As I had posted in another thread, we just bought a new laptop, our very first laptop. It was on a promo for 30k pesos that we bought for 28k pesos when we paid in cash. The hardware comes bundled with the software of Windows 7. Fine. But we overlooked the MS Office. It was not included so now we cannot use the laptop for writing and also for spreadsheet. We are still thinking of how to buy a cheap MS Office.
I guess you can try using alternatives for MS Office like LibreOffice. This is a free tool with full features. There should be no issues compatibility wise for editing and reading files originating from MS Office.
I don't use the bundled offers either. I try to make purchase separately. Most of the bundles are not in our favor. Like MS Office home edition may not be something you'd go for. Instead you should buy MS Office Professional edition. As you can see such changes may matter. Same with the Antivirus bundles that you see these days.
My brother advised me to never buy anything that comes with other items. Most of the time they do this in order for them to sell the item because it doesn't perform well in terms of sales. So it means that rather getting more value from the purchase you will get items that are not really worth it. Sometimes the extra free items are not good either and poor in quality just to make the item more appealing to the eyes of the consumers.
I was going to suggest a refund or exchange but I see this post was made in August @Alexandoy. I wonder if you resolved the problem and how you went about it. Thank you for warning us about bundles though as I wouldn't have known this could happen.
Based on the title, I initially thought that @Alexandoy was warning people of the pitfalls of paying for bundles. Reading through, he was actually complaining about the non-inclusion of MS Office as a bundled software . The first thing that I would have noticed was the Windows 7 OS, which is quite a surprise for a recent purchase considering that offline stores have been offering Windows 10 for more than a year already. Not all people are willing to shell out extra buck for bundled software like MS Office so most shops sell them at a discount as a side offer. I myself have opted out of the MS Office bundle to save on the cost of the laptop purchase. If you were actually interested in buying a discounted MS Office from them, your best bet would be to call and ask the seller if they can sell you one on account of your recent purchase. I don't think they will refuse to sell in that case.
Bundles are one of those things that can be good but like you said are dangerous if you don't need most of it, which is where they get you. Always best to do your research and evaluate your needs.
