Hello All, Last week, I bought a laptop from Dell Online. It cost around £600 and on paper it seems to be quite a good model. The laptop came with a pre-installed copy of the 64-bit OEM Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, together with other Microsoft software packages. I do not need this bundled software as I only ever use Linux. I do not like Microsoft's products which I find to be unreliable. Furthermore I strongly disapprove of Microsoft's ethics and do not wish to provide the company with my custom. The laptop was not available for purchase without this pre-installed software. I should like the cost of this unwanted Microsoft software, which adds around £70 to the purchase price of a laptop, to be refunded by Dell. Dell reportedly refunds other consumers, both here in the UK and elsewhere, who object to paying a "Windows Tax" for pre-installed Microsoft software that they neither want nor need. Unfortunately, Dell is currently refusing my requests for a refund on this software. This makes me more determined to secure reimbursement since I believe it is my legal right under European law. Dell's argument is that the Microsoft software was included in the sale of the machine and that if I am not satisfied with that then I must return both the laptop and software for a refund. However, Dell states that this refund comes with a penalty. It would be subject to a deduction for the cost of shipping and handling and a "restocking fee." I doubt that such a penalty is even lawful under the rules of the Distance Selling Directive. Furthermore, it is apparently commonplace in the Francophone world for customers to obtain refunds from Dell, and other computer retailers, for the cost of unwanted software that is bundled with a new computer. In securing their legal right to a refund, French consumers are relying on the judgments of the European courts. These judgments including a 2009 case heard by the ECJ, and more recently the Nov 2010 judgment in Petrus v Lenovo in the French Supreme Court. The right to return unwanted bundled software is based on the Courts' interpretation of European Directive 2005/29/EC. This is known as the "Unfair Commercial Practices Directive". The Directive prohibits twenty-three deceptive trade practices and eight aggressive commercial practices. Dell, Lenovo and Acer have all been found guilty of engaging in unlawful business practices by refusing to refund the cost of unwanted software that was pre-installed on new computers. The legal right to a refund on unwanted bundled software was galvanised in France through a test case brought by UFC Que Choisir, the main consumer rights association in France. The Directive is implemented here in the UK by way of The Consumer Protection From Unfair Trading Regulations. The Regulations came into force in May 2008. In these austere times, it is particularly galling that the purchaser of an expensive new computer is burdened with the cost of bundled software products that he does not even want. For that reason, I should like to see Dell's unethical practice of pre-installing unwanted and costly software brought before a British Court, to hopefully secure a legally binding judgment in favour of the consumer seeking a refund for its cost. Dell has stated that I have three days left (out of seven) to agree to its punitive terms of refund, after which my entitlement to return the laptop ceases altogether, so the company has claimed. A particular bone of contention concerns the terms of the End-User License Agreement (EULA) for the bundled Microsoft software. The terms of this Agreement are not available for examination at the time of purchasing a laptop from Dell. Yet the company claims, nevertheless, that the terms form part of its Contract of Sale. Again, that does not sound lawful. The OFT's Guidance on Unfair Consumer Contract Terms state that a term is unlawful if it "irrevocably binds the consumer to terms with which he had no real opportunity of becoming acquainted before the conclusion of the contract." This is not the first time that the OFT has had to rein in Dell over its flagrant abuse of our consumer protection laws. In 2006, Dell was ordered by the OFT to remove a number of unlawful terms from its consumer contracts for the supply of computer equipment. All comments welcomed.