I have never experienced anything like this, but if you live in Australia and are considering an Acer you should read this. It seems the problem is with the contractor Acer hired to repair their computers. Enough negative attention and this will change.
Many people have preconceptions about Acer quality and something like this won’t help matters.
I live in the USA and read up on the Acer advantages. Called them to inquire if I could (on my own) replace Vista installed with Windows XP Pro.NO PROBLEM, was the answer—After receiving the Aspire desktop and ready to do the substitution, I contacted them (Tech Support) for instructions to avoid problems.They advised me to pay for their Tech Support ($ 60 for 30 min.) and gave me the number to call for subscription. A few days later I called them, used 4 min. of my 30 to be told just to “Hold down the letter ‘R’, while booting up from my XP Pro disk”. I thought that was a simple solution, wondering why one has to pay for such simple instruction.
With the arrival of Windows 7, I called Acer America Tech Support again to see if I could install Win7. The answer was clear: NO WAY
Thanks for sharing your story. You might want to find a local trustworthy computer shop in your area to take care of upgrades for you next time. You’ll get better value for your dollar I think.
A follow-up:
Acer America Tech Support also advised me that my Model Aspire AM 3641 Desk top ONLY CAN OPERATE WITH THE INSTALLED VISTA HOME PREMIUM and that no other OS can be installed!!!
Acer does not reply to my email, requesting a refund of my $ 60 “support fee”. They solicited this fee under the pretense that their Tech would guide me in replacing Vista with XP Pro. THAT IS FRAUD !!!
i WILL WELCOME COMMENTS FROM ANYONE WITH SOLID KNOWLEDGE ON THIS SUBJECT. THANK YOU.