[clug] Windows Tax refund and ASUS

[Ian Bardsley]

Oops sorry...forgot to copy the list


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".............
>
>
>
>
> -- 
> Andrew Janke
> (a.janke at gmail.com || http://a.janke.googlepages.com/)
> Canberra->Australia    +61 (402) 700 883
>   
I reckon that anyone expecting to get a refund on unwanted M$ product 
supplied with new hardware from any manufacturer is dreaming.  I don't 
really understand how M$ manage to intimidate manufacturers into 
adopting the attitude that you can have anything that you like as long 
as it comes from M$ but I suspect that it is strongly associated with 
volume rebates on licence fees.

However, all is not lost.  If you plan to buy a new computer it is not 
too difficult to transfer a part or all of the value of an unwanted, 
pre-installed operating system onto the seller by  following these 
simple rules.

1...Buy only from a supplier who is prepared to negotiate on price.
2...Be prepared to walk away from any purchase where price is not 
negotiable by at least -15%
3...Be disciplined with regard to your buying policy and never compromise
4...Be prepared to spend as much time securing the best possible price 
as you would researching the best product to buy.

A recent purchase of a 17" notebook for my daughter showed that if you 
stick to this policy you can save the retail cost of windoze and more.  
When shopping carefully selected product specs around all of the normal 
retails sources in Canberra and Melbourne plus Dell and E-bay, she 
managed to get the unit that she wanted marked down from a ticketed 
price of $2195 to $1830 a saving of $360 which more than covered the 
cost of the unwanted preinstalled edition of Vista.

In 30 years of involvement in Sales and Marketing I know that the vast 
majority of buyers do not attempt to negotiate on price.  Of those 
buyers that do, 80% accept the first offer.  Be neither of these and you 
will win.

Some retail outlets for all forms of domestic goods do not empower their 
staff to make price variation decisions.  Don't buy from them.  Dont 
even waste your time considering them.  They never have anything unique 
anyway and you will find out who they are the first time you ask, "Would 
you accept $X for that?"

Have a great weekend all

Regards

Ian Bardsley