715-xxxxxx code when assigning SPD Developer and Azure benefits

Hi all!

We recently renewed our Solutions Partner Designation which includes some cloud licenses, developer (visual studio) licenses and azure credits.

From the partner center we did not have any issues adding the cloud licenses. However, both the developer and azure benefits are giving us the following error when attempting to assign them.

Some users, entities, and locations are restricted from using certain Microsoft services. For this reason, leveraging anonymizing or location hiding technologies (such as VPN, virtual machine, Internet tracking blocking, etc.) when connecting to these services is not allowed. If you are using one of these technologies, you'll need to disable/change your settings to gain access. If you believe you encountered this problem without one of those causes, please wait 24 hours and try again. If the issue persists, contact our support team and reference the below message code and transaction ID. We will engage a team of ex-perts that will help verify your account. Code: 715-123160

NOTE: Hyphen added because that phrase is not permitted in the forum

I opened a support ticket and after about 24h I received the following response from partner support as my ticket was closed:

I am writing to formally inform you that, following the escalation of your case and a comprehensive review conducted by a higher‑tier security team, a final determination has been issued. The official statement is as follows: 

“Thank you for your interest in the Microsoft partner program. We are committed to ethical and responsible business practices, as noted in the Partner Code of Conduct. Following an in-depth review of your case, we are unable to unblock your account” 

This resolution is definite and irrevocable. Accordingly, no further actions, reviews or exceptions are available in relation to this case.

We understand that this determination may have operational or business implications, and we sincerely acknowledge the impact this may have. Please note that the decision was made in full adherence to established security policies and applicable procedures.

At this stage, our role is to keep you informed of the results of the investigation. Based on the final determination, no additional actions can be taken, so this case will now be closed. If you re-open the case it will give you the same answer. 

We truly appreciate your understanding and cooperation throughout this process.

I reached out to another member of the Partner Support team and learned it is normal for this canned response to be sent out, and a few days later for the block to be removed. I also got the impression that opening another ticket and requesting re-escalation could be helpful to us...

The response we received does not provide us with any details on how Microsoft determined our accounts are not permitted to activate these benefits or how to correct the issue. It suggests we are in violation of... something. But we aren't permitted to know what we did wrong and there is no way to clear up the misunderstanding.

This is not the kind of language I would expect to receive from Microsoft as a valued partner. Especially not when they are looking for my understanding and cooperation through this process. I'm sure it's all a big misunderstanding and we could find a mutually satisfactory resolution if given a chance!

While I felt bad giving the partner support ticket a 1 star survey response, because I know they have no control over how the security team handles this type of issue. On the other hand, the ticket survey is intended to collect feedback about my experience, and that experience had a lot of room for improvement!

Does anyone know what may have caused our partner accounts to be blocked by the partner security team? We work all over the US and we also use cloud PCs to login to various Microsoft platforms. We don't use any VPNs or location blocking features, so my best guess the azure VMs might be the underlying issue.