Comments on: Pressure Mounts on Windows Tax? [Update]

By: Amazon Germany refuses to refund Windows License Fee (Windows Tax) - blog.portblue.de

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 12:42:51 +0000

[...] in the product price. Not many people know this, but getting a refund on the Windows-tax has been a hot issue in the Open Source community for a few years now. Amazon UK, Amazon US and various European Amazon branches have refunded [...]

By: New PC? Don't Want Windows? Hate Cartels? Take a Letter - GUVNR

New PC? Don't Want Windows? Hate Cartels? Take a Letter - GUVNR — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 09:42:13 +0000

[...] I came across this post from one of my haunts, The Open Sourceror, and subsequently this wiki piece from the [...]

By: Alan Lord

Alan Lord — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:47:49 +0000

@Mike,

Thanks for the post and do report back how you get on. Did you try the retailer before going to MSI? If so what was the retailer’s position?

Cheers

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:44:09 +0000

I am just starting on this process myself. The machine is an MSI Wind netbook. It seemed to be promising when I contacted MSI about it and got answers about who to phone, email etc. I then received an email saying that it would be a long process, going fro mSI Europe to China, then Microsoft in China, then to Microsoft US and back again, possibly taking 4 to 8 months, and would only be likely to be worth 15 to 25 USD.
As they appear to be trying to put me off, I will follow this through just be awkward! Will post updates as and when.

By: the_guv

the_guv — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 07:33:22 +0000

well, i bought a new machine last week, nicely gparted/ubuntu’d .. you inspired me!

”
Dear Sir/Madam,

Having bought a laptop computer from one of your shops in Valencia last Saturday, 6 days ago, I wish to enquire as to the correct procedure to request a refund, please.

The computer itself, a HP Pavillion DV2-1140es, is satisfactory. However, it came with what, one might say, may be loosely described as an operating system, Microsoft Windows Vista, and it is this element that I would like to return.

Then again, “would like to return” is not always possible, with Microsoft-bundled computers ..

I would be happy to return the application to you but, for reasons beyond my comprehension, it did not ship with an installation disk. I can, however, provide its serial number, together with the sticker on the bottom of the machine. Of course, it would be destructive to remove the Windows key from the keyboard, but really I think that is part of the hardware and, sure, can be reconfigured to useful effect.

Thank you for your assistance in this matter. I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,
”

.. Will let you know.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:03:33 +0000

I wrote to the OFT, rather than repeat their reply here look at http://www.theopensourcerer.com/2009/07/21/getting-your-microsoft-tax-refunded-1010-for-amazon-uk/comment-page-2/#comment-11237

By: TT Mooney

TT Mooney — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:20:42 +0000

So, when I saw your first post, I immediately contacted Amazon about a refund on my Asus 1000HE. The order was a bit old, but I figured it would either work or not. They immediately replied, kicking me back to Asus support.

I let it sit for a while, until I saw mention of The Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations 2002. I replied, some weeks late, and invoked both that weighty legislation, along with the need of goods to be fit for purpose. I also offered to return the unit outright if they felt they could not comply with statutory law. Again, I thought it would go nowhere.

To my pleasant surprise, they have just offered me a £40 refund. Now to go back and find the order number for my EEEPc 900….

Thanks for the blog, and the legwork.

By: s j west

s j west — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 16:04:34 +0000

amazon.co.uk informed me this in a presales enquiry

“I can understand windows XP license is not needed, please be informed that we do not have the option to send the ASUS Eee PC Netbook without XP preloaded and refund for that.”

A linux version of the eeepc from them is listed on the site but appears to be continually ‘out of stock’ and this appears to be the avoidance device that they will use not to give british clients a windows tax refund.

I decided not to purchase from them.

By: bahaltener

bahaltener — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:13:28 +0000

You can add known cases to Wikipedia here, to make it more accessible to general public:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_refund#License_refund_cases

By: Michel and Patrick

Michel and Patrick — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 08:49:13 +0000

We have started an on line petition recently which will be sent the EU community at the beginning of October 2009. We hope we can gather enough signatures of our petition which you can find at :

http://www.softwarepushers.com

We want to direct the EU Commission to the fact that there’s no uniform OEM and OEM-free policy in Europe. Even more, that in some member states bare computers can be sold, in others not. And that e.g. you can buy a Netbook (this is just an example) with Linux preloaded on it, which you can not do in the Benelux.

Also, and most important, even though it is stated in the OEM license agreement, you can not yet get a refund of OEM pre-installed software if you wish so.

I hope you and your readers can give is some more exposure.