PSE no longer activated - "end of life"...

Report · Nov 25, 2018

Soooo frustrated! I purchased PSE in 2009. Used to use it regularly but don't use it very often anymore. I went in tonight to use it and couldn't log in. After speaking with support I was informed that it's not longer available and that I can buy it again for a "special price" - they transferred me to sales who gave me the regular price. I don't want to purchase it again - I already purchased it! Really not happy with adobe. No warning or anything. Ugh....

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9:46:02 PM

Khushwant:

Hello. Welcome to Adobe Technical Support.

9:46:09 PM

Khushwant:

Hello, Mila !

9:46:05 PM

Mila McClain:

hello

9:46:27 PM

Mila McClain:

Adobe Photoshop Elements 1xxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxx7 Version: 7.0 Platform: Windows Registration Date: 1/25/2009

9:46:39 PM

Mila McClain:

that's the info I have on my account on your website.

9:47:30 PM

Khushwant:

As I am able to understand you are unable to activate the product Adobe Photoshop Elements 7, am I correct ?

9:48:15 PM

Mila McClain:

well, kinda. It's always been activated - but for some reason when I logged in tonight it told me that my trial was expired and to purchase or provide serial number.

9:48:33 PM

Mila McClain:

So yes - I can't activate it - but I've never had this problem before over the past 9 years.

9:48:58 PM

Khushwant:

Sure, I will try my best. Let me look into this concern, what best I can do here for you.

9:49:02 PM

Khushwant:

While I pull up your account, may I have your phone number to make it easier for us to locate your account the next time you contact us?

9:49:00 PM

Mila McClain:

xxx-xxx-xxxx

9:49:35 PM

Khushwant:

Thank you for the information.

9:49:36 PM

Khushwant:

Please allow me 1-2 minutes to review your account details.

9:49:30 PM

Mila McClain:

sure

9:49:46 PM

Khushwant:

Thank you!

9:51:30 PM

Khushwant:

We appreciate your patience and regret the inconvenience due to the high wait time.

9:51:54 PM

Khushwant:

Mila, I would love to help you but I am sorry to inform you that Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 is an end of life product and the activation servers of the product have been retired and the best we can do here for you is that we can provide you Adobe Photoshop Elements 2019 in discounted price as you do own the older version of the product and you will need to pay only once and you will be able to use the product for lifetime as well.

9:53:07 PM

Mila McClain:

That is not acceptable. I purchased this product thinking it would be a one time purchase. I also have other adobe products that I pay for monthly - but I should not be penalized for being a loyal customer. How much to upgrade?

9:54:16 PM

Mila McClain:

"you will need to pay only once and you will be able to use the product for lifetime as well. " - saying I should be able to use the product for lifetime isn't helpful if it's going to expire one day too...

9:55:30 PM

Khushwant:

Mila, I do understand your concern and we are providing you the upgrade in discounted offer and you have to pay only once in discounted price and we do have dedicated Sales team to help you with the prices and discounted offers and upgrading the product. May I connect you with the dedicated team ?

9:55:42 PM

Mila McClain:

There should be some sort of warning prior to this happening too...

9:55:49 PM

Mila McClain:

Sure - connect me to the sales team

9:56:10 PM

Khushwant:

Thank you, kindly stay connected with us while I transfer your chat to the dedicated team.

Please wait while I transfer you to an operator at Adobe Sales.

Thanks for contacting us. We’ll find a representative for you to chat with and keep you posted on your wait time.
This chat will become active once a representative responds.

Did you know you can get answers to most of your Adobe-related questions at help.adobe.com? Find helpful video tutorials, tips for troubleshooting, and user guides for all our products. You can even get answers from members of our vibrant forums community. Visit help.adobe.com. Please hold for the next available agent.

You are now chatting with Khushwant.
Please don’t close the chat window or browser tab since it will end our chat session.

9:46:02 PM

Khushwant:

Hello. Welcome to Adobe Technical Support.

9:46:09 PM

Khushwant:

Hello, Mila !

9:46:15 PM

Mila McClain:

hello

9:46:37 PM

Mila McClain:

Adobe Photoshop Elements1xxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxx7 Version: 7.0Platform: WindowsRegistration Date: 1/25/2009

9:46:49 PM

Mila McClain:

that's the info I have on my account on your website.

9:47:30 PM

Khushwant:

As I am able to understand you are unable to activate the product Adobe Photoshop Elements 7, am I correct ?

9:48:28 PM

Mila McClain:

well, kinda. It's always been activated - but for some reason when I logged in tonight it told me that my trial was expired and to purchase or provide serial number.

9:48:44 PM

Mila McClain:

So yes - I can't activate it - but I've never had this problem before over the past 9 years.

9:48:58 PM

Khushwant:

Sure, I will try my best. Let me look into this concern, what best I can do here for you.

9:49:02 PM

Khushwant:

While I pull up your account, may I have your phone number to make it easier for us to locate your account the next time you contact us?

9:49:10 PM

Mila McClain:

xxx-xxx-xxxx

9:49:35 PM

Khushwant:

Thank you for the information.

9:49:36 PM

Khushwant:

Please allow me 1-2 minutes to review your account details.

9:49:40 PM

Mila McClain:

sure

9:49:46 PM

Khushwant:

Thank you!

9:51:30 PM

Khushwant:

We appreciate your patience and regret the inconvenience due to the high wait time.

9:51:54 PM

Khushwant:

Mila, I would love to help you but I am sorry to inform you that Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 is an end of life product and the activation servers of the product have been retired and the best we can do here for you is that we can provide you Adobe Photoshop Elements 2019 in discounted price as you do own the older version of the product and you will need to pay only once and you will be able to use the product for lifetime as well.

9:53:17 PM

Mila McClain:

That is not acceptable. I purchased this product thinking it would be a one time purchase. I also have other adobe products that I pay for monthly - but I should not be penalized for being a loyal customer. How much to upgrade?

9:54:26 PM

Mila McClain:

"you will need to pay only once and you will be able to use the product for lifetime as well. " - saying I should be able to use the product for lifetime isn't helpful if it's going to expire one day too...

9:55:30 PM

Khushwant:

Mila, I do understand your concern and we are providing you the upgrade in discounted offer and you have to pay only once in discounted price and we do have dedicated Sales team to help you with the prices and discounted offers and upgrading the product. May I connect you with the dedicated team ?

9:55:52 PM

Mila McClain:

There should be some sort of warning prior to this happening too...

9:55:59 PM

Mila McClain:

Sure - connect me to the sales team

9:56:10 PM

Khushwant:

Thank you, kindly stay connected with us while I transfer your chat to the dedicated team.

Please wait while I transfer you to an operator at Adobe Sales.

You are now chatting with 'Brian' at Adobe Sales.

9:57:03 PM

Brian:

Thank you for contacting Adobe Sales chat, my name is Brian. How may I help you today?

9:56:59 PM

Mila McClain:

Hi Brian,

9:57:21 PM

Brian:

Hello.

9:58:07 PM

Mila McClain:

I purchased PSE in 2009. I haven't used it in a few months and when I went to log on tonight - it said my serial number wasn't activated. After speaking the support, they said my version is no longer used with adobe and I would need to purchase another version. So they transferred me to you for pricing...

9:58:42 PM

Mila McClain:

Needless to say - I'm not thrilled with this as I thought when I purchased it before, that I bought it for lifetime - didn't know lifetime was less than 10 years.

10:00:45 PM

Brian:

I can help you with Photoshop Elements 2019 at USD99.99

10:00:53 PM

Mila McClain:

What is the regular price?

10:02:08 PM

Brian:

It is USD99.99 only.

10:02:25 PM

Brian:

If you want the upgrade pricing, I am not sure if it would work on your existing software.

10:02:38 PM

Mila McClain:

It's normally $99.99? They said I would get a "special discount" because of my trouble...

10:03:12 PM

Brian:

I am so sorry but I can only help you with above pricing.

10:03:41 PM

Mila McClain:

This is what support said - "Mila, I do understand your concern and we are providing you the upgrade in discounted offer and you have to pay only once in discounted price and we do have dedicated Sales team to help you with the prices and discounted offers and upgrading the product. May I connect you with the dedicated team ?: and then they transferred me to you. If you can't help - then why did they transfer me to you?

10:05:04 PM

Brian:

I understand but I do not have any other pricing available for you.

10:06:04 PM

Brian:

We have two pricing, one is USD99.99 which is full software and USD79.99 which is upgrade pricing.

10:06:39 PM

Brian:

If you go for upgrade, you need to have previous version installed, but in your case, your last version is Photoshop Elements 9, I do not think it wold directly upgrade from 9 to 2019.

10:07:19 PM

Mila McClain:

This is a joke. I purchased the software thinking I would have it forever. Then find out it's no longer usable - with no warning - and was told I would have "special pricing" but don't....

Report · Nov 25, 2018

This isn't a reply but a comment to warn other users. Adobe has the absolute worst service I have ever experienced. The above transcript is so very typical. I still use the product, but I actively warn others that it is useless to use support. Other users can be helpful, but Adobe? NEVER!

Report · Mar 07, 2022

Yes. Adobe is terrible. I had a chat today that was alomost verbatim to the above chat. What a scam. I'll be sticking with opensource programs like Gimp. See ya Adobe.

Report · Mar 07, 2022

Seems a bit unreasonable to me that you would be upset you can't use software you purchased 13 years ago--- don't think there is a software company anywhere that would even come close to supporting such old software.

A scam for them to not support end of life software? Far from it.

You can continue to be upset if you want.... continue to make accusations about the lack of support if you want, however, there are tens of thousands of users who would disagree with you.

Expecting support for software that is 13 years old is simply an unrealistic expectation.

Report · Mar 07, 2022

I am curious about your Support chat. What region of the world are you located in? Each of the Adobe chat representatives make reference to Elements 2019. But as far as I know, Adobe is not selling Elements 2019 anymore because that version is three years old. I see that you have redacted your personal information from the chat text. Is it possible that you did a find and replace text that changed the version number in the chat, and you were really offered to update to Elements 2022, the current version.

I am also curious about what OS you are using. At the time you purchased Elements 7, thirteen years ago, Windows XP would have been the latest version. Windows 7 came out later in the year, I believe. Microsoft stopped supporting that version over two years ago. But you think that Adobe should still be supporting software that was released 13 years ago? Did you also think that Windows XP and Windows 7 would be one time purchases?

In any event, if you are still using an older OS, Elements 2022 may not install on it. It will certainly not install if you are still using a 32 bit operating system.

Since we are seeing a number of users who are having similar problems to you, I am going to reach out to Adobe to get some official word about it. In the meantime, although this may sound strange, try installing the Creative Cloud desktop application. (There is no need to make any purchase.) I have a vague impression that the Cloud application is being used to authenticate licensing for older versions, rather than older servers that were used for that purpose. The earliest version I have on my machine is Elements 10. So, I can't try out whether Elements 7 would work on my computer.

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PSE no longer activated - "end of life"...