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Trying to buy a PC without Windows part 5 – Acer, the most shameful response so far

ByGarf

On 2009-11-26, I wrote to Acer UK to establish what its policy was regarding the Microsoft Tax. This was its response:-

Hello, Thank you for contacting Acer.

Regarding your enquiry,

The value would be £33.95 for vista home premium.

This can only be refunded within 30 days of purchase and to get it
refunded you would need to send the laptop into the acer repair centre
to have the HDD formatted.  This would not be covered under warranty so
would cost £51.99.

Regards
Jonathan
Acer Technical Support Team

This is one of the most shameful responses so far and justifies raising the matter with the OFT all on its own. In a nutshell, it means you would end up paying Acer £18.04 in order not to pay the Microsoft Windows Tax. Interestingly, having studied the MS EULA(s) carefully I can find no reference to any of this.

Acer’s Penguin Rating

Marks out of five for Acer’s customer care.
(By rights, this ought to be a negative number, consdering Acer actually tries to charge you in order to exercise your consumer rights.)		 Penguin nil-points graphic Penguin nil-points graphic Penguin nil-points graphic Penguin nil-points graphic Penguin nil-points graphic
Marks out of 5 for Acer’s penguin-friendliness Penguin nil-points graphic Penguin nil-points graphic Penguin nil-points graphic Penguin nil-points graphic Penguin nil-points graphic
Overall rating 0/10 = avoid!

 

I have written back to Acer UK, requesting that it points me to the part(s) in the Microsoft EULA that say you need to return the machine and that the hard drive would need to be formatted in order to claim your consumer rights, and that you would be charged for doing so. I eagerly await its response.