Cannot download templates from word

Hello Neil,

I understand your concern and will assist you to resolve this issue.         

Please provide additional information to help you better.

1) On how many computers are you experiencing this issue?

2) Are the computers to the same domain/network?

Let's start the computer in a Clean boot state following instructions in the article below, then try downloading the template from within Word and verify the result.

You may refer to the link below for instructions how to start the computer in a Clean Boot state.http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135

Clean Boot is performed to disable all start up programs and 3rd party services on the machine to check if they are conflicting with Word.

Note: Ensure to restart the computer in normal mode after this troubleshooting process. 

You may also refer to the following thread which discusses about the similar issue and see if it helps.
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2013_release-word/something-went-wrong-downloading-your-template/e3a1bd04-d7c9-4dd6-8296-cae06d7b0374

Hope it helps. Try the suggestions and let me know the results at your earliest convenience.

Thank you for your reply.

1) there are 5 computers that i know of that are experiencing this issue. 4 of the computers are new and the 5th is in vmware for my testing.

2) these computers are all on a domain and i am the network admin. it doesn't matter if i'm on a user account or admin account, the issue is the same. 

i tried doing the clean boot and it did not help. i have uninstalled every program except for office 2013, silverlight, .net, and java.

i have been through the other thread you linked and most didn't apply.

i have tried everything you listed and nothing helped. the problem remains the same.

Here's a round-about way to get them

In your web browser, go to

http://office.microsoft.com/en-au/templates/

and locate the template that you want and then click on it and then click on Open in Word Online and then click on Continue.  When it opens in Word Online, click on the File tab and then on Save As and then on Download a copy to save it to your computer.