Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!mit-eddie!apollo!nelson_p
From: nelson_p@apollo.HP.COM (Peter Nelson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: open this package and you
Message-ID: <48ccf558.20b6d@apollo.HP.COM>
Date: 22 Feb 90 19:02:00 GMT
Sender: root@apollo.HP.COM
Distribution: usa
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Apollo Division - Chelmsford, MA
Lines: 47


  
 bradley.grigor@canremote.uucp posts...

>nM>   return it; if I spend $350 on a C++ compiler I'm stuck with it
>nM>   no matter how dissatisfying it is.    This has to change.  Software
>nM>   is an increasingly big business and consumers of software deserve
>nM>   the same rights and protections that they get for other products.
>
>Well, not entirely true!  I bought the Microsoft FORTRAN compiler
>to move some software from VAX/VMS to MS-DOS -- something the MS
>advertising said their FORTRAN could handle, since it recognized
>the VAX/VMS extensions. True, it DID recognize the extensions,
>but it was unable to handle a decent sized symbol table --
>something one takes for granted under VAX/VMS.
>
>After following Microsoft's action plan (in which they
>unsuccessfully tried to get my program to compile), Microsoft
>finally authorized the dealer to REFUND my money.
>
>Although Microsoft started by saying it was against their policy
>to take software back and give refunds, it is to their credit
>that they escalated the problem to head office, proposed an action
>plan and then followed through on it.


   Yes, and I've since heard similar tales about a number of other
   products, including one fellow who managed to get his money
   back from Zortech!   

   So I guess the moral of the story is that if you are willing 
   to go to enough trouble or make a big enough stink about it
   then you can get your money back, even from companies who say
   that they don't do refunds.  And there are few people in the world
   who can make a bigger stink about something unsatisfactory than
   yours truly; so I suppose such a policy favors me.   But I would
   really rather not go to the trouble.  I would prefer to just 
   mail back the product with a short note describing the problem
   and get a check in the mail.  

   Still, I do enjoy a good fight once in a while.  So maybe I'll
   make a point of buying some of the software for my new computer
   in-state and test out our implied warranty law on the first
   product that screws up.
                               

                                                  ---Peter