It’s pretty easy to forget about Tasmania, all the way tucked down there at the bottom of the country. Hell, there’s even a bit of water separating them from the rest of us. Which is why I have nothing but understanding for Microsoft, who have conveniently forgotten about the country’s sixth state in their Windows 7 Student upgrade offer.
Seriously – they’re only a massive multi-billion dollar company. Who can blame them from excluding Tasmania from the drop down menu to select what state you live in on the order form? What’s more, who can blame them for replying to tipster Ben’s email with a generic response saying that the cause was probably the fact that he didn’t have cookies enabled? And who can blame them for not actually fixing the issue after a couple of weeks?
And because this is the internet, I should probably spell out that I was being sarcastic, and that this lack of service (and recognition of Tasmania) is atrocious from the Big M. Sure, there may not be anywhere near as many students in our southernmost state, but it’s really an issue that could have been resolved quickly and easily with a minimum of effort.
Here’s a copy of the response from Microsoft tipster Ben had after informing Microsoft of their mistake:
Dear bclea,
Thank you for ordering from the Windows 7 Student Offer online store.
We apologize for the delay. Please attemp a new order.
The message that you received indicates that there are no items in your shopping cart.
Commonly, this is due to your browser not accepting cookies. A cookie is a small file written to your hard drive by some web sites. We
require that a cookie be set on your computer so that you can access our secure server for processing your credit card transaction, downloading your software, and checking your shippable order status information.For information on setting your browser to accept cookies, please visit:
http://www.microsoft.com/info/cookies.htm
Once you have updated your settings, please close all windows, and restart your browser.
To attempt a new order, go to:
http://windows7.digitalriver.com/store/mswpau/en_AU/ResetShoppingCart
Any other Tasmanian students suffering this issue?
matt
November 25, 2009 at 10:11 AM
lol, love the imagery of someone trying to order windows from a mac.
seriously though, this is pretty poor, something that a 3rd grader would be laughed at for not knowing…
and I’m so sick of seemingly automated responses that have nothing to do with your issue.
honestly, I’d think twice about buying an OS from a company that denies the existence of a whole state and then blames internet cookies for its disappearance…
Report Permalinkwtf
November 25, 2009 at 11:15 AM
I’m studying in Tasmania at the moment, and I had no issues receiving my Windows 7 student offer. Having said that, it is pretty lame that they forgot the state on the list.
Report PermalinkWilliam Fettke
November 25, 2009 at 11:20 AM
I thought Tasmania was already getting made fun of enough but now it seems to be going global…
Report PermalinkMonkeyMan
November 25, 2009 at 11:35 AM
Funny how you can select Hobart, Tasmania in the time and date set up, but you can’t order from it.
Report PermalinkIndefinite Implosion
November 25, 2009 at 12:16 PM
Yeah I had this same problem, but just selected Victoria…
Report Permalinkmeh.
Ken
November 25, 2009 at 12:42 PM
I think I saw “Tasmania” appearing in the drop down list for when the country selected is “new Zealand”. All just islands off our cost!
Report PermalinkByron
November 29, 2009 at 1:21 AM
When looking at the site the url is
“http://windows7.digitalriver.com/store/mswpau/en_AU/ResetShoppingCart”
Emphasis on the digitalriver.com part. This is not a Microsoft website, they did not make it. Sure they would have checked over it and may have even had some input into its development. But at the end of the day you are buying the product from digital river from digital river’s website.
What does this have to do with Microsoft?
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