paul@torch.UUCP (02/04/87)
Recently a colleague of mine received a mailshot from Microsoft (UK) asking her if she wanted to upgrade to MS Word 3.0. All she had to do was to send 70 pounds (approximately) and her old Word manual. Thinking that the request for the manual was rather strange, she called Microsoft and was told that, although she was a registered user, she would still have to send it in. The reason given was that the offer of an upgrade had been sent to non-users (!). Although she still thought that being a registered user should suffice, she duly sent off the manual (she had to pay the postage) and her credit card number and a letter of complaint. She then got a standard letter back saying that 'because of unprecedented demand we are out of stock and will not be able to ship your order for 4-6 weeks'. (Interestingly, this letter was not even mail-merged, having gaps left that had been filled in with biro!). Meanwhile, of course, they have her money and her manual. Naturaly she has written a letter of complaint about this also, but as she didn't receive a reply to the first one, it will be interesting to see the results. As she sent in the fee for the upgrade immediately after receiving the mailshot (which was the day after it was posted), one naturally wonders just how many copies of Word 3.0 they DID have. Maybe they didn't have any. This consumate display of un-professionalism is astounding from a relatively large well established company. One wonders if people have the same problem with Microsoft in the States? Paul Andrews ...seismo!mcvax!ukc!stc!datlog!torch!paul
whp@cbosgd.UUCP (02/10/87)
I think you or your friend misunderstood. You were supposed to send in the cover from the manual, not the whole manual. The idea I think is to separate the real owners from the pirates (whould might have a disk but probably don't have a manual). Wayne Pollock