Warning: Toshiba is not honoring Vista upgrade

I bought a Toshiba laptop at CC a month ago and since, I've been trying to place my order for the free Vista upgrade through Toshiba upgrade web page. I keep getting a message saying that my Certificate of Authenticity (COA) is not valid. After writing about 10 times to them, being asked to send my COA to be reset, and still being unable to place my order, I called their service and basically was told that "they will take a look".

It looks that Toshiba is selling computers not properly licensed and now that we need to upgrade it, we are in trouble. If you decide to buy a Toshiba laptop thinking that you are going to get the Vista for free, think twice.

Their customer service is really bad. The person that answered me (Amber) was basically unable to do anything. She didn't even understood the problem and finally she neglected me the possibility to speak to a supervisor (there was no supervisor at that time!).

By the way, I also called CircuitCity and they told me that they have nothing to do with the promotion because it was handled by Toshiba. Of course, when I bought the the computer, they assured me that I was getting the upgrade (same thing on their web page) and never told me that it was through Toshiba. Again the old trick of deceiving.

Anybody been through this nightmare?

 

A friend of mine also bought a laptop from Toshiba a month ago. But when we returned to the shop just recently to avail our free upgrade to Vista, there was no problem. Everything was automatic and we got it in no time. From what country are you anyway? I'm actually in Thailand but I don't think this difference is the issue.

 

I didnt have a problem either. I purchased my laptop from CC a week before Vista came out and just filled out the info for free upgrade

 

I remember looking to purchase a laptop before Vista came out and saw in the fine print that only certain models were eligible for the Vista upgrade. Any chance your laptop isn't eligible?

 

Mine is a Toshiba Satellite A105-S4384, "Windows Vista Capable". Not only that, CircuitCity said clearly on their web page than this model came with the free upgrade.

Even in the case that my computer was not upgradable, Toshiba should have said so but they didn't because they know that the offer includes it.

This is exactly the same thing that happens with the mail-in rebates. They offer things to get your business and then try to get you out of it. No wonder CircuitCity is the company that sold my computer: If you check the forums you'll see that there are lots of complaints about their rebates.

I looks that Toshiba chose well their partner for this sort of scam.