Currently, buying a branded computer devoid of any operating system can sometimes become a real obstacle course. The models sold without OS (or at worst, Linux) are indeed still few, the vast majority of products being marketed with Windows (or Mac OS X) installed.

However, the Consumer Code (Articles L.122-1 and L.113-3) to link explicitly prohibits the sale of property (the material in this case) with that of a service (licenses software in this case). The procedures for "tying" by consumers against PC makers have so proliferated in recent years; customers accusing the manufacturers do not allow reimbursement of pre-installed software "force".

Pay!
The situation has nonetheless eased recently, some manufacturers have decided to play the game by putting in place a procedure to claim the software preinstalled on a machine (where it is not possible to choose when you purchase do not buy the software). With Asus and Fujitsu, it suffices for example to make a written request for a refund. For Acer, Packard-Bell, Samsung and Toshiba, the procedure is somewhat more laborious since we must return the equipment, but reimbursement is also possible. For other manufacturers finally (Apple, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Medion, MSI, or Sony), the reimbursement becomes more complicated: it is often necessary to resort to a judicial solution...

It took almost a year to our colleagues from ADNPC to achieve a refund of the amount corresponding to the operating system and software pre-installed on two Dell laptops, a part that can still reach 10 to 30 % of the total price of a machine ...