Is Obtaining a Windows Refund Still Difficult?

Bubblehead asks: "A few years ago, everybody was talking about returning their copy of Windows to receive a refund. I plan on buying a Laptop shortly, and most manufacturers still insist on shipping it with some version of Windows. I was wondering what the state of the affairs is - there isn't that much information on the net. The most prominent piece of information is this 2003 Linux Journal Report outlining how the author had to go to small claims court to receive a refund. Any experiences - especially with vendors that do not offer an alternative?"

Comments

Your journey starts here

[Kimos]

Never had the chance to do it myself since I build all my own systems. I've kept this in my Bookmarks for some time though:
www.windowsrefund.org

(In the title bar it says windowsrefund.net, but that site times out. Don't know what that's all about...)

Article Text

[Anonymous Coward]

Can't get Coral Cache or Mirrodot. Google cache turned up this result:

http://216.239.59.104/search?hl=en&q=cache%3Ahtt p% 3A%2F%2Fwww.linuxjournal.com%2Farticle%2F7040

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Getting a Windows Refund in California Small Claims Court
By Steve Oualline on Tue, 2003-07-29 23:00.
Thanks to good records and a Small Claims judge, Steve Oualline got a $199 refund for his unused copy of Microsoft Windows XP. One Linux user's story shows how to establish a good refund case.

Getting a Microsoft Windows refund from a manufacturer is seldom easy to do. In this article, I describe some techniques you can use to get your refund, including how to deal with the manufacturers (and all their excuses) and going to small claims court.

The first step to getting a refund is to ask for one. In most every case, you immediately hit a wall of stupidity and evasion when you do this. Dealing with this part properly is important, though, because you are building a record for the court case that may follow. Your job is to be as reasonable as possible and to make them look as dumb, inflexible and unreasonable as possible.

It's important to know what excuses the manufactures will come up with and how to counter them.

Excuse: You aren't entitled to a refund.

Answer: Then why did the software come with a license that said I was. Isn't the license a binding contract?

Excuse: Contact Microsoft about the refund.

Answer: The license said contact the manufacturer. That's you. Why should I contact Microsoft when they said to contact you?

Excuse: The software comes bundled with the hardware and can't be separated.

Answer: Then why did you give me a license that said they could?

Excuse: We'll give you a refund, but not for the retail price.

Answer: I paid retail for the computer and the software.

Excuse: The software is only worth $10.

Answer: Okay. Send me the check.

Although this doesn't look like it, you've won a major victory with these words--that check is written evidence of the fact that the manufacturer owes you a refund. If you go to court, you don't have to establish that the company owes you something. All you have to do is establish the amount.

But before you do that, you should follow up with the company. There are several ways of doing this.

Follow up #1: I got your check for $10. You say Windows XP costs only $10, so I'd like to buy 100 copies please. To whom do I make out the check for $1000?

You won't sell me Windows XP for $10? I'll have to pay $199 for it? Then that means the check you sent me is too low. Please send me a check for the full amount.

Follow up #2: I got your check for $10. But your $10 price is far lower that the retail price of Windows XP ($199). Because of the vast difference in the amounts, I'm going to have to ask you for a copy of your purchase contract with Microsoft so I can verify the price.

You can't verify the price. Well, I can only find one documented price and that's $199. You'll have to pay that amount or document your price.

One company tried this excuse with me. When I asked for documentation, the customer service representative said, "I don't have access to price information".

"Then how did you come up with the $10 price figure?"

"I just know it's the right amount."

"So what you are really doing is guessing. Well, my guess is the software is worth $1,000,000. Tell you what, let's split the difference. Send me a check for $500,005."

Excuse: We'll give you a refund but that applies to only Microsoft Windows, not the other bundled software.

Answer: No problem. Please provide me with a copy of all the other software on another disk so I can install it under Linux using the Wine program.

In all of these cases, follow up the phone conversation with a writ

Not the point - think licenses

[Lifewish]

So the guy buys this laptop. However, at this point in time he hasn't accepted the Microsoft EULA for the operating system. This EULA specifically states: "YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS EULA BY INSTALLING, COPYING, OR OTHERWISE USING THE PRODUCT. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE, DO NOT INSTALL OR USE THE PRODUCT; YOU MAY RETURN IT TO YOUR PLACE OF PURCHASE FOR A FULL REFUND."

If he hasn't agreed, he can return it for a full refund. If no-one is willing to give him a refund then Microsoft is in breach of its own license.

OT: if MS has breached its requirements to a person, is that person then justified in breaching his/her requirements? For example, the one about not decompiling. Just a thought.