Currys/PC World PC trade-in BS

Sconsey

I guess this is more of a rant or a warning really. Currys are 'offering' €100 off a new PC if you trade in an elegible old one. I have an oldish device that I bought off them about three years ago (a cheap PC in fairness)and brought it in today to trade in when buying a new one.

They checked the old PC and ran a program on it to check it out. The program came back saying the divice has Windows 10 on it but is not licensed for Windows 10 so they cannot accept the device. The implication being it has a pirated OS installed on it. The device came with Windows 8, it was subsequentialy upgraded to Windows 10, fully legal upgrade provided by Microsoft. So while the device license may say Win 8 and it has Win 10 installed on it, Windows is still activated. That activation is the key, Microsoft are saying the device is licensed. But the guy in the shop could do nothing, the program told him 'No'.

This feels like Currys going out of their way to avoid honoring the trade in offer. It is a HP device I bought off them (OEM devices ship with the license). All I did was accept the updates from Microsoft after they sold me the divice.

Anyway, beware if you are planning to trade in a Win 10 device that did not come with Win 10. I am stubborn so I am currently downloading the Win 8 media and will put a fresh install on the device, we'll see what excuse they come up with then.

Dia_Anseo

Put a free source OS on it like Ubuntu

See what they'll say then !!

my3cents

OP chances are there is a restore partition on the laptop so I strongly suspect you can reset it to the factory installed OS with a few key clicks at bootup.

L1011

Dia_Anseo wrote: »

Put a free source OS on it like Ubuntu

See what they'll say then !!

While it doesn't explicitly say it has to be running Windows, expect some staff member to insist that "linux is counterfeit!!"

Xterminator

OP you installed windows 10 on your pc. No one else, not microsoft, and not currys. Having a rant about implied piracy .. that's all in your head. Trade in has T's& C's, they always do.

If you can restore pc back top factory settings it goes back to win8 and you are in business again. downloading the images from HP is slower, than using the original recovery partition, but should achieve the same result.

Samuel T. Cogley

Why would you go somewhere probably €100 more expensive with crap service to get €100 'off'. Buy from someone decent and sell what you have on adverts.

my3cents

Xterminator wrote: »

OP you installed windows 10 on your pc. No one else, not microsoft, and not currys. Having a rant about implied piracy .. that's all in your head. Trade in has T's& C's, they always do.

If you can restore pc back top factory settings it goes back to win8 and you are in business again. downloading the images from HP is slower, than using the original recovery partition, but should achieve the same result.

No Microsoft most definitely installed Windows 10 and you had to be proactive to stop it happening.

Xterminator

Er no they didn't.

Its was offered and you had the choice to accept or decline. the key here is it didn't happen unless you clicked to accept the update.

Sconsey

Xterminator wrote: »

OP you installed windows 10 on your pc. No one else, not microsoft, and not currys. Having a rant about implied piracy .. that's all in your head. Trade in has T's& C's, they always do.

Currys are the ones telling me my device is not licensed, even though it is activated. Microsoft are saying all is good, Currys 'program' is disagreeing. I think Microsoft would have a better handle on figuring out if a device is properly licensed.

So trade-inner beware is all I am saying, Currys know better than Microsoft apparently. I am sure there are loads of Win 10 devices out there that were upgrades from Win7/8, they wont be eligble for trade-in.

Sidenote: recovery was resetting back to Win 10 so I installed a clean Win 8.1, the license is embedded in the firmware. Haven't had a chance to go back to see if their device now meets the Currys requirements.

Sconsey

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

Why would you go somewhere probably €100 more expensive with crap service to get €100 'off'. Buy from someone decent and sell what you have on adverts.

I know, I know I am actually doing all this on behalf of a relative that wants to go with a bricks and mortar shop. I wouldn't go near them myself for a computer.

my3cents

Scary to think that Currys PC World would want the original OS on the device. Makes me think they would resell one without wiping the users data and reinstalling the OS?

Nollog

They might not mean licensed as in a legal cd key, but licensed as in Microsoft recommended spec for Windows 10.

AngryLips

I traded in my device a couple weeks ago - it was originally W8 which I upgraded to W10 for free, accepted without issue by Currys PC World, sorry to hear about your experience OP.

MOH

Xterminator wrote: »

Er no they didn't.

Its was offered and you had the choice to accept or decline. the key here is it didn't happen unless you clicked to accept the update.

You must be joking, they were ramming it down people's throat. You had to jump through hoops to avoid "accepting" it.

sunny2004

Currys are the worst. Avoid unless it's a simple transaction.