French Judge Orders Refund For Pre-Installed XP

Racketiciel writes "A French user asked for a refund after buying an ASUS computer that came with Windows XP and other software pre-installed. ASUS tried to apply a procedure which cost more money to the consumer than they will give back... The court ruled in favor of the user, who received back 130 Euro (~200 $) for the software. Here is the ruling (PDF, French). In France, this is the fourth victory for refund seekers during the last two years, and many people are now filing for refunds (in French). Two French associations (AFUL and April) published a press release on this victory the same day an important hearing happened." The English-language press release linked above gives a pretty good idea of what happened here, for those unsuited to wading through French.

Comments

How does this make sense?

[Robert1]

To me this feels like she bought a car with power windows and AC then went back to the place that sold her the vehicle and forced them to take out the parts. Not only that but then pay her money for the value of window motors and air-conditioning as if they had been bought separately. She knew what came with it when she bought it, why should the company be forced to refund those features she later decided she no longer needed?

Its not like there aren't other computers on the market without those features.

Re:How does this make sense?

[TheVelvetFlamebait]

What a great idea. Just tell them "we want computers, and we want them for free!" When they say no, just force 'em! What could possibly go wrong?

Re:French

[iNaya]

But... all those stereotypes are mostly true. What was your point?

Re:French

[Architect_sasyr]

The point is that the French being afraid/surrendering is a long running joke. I'd suggest the joke has its origins in the take-over of France in BOTH world wars, as well as the cowardliness shown by the French against the German's.

There was an Australian (I think) commander who said something along the lines of "I'd rather have 3 German Divisions in front of me than 1 French Division behind me". Of course that could just be a joke buried deep in my psyche (German Blood) but there it is.

Re:Just a thought.

[lilfields]

I was thinking the same thing, she bought the computer knowing that it came with XP installed. How does that grant her rights to a refund? It would be like someone suing Dell or Hewlett Packard for having Windows Mobile 6 on their PDAs and getting a refund for the software because you could run Linux on that; or Suing Motorola for having Blackberry software installed on the Pearl when they could run Windows 6...after they bought the product. Those are hypothetical...but it's the same logic. What a ridiculous ruling, I thought France was going to be less anti-Business after their newest President Sarkozy...I guess he can't control the courts from being retarded. ASUS is the one taking the loss, not Microsoft, the license had already been sold, if I was ASUS I would tell France to go screw themselves if they are this business-stupid.

Re:French

[mgblst]

Sweden was the one that actually surrendered without even putting up a fight. They were completely gutless.

There is nothing wrong with surrendering when you are hopelessly outnumbered (or picked a wrong strategy, as in the Frenchies case - Maginot Line), or not going to a fight for stupid reasons that you can't win(iraq).

Re:It never ends, does it?

[easyTree]

No tolerance for American humor?

I just don't find a pile of naked iraqies all that funny :(

btw, fuck you and your president :D

*dodges 'accidental' friendly fire*