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Microsoft Asks For a Refund From Laid-Off Workers [updated]
An anonymous reader writes "The large print giveth, the small print taketh away. Microsoft, which recently laid off 1400 employees, is now claiming that some of those lucky schmoes were inadvertently overpaid on their severance package. A letter from the company, which was subsequently circulated on the internet, states: 'We ask that you repay the overpayment and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience to you.' Microsoft has confirmed the authenticity of the letter, but it's not known what the amounts in question are, or how many of the 1400 were affected." Update: 02/24 14:00 GMT by T : VinylRecords writes "Well, now Microsoft has recanted, saying that the situation has resulted in unfortunate amounts of bad press and public relations. 'This was a mistake on our part,' said a Microsoft spokesman in an e-mailed statement. 'We should have handled this situation in a more thoughtful manner.'"
What if they agree to use their severance to buy Vista: Ultimate Edition?
(-1, Raw and Uncut is the only way to read)
there is NO WAY I would consider paying that back until I get a letter from a lawyer.
You mean like this one?
What do you mean it's in my contract? You mean that 50 page thing full of legal jargon? Who has time to read that? I just scrolled down and clicked "I accept."
"By the time they had diminished from 50 to 8, the other dwarves began to suspect 'Hungry.'" -Gary Larson
Or better yet: "Dear Steve Ballmer, Please accept this drawing of a 7-legged spider..."
I understand completely then. Sometimes I find Excel gives me non-trivial rounding errors too.
You probably have some things to learn about zealotry. In a case like this, you should jump at the chance to not come to microsofts defense, Anonymous Coward. ...if that even is your real name.
When you train the people in payroll to keep clicking "Allow".
Nah, I bet their accounting staff are using Excel, and came across another bug such as this one.
Another funny one would be if everyone that's been forced to 'buy' a microsoft OS when they bought a laptop on which they intend to install l00nix were to ask for a refund.
Requiem for the American Dream
Dear Microsoft,
It has recently come to my attention that I have needlessly paid licensing fees for multiple OEM licenses relating to use your Windows computer operating system (hereafter referred to as "malware").
I have upon many occassions purchased a computer from a vendor who is in the unfortunate position of being a Microsoft partner. Microsoft has continually discouraged its OEM partners from shipping "naked" (sans operating system) PCs. This has led to the situation where I, as both a consumer and business purchaser of laptop, desktop and server class computer hardware, often find it difficult to avoid paying licensing fees relating to your Malware when I order a new system. This is troubling since I neither want to run, nor to purchase a license enabling me to run your malware.
Furthermore, I have suffered financially for many years as a result of your Malware being installed on the majority of desktop computers. Many of my web site customers are infected with a specific bundled component of your malware ("Internet Explorer"). Supporting this doubles the development and maintainance cost of my companies web site.
I ask that you refund my overpayment on unwanted licenses for your malware and make a further payment in respect of losses incurred by my company due to the "Internet Explorer" component of your malware. The net amount you owe to myself is $60,000 payable by check or money order within 14 days.
Thanks,
Anonymous Coward
c/o slashdot.org
It looks like your trying to reclaim an overpayment. Shall I :
- Appropriate an arbitrary amount?
- Send out a legal notice?
- Leverage it as a condition of potential re-employment?
It's not just the military. A professor I worked with in college once started getting his entire annual salary on each monthly check. It took him and the department accountant three months of arguing with the university to get it straightened out.
... Holiday pay charges you!
But they overpaid them by giving them copies of XP.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
Generally you do have an obligation to return someone else's property that accidentally came into your possession. You'd be guilty of theft if you knowingly kept it despite knowing that it came into your possession by accident
i will refer you to the finders keepers losers weepers rule which obviously states that this is not true.
http://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
I thought the private sector was supposed to be better at this stuff than the government.
Once upon a time, microsoft.com was running on Apache.... =)
"I am an Adept of Tantric VAX."
The affected employees should repay Microsoft in the form of coupons that Microsoft can exchange for their services in the future.
That was no accident, it's part of the stimulus package.
It might be bad PR, but why is it bad morals?
it's a slippery slope. one day you're overpaying employees you've fired, the next day you're stabbing hobos to death.
I initially read that as "furries", which made this article VERY disturbing...
ROMANES EUNT DOMUS
...YOU pay Microsoft severance!
You should have got your cat to accept for you.
While you were working out how much money M$ wanted back, I was wondering how many people were going to take this opportunity to poop in a box and send it to that address in ND. Nice job, by the way.
The cancel button is your friend. Do not hesitate to use it.
When's it going to declare itself Comrade Adam Selene and help us plan the Revolution?
Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.