Some success stories

How to get a Windows tax refund

Going to a Small claims court

HP must reimburse Windows buyer

A polish user gets a refund

In preparation

The laptop should arrive later this day, and from the articles there are some important points made:

• The laptop should not be allowed booting past the EULA
• Everything should be documented as well as possible.

So the plan is to videotape the opening of the package, unpacking of the laptop, booting, displaying the EULA and relevant portions, declining the EULA and then power off.

Next thing is to figure out who to contact for the refund. The retailer, Lenovo or Microsoft?
Hopefully the EULA will give some clues about this.

The Windows Vista refund experience

Earlier this week I ordered a new laptop, a Lenovo T61. The particular hardware combination was only available with Windows Vista preinstalled, while I would have preferred Windows XP or Linux to be installed.

Reading other news sites, it seems to be possible to get a refund for the installed operating system. The embedded end-user license agreement is told to contain terms that the "product" (the software) can be returned for a refund.

For example, arstechnica tells a story about a Lenovo buyer who would get a $130 refund if he signed an NDA. heise online has an article about a German guy who got €30 for Windows XP.