'Free' Windows 7 Upgrades Still Cost Money

[MiamiU]

instead of always looking at things in a negative way, try to see the bright side.
1. you are still paying very little for Win7
2. you can sell/or give away your vista key/cd
3. you are still better off than people that bought pcs just days before this offer was out and didnt get win7

 

[anamaniac]

I remember lookign at a vendor recently... they offered WinVista and WinVista+Win7(upgrade)... the one with the upgrade option cost more... I want meh fucking free!

 

[Efrayim]

I've been using W7 for about a week now(Pro Version) and all I have to say that its worth every penny.

 

[tanderskey]

i'm not disappointed at all. i like it when they lie to me.

 

[r0x0r]

[citation][nom]Boxa786[/nom]The download is STILL FREE...[/citation]

But you have to pay for the internet connection as well, so technically it isn't free.

Paying the courier to deliver a physical copy is the same principle as having to pay your ISP to get a digital copy. At the end of the day you ended up paying money to get your goods.

 

[isamuelson]

[citation][nom]r0x0r[/nom]But you have to pay for the internet connection as well, so technically it isn't free.Paying the courier to deliver a physical copy is the same principle as having to pay your ISP to get a digital copy. At the end of the day you ended up paying money to get your goods.[/citation]

Yeah, in fact, it's probably cheaper to pay the S&H than the monthly internet fee!

 

[tipoo]

I bought a Dell laptop over the summer and qualified for this program, I live in Canada (Nova Scotia specifically), does anyone know how much i should expect to pay?

 

[tipoo]

Wait, is there an online upgrade option? With all the netbooks without optical drives out there, there would have to be, right?

 

[zelannii]

So long as the manufacturer disclosed the shipping charge at time of purchase, somewhere in the sales documentation or on the "coupon" for the free upgrade, i have no issue covering shipping. If this was not disclosed, then I considder it part of the original price I already paid, and be damned they'll deliver it, or there will be a formal complaint to multiple organizations.

A digital copy is also not the same. I use an aircard for my internet connection, and the copy alone exceeds my monthly alottment for bandwidth, and nothing in the coupon indicated a requirement of an internet connection to receive my free copy.

Ok, that said, I'm not actually subject to this as I've neither purchased a qualifying machine, nor do I require a copy of Win 7 (I'm already getting a few dozen from M$ care of my action pack subscription). However, I was stongly considdering a purchase, and if i was shafted by a manufacturer in this way, it would guarantee at the very least a refusal for future business, and likely a return of the product if I was within the return window.

 

[liquid0h]

$17 to ship? That DVD better get here yesterday.

 

[otheos]

Fujitsu charges 25 euro handling fee PLUS 15 euro Postage (to Greece). This is hardly "free" for a budget laptop.

https://windowsupgrade.buhl.de/fujitsu.aspx

 

[zelog]

Soon someone will be bitching that "Sure, nVidia's driver updates are free, but I have to pay for my internet connection to download them, so technically I'm still paying, boo on nVidia!"

Get... a... grip.

 

[jabliese]

All you freebie lovers out there, I got a tip for ya. How much you want to bet you paid an extra $20 rolled into the system price for that "free" upgrade?

 

[dark_lord69]

Are you telling me these people can't just download it from M$ and burn it?
The let me burn Office 2007 Professional. It's a legit copy with a real working serial.

 

[jgiron]

But you have to pay for the internet connection as well, so technically it isn't free.
I understand what you are saying however you already have the internet connection so their is no additional cost. When they tell you it is free without mentioning the shipping cost then it is not free. The $20 comes as an additional cost of getting the free product vs. what you already have (internet).

I do agree paying $20 for the DVD is better than buying the complete package but if it is advertised for free and shipping is not mentioned then Free != $20 as mentioned above. A disclaimer on the voucher should explain this to the customer, if shipping cost is not mentioned then the manufacture is a fault for false advertisement.

I also highly doubt that large companies are paying $20 to ship an envelope with a DVD, considering they large amount of mailing they do.

 

[dextermat]

Why not take out the word "free"... and make small fee or something like it....

 

[jangocat]

This IS false advertising. If they advertised a "free" upgrade they should just automatically send it to you when it is available. Most people who never worked in retail don't realize companies actually make a LOT of extra money through their shipping contracts. You think it cost $17 to ship a dvd? Nope, the extra money is being pocketed by the company doing the shipping. UPS or Fed-Ex or whoever have a contract with the manufactures. The manufactures tack on additional charges to make money, then blames the shipping company for having high shipping costs. This has been happening for years.

 

[rcmaniac25]

What I wanna know is this MS offering the upgrade for free and than saying that you need to pay for them to ship it or is the shipping cost from the OEMs like Lenovo? Judgeing by the fact that not all the prices are the same I'm thinking it's the OEMs.

 

[isamuelson]

It's not MS charging the S&H, it's the PC manufacturers you're purchasing the PC from. Don't get mad at MS for it, get mad at HP and the other PC manufacturers.

Amazing how MS gets the blame for this (an believe me, I'm not an MS fan by any stretch of the imagination).

 

[Guest]

let me see here you just bought a $(fill in this space 500-5000) computer and you are complaining about a $11-20 shipping charge?

 

[theblacksails]

I bought an Acer laptop and ordered my free upgrade coupon, which was in fact free. I was never asked to provide any credit card info.