[clug] Windows Tax refund and ASUS

[Nathan Rickerby]

On Wed, Jun 10, 2009 at 02:35:14PM +1000, Andrew Janke wrote:
> Anyone been successful at getting anything back from ASUS?  A search
> or two would say no and an initial phone call I made to them would
> insinuate no.  "if it is not fit for purpose, return whole machine to
> where you bought it, ASUS do not do whitebox sales".
> 
> Or have pointers on the best way to go about this?  Interestingly
> enough the 2IC of the call centre there mentioned that they have had
> "lots" of cases like this and in all cases they said no. said 2IC even

It's encouraging that they have had "lots" of cases like this.  It may
be worth requesting refunds if only to give an indication of the demand.

> went so far as saying that the advice they had from the Trade
> Practises Act/ACCC people was that this was OK. (and perhaps it is).
> When I pressed regarding the details of this "judgement" they had from
> said people not much was forthcoming.

I ran this by a friend who knows about these things and he again confirmed
what I'm sure we all already know.

As far as the Trade Practices Act goes, a computer manufacturer or
retailer has no legal obligation to provide a refund for unwanted software
(Windows) or other add-ons (perhaps a free mouse, for example) that may
be associated with the sale of a computer.

A retailer or manufacturer could choose to offer refunds for unwanted
software, or unwanted space bars, or unwanted product packaging/manuals,
or sell bikes without wheels, but this would be a business decision and
not a requirement of any law.

Nathan


> Note that they guy on the other end of the phone wasn't being
> obstructive, just pointing out what they have done so far.
> 
> I am not trying to turn this into a national incident or get myself in
> for a world of pain but am very curious. In the past I have had a use
> for the pre-installed version of <previous version of windows> but
> this one comes with the <other somewhat maligned version>. I find this
> even more amusing given that the much hyped ASUS Express Gate is
> linux...
> 
> Ta
> 
> 
> --
> Andrew Janke
> (a.janke at gmail.com || http://a.janke.googlepages.com/)
> Canberra->Australia    +61 (402) 700 883
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