Amazon US Refunds Windows License Fee, Too 284
rrohbeck writes "Today Amazon credited my card with $65.45. After ordering an Eee PC 1005 HA from amazon.com, I asked them for a refund for the cost of Windows XP via the 'Contact us' form. At first they told me to cancel any items on my order that I wanted a refund for, but after I explained that XP was pre-installed on the machine they got it. They asked what the cost of the OS was, and I answered that I had no idea but that Amazon UK refunded £40.00. Within a few hours I got a response saying 'I've requested a refund of $65.45 to your Visa card.' Somehow I doubt that Amazon will charge Asus or even Microsoft, but maybe they will one day if more people do this. Oh, and peeling off the 'Designed for Microsoft Windows XP' sticker is easy, too."
but will they sell you XP for the $65? (Score:3, Interesting)
But the real question is, can you call 'em up today and order a XP license for the same $65?
Re:get a brain, moron! (Score:2, Interesting)
I could not quite understand what you are trying to say. If your point is that rrohbeck should have sucked it up and not asked for a refund, then, sorry, it is you who is the moron. Why should someone pay for something they do not want if there is an option to get their money back?
To give you the obligatory car analogy: Imagine $carmanifacturer bundles a TomTom nav with any car sale by default. You do not want the TomTom, either because you already have one or because you can get a different nav somewhere else for a better price. Would you suck it up and pay for the TomTom that you have no use for, or would you try to negotiate with the sales rep?
Do they cancel the WGA key? (Score:2, Interesting)
Or do you get the refund and the option to continue to use the OS? Surely Amazon isn't tied all the way back through ASUS to Microsoft's licensing servers.
Re:Dell's pricing (Score:4, Interesting)
What's interesting is I recently picked up a Dell mini (10v) with Ubuntu pre-installed, and the price was the exact same as the one that came with XP pre-installed.
I just read somewhere that the average cost of a single customer support call to Dell and likes is higher than what they pay MS for OEM Windows. And when selling Linux to 'the masses', more people call support (why doesn't app/game/gadget work, etc). This is one of the main reasons why many vendors selling Linux netbooks stopped and switched to XP after high return and support rates, not some vast conspiracy, but economics.
There should never be an OS charge (Score:5, Interesting)
As a Linux user I don't understand why I'd pay someone to hit next 4 times and partitioning a drive which a 5 year old could do. Even when I talked to Dell they only offered to install the "Big" Linux names.
If I'm going to buy a notebook then I want to make sure it comes unbundled and with a clean HDD so I can put what I need onto it. The problem is I can't seem to get any one to send me a blank notebook that I can install a proper OS to, if I spend the 100 dollar software package bundle then I'll wipe the notebook when I get it wasting the 100 dollars, but when I tell the computer store / company I'm going to wipe it so don't sell me the bundle they tell me they can't.
Does anyone else have this problem?
Since when (Score:0, Interesting)
Since when can you buy an item with manufacture specs and then refund part of the item for cash? Nobody made the mistake you ordered knowing it was one there. What the hell? Can i order the laptop and mail back just the hard drive because i own one already? Amazon is retarded for letting you get away with this, and your an ass for even asking in the first place
Re:Still not progress (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Like everything else (Score:3, Interesting)
Why would I want yet another XP license? Sell it? I'd rather tell people to install Ubuntu; they'll be grateful in the end. Especially XP Home with the latest WGA - I have several old XP Pro licenses from laptops that I converted. Anybody who has been around for a while must have XP licenses coming out their ears.
I'd be happy if Amazon set up a process where you have to return the license sticker for the refund.
Re:I bet you could sell it to someone else for mor (Score:1, Interesting)
-or- you could just write down the model information next to the COA sticker... "ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-P". When the drone on the phone asks what you've got, tell them it's that... they can't tell the difference. You're installing from OEM media since you lost the original media. Their database gives them almost no info. They can't and won't say anything except "here's your activation code".
Re:Like everything else (Score:3, Interesting)
Most people are perfectly comfortable with Windows.
If the word gets out that you can take off $65 of the laptop price by calling Amazon and asking for a refund without anyone actually checking that you are not using your Windows license, more people will start doing exactly that. That is when Amazon will come up with a better process for handling Windows refunds.