/default.mspx
If you have any questions, please contact our information center.

I: Good afternoon

I ask for a link to a specific item of the license agreement, which requires all the documents you specified for _activation_ of the subscription.
I still see the requirement of proof of purchase only for the case of return of the product.

In response, they only send the same links. All my subsequent inquiries (a total of 7 letters during our 3-week correspondence) ended with the same links or “All the information and conditions necessary for activation were provided to you by e-mail.”.

That's all

Of course, I’m not particularly worried about my “prize”, gifts — sometimes they are otdarki. And the conclusions from the situation are simple - if you buy Microsoft products (and software in general) - all the evidence of the purchase is kept by you, keep it forever. I naively thought that I received the box / serial by mail - that's all, it's yours. But no.

Well, now I don’t know what else you can expect from them in the future :-)

Update: Mission accomplished!