I’ve been a linux user for quite a while now. I looked to buy a netbook without Windows on it, but due to market conditions, that did not seem possible.
Based on this slashdot article, I went ahead and ordered the same item. (see my report on it here)
The first conversation was over the phone, which did not get me anywhere.
I had better luck over email. They offered me a refund of 10% on the price of the netbook, along with keeping Windows on it.
I however, asked again pointing to the slashdot article and after that they refunded me the price of Windows XP according to the article: $65.45
Thank you amazon for being so awesome!
Creative Commons
I think it’s weird that they offered you a 10% refund with the ability to keep Windows. Did they think you were complaining about the netbook’s price?
Martey
No. I think it would have been worth for them to offer me a reduced price. If I returned the product, they would incur costs in terms of restocking, and taking a loss by reselling a used product.
robotgeek
That’s great!
It seems as though Amazon are listening in many circumstances. Since my post on this a few weeks ago (http://www.theopensourcerer.com/2009/07/21/getting-your-microsoft-tax-refunded-1010-for-amazon-uk/) several others have reported success.
Unfortunately there have been some situations where a request for a refund has fallen on deaf ears (http://www.theopensourcerer.com/2009/07/30/taxing-times-for-free-choice/).
But I think the trend is definitely going in the right direction.
Keep up the pressure. There is now a rumour that Asus are to re-introduce Linux on their products… http://www.i4u.com/article26266.html
FYI – I installed Karmic my 1008HA and it’s great.
The Open Sourcerer
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