Power Kite Forum

OT : I got scammed on eBay :(

Kamikuza - 29-7-2010 at 05:28 PM

Bought a copy of Windows 7 back in April ...

Can't buy English version in Japan even from MS. Can't buy from US stores because a. they won't take my credit card and/or b. they won't ship outside the US. Neither will Amazon.

So compared prices on Amazon etc, did my best to find a legit with a legit price and bought from an eBay seller with 600+ sales and, at that time, no complaints about anything.

Last night, Windows gives me the finger ... "not genuine" etc etc. Given that it's now July and it's been ACTIVATED AND VALIDATED since April, I am somewhat annoyed.

Do I have any recourse with eBay or Paypal? What can I do?

indigo_wolf - 29-7-2010 at 05:50 PM

What edition of Windows 7?

Was this a shrink wrap retail copy of Windows or white label?

Did the Certificate of Authenticity have the pretty hologram?

The Microsoft site wouldn't take your CC?

Recourse through eBay/Paypal at this point might require springing for an oxygen tank.

ATB,
Sam

borntofli - 29-7-2010 at 06:00 PM

Next time have one of us buds here get it for you and ship it to you...... I would gladly do that.....

Kamikuza - 29-7-2010 at 06:21 PM

Looks as legit as the box et al of Windows XP that it's sitting right next to :o and that I jumped through #@%$#!ing hoops to get ... that was a "get a buddy to send it" event and it only took 4 months so I shouldn't moan too loud I guess :lol:

Yeah figured I was SOL with eBay - can't even find a contact address! Hoping to lean on the sympathies of MS now :lol:

Hasn't been a great week really ... the psycho-#@%$#! neighbor followed the wife to a supermarket and screamed abuse at her then when the wife called the cops said she didn't do anything ... and the cops won't do anything at all. My gringo kite-shop owner buddy in Japan is pissed at me cos I asked his opinions about Cab Crossbow 16 vs Ozone Zephyr and then mentioned I MAY buy them off the interweb (at half the price!) and not through him - despite me pumping $3,000 into his shop over the past 2 years! Got conjunctivitis and my eye bloody hurts. Windows dropped it's guts.

I've had my 3 bad things thanks, enough already!

... mind you, I had 3 ok/good/KICK ARSE! kiting days too :) on balance, I think I can live with buying another copy of windows ... just not yet. And I won't be rebooting for a long while either!!!

indigo_wolf - 29-7-2010 at 06:35 PM

Since you already have the physical media, if MS will take your credit card, you should be able to do a "soft" purchase of Windows 7 on the Microsoft site.

Rebooting shouldn't be an issue. When the MS licensing servers went belly up before I could activate our corporate copies of Windows 7, the only thing that happened was the Windows Themes got blacked out and the desktop was "watermarked" with a "not authentic copy of Windows" It also asked if I wanted to register every time the machine booted.

If you can do the purchase through MS, you should be able to change the Product Key to the one they provide you after purchase and reactivate without having to reinstall. I had to do that for about 3 machines at work.

ATB,
Sam

P.S.
Sorry about the other woes.... hope your eye gets better.
Buy your wife a Calico M951 with 100 round helical magazine for her birthday/anniversary. :rolleyes:

acartier1981 - 29-7-2010 at 11:24 PM

torrents......

WIllardTheGrey - 30-7-2010 at 12:27 AM

http://www.ubuntu.com/

Problem solved.:bigok: Its the ARC of OSs.:frog:

Kamikuza - 30-7-2010 at 12:56 AM

Seriously considering something like ubuntu but there is SO much windows #@%$#! I couldn't live without ... not to mention all the software I actually own! Then there's all the meddling you have to do to get it working ... hmm ... does it dual boot with a Windows?

Sam - MS actually contacted me and sent a "tl;dr" email that I'll read when I have a few hours free ... Paypal said talk to eBay but eBay won't let me send anything without an item number :-/ frustrating.

WIllardTheGrey - 30-7-2010 at 02:19 AM

You can just try it by booting from a cd, no install, no committing:wink2:.

Yes you can dual boot if you have two HDs or partition your one.
There is next to no fiddling to get it up and running. Two hours had me online, thats including the initial install.
Name something on windows you couldn't live without, then see if its on this list http://www.linuxalt.com/
Software you already own try WINE. http://appdb.winehq.org/ If its on the platinum or gold lists you have no excuse not to switch.:saint:

kiteNH - 30-7-2010 at 08:50 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Kamikuza
My gringo kite-shop owner buddy in Japan is pissed at me cos I asked his opinions about Cab Crossbow 16 vs Ozone Zephyr and then mentioned I MAY buy them off the interweb (at half the price!) and not through him - despite me pumping $3,000 into his shop over the past 2 years!


Come on, how should your shop buddy feel when you go down and pump him for information and then casually mention that you'll be buying elsewhere? If you're going to buy on the internet, then research on the internet. Or at least don't be surprised when he gets upset that you're going to take his professional advice and then take your money elsewhere.

On the Win7 issue, I would call MS. They might be able to tell you if your copy is really legit. And maybe they'll activate it for you in exchange for your info on the eBay guy selling fake software.

Scudley - 30-7-2010 at 10:03 AM

Ubuntu is great. It will even install on a memory stick. I have Ubuntu on a stick for my windows lap top - no visual studio for linux yet. (I use the linux antivirus software to scan my windows system disk for viruses. ) For most people Ubuntu is a great way to go: it is free; not many viruses are written for it; very secure; comes with a free!!! office software package compatible with and comparable to MS Orifice, saving you hundreds dollars. kill bill and and don't forget steve
Doesn't EBay keep track of all your transactions?
Your copy of windows may be genuine. The problem may be that you are trying to register a US license from a Japanese IP address.
I am surprised that the Japanese version of windows does not allow you to switch languages to English during the install.
Good luck with it
S

Maven454 - 30-7-2010 at 10:21 AM

Personally, I'm not a big fan of Ubuntu as a Linux distro. There are others that I far prefer.

Kamikuza - 30-7-2010 at 04:55 PM

KiteNH - it wasn't really like that ... he keeps trying to sell me LEIs by telling me how bad my foils are :lol: I asked for an opinion on which of the two kites I liked while I was in the store buying a bunch of other stuff and we started chatting about various things. I can totally understand but with prices in Japan - I'm not paying $500 to $1000 more just to keep a store owner happy!

I can only find the most recent thing I bought on eBay - there's no record of anything else I bought except in my email :o

Heard that the J-version allows you to choose English ... but I'd rather not risk it. Again, spending up to double the US price - I'd rather not!

Kamikuza - 30-7-2010 at 06:23 PM

Round and round we go, where the eBay contact email address is nobody knows! :mad:

Hardrock - 1-8-2010 at 10:21 PM

Wow, just logged in here to see if I still had an internet connection because I was trying to boot knoppix from a flash drive.

It didn't boot Linux and booted XP even tho I changed the boot drive in Bios.

However, it set off an alarm on this MB I installed yesterday. Gigabyte 770T

I might have to talk with you guys about Ubuntu.

Sorry for your problems Kami, lets try Ubuntu.