Apples are not the only Fruit, Windows are for gazing out of, not at.
Cogs of IT, how they turn, whether they are pushed, pulled or generally stamped on.
Thursday 5 November 2009, 5:51 PM
Windows 7 pricing all over the shop..about as stable as Windows 7.
It quickly came apparent that they could, as a so called monopoly, sell it for more, how much more, well as much as people would bear - someone got greedy.
The price has been all over the place up, down, anything but stable, compare this to the Mac Snow leopard upgrade that has stayed a consistent £25, maybe the unstable price is reflecting Windows 7 in more ways than one.
The so called 4 week window of opportunity at launch lasted less than a day at Amazon.co.uk, to order your copy at £44.97. Then in September Tesco, via Ingram Micro repeated the offer, well £49.97 (£44.97 with a £5 voucher) Tesco took the money upfront, it was the most popular item ever on hotukdeals.com.
Due to looming postal strikes, some suppliers such as Dixons were given permission to deliver on or after 19th October. Tesco followed suite and my copy was delivered early on 22nd October at 5.50pm, trouble was I was away for a week. No card appears to have been left. Re-deliver was attempted on the 29th at 11.50am.
On returning on the 29th that evening, there was a card from City-link stating that a delivery had been attempted that day.
On the 30th I checked to find City-link had strangely already sent the item back to Tesco, I couldn't pick it up.
No email had been received from Tesco to say the item was been delivered early, and their online webpage doesn't cross-reference the tracking info, so you can't check its progress from there.
I emailed Tesco to ask for the item to be resent, due to being sent early, and therefore returned early by Citylink, as to when it would have been expected, given the Worldwide launch and the delivery being 1-2 days after this normally.
I had no response via email from Tesco.
On phoning Tesco today they point-blank refused to re-send the item, instead offered a refund, with the option of re-purchasing at £95, instead of the £44.97 I'd paid.
I phoned Microsoft to discuss the matter as I felt it made Microsoft look bad, in light of poor customer service from Tesco/Ingram Micro. Initially Microsoft were helpful, as I pointed out that people legitimately purchasing software shouldn't have to put up with such practices, but once through to their customer response unit they gave way to the might of Tesco, and refused to get involved.
I feel Tesco made a mistake of not notifying Citi-link that the early delivery of Windows 7 should have meant slightly longer than 7 days before the item was returned, to take into account the early shipments.
But forcing customers who missed the item by a day ie. the 30th to have a refund and re-purchase at twice the price is just plain dishonest. Tesco you should be ashamed.
Comments on this post
Tesco should be more than ashamed Id follow this up if I where you, if you already paid for the item at the listed price, I'm certain they cannot go back on that, even if it means they make a loss on that sale.
There mistake there problem.
I suggest calling Tesco again and quietly saying two little magic phrases:
Sale of Goods Act
Reasonable Expectations
You might like to add:
BBC Watchdog
and
Consumers Association
IANAL however my inderstanding is that you entered a contract for an item to be delivered at a certain time for a certain cost. Tesco (who your contract is with - not the delivery agent) failed to honour that contract.
Was the cheaper price for upgrade media? It may be that tesco in their ignorance may have been trying to overcharge you for upgrade media, or they ran out and could only supply you with a full retail copy. Either way they are well out of order.
This comment has been deleted at the users request
Windows 7 - a life with walls.
Just a telephone call from Tesco headoffice, to give a verbal response to re-inforce what Claire Gill had already stated, from a manager below Claire Gill, I'd specifically asked for it to be escalated above her in my formal complaint, so they broke the first rule of replying to a formal complaint, again I feel trying to fob me off.
I drove home my point that as a customer I was unable to pick up the item from City-link either on the 29th/30th (less than or equal to 7 days from 'launch') as it was immediately returned to Tesco on evening of the 29th/early morning of 30th . Tesco state that it was normal 'industry' practice for items to be sent out for delivery on launch date, but in the same sentence admitted the Windows 7 had been shipped 'early', due to the pending postal strikes. Even so I should still be given a minimum of 1+7 days 'after' the first delivery date before the item is returned. The item was actually sent out on the 20th, for delivery on the 22nd.
I stated that it might have been useful to email customers of the change, and/or inform City-link as the items had been delivered early, then it might have been useful to ask City link to hold onto the items for 10 days instead of the usual 7 days. Both I feel mistakes that have been made by Tesco, and are both uncceptable for a company the size of Tesco.
I asked them to look at situation again, and in fact I felt the Manager I spoke to did have some sympathy regarding the matter, but he stated early on he was just there to reinforce what had been stated, due to his positiion. Changing Tesco's/Ingram Micros company policy is another matter entirely, and changing that is proving difficult. (Are you hearing this Tesco?)
I stated I would have accepted things if an email had been sent with tracking info stating the early delivery, as you can't track an item via the Tesco website, you can only do that once a card has been left on a failed delivery.
Trouble is by making my views 'public', Tesco seem less likely to actually resolve things and instead stubbornly dig in their heals.
Either way now the damage has been done, so I'll probably have to go the formal route of a online small claim, just about to phone consumer direct, to log this with them, but really it just shows up as another complaint against Tesco.
The long and short of this is buy your software elsewere, if anyone works for Dixons, be interesting to know what their policy was regarding undelivered Windows 7 units, or anyone who has experience with Dixons regarding this (at least Dixons take payment on ship date) , or other e-retailers, was the price honoured?
...and Microsoft deal with your wholesaler Ingram Micro, and honour the price for the undelivered units - after all you want people who legitimately buy Windows 7 to be a painless as possible, and not resort to pirate versions of Windows 7.
There banging on about the royal mail postal strike and yet they delivered it using city link, so how is it they still failed to honor the original delivery times? given the fact that they are aware of and do use alternative delivery services.
'Tesco's mess with Windows pre-order'
@CA, here's the reason they are banging on about the postal strike...
(This must be effecting quite a few customers, Tesco are not admitting how many)
Tesco/City-link/Microsoft all must have agreed at some point and Tesco choosen to move the delivery date without informing their customers, if you bring it forward you also bring the City-link 'undelivered return date' forward, something Tesco forgot, and didn't take into account.
And this undelivered return date is the crux here. Its not my fault for not receiving the goods, if Tesco brings the 'window' of delivery forward, without informing me. No email was sent out by Tesco.
How I think it happened:
Once the Royal Mail stike was announced, Tesco realised they had a large number of Windows 7 units to deliver, originally looking to deliver using Royal Mail. Tesco looked at their alternative suppliers - City-link.
City-link, realising there was a pending Royal mail strike would prefer to optimise their vehicles for the increase in post generated by the Royal Mail Strike, and not have to deliver something which could be delivered earlier in the week if possible. (even though this would be before the official launch date)
City-link probably stated that they were happy to take on the large contract but only if they could deliver before the official launch date, avoiding the royal mail strike. Tesco then spoke to Microsoft, and Microsoft must have agreed.
Note: this wasn't done for the customer's benefit - it was done for the courier's benefit - Citylink, and to clear a backlog of deliveries in anticipation of the strike.
and... in delivering the Windows 7 units early, this also meant that undelivered units were returned to Tesco early by City-link.
Something Tesco failed to address (ie. they could have informed City-link to hold the items for 10days as opposed to 7, so if like me you were away between thur 22nd and returned on thurs 29th. Using the card received on the doormat on the evening of the 29th, I tracked the parcel to find it was already on its way back to Tesco.
The crux of this is:
Tesco choose to move the delivery date without informing their customers, if you bring it forward you also bring the City-link return date forward, something Tesco forgot, and didn't take into account.
You can't tell from the Tesco website who is shipping the item, so the customer could also reasonably assume it was Royal mail, and as they were on strike expect a delay. It didn't state the courier.
Tesco have messed up here they just won't admit it, and all I wanted originally is the parcel containing Windows 7 thats got my name on put back in the post, this is not an unreasonable request, given the circumstances. Instead I'm told I have to re-order at twice the price I paid.
(Tesco/Ingram Micro are you listening?)
P.S if this is effecting you:
More info regarding this can be found on moneysavingexpert.com, search for windows, tesco in the forums or see:
forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2057841
Also on hotukdeals, check out Tesco's latest offer for Windows 7:
hotukdeals.com/item/520969/microsoft-windows-7-home-premium-fu
'as they say every little helps'
This comment has been deleted at the users request
Adam yes yes i understand all that, It just seems to me they where using the postal strike as an excuse to fob people off, I bet the real reason is they over sold on the discounted stock available to them, and then microsoft said no to honor more than that quota amount available, and thus the scam ensued.
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