I was extremely angry to learn that the Vista Upgrade that had been promised to arrive in Q1 of 2007 for purchasing a Dell computer in November required ADDITIONAL STEPS by the consumer for it to be sent out. There was no mention of this "fine print detail" while the computer was being purchased online, and no justifiable reason for treating this upgrade like some sort of REBATE with artificial conditions, hurdles and timelines. My Dell Order has almost 50 line-items of superfluous text. Buried in one of the line items is the following verbiage that only now has come to my attention: "Go to dellvistaupgrade.com to redeemVista upgrade by 03/31." I am sure Dell customer service will point to this verbiage and claim they provided full disclosure.
The fact of the matter is that this is not only a deceptive and unconscionable practice on the part of Dell, but the verbiage itself is vague. To say the redemption needs to take place "by" a certain date is not as clear as saying it must be done "before" a certain date. It does not state anywhere in this document (and certainly not at the time of purchase) that the upgrade would be denied as a consequence of not following these additional steps.
I will also be reporting this to the BBB. More than anything I feel cheated & betrayed by this company and never thought they'd resort to these shenanigans. If a consumer is promised an upgrade they should get the upgrade - unconditionally without any strings attached. If Dell wants to treat this like a rebate then perhaps I should notify my state controller so they can invoke escheatment laws like they do now with rebates.
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