Sony Reverses Policy, No Charge for Fresh Start Program

March 23rd, 2008 at 3:00 PM - News by John Martellaro

Within hours after Sony announced they would charge for the deletion of trialware from their Vaio computers, amidst a flurry of protest on the Internet, the company reversed itself and said the Fresh Start program will now be free of charge.

In a statement to TMO on Monday, Sony said, "Starting March 22, Sony will offer Fresh Start free of charge. We want VAIO users to have the best experience possible with our PCs, and we believe Fresh Start will help ensure that happens right out-of-the-box."

However, even though there is no charge for the Fresh Start option, customers must still elect to upgrade the Vaio from Vista Home Premium to Vista Business, which will cost them US$100.00 more.

The speed with which Sony reversed itself, literally within hours after the initial announcement in the light of what was a massive uprising of customer dissatisfaction, has been most welcome and suggests that Sony is tuned into its customers and can react accordingly to maintain good will.