The "free" Windows 7 upgrades that cost £28

Upgrades

The one i've ordered is costing £20. I don't particularly want a disc, a key and download link would do. It's there- or will be- for the student issue.

By mikepgood on 21 Sep 2009

Or are they just the honest ones?

Every cost a company has is passed on in some way to the customer, whether it is directly to an individual or spread across all. So if these companies are being charged £10 by MS, and have costs in terms of admin and postage then they WILL pass those on to their customers in some way.

Perhaps the ones who are charging £20+ are the ones who are passing on the cost transparently to the customers who want the upgrades, whereas others may just be burying the cost in a way that customers who aren't buying these upgrades are still footing some of the bill (eg by putting £10 on the cost of every PC sold, which is easy to do when products change often and are made of a variety of components)?

It does show just how much admin charges and markup/profit can be applied to a mass-produced DVD though.

By halsteadk on 21 Sep 2009

Nothing new here

They charged for "free" upgrades to Vista, and XP before that - far more than the actual P&P costs of a DVD which is what was said back then.

By jbarnett on 21 Sep 2009

I'd rather upgrade myself

Having just purchased two Toshiba laptops for the office, I'd rather install them myself, as the pointless fluff, dumpware and desktop spam installed by the O.E.M. is appalling!

After the re-install to Windows 7, the desktop is gloriously clear.

By cheysuli on 21 Sep 2009

Same price as snow leppard with bigger improvements

I really don't see what the big fuss is. All companies have to cover the cost of sending stuff its business not personal. Also think what you are getting for your £30. Snow Leopard is about £25 for the upgrade which really didn't contain that much. Win 7 is vastly superior to its predecessor (which isn't really that hard) and worth at least £30. If you don't want to pay it wait the month for the manufacturer to supply it pre-installed.

By python_and_chips on 21 Sep 2009

Windows 7 upgrades

hp are charging 20 pair disk it’s a rip off its not a free upgrade as you are paying more money out and as Microsoft is only charging students £30 for a full version of Windows 7 Professional it’s not even a good deal
Microsoft should provide a key and download link

By shady on 21 Sep 2009

yawn! storm in a tea cup...

By rjp2000 on 21 Sep 2009

Free means free

Well if its ok for them to call in "free" as its business, then it must be ok for ISPs to advertise unlimited and for Phorm to claim a customer service. After all it's only business not personal for them.

By chapelgarth on 22 Sep 2009

Free means free

Well if its ok for them to call in "free" as its business, then it must be ok for ISPs to advertise unlimited and for Phorm to claim a customer service. After all it's only business not personal for them.

By chapelgarth on 22 Sep 2009

If you bought a PC on the understanding that you had 'already paid' for the upgrade, then you can maybe threaten to return the PC.
I thought the 'free' upgrade was to keep sales from stalling, therefore was to the advantage of the retailers, therefore they would absorb the cost (rather than lose revenue).
Ultimately there's not much you can do.

By davidsoap on 22 Sep 2009

Well dont buy a PC yet then

To everyone above.If your not happy then the answer is straight forward.Dont buy a PC until after late October.Simples :-)

By Jaberwocky on 22 Sep 2009

"Well, don't buy a PC then..."

Hindsight would have been more useful at the time of purchase...

By JohnGray7581 on 22 Sep 2009

If you knew about the cost of 'free'

The whole idea was to keep selling PCs - ie, buy it now, upgrade it later at no cost.
The point is that it turns out that you have to pay after all.
Sorry, but that doesn't sound very much like a free upgrade
I don't care if it cost the company to produce the disks or if M$ are charging - Free does not cost

BTW, Barry & Stu, good follow up

By greemble on 22 Sep 2009

Mesh

You guys mentioned Mesh in the podcast along with other manufacturers charging for the 'free upgrade'. I bought a computer for my wife recently from Mesh and at the time adding the Win 7 upgrade option was in fact -£5. I have subsequntely filled in to online order with MS and they have confirmes a shipping date in November with nothing to pay. I accept that they may have added money onto the overall cost, but at least I have got what I expected, which was a free upgrade.

By perriss on 24 Sep 2009

Dell Having a Laugh

The 16 systems I have registered with Dell is going to cost £240 postage/handling.
Surely one DVD and access to the serial numbers is the logical approach (Volume Access), I don't want another cupboard of disks either.
This is putting companies like ours off upgrading.
We understand the Dell delivery charges when we purchase systems, these quite often come to over £200 but for the "Free" upgrade? Come off it Dell make your money where you need to and stop annoying us.

By shortybob on 22 Oct 2009

Dell Having a Laugh

The 16 systems I have registered with Dell is going to cost £240 postage/handling.
Surely one DVD and access to the serial numbers is the logical approach (Volume Access), I don't want another cupboard of disks either.
This is putting companies like ours off upgrading.
We understand the Dell delivery charges when we purchase systems, these quite often come to over £200 but for the "Free" upgrade? Come off it Dell make your money where you need to and stop annoying us.

By shortybob on 22 Oct 2009

Come on Dell!!

I can confirm that dell want £15 shipping and taxes to ship my FREE win7 upgrade to me (im from uk) - ive been complaining to the idiots in their customer service department for the last few days :|

By hodge1234 on 31 Oct 2009

It's not Funny Now

I too have been emailing and eventually got some replies from Dell.

Quote:
"we need to send each windows 7 upgrade in a different package because computers were purchased with an individual order number and because of that you need to pay for the shipping for every computer and every Windows 7 package."

This is not true by the way as many units were ordered under one order number.

I got my Upgrades in the post today and guess what, they all came in one jiffy bag!!
Now I'm really annoyed.

By shortybob on 20 Nov 2009

It's not Funny Now

I too have been emailing and eventually got some replies from Dell.

Quote:
"we need to send each windows 7 upgrade in a different package because computers were purchased with an individual order number and because of that you need to pay for the shipping for every computer and every Windows 7 package."

This is not true by the way as many units were ordered under one order number.

I got my Upgrades in the post today and guess what, they all came in one jiffy bag!!
Now I'm really annoyed.

By shortybob on 20 Nov 2009