Warning: Toshiba is not honoring Vista upgrade

I bought a Toshiba laptop at CC a month ago and since, I've been trying to place my order for the free Vista upgrade through Toshiba upgrade web page. I keep getting a message saying that my Certificate of Authenticity (COA) is not valid. After writing about 10 times to them, being asked to send my COA to be reset, and still being unable to place my order, I called their service and basically was told that "they will take a look".

It looks that Toshiba is selling computers not properly licensed and now that we need to upgrade it, we are in trouble. If you decide to buy a Toshiba laptop thinking that you are going to get the Vista for free, think twice.

Their customer service is really bad. The person that answered me (Amber) was basically unable to do anything. She didn't even understood the problem and finally she neglected me the possibility to speak to a supervisor (there was no supervisor at that time!).

By the way, I also called CircuitCity and they told me that they have nothing to do with the promotion because it was handled by Toshiba. Of course, when I bought the the computer, they assured me that I was getting the upgrade (same thing on their web page) and never told me that it was through Toshiba. Again the old trick of deceiving.

Anybody been through this nightmare?

Fidget: If you search the CircuitCity forum, you'll see that a representative of that store confirmed that there is more people with problems with the upgrade. I believe that after more than ten times trying to place my order in different ways and not getting anyware, and knowing that there is other people with the same problem, It is absolutely true that Toshiba is not honoring what they offered. Is it an operational problem or fraud? I don't know. All I know is that I am unable to get what I was offered. You might not like what I say but, it doesn't change the fact. Are you related to Toshiba? Trying to blame Microsoft of Toshiba's fault is not the right way to defend a company.

I hope things go as you said, and I finally get my Vista..... oh wait, I have until the end of this month to place my order, and I can't do that because their system is not taking my COA and they don't allow me to place my order by phone untill my COA is cleared!

I've been trying with these guys for more than a month now without results, I probably I am going to be in the same way at the end of the month. Then Toshiba is going to say that I didn't place the orden on time. It is exactly the same thing when you send a mail-in rebate and are told that it wasn't postmarked on time. I am not as lucky as all the other hundreds of guy that "just" haven't got their upgrade yet. I don't even have an order placed. That makes me mad.

Again, I tried calling to Moduslink today. After trying to placing my order and of course with no success, I was told that they (Moduslink) cannot do anything about resetting the COA and that I had to deal directly with Toshiba. I called Toshiba, and after explaining them all the problems I've been through, I was tokd that I was going to be connected to the department that handles these cases, and they put me through ......Moduslink.
I called again to Toshiba, and this time I was told that they have nothing to do with the problem and that I should talk to Microsoft, then she just put me through Microsoft. The person in MS was very polite but had no clue of what I was talking about. When I asked her to connect me with somebody that knows about the Vista upgrade she offered me connecting to a department that handles that promotion, ...and I was transfered to Moduslink again!
So I talked to other person, and this time he verified that my COA wasn't working and then he made me wait to try to fix the problem. After waiting about 25 minutes, he finally told me that there was nothing he can do, and that I have to send an e-mail to Moduslink. So, who I was talking to? He explained that he was from a associate company of Moduslink, and they were processing order for them, but they cannot fix my problem. He also told me that the last information he had was that there was about 80,000 e-mails pending to be answered.
I don't now if that last part is true, but that could explain why I am getting e-mail replies that don't analize my case, and look more like a general answer. Probably is an automated system or a simple copy and paste of previous answers.
So, is Moduslink is unable to handle this promotion, why did Toshiba rely on them? What are they doing to fix the problem?
As I understand, nothing, and that is why their customer service people know nothing but to blame it on others. (Second time I hear about been all Microsoft fault).

I was told that Moduslink was given the COA numbers by Toshiba, so in the end, it is Toshiba's fault for not providing the right information. I read that there is people that don't agree with the title of this thread but, willingly or not, Toshiba is responsible for the problem.