2486053185_e53de18f26[1]OK, so it wasn’t quite as bad as trying to get in touch with Klamm up at the Castle.  But still, there was enough fishy about trying to get my free Windows 7 upgrade for my new computer system that I’m a bit suspicious of Dell’s good intentions.

It seems straightforward.  They have a website.  You go there, input the vital statistics on your recent purchase of a Dell computer.  If your computer meets the straightforward eligibility criteria, you get put on a mailing list to be notified when the Windows 7 release is available.

The eligibility requirements are threefold:

  1. You need to have purchased your computer after June 26, 2009.  I did.
  2. You have to have a supported O/S (Vista Home Premium, which I have, is supported).
  3. Your system has to be on the list of eligible systems.  Mine is.

So no problem, right?  I filled out the form, entered all the relevant information, and…

Bzzzt.  “This system is not eligible for the upgrade program.”

I tried to look over the web app to see if I’d done anything wrong.  Name and email correct, check.  Date of purchase, check.  Dell Service Tag, check.  Resubmit.

Bzzzt.  “This system is not eligible for the upgrade program.”

So, of course, time to call customer support.  After eons on hold trying to reach Customer Care, I call Technical Support.  The very polite tech support call center guy tried to tell me my system might not qualify due to driver issues.

Driver issues?  Vista’s already running on this machine, and you think it’s too new for Windows 7?  He was unable to figure anything out, so he forwarded me to Customer Care (bypassing the long call queue, thankfully).

The next person I spoke to broke all sorts of records in getting me off the line.  As soon as he heard I was calling in reference to the Windows 7 upgrade program, I got transferred immediately.

Luckily, the woman that I ended up at was able to help me.  She checked, confirmed that I had been blocked from receiving the upgrade, took my information, worked some form of database sorcery, and unlocked my account, allowing me to register.

I just question how a system that can easily get all information about my computer and purchase relevant to the upgrade program from its service tag can require manual intervention to unlock registration.  Everyone I talked to who checked confirmed I was eligible within seconds.  If it was that easy, why wouldn’t the main website, which has been up for over a month, also be able to do the same check they did?

I have no proof, but just as a hypothetical scenario, what if certain types of eligible systems (refurbs, for example) were flagged in the web app’s database to deny registration even though they should really qualify?  If the user calls, the proper bit could be flipped easily and blamed on a database glitch.  But not everyone would call.

Again, no proof; it could just have been that my service tag had still been associated with the original purchase date of the computer (before it was returned and repurchased by me).  But it still smacks of the same types of rebate dodges that other manufacturers try to pull.

Anyone else have this same experience?