Vista Upgrading, The Hard Way

I purchased a laptop late last year. A nice system, with dual core AMD technology. It included a free upgrade to Windows Vista Home Premium (if I remember the title correctly, since there are so many of them).

So I started the process of ordering my free upgrade recently. Initially it went smoothly enough, entering my 25-character code for Windows XP Media Center into their website. I even received an email with more info.

I was told to mail, fax or scan-and-email my receipt to them. I chose the latter. I asked that they reply back to verify it was received and nothing was going to delay things (since they needed "weeks" to ship it anyway).

No reply (not a shock really). So I sent a follow-up email, altering the subject line a bit to try and get around any automated system. No reply. I checked the website, which has a status tracker. I was "accepted, awaiting proof of purchase" it said. Hmm.

So I had an idea: I emailed the website using a brand new email with a friendly "Hello, are you still in business?" message, nothing more. I got a reply later that day. So, I've now replied to THAT email with "Great! Then you can answer my questions below so that my Vista upgrade goes smoothly. I await your reply."

I then pasted in the original exchanges and sent it off. I wonder if I'll get a reply, now that they revealed they ARE able to actually handle emails?

Idiots. I work with some people like this (and unfortunately, several of them work in our IT Department, which I've thankfully not been part of for years - I run the Data Processing department).

Oh well. As long as I get my Vista upgrade.

(oh, and I did try calling - that was useless, you CANNOT get a live person using any of the logical options - everything tells you about a website URL you can visit - I may try again one day and just go through every option, maybe find a SALES line, that many times works...)