[Dclug] Can we get our money back if we say no to the license agreement

[Janina Sajka]

Tim writes:
> > Does anyone know what we are entitled to if we dont agree to the EULA terms?
> > If so what do we need to do to get money back.
> 
> There was an article linked to from slashdot a while back (a year or
> more) which described how a guy bought a laptop, said "no" to the XP
> license agreement, and followed the directions provided in that
> agreement to get his money back from the PC distributor.  They refused
> to refund him.  He complained to managers up the chain and they
> eventually sent him a check for $10.  Yup, $10.  He took the check and
> then filed a small claims suit against them to get the full list price
> ($200 off the shelf at the time).  He eventually won the suit and was
> reimbursed for court costs. 
> 
> But short of doing that, if a company says they won't refund you for the
> software (which they are probably legally obligated to do, though that
> may have changed in the last few years), you probably won't get it out
> of them.  I would imagine some PC distributors are less hellish to work
> with on this issue.
> 
> Good luck in your quest to buck the Microsoft tax,


I just had a laptop die on me, so had to shop quickly for a replacement.
I found what I wanted at an excellent price on Ebay--from a "Power
Seller" with a 100% satisfaction rating. So far, I concur in that
rating, but I've had to swallow very hard to agree to the tax.

In my case I'm upgrading the hd so asked my seller to simply skip
flashing my hd with an OS. Oh, and could I just not buy the license that
went along with his default OS? It's a Lenovo, so maybe he had Suse
available instead? If he had to sell me an OS?

Long story short, The Microsoft license key is affixed to the bottom of
the laptop and cannot be removed. I went along with it because a similar
system from Emporer Linux is almost $1000 more.

Looks to me like Henry Ford's user choice policy lives on. You really
can have any laptop you want as long as you want Microsoft--or maybe are
just willing to pay through the nose. We'll see whether or not mine
arrives flashed. I do understand it will arrive with Vista on media
whose shrinkwrap will remain unopened, of course.

Wonder whether I have any recourse? Probably not as that sticker on my
laptop will work via whatever Ms media I might choose to use in the
future--never mind the liklihood I would actually do such a thing.

Janina


OS. 
> tim
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Janina Sajka,	Phone:	+1.202.595.7777;	sip:janina at a11y.org
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