Microsoft 365 Users Can Claim Outage Credits as Outlook and Exchange Go Down for Hours, Here's How to Get Compensation

Microsoft’s ongoing nationwide Microsoft 365 outage could leave businesses with more than lost working hours. Some affected customers may also qualify for service credits. However, getting compensation isn’t automatic, and the amount depends on Microsoft’s service-level agreement.

Microsoft’s outage could mean money back for businesses

As we mentioned in our detailed reports, Microsoft 365 services have been experiencing hours of service degradation starting yesterday, which resulted in Outlook, Teams, Copilot, OneDrive, Exchange Online, SharePoint, and other services going down and not working for thousands of users. Microsoft acknowledged infrastructure issues and said unexpectedly unavailable servers strained its remaining systems. But did you know Microsoft 365 users can get compensation out of it?

Well, as detailed in Windows Latest’s report, Microsoft’s April 2026 volume licensing agreement outlines three service-credit levels for Exchange Online. Customers may qualify for a 25% credit when monthly uptime falls below 99.9%. That rises to 50% below 99% uptime, and 100% below 95%.

That 100% figure sounds substantial, but it doesn’t mean Microsoft will refund an entire subscription. Credits apply to eligible service fees for the affected service. Microsoft also calculates downtime using affected user-minutes, rather than simply counting the total outage duration.

How businesses can request Microsoft outage credits

Customers who purchased Microsoft 365 directly can open a support request through the Microsoft 365 admin center. They should explain the outage and request an SLA credit review. Including incident IDs, affected services, timestamps, and screenshots may help support the claim.

Customers purchasing through resellers or Cloud Solution Providers should contact their providers. The news outlet also notes that requests must be submitted within one month after the affected billing month ends. Personal Outlook.com accounts generally aren’t covered by these business agreements, though.

That being said, eligibility isn’t guaranteed. Businesses will need Microsoft to assess their individual service availability and claim.