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(c) by Pyramid Design.All rights reserved. Comments to:webmaster@erben.com Home page:http://www.erben.com Last updated: 11.6.2003 |
If you recently bought a computer the chances are good, that it had some flavor of Windows preinstalled on your hard disk. While desktop computers can be bought without this OS, it is nearly impossible to do so when buying a notebook.
The notebook was intended to be the machine I write my thesis for diploma on. After experience with friends using some form of Windows software for this task I decided not to repeat their mistakes and use some stable OS and writer software. This led me straight into the arms of Linux and TeX.
To find a notebook running Windows is easy. To find one running Linux is a bit more difficult. Thanks to Kenneth E. Harker and his fabulous Linux Laptop Home Page I decided to buy an Acer TravelMate 513T. It was a good decision, since Linux runs smoothly on this notebook supporting even sound (pretty useless, isn't it?).
Once you turn on your freshly unwrapped notebook, it will install Windows and, in the course of this, tell you, that you have to agree to some End-User-License-Agreement (short: EULA). Fortunately I have seen this on another Acer notebook before I turned on mine, so I booted directly from my Debian/Linux CD, repartitioned the hard disk, reformatted and installed a real OS. I didn't touched the shrink-wrapped Windows manual and so I had not unintendedly agreed to the EULA.
Now comes the difficult part of this. The EULA states that Microsoft is not willing to license their software to me if I don't agree to the EULA. Instead I should talk to the vendor of the hardware (which is Acer) to return the software product (Windows that is) in return for some refund. Here comes the story...
Today I bought my notebook. While installing Linux directly from a Debian slink CD-set I called the Acer info hotline (in Germany under 0800-2244999). I told them, that my notebook showed some weird license agreement which I should agree to, but don't want to and asked them what to do. I should agree, they told me. I won't, I told them, and said, that I now reboot from CD and install Linux on the notebook. The EULA, I said, had a passage in it, that I should contact the hardware vendor (Acer) on how to return Windows for a refund. After regaining the ability to speak again (and some time for consultation of some higher level manager in the call-center), the man on the line told me, that I had to talk to my vendor. My vendor told me to talk to their wholesale vendor (Macrotron Munich, that is).
The phone call to Macrotron was a bit amusing, since they told me,
I had to talk to my vendor. I replied, that my vendor will refund me
everything Macrotron will refund him, since my vendor has nothing to
do with any lincense agreements. Now, Macrotron shifted their position
and said, that they, too, haven't anything to do with the EULA and I
had to talk to Acer directly about this. [Back from where I
started!]
I told them, that it actually was Acer who indirectly told me to call
Macrotron and I liked very much a definitive answer from Macrotron,
which I could use at Acer. They said, they won't refund Window; their
last word.
So I called the Acer info hotline again. I told them what I bought, what the collegues told me, that I called my vendor and their wholesale vendor about it and that they have told me to talk to Acer ("Here I am again!"). The consulting break took a little longer this time and Acer came up with a phone number at Acer Germany I had to call. "They know what to do!", they told me.
To make a lang call short: they did not know, what to do. They gave me another set of numbers instead. But one, as it turned out, lead to an unoccupied phone, the other lead to people who didn't know either what to do. I tried the unanswered number severel times on the next days, but with no success.
So I learned my lesson #1:
After some investigation on world wide web I found one lousy e-mail address: info@acer.de. So I wrote the following letter (use babel if your German is a bit rusty):
Am 15.3.2000 habe ich ein Acer Notebook Travelmate 513T gekauft. Dieses Modell wurde mit vorinstalliertem Microsoft Windows 98SE ausgeliefert und ist laut Anfrage bei Ihrer Hotline auch nur so zu erhalten. Um die vorinstallierte Software zu verwenden muss ein Microsoft Endbenutzer Lizenzvertrag (EULA) mit der Firma Microsoft geschlossen werden, wozu ich jedoch nicht bereit bin, da ich dieses Notebook ausschließlich unter Linux verwende. Aus diesem Grund habe ich auch direkt von CD gebootet und die Festplatte neu partitioniert und komplett neu formatiert. Das vorinstallierte Windows wurde somit weder gestartet, noch habe ich die Umverpackung des Windows Handuches entfernt. Ein Anerkenntnis des EULA trat somit bisher nicht ein. Vom Wortlaut des EULA habe ich nur Kenntnis, da ein am selben Tag gekauftes Notebook im Geschäft fertig konfiguriert wurde. Dort konnte ich die besagte Textpassage gründlich studieren, um so nicht ungewollt dem EULA zuzustimmen. Der EULA enthält nun für den Fall, dass der Benutzer sich nicht damit einverstanden erklärt, eine Klausel. Diese besagt, dass Microsoft sich im Falle der Nichtanerkenntnis nicht dazu bereit erklärt, dem Endbenutzer ein Nutzungsrecht an der Software zu überlassen. Man solle sich daher an den Hersteller des Gerätes wenden, um zu erfahren wie man das Softwareprodukt gegen eine Rückerstattung des Kaufpreises zurückgeben kann. Da Acer der Hersteller des Notebooks ist, wende ich mich vertrauensvoll an Sie und hoffe auf eine baldige Antwort. cu, Stefan
No reply yet.
Since info@acer.de don't reply on this mail (there was no bounced mailer-daemon message as well), I tried a second time:
Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren, Können Sie mir eine e-mail Adresse im Haus für Fragen bezüglich Microsoftprodukten zukommen lassen. cu, Stefan
No reply yet. Maybe some sort of unoccupied e-mailbox.
So I learned my lesson #2:
Having no other option I called the info hotline (it is an occupied phone) to get an e-mail-address which is read and answered. It was another funny experience. Instead of giving an e-mail-address to me, they took my name, my home address and phone-number and asked me to call them back two days later. "We then have more information on your case.", they told me.
Since this got stranger and stranger with every day I decided to post the story on my web pages.
Acer wanted me to call back today, I did. The friendly voice of the Acer info hotline explained to me the that their servers were down and he could not get to the information about my case. So I told him. He said I had to talk to my vendor. I told him I did and I had talked to the wholesale vendor and so on. The last information was, that I had to talk to Acer, which was why I asked for an e-mail address two days ago.
I should talk to the sales department (04102-488-0) or mail to the support team managers (support@acer.de). Now that was something I found usefull, however, I was still itching to know, what my last call had achieved. He suggest that I call again half an hour later.
I waited two hours and called again and got connected to a friendly man. Now the server was serving and the workflow was flowing and right after telling him my customer number they actually had access to my data. I explained what I want, he explained, that I had to talk to my vendor. Then I explained, why this is not going to work (my vendor has no contract with Microsoft, so he hadn't paid them for a OEM license and so on). He started another try to convince me. My vendor should be happy to refund my Windows if I buy the other OS there. Problem here is nobody has to buy Linux, which I explained gratefully. Then, he continued, maybe I have to buy other software for Linux. No, I replied, there is no other software I had to buy for Linux; my vendor will not do that. Having him as helpless as the other four hotliners before, he had to ask for some advice himself.
After contacting the well known higher level manager (must know my name by now, I guess) he advised me to go to the support mail form and fill in what want and what I had done. Then he told me, that there is nothing more he could do and I should stop calling the product hotline for this. Okay, he said it friendly enough.
So I set up the following:
[much personal stuff deleted] Produkt-Kategorie: [X] Notebook [ ] PC [ ] ISDN [ ] Modem [ ] LAN [ ] Scanner [ ] CD-Writer [ ] Monitor [ ] Server Betriebssystem: [Windows98___] Modellbezeichnung: Travelmate 513T_____ [and more deleted stuff] Explanation of the problem: Ich habe das Notebook direkt von CD gebootet, neu partitioniert, reformatiert und Linux installiert. Das Windows-Handbuch habe ich nicht geöffnet und somit bisher nicht dem Endbenutzerlizenzvertrag (EULA) zugestimmt. Ich möchte nun, wie im EULA beschrieben, die Modalitäten der Rückgabe des Windows 98SE gegen Rückerstattung des Kaufpreises für das Softwareprodukt abklären. What I had done? Ich habe bereits mehrfach mit der 0800-2244999 gesprochen, zwei e-mails an info@acer.de geschickt (bis jetzt unbeantwortet) und bin der Aussage der Hotline gefolgt und habe meinen Händler gefragt, was zu tun ist. Der sagte er hätte keinen Vertrag mit Microsoft und ich solle seinen Großhändler befragen (Macrotron, München). Diese verwiesen mich an Microsoft und besser noch an Acer.
... and pressed the send button. Now it's again up to Acer. Let's see what happens.
My first e-mail of 29.3.2000 was answered -- I can't believe it:
Hallo Hr. Erben, für die späte Antwort möchte ich mich vorerst entschuldigen, da ich mit dem Nachkommen meines Urlaubs beschäftigt war. Ich freue mich Ihnen die gewünschten Informationen zukommen zu lassen. Meine E-Mail "xxx@acer.de" Mit freundlichstem Gruß Xxx Acer Computer Deutschland / PIM Dept. Tel. 04102 / 488 -492
While I was deciding, what to do with it, the second miracle happend...
The web request was honoured with an answer, as well:
Sehr geehrter Herr Erben,
vielen Dank für Ihre Nachricht. Wir freuen uns über Ihre Supportanfrage und
geben Ihnen zu Ihren Fragen gerne Auskunft.
Um Ihren Fall weiter bearbeiten zu können, möchte ich Sie bitten,
mir in dieser Sache einen Kaufnachweis zukommen zu lassen.
Bitte senden Sie mir diesen via Fax an u.a. Faxnummer, unter Angabe Ihre
Kundennummer: 34718
Für weitere Supportanfragen stehen wir Ihnen neben der E-Mail Möglichkeit
jederzeit gerne unter unserer
Service-Tel.-Nr.: 01805 / 00 98 98 (0.24/Min) oder
Fax.-Nr.: 01805 / 00 98 10
zur Verfügung.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
ACER Computer GmbH
Jens Brockmann
Customer Satisfaction Line
Now, with two ways to follow, I chose the second one, because it seemed farther in the process of returning my Windows. I copied my invoice as a proof of purchase, as requested, and attached it to this short letter:
KdNr 34718 Sehr geehrter Herr Brockmann, vielen Dank für Ihre e-mail (MessageID: <412568CE.003BFB4E.00@acer.de>) auf meine Support-Anfrage (#30385). Hinter diesem Anschreiben folgt der Rechnungsnachweis über den Kauf eines Acer TravelMates 513T. In freudiger Erwartung weiterer Bearbeitung und mit freundlichen Grüßen Anlage(n) Kaufbeleg (Rechnung)
This fax was sent on the 12.5.2000 at 14:12 CET and since then, nothing happend.
Since I don't believe, that such a simple answer could take more than a month, and, BTW, they should have known that there will be refund before selling Windows under that EULA they sell it, I send another e-mail to both of them: Niels and Jens:
To: Euro_Help@acer-euro.com, xxx@acer.de Subject : Re: Acer Web-Support-Anfrage # 30385 Sehr geehrter Herr Brockmann, Sehr geehrter Herr Xxx. Seit geraumer Zeit (23.3.2000) bemühe ich mich darum, meine ungenutzte Windows 98SE gegen Rückerstattung des Kaufpreises zurückzugeben. Zu diesem Zwecke habe ich bereits etliche Telefonate mit diversen Info- und Supporthotlines von Acer geführt und wurde letztlich dadurch belohnt, dass man einen Kaufnachweis von mir einforderte, welchen ich pflichtgemäß am 12.5.2000 um 14.12 CET an die unten angegebene Nummer (siehe Vollquote) gefaxt habe. Meiner bescheidenen Meinung nach, kann eine solch einfache und vor allem vorhersehbare Anfrage -- Acer hat doch Kenntnis vom EULA eines W98SE, wenn es einen Vertrag mit Microsoft schließt, der den OEM-Verkauf mit ihren Rechnern gestattet -- keinen kompletten Kalendermonat in Anspruch nehmen. Daher ein weiteres Mal meine Frage (Quote aus meiner ersten e-mail diesbezüglich): [Full quote of my e-mail from 23.3.2000] Hier das gewünschte Vollquote Ihrer Mail: [Full quote of the e-mail from Mr.Brockmann]
Now it is up to Acer again (as if it wasn't that way before)...
And Acer was quiet. So I took over the initiative and called them on 01805/009898 -- a billed support hotline. A friendly male voice asked my customer support number and afterwards read through my case (which is quite large now, measured from the time it took him to read it), which took a small while. Then he wanted to know, if there was an answer to me yet, which I denied. So he had me waiting for him to have a short talk to his supervisor (I'll wrote this paragraph in the mean time).
Time passes... (for 0,24DM/Minute or roughly USA $0,10)
He came back and asked me, what it was, what I want. Quite funny, indeed. (Should have been right in all those documents on their workflow.) I told him (a brief overview of the EULA, about me using Linux, etc.) and he once again went away to talk to his supervisor.
More time passes again... (another paragraph is written and re-read)
After six minutes of waiting/writing he came back and told me, that he forwarded the case to the "Supervisor Germany" and if that guy doesn't call me or write me an email, I should call back in in two weeks or so. I said that this way I would not get a step further because I could just call back talk to another hotline supporter who will after talkinmg to her supervisor forward that, too. So I would be glad, if he could hand me the email address or the telephon number of that obscure "Supervisor Germany". No, he could not, since he doesn't know that (or won't tell me).
So 21 minutes of unpleasant waiting, explaining and being blocked. Acer, do something!
Monday afternoon is a bad time to call the 02805-009898 support hotline. You wait and wait and wait interrupted by a prerecorded voice, stating that you are calling at a very busy time. (Waiting took 7 minutes.)
To make the call short I started with Name and customer ID and that I called to receive the final answer from the "Supervisor Germany" or whoever. He paged through his workflow and asked about the fax. I told him, I sent it on may, 12th. And append that I was rather angry about the way Acer handles such an easy job. So, off he goes to ask his call center manager. If I get one dollar for every time I heard that...
After he came back, he told me that they were waiting for just another person to decide on this matter. I should call back on friday. Now, I really got angry. I repeated the actions I did (see above) and what Acer did on my behalf. I said that I was about to publish it in my web pages and sell it to c't (maybe I should do that). I said, that I will end up using more than the refund in charged hotlines. Than he told me, that it was not his business and he could not help me (rather unfriedly now) and I had to call back on friday. So I replied, that he should append something about other ways to enforce a license agreement in Germany. Seems, that he typed it in, as well. Well, I hope they come up with something until friday.
Well, waiting builds your character, an old saying goes. I waited for 9 costly minutes to hear music interrupted by voices saying that they pity me for waiting...
Now, surprise, surprise, a really really friendly supporter explained to me that I had to just resend the fax to them, in order to get some other person to work on that matter. Well, then. It's a good day to die.
P.S.: The fax is out.
Remember the trailer "Gandhi II" from Weird Al Yancivics UHF movie? "No more Mr. nice guy. No more Mr. passiv resistance. He's back and he's in a real bad mood." That's how I feel.
As always, the hotline is busy on all available channels. So I waited and listened to their music/voice for about 16 minutes. At last, a real human voice made it to me. So I gave my customer number and asked how to refund my windows 98se. I told him as well, that I intended to give the story to a computer magazin, if they failed again.
After three more minutes he told me, that the supervisor decided to forward my case (Oh, behave!) to someone responsible. 21 minutes hotline is definitively enough for my whole life.
The Name Xxx refers to a former employee of acer, who was annoyed by displaying his former email together with his full name, which is his best and valid right. As he pointed out to me, it was not his fault, that this case ran havoc. I have to trust him on this and will. As it stands, it was the Acer and Microsoft business policy, which has driven this case and hence, no single person can be held responsible for following orders.
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(c) by Pyramid Design.All rights reserved. Comments to:webmaster@erben.com Home page:http://www.erben.com Last updated: 11.6.2003 |