Windows 7 - Win Ult 7 English Row Dvd

Hi to all,

I am somewhat computer literate and today my version of Win 7 Ultimate 32 & 64 bit ( for my brother's birthday ) arrived. I am quite perplexed as there is a yellow sticker saying:

INGRAM MICRO VP# GLC00181
116W871
WIN ULT 7 ENGLISH ROW DVD
and in small letters: 852091102 at the bottom.It also says product of USA. I looked at a couple of sites and got conflicting views on this. Let me say that I purchased this on eBay for $145 and when it arrived you can see that it is indeed a non opened pack. When I opened the pack the 32bit disk had a small scratch on the label side but the 64bit disk has numerous scratches looking much like it had been used.

So my questions are :
1/: have I bought a counterfeit copy
2/: could this chap copied the disk and pre-shrunk it to look normal
3/: I have learned that ROW stands for Rest of World ( something to do with Britain & the European Community ). Is this correct ? Looking at his history of selling this is the 12th time he has sold copies of Win 7 Ultimate. Have I been conned ?

I have fired off a couple of emails to the seller but I am not getting a response. I would appreciate any feedback that you can give. By the way, I have registered to your forum yesterday so a big hello to all members.
Kind regards,
michael1955

Hi michael1955 and welcome to Windows 7 Forums

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm afraid that you have been duped and conned.
Let me go through what you have said, with reference to the items I've highlghted in red.

Firstly, I would avoid sites such as eBay for items such as this, especially at that price (which is about half of what a retail version sells for). They are OK for some things, but for those which require registering and/or activating (e.g. Windows OSes), it is a big no-no as you will inevitably have problems down the line. You are better off paying a bit more in order to get a genuine product from a trustworthy retailer (and that means your local computer store that you visit in person).

Secondly, the scratches that you mention. It is extremely unlikely (although can never be 100% ruled out) that these are a result of incorrect handling at the manufacturers, since the process is fully automatic and the disks do not come into human contact at any stage. Scratches tend to occur when you insert and remove the disks from the drive. In addition, most scratches will be on the non-label side since it is that side that you place on the drive tray.

This brings me to my third and final point. The evidence of the scratches above leads me to believe that the disks have already been used.

Hi Dwarf,

Thankyou for your interest in my quest to find out if this "Win Ult 7" is the real thing. I have gone to a few sites (forums) and am getting mixed reports. There is another person selling exactly the same product so I emailed him and replied that he has sold more than 70 editions as his Computer Shop buys in bulk from the USA.

There was some discussion on another site which said that there was confusion as to who has the rights to sell the OS to Europe. The poms are arguing that as they were previously the only supplier of Microsoft OS's beforehand ( to Europe ) then that gives them exclusive rights to provide Windows 7.

Others are saying it is non-genuine and counterfeit. So where does that leave me ? I have two (32 & 64 bit) disks that have obviously been used. So I emailed the seller with my complaint and he replied quite quickly and said that he personally checks each box before packing it ( yeh, right ) and he was going to get in touch with his supplier to see what's going on.

I have stated that under his return policy I can ask for my money back , so we shall see what happens.
Many thanks for your generous reply and for thinking the same as me. I have been conned. Now I feel like an idiot but have learned from this.

Kind regards, michael1955