On Sun, May 18, 2008 at 11:48 AM, Praveen A wrote: > Looks like I have to keep forwarding :-( Interesting observation from ilugc.
Thank you. Is there anything that I can do to help? > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Kapil Hari Paranjape <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: 2008/5/17 > Subject: Re: [Ilugc] Fwd: [ilugd] M$ Tax Refund Quest > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [snip] > > If you want to buy a high-end laptop then your best option is to ask > for a Windows refund from the manufacturer _after_ buying the machine > as the member of ilugd is doing. > > You need to be quite careful to ensure that the EULA is not > accepted. Often the vendor will _helpfully_ unpack and install the > system for you and click through the EULA acceptance. It is not clear > that this acceptance is legally binding on you. Its not even clear > what the Indian courts think about click-through licenses! I think both Microsoft and OEMs are trying to take advantage of docile/unaware Indian consumers. How? Because Microsoft has a very clear refund policy for their North American customers. (see: http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/productrefund/refund.mspx) No similar policy exists on their Indian website or for Indian consumers. And for preloaded copies Microsoft has left the decision to OEMs. Lenovo has not published any refund policy on their website (I did search) and conveniently rejected the refund request by saying that their refund policy is not to refund! This is outrageous and unacceptable and has to be against some law. > I think that our best hope is to convince the manufacturers that > these are a few isolated cases and it is simplest for them to settle > the amount whenever it is asked for. You can also argue that if a > large number of people are asking for the refund it means that they > should drop condition (a) above. > > This is only one aspect of the "Microsoft Eco-System". I just hope Indian government and law is not part of this ecosystem. And I also hope the law has enough teeth to ensure that consumers are protected against such unfair practices. -- Manish _______________________________________________ ilugd mailinglist -- ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org http://frodo.hserus.net/mailman/listinfo/ilugd Next Event: http://freed.in - February 22-24, 2008 Archives at: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.user-groups.linux.delhi http://www.mail-archive.com/ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org/