How to get back pre-installed apps

[Robert2019]

Hi

My new HP Laptop  (HP 17-BS028CY ) came with one year of Office 365 Personal edition. There was an office app from HP pre installed on the computer. It was for Office 365 Personal (one year free) and was deleted while setting it up. I was in a Physical Microsoft Store and the tech was answering questions about the software and how all my previous purchased apps using the same Microsoft ID would also be available on the new computer. I have never had Office 365 before.

We clicked on the office app.

We clicked on the Activate button.

I entered my hotmail ID.

A window popped up saying that there was one year free and if I paid for Office 365 Personal now I would have one year free of Office 365 Personal edition and my credit card would not be charged the $69 for the Office 365 personal edition until November of 2019 and that charge would be for the following year as you pay for the year up front.

The one year free is inline with offers I had seen on the Internet for the same system so it all made sense to me.

The tech said that I had to enter my credit card at that point. He said I could just close the computer and it would sleep, leaving the browser open. He even saved this page in my favorites in case it was not still open when I got home. It was open.

At home I started the purchase process. The page was still open in my browser, but it appears there was also a time limit to complete the purchase once you began, which I did not know about. I remember looking at the direction in the address bar and it said something like office.microsoft.com. I entered my credit card info, my address, my phone number. I clicked on the continue button and I received a message in a popup window.

The time has expired to complete the process. Close the browser and start again.

I closed the browser and started the process again. I clicked on the office app link in the list of programs. It opened, but did not go to the same popup window talking about the one year free office 365 personal version. It did not ask me for the credit card number, address, or phone number as it was already there from when I entered it before. I could see pieces of the credit card info in the popup window. I clicked on continue and it gave me the message that the transaction was completed. 

Microsoft sent me two emails. The first confirms the purchase of Office 365 Personal the Office 365 personal edition for $69. 

Hi, 

We're sending this message to confirm that you have successfully activated Office 365 Personal on Tuesday, October 23, 2018. Here are the details:

This entitles you to an Office 365 Personal subscription for one year. You will be notified to renew your subscription when it is about to expire. Experience Office when and where you need it. Sign in to get your applications, documents, and settings on the devices you love. Save your documents to the cloud in OneDrive to access anywhere. Learn more about your Office 365 Personal subscription at www.office.com/office365personal.

To manage your subscriptions online, visit https://account.microsoft.com/services/. 

The second email confirms that I have changed my subscription.

Hi, 

This mail is confirmation that you successfully changed your subscription to Office 365 Personal on Tuesday, October 23, 2018. Please retain a copy of this for your records. Here is a description of the change: 

This entitles you to 1 month of Office 365 Personal subscription. After this period, your subscription will renew automatically into a 12 month annual subscription at a cost of $69.99 (USD) (plus any applicable taxes) per year, or at the then current price. You can manage the details of your subscription or cancel anytime by visiting www.office.com/myaccount. Experience Office when and where you need it with Office 365 Personal. Sign in to get your applications, documents, and settings on the devices you love. Save your documents to the cloud with OneDrive to access anywhere.

To manage your subscriptions online, visit https://account.microsoft.com/services/. 

I did not see anything about the free year. I went to https://account.microsoft.com/services/ to  see what was in my account information and it too said one year purchased + one free month, but nothing about the free year. I think the free year was lost when I had to close the browser and open a new browser due to the expired time limit to complete the purchase. I would not have received the second email from Microsoft stating that I had changed my subscription if this was a normal purchase without the free year as I had never had an Office 365 subscription before to change.

I called Microsoft help and I ended up talking to a supervisor from India who put me through the ringer. He was very impatient and asked his questions in a way that confused me even more. He would NOT stop talking and would not let me answer a question. He beat me up verbally from one side to the other. He wanted me to show him proof of the one year free message, but would not tell me how I could do this. He said he had never heard of any company giving one year free of Microsoft Office software with a new computer, but if I could show him screen shots of this free one year message he would gladly in 8 minutes give me a free year. I told him I did not know how to give him proof. I told him the software was paid for and the Activate window does not popup anymore. I gave him access to my hotmail account to see the messages that Microsoft had sent me. I told him I had a six page chat from that morning with a Tech that I could show him (this had nothing to do with the office 365 purchase. I had other doubts about the apps and how they worked with my hotmail account and two laptops and a tablet. It appears that a personal edition can be put on up to five devices now. I told him that I had just returned from a physical Microsoft Store location where I was working with a tech (via an appointment I had made the previous day) to understand everything on the new laptop. He would not budge. I HAD TO SHOW HIM PROOF OF THAT POPUP WINDOW AND HE WOULD THEN DETERMINE IF IT WAS A REAL MICROSOFT WINDOW AND LET ME KNOW IF I COULD HAVE THE ONE YEAR FREE. It was like David and Goliath, but it did not end the same way. 

Is there any way to get the free year of Office 365 Personal edition from HP back?

[Cheron-Z]

@Robert2019

I have brought your issue to the attention of an appropriate team within HP. They will likely request information from you in order to look up your case details or product serial number. Please look for a private message from an identified HP contact. Additionally, keep in mind not to publicly post personal information (serial numbers and case details).

If you are unfamiliar with how the Support Community's private message capability works, you can learn about that here.

Thank you for visiting the HP Support Forum.