licensing issue

[bluebotl]

Adobe in their infinite wisdom has decided that my copy of Photoshop CS6 is pirated.  Several years ago when I bought Photoshop CS6 dual license, I called Adobe support and asked them what do when I got a new computer.  I was told that all I had to do was call and Adobe would switch my license to my new computer.  Now I actually have a new computer and Adobe doesn’t do phone support for my product.  My old computer was defective and was replaced by Apple.  I was unaware that I needed to deactivate the product from my old computer before erasing the hard drive.  I can no longer do that.  My copy of Adobe Photoshop CS6 has not been pirated, it was just that I didn’t follow a procedure I didn’t know existed.  This revocation of my serial number is completely unfair.  I had a very unsatisfactory online chat with Adobe technical support just now.  I was told that I'm screwed and that I cannot escalate the issue. I am very disappointed with Adobe.  A Customer Service supervisor is going to call me in a few hours.  Do any of you have any suggestions?

[Terri Stevens · Accepted solution]

There are many pirated copies around and not everyone appreciates that buying from unauthorized Adobe dealers like eBay can result in Adobe effectively abandoning them. So the obvious question is where did you buy your copy of Photoshop? Did you register it with the company? What reason did they give for saying your copy was pirated? It sounds if they revoked your serial number that its a serial in use by someone else. Really if it is a pirated version then there's not much you can do other than accept you have been cheated by a fraudster and get a Creative Cloud subscription.

[bluebotl]

I bought by copy for a legitimate dealer in 2013.  I've been using the software since then w/o any licensing issues.  They gave me no reason for why they think my copy is pirated, but I'm guessing it's because I didn't deactivate my license on my old computer.  My copy is not pirated.

[Terri Stevens]

In that case Adobe has no right to refuse you help. Could you go back to chat

Contact Customer Care

Tell them you need your activation count reset for Photoshop CS6 . If they refuse to do it, which they should not as this is routine for them, then could you ask for a precise reason and also the technicians name and come back here and tell us (but not the technicians name in the open forum) Forum members like me are mostly end users like you so don't have the power to reset your account but it is possible to refer this to  Adobe people elsewhere.

[bluebotl]

I guess I left out an important piece of information.  They've already flagged my serial number as invalid.  Will resetting my activation count solve that problem?  You mention that it is possible to refer my issue to Adobe people elsewhere.  I'd like to pursue that possibility.  Can you tell me how to go about doing that?

Thanks for your help.

[Terri Stevens]

No if the serial is invalid it will not work. Is this by any chance educational software bought through a school or university? Adobe did deals with some educational institutions on CS6 but the licences given out were only temporary-usually the duration of the course and then stopped working.

The real test here is how much you paid for Photoshop, for a non education version it would have been around $699 for the basic version and $999 for the extended. If you paid a lot less than this I would be worried that it was not a genuine copy. Can you explain what you mean by a 'dual license' ?

[bluebotl]

I'm sure I bought a non education version.  By "dual license", I meant to say that the license is for two computers.  The software worked fine on both computers up until I replaced one of them.

[John Waller]

By "dual license", I meant to say that the license is for two computers.

That's a normal, single license with two activations. It's how all Adobe software is sold.

Dual license usually means dual platform (Mac and/or PC).

[Jeffrey_A_Wright]

Moving this discussion to the Downloading, Installing, Setting Up forum.

Thanks Terri for your response!  Please feel free to move discussions of this type to the Downloading, Installing, Setting Up forum in the future.  Our community in this forum often answers this type of inquiry.

Bluebotl I am sorry that you are facing difficulties utilizing your Creative Suite 6 serial number.  Please make sure to utilize the registered serial number under your account.  You can find details on how to locate your registered serial number at Find your serial number .

If you are unable to locate your serial number then you are welcome to contact our support team directly at Contact Customer Care​ with any alternative e-mail address and phone number.

You are welcome to update this discussion if you have any questions.

[bluebotl]

I'd like to share what I learned.

First off, I learned that these forums are a very good source of information.  Given the inexperience of some of current Adobe tech support personnel, it's easy to get misinformation.  For example, I was told that I didn't have to do anything to move Photoshop CS6 from one computer to another.  It might be true for CC, but not CS6.

Second.  I'm pretty frustrated by how I was treated and the end result.  On Tuesday, I spent 5 hours in Adobe Technical Support Chat.  I passed one person to another 4 times.  I believe that in the days before tech support and sales were off-shored,  I would have come to a resolution in 15 minutes, maybe a half hour at most.  So, what I've learned is that Adobe doesn't really care about it's customers.  At least not as much as it cares about share price.

Third.  Here's what happened.  I finally talked to a Tech Support supervisor who explained to me that what I had was an serial number that is associated with an enterprise license purchased by a university.  So I really had bought pirated software.  A tip of the hat to Terri Stevens for her analysis and help.  Amazingly enough, the vendor, ITDirectDeals,  that I bought CS6 from is still in business.  They declined to refund my money and instead offered to sell me another serial number, probably also pirated, for $207.  At that point I attempted to buy CS6 directly from Adobe, only to be told that they no longer sell a perpetual license for CS6.  I was however able to download a 30 day trial of CS6.  So I get to use it for 30 days.  Then I think I give Pixelmator a try.  If it doesn't do what I need, I'll pony up and start leasing Photoshop CC.

Thank you to all who responded to my request for help.

[Jeffrey_A_Wright]

Thanks for the update Bluebotl.  As Terri mentioned I too have seen occurrences where individuals may have been provided an expiring serial number for Creative Suite 6.

If you face any difficulties installing Photoshop CC please don't hesitate to post to the Creative Cloud Download & Install​ forum.  Myself, or another member of our community, will be happy to assist with any questions you may have regarding the download and install process.

For future viewers of this discussion you can find details on how to locate your registered serial number at Find your serial number .  If you are unable to register your serial number, or are concerned that you may have a serial number with a set expiration date, please contact our support team directly at Contact Customer Care​.

[Terri Stevens]

Hello,

I am really sorry this has happened to you. I just Googled  ITDirectDeals and they still very much exist. Unfortunately there are quite a few companies like that with expensive looking websites, probably made with Adobe products , who take advantage of loop holes in the trading laws-they must catch out thousands of customers each year. Another nasty trick they have is to buy volume licences and sell of individual seats to unsuspecting customers. The serial numbers are genuine but the seller remains the product owner which means the buyer has no access to any technical support and no upgrade path. The subscription model at least does prevent this type of dishonest seller taking advantage of complicated licencing regulations. ITDirectDeals even seems to be selling the full CS6 Creative Suite  in DVD only form for $59 , which I took to mean without a serial number-anyone with a broadband connection can download source media legally from Adobe for nothing, so ITDirectDeals is effectively selling you something that is already free.

In cases like this I would like to see Adobe offer a years free subscription to Photoshop and Lightroom, it would be great public relations and show the company actually cares about people who use its products. To a behemoth software company the cost would be tiny and prevent disgruntled customers going away to source the ubiquitous Painter crack that even eight year olds in school seem to know about.

Creative Cloud is a great set of products, but not everyone needs the ultimate in software. If you don't want to subscribe, can I suggest you take a look at Affinity software. Their products are shaping up to be real Photoshop rivals for one day in the future and get great reviews. There is no subscription models and the price is only about $50

Affinity - Professional creative software for Mac

The Mac version is definitely shipping and I think the Windows version must now be due as the beta , which I've been testing, is incredibly stable. Best of luck with whatever route you take.

[bluebotl]

Terri,

Thank you for your help.  I may end up by taking advantage of Affinity's free trial to see if it does most of what I use in Photoshop.  You wrote something that I need a little more help with.  I can download source media from Adobe for nothing?  All I could find was a 30 day free trial for CS6 (which I got and am furiously editing as many of many of my photos as I can).  If you are saying I can get something more permanent, just without updates or support for free, I'd like to know how to do that.

Thank you.

Joe

[Terri Stevens]

Hi Joe,

Sorry I should have been more clear. You can download the source media for versions of Photoshop dating back to Photoshop CS3 , but you need to have a valid serial number to make them work as anything other than trials.

All I meant in my comment was the software on the DVD ITDirectDeals sells for $59 that comes without a serial number, can all be downloaded for nothing and the only cost to the down loader would be a writable DVD to store it on.

Afraid there is no free version of Photoshop, but, in addition to Affinity, Photoshop Elements has many of the important features of Photoshop and is available as a one off purchase, around $90

Picture editing software | Adobe Photoshop Elements 14 - Features