Computers & Networking

[finananalyst]

I purchased a Toshiba laptop from Bestbuy and the sales person stated that it was eligible for the windows 7 upgrade, i looked at the signs and it confirmed this at the time of purchase. I have spent the last 2 months back and forth with Toshiba about the upgrade with their customer service. Finally today I get a call from Toshiba stating that I do not qualify because I have windows basic vista and they will not honor the upgrade.

Just a warning to those who purchase from bestbuy and Toshiba

[hockeycanuckjc Trusted Contributor]

If you have the documentation from BestBuy where it said it qualifies for a Windows 7 upgrade, I would send this certified along with sales reciepts to the Toshiba Corporate and let them know of the hassles you are going through.

It could be that Best Buy made a misprint in their advertisment of some sorts, but they are not usually honoring mistakes, they instead correct them as quickly as possible.

[TheLexMachine]

The problem is this: Best Buy didn't word their advertisements properly nor did they inform employees of the specifics regarding the Windows 7 upgrade programs. They simply issued blanket marketing statements in their promotional material that turned out to be incorrect in some cases. Though once you get past the top layer of their Windows 7 upgrade information, it does say that it only applies to qualifying laptops. Best Buy's biggest mistake was marking every single Vista machine as eligible for upgrade on their website and their in-store tages when quite a few were in fact not. That lead many consumers to believe that they would get Windows 7 on some models that were not at all on the manufacturer's eligibility list.

[rcronkite]

I am having the same problem. The sales person told us the Toshiba laptop we purchased qualified for the upgrade, now I am being told that because the OS is Vista Basic it does not qualify for the upgrade. I plan to persue this with Best Buy, hopefully they will stand behind the salesmans promise.

[DavidDanvers]

You'll want to wait for a response from the community moderators for this. Vista Basic was not eligible for the vista upgrade. You should both get contacted at the begining of the business week.

[finananalyst]

I tried contacting best buy locally where i bought the computer, the manager never called me back. After 3 calls over 2 weeks, the salesperson told me to contact bestbuy corporate which I did. After contacting bestbuy corporate, the customer support person told me I was out of luck that they would not honor it, and she would log it internally. She also stated that best buy would contact me as it is done internally.

Best bet, file a Better Business Bureau complaint so that this company doesn't rip other people off by their offhanded sales practices. {Link removed per Community Guidelines}

unfortunately (other tech stores which i cannot name on this site) which were great stores that understood what service means are no longer in business, and this company is one of the few here besides the internet.

I strongly urge anyone else who has had this headache to contact the better business bureau about this to get more information and a class action lawsuit going. The more information collected the better for future buyers.

[transcend08]

Sadly if it is Windows Vista Basic, the upgrade is not free. I do believe it is discounted at the price of $50 to upgrade to the equivalent level. I do not know if perhaps that store made a mistake but since June or so, we were informed at the BB store I work at Vista Premium and above would be eligible for free upgrades and the pamphlets stated the same.

Really sorry about your experience with the purchase. You can try to contact Windows about it, not as a way to resolve the misunderstanding but to see if they will help you out  Windows tends to like to solve their problems quickly if it is a Windows product by just saying yes so you may get a free Windows 7 still.

Warm Regards,

Jason

[hetskob]

I too was promised an upgrade to Windows 7 by the salesperson. The problem is that I have the Vista basic, and that is excluded. I threw out the ads about a month ago. It was a big influence on my purchasing decision to get the upgrade since vista is pretty bad. Its a problem with the communications with management, the manufacturer and the sales force and thus is solely the responsibility of management.

[rcronkite]

Well, I waited for a reply from a moderator which never came.  I finally called best buy corporate to get some resolution, they told me that there was nothing they could do, was up to the store manager to decide if they wanted to honor the salesman's promise or not.  The store manager gave me some line about the offer had expired, although the toshiba web site shows it going through the end of February.

Needless to say I am not thrilled with Best Buy right now, I really thought they would step up and honor the upgrade as described by the salesman at the time of purchase. 

What else can I say other than buyer beware, don't expect to get anything else other than what you walk out the door with after you hand over your money. 

[hetskob]

that is too bad. The store manager helped me out, and I already made a major purchase since then and will make more. They even installed it for me. They stepped up to the pump. Smart move, I buy tons of electronics. Extremely courteous people. Contrary to another experience I had there a year ago.