Dell Refunding Windows Costs?

[David Bandel]

On 3/26/07, Matthew Carpenter <mcarpenter at intelguardians.com> wrote:
> +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
> | Dell Refunds Vista/Works With Two Emails                           |
> |   from the try-this-at-home dept.                                  |
> |   posted by kdawson on Sunday March 25, @16:59 (Windows)           |
> |   http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/03/25/1944209        |
> +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
>
> [0]look at thealternative.ch writes "Although many people have [1]asked for
> pre-installed Linux, and [2]Dell seems to have listened, some still think
> that [3]buying a naked PC won't be easy. But what about stripping it
> naked after you buy it? I managed to get Windows Vista (and a bit more)
> refunded from Dell Germany last week. The process was surprisingly
> simple: 1) After delivery, ask Dell Support for refund by email. 2) ???
> 3) Refund!!! Read the full email conversation in the [4]original German
> or my [5]English translation. For the impatient reader: The refund is
> ???77.54 for Windows Vista Home Basic plus Works 8.0 (that is 15% of the
> total amount I paid). The whole process took 2 emails, 2 more to say
> thank you, and less than 48 hours. The money is already in my account.
> Kudos to Dell Customer Care (esp. 'Veronika') for being efficient and
> customer-oriented!"
>
> Discuss this story at:
>     http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/03/25/1944209
>
> Links:
>     0. http://www.thealternative.ch/
>     1. http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/19/2212213&tid=163
>     2. http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/03/13/1935222&tid=187
>     3. http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/03/16/1955241&tid=187
>     4. http://www.thealternative.ch/tiki-index.php?page=Software-Refund-de
>     5. http://www.thealternative.ch/tiki-index.php?page=Software-Refund-en
>

This is certainly _very_ different from previous responses I received
from Dell telling me:
1.  If I didn't want the software, I'd have to return the hardware.
(Meaning they've illegally tied the hardware to the software, but
since I don't have millions to spend suing them, I'm SOL.)
2.  We can't tell you how much you paid for M$ Windoze. (see comment above)
3.  M$ must refund your money.
Of course M$ said:  Dell must refund your money since you bought the
(refused) license from them.
4.  No software, no warrantee (we only fix hardware w/ Windoze
installed) -- although as a corporate customer I could just tell them
what was broken and get that component sent to me w/ the return of the
broken one.
5.  We don't support Linux. (I never asked them to, just support their
hardware, but they don't seem able to separate the two -- see comment
on para 1 above.)

I will try the same on my next Dell purchase, although somehow I don't
think US or Latin American customers will be treated the same as
European customers.

Ciao,

David A. Bandel
-- 
Focus on the dream, not the competition.
            - Nemesis Air Racing Team motto