Did dell charge you after requesting the operating system CD?

I was just wondering about this because last week, I requested the CDs that came preinstalled on my e1705. I didn't name any specific CDs, but I ended up receiving PowerDVD, Dell Diagnostics and Utilities, MediaDirect Reinstallation, and a Windows Media Center Reinstallation CD.

So is the WMC CD that I received the same one Dell sends you for $10 when you order yours system? I'm trying to figure out the logic of why Dell would charge you when you order your system and then not charge you if you request it separately.

I might just have it completely wrong, so pardon my ignorance.

 

I think the $10 fee when you buy the computer is just a way they can cut their loses from people stacking coupons. Afterall, the CD they sent you for free comes free with most of their small business computers, which do not have nearly as many coupon offers as Dell Home, so i don't think they actually lose anything on the CDs

 

Probably is... I gave Dell my $10 and got an orange "Operating System" DVD DP/N DF965

So for those of use that 'planned ahead' we got to pay $10... For 'after-the-fact' requests it's FREE!!!! Go Figure...

Mark

 

I told them that I will upgrade my HDD later and I need the OS CD to do the installation to the new HDD. 10 days later, they mail me 2 Windows XP Home CD for free.

 

I got them free.

 

I got them with my OS and Driver CD with my Dell. Then I stored them somewhere safe for later. I don't know if Dell commonly ships CD's with new laptops. It's supposed to be $10 to have them sent to you.

 

It looks like they charged me for the CDs, but they were billed to "Exchanges" so looks like the exchanges department is flipping the bill for me.

 

dell for some reason (i really couldn't understand what eric was telling me) isn't shipping the cds with their laptops unless you request them... i didn't know this until after the fact. I didn't pay a penny for my cds after i called them and i got the windows, drivers, powerdvd, and sonic discs 3 days after i called. That's good enough for me to forget the hour i spent being dropped back and forth between departments.

 

I didn't bother trying phone support, I just emailed them. Within a couple of hours I got back a long reply explaining the policy and how it helps the environment, how to use the recovery partition, and how to download the drivers. The final paragraph then said they were shipping me the disks via overnight. I had them 2 days later.

Between the support and the overnight DHL shipping it probably cost Dell more than if they had just tossed the disks in the box originally.

Dave

 

Yeah, it's called "Dell's Software Reduction Act." They make the partition on your computer and that is all you get; however, I did get my disc for free, but that was many months before they started charging for them.