XO Computer Deceptive Advertising

The One Laptop Per Child initiative claims to provide low cost real laptop computers to children in the underdeveloped world for $200 each. In the fall of 2007 they solicited donations with the added incentive of sending the donor one of their laptops for an additional $200. This was also supposed to provide a donation of a laptop for a child in an underdeveloped country. $200 of the total $400 was said to be tax deductible.

On November 13, 2007 I made a $400 donation by PayPal which was charged to my credit card the next day. In exchange I was to get a $200 deductible contribution as well as one of their computers. I was advised there would be a 30 day period during which a return and refund could be obtained.

Six weeks after payment by charge card, a "laptop" looking device was shipped to me. It appeared to be a glorified computer game, a sophistocated toy. I contacted the vendor and requested a Return Merchandise Authorization which was denied. I was told the 30 day return period started at the time my charge card was debited even though the product was not shipped until late December, two weeks after the expiration of the return period.

Their attitude seemed to be "sorry you're out of luck, we're keeping your money." There was no appeal from the decision of the person to whom I spoke.

Not only is the One Laptop Per Child treating the public unfairly in their solicitations and merchandising, but examination of their product by a local person knowlegable in computers indicates their product is little more than a game playing machine with little functionality of real computer.

At no time did the One Laptop Per Child organization provide me with proper documentation for a legitimate tax deduction for the purpose of charitable contribution on my federal income tax.

Based on my experience, I would suggest that others be very careful in considering having any dealings with the One Laptop Per Child organization.

Comment On This

This complaint about the XO laptop was entered by someone with no idea of what they had in their hands.

The brightly colored "Green Machine" that looks like a toy is anything but. It is actually the result of 40 years of research and development by the brightest minds in educational technology and networking technology.

The development continues, with Microsoft signing on in May 2008 to add its Windows operating system to the laptop, and new educational activities being made available for this laptop continually by developers around the world.

At the very least, what you held in your hands was a very convenient way to access the Internet via public WIFI hotspots and other wireless access points. For the third world without this type of access, it provides instant networking between XO laptops via built-in mesh networking.

So right from the start, this has been much more than a game-playing machine.

I consider my contribution to the One Laptop Per Child organization to be well spent, even though I did not get their tax ID either...perhaps because they are still in the process of obtaining their charitable organization status.

So go pick on somebody who is really ripping people off and be happy you had a part in the historical, global initiative that One Laptop Per Child represents!