more like this... (Score 1)

its not like that...

The vendor is being cheap and didnt include any media. They unit had XP on it.

IT generally can do a few things:
1. Receive the PC and setup it up right
2. Do a bad job and give a user an unprepped machine
3. Have the vendor put a custom image on at the factory

What is going on is your IT has a special set of media and licensing that the PC vendor doesnt use. So the vendor includes a version of an OS and ships it...call IT and have them send you the media and key for win7 and berate them for noobing it up.