Laptop Thoughts: Toshiba: Free Laptops and TVs? We Were only Kidding!

"Buy a Core i5 laptop or a Toshiba TV, and if your country wins the World Cup Final, we'll refund your money. Simple and to the point, don't you think? Toshiba ran this advertising campaign in Germany, England, Portugal, Italy and Spain in the run-up to the global football tournament, but now that one of those nations has actually gone and scooped the silverware, refunds seem remarkably hard to come by."

As any soccer fan could have told you, chances were good that out of the five countries in the ad campaign, there were three countries with a very real chance of winning: Spain, Germany, and the winners in 2006, Italy. With Spain winning its first title, was Toshiba prepared to actually issue refunds for purchases? Apparently not - some small print within the ad stated that anyone claiming a refund must go to Toshiba's web site for further information on the rebate, and must have registered their product(s) by June 17, 2010. Sorry Spaniards!

Arguing for the purchasers and for the rebates, Spanish consumer group Facua believes that the entire set of conditions should have been more clear and easily accessible to purchasers, and that refunds should be honored for purchasers. This could cost Toshiba a lot of Euros!