Microsoft 365 Outage Credits: What Your Business Should Ask Its IT Provider

When email stops working, a business does not simply pause.

Customer questions wait. Quotes get delayed. Employees spend time figuring out whether a message went through instead of doing their jobs.

The Microsoft 365 disruption on November 12 and 13 was a reminder of how much everyday work depends on cloud services. Microsoft has now marked the broad incident as restored. Its incident report identified an infrastructure issue associated with network changes, rather than malicious activity. Microsoft incident advisory, reproduced by the University of Pennsylvania

As businesses catch up, there is another question worth asking:

Does your organization qualify for a Microsoft service credit, and has someone started the request?

A service credit is possible, but it is not automatic

Microsoft’s Online Services agreement sets service-specific performance commitments. If the applicable commitment is not met, an eligible customer can submit a claim for review.

A credit is not reimbursement for lost sales, staff time or every cost of an outage. It applies to eligible service fees, and Microsoft determines whether the claim qualifies. The applicable service, measured impact and agreement matter. Microsoft Online Services SLA

“Microsoft had an outage” does not automatically mean every business receives the same credit. Nor does submitting a request mean the credit has been approved.

What Schilling IT has already done

At Schilling IT, we have already submitted service-credit requests on behalf of affected partners.

Those are submitted requests, not announced approvals. Microsoft still has to review them and determine the outcome.

For us, this is part of looking after the relationship beyond the immediate technical problem. Helping a business through an outage should include the follow-through, not just a message saying the service is working again.

A credit may be modest compared with the disruption. It is still worth checking rather than leaving the question unanswered.

Start with the company that supplies your Microsoft licenses

The right claim route depends on how your organization purchases Microsoft 365.

If you buy through an IT provider or Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider, start there. Microsoft accepts CSP credit requests from direct and indirect providers, not indirect resellers, so a reseller may need to work through its distributor.

Microsoft’s CSP guidance also asks for evidence of actual customer impact and the customer’s request for credit. An incident appearing in a dashboard alone is not enough. Microsoft’s CSP credit-request guidance

If you purchase directly from Microsoft, your Microsoft 365 administrator should raise the claim with Microsoft support under the applicable agreement.

The practical question is simple: Who owns the request, and how will we know what happens next?

Keep the details while they are fresh

Before the outage disappears into last week’s to-do list, collect a short record:

• Which employees or locations experienced problems?
• What could they not do?
• When did the disruption begin and end for your business?
• Which support tickets, error messages or incident notices document the problem?

Your provider should connect those details to the relevant Microsoft incident and subscription. Don’t assume your company was affected for the entire duration reported in the news. Document what actually happened to your team.

There is a deadline

Under the current Microsoft Online Services SLA, non-Azure claims and required information must reach Microsoft by the end of the calendar month after the incident month.

For a November 2026 incident, that means December 31, 2026, under those terms. Your provider should verify the agreement covering your subscription and any earlier cutoff it needs to process the claim. Microsoft Online Services SLA

Our recommendation: start now, not during the holiday week at the end of December.

Ask your IT provider these three questions

1. Have you checked whether our business qualifies for a credit?
2. Has a request been submitted, and do you need anything from us?
3. How will you confirm the decision and any credit applied?

An outage is also a good time to review your communication plan. How will employees receive updates if email is unavailable? Who will notify customers about delays? Which tasks can continue safely?

A credit will not prevent the next disruption. Clear ownership and a practical plan can make the next one less chaotic.

Affected by the outage and unsure where to start? Contact Schilling IT. We’ll help you understand the next step.