Well, @Outlook managed to brick my mom’s account by insisting she provide a code sent via SMS to her landline. Apparently, no one at Microsoft considered what happens if the phone number doesn’t get text messages. 1/5

They offer an alternative recovery flow, but despite entering all correct information it resulted in Microsoft rejecting the recovery. 2/5

But wait, there’s yet another recovery flow. But it refuses to send the code to the alternative email account. Can’t proceed further, so account recovery failed. I don’t see any other way to proceed. 3/5

My mom’s email account of 20+ years is now unusable despite her having the correct credentials. My mom asked me if there’s a number she can call. There is not. Instead, you can log on for help, which doesn’t work if that’s your issue. Even if you could, they can’t help. 4/5