Serial Number not recognised.

[Eric_CrapTone]

I bought Photoshop Elements 2020 online direct from Adobe.  It worked OK for a few days, although I kept getting a message that I should sign in with an Adobe ID to activate the software.  When I tried to do this a further message would appear telling me that I should connect to the internet to validate my serial number, though I was already connected.  After this I would delete the message and carry on using the program without the validation.  Now, however, the program won't open at all without this validation, which is impossible as the program continues to insist that I am not connected to the internet.

I have looked at solutions online, and it appears that this problem is not uncommon.  But the

suggested fixes are too complicated for my limited computer skills, and anyway they don't work for everyone. 

Having wasted several hours on this  I decided to cancel my purchase, which I believe I can do within 30 days, but again there is a problem.  To do this I must first register the purchase with Adobe from my account page, but when I try to enter the serial number a red box appears:  'An error appeared while registering your product'   - even though the serial number was cut and pasted from the same page where it appears a little further down in my list of purchases.  So I can't cancel my order until I register, but I can't register because the serial number which Adobe have sent me, and which they repeat on my account page of their website is not recognised.  Catch 22!

I have previously always purchased physical copies of Photoshop Elements and never had a problem.  After this frustrating experience I will certainly never buy another program from them as a download, and would very much like some advice as to how to cancel my purchase of this one.

If it helps, the details of the order are:

Order number:
Order date:		12 April 2020

[Greg_S.]

I suggest you go to Adobe.com and click on the blue Contact Us button under the Support menu.  This will open up a chat with an Adobe support person.  Since this is a user to user forum, we can't help you with a cancellation.

[Eric_CrapTone]

Thanks to Greg_S for the speedy reply, however . . .

Firstly it doesn't address the initial point, namely that I spent £71 on a program which won't let me use it.  I didn't buy the program intending to cancel the purchase  - it's only after trying over and over again to get it to work that I decided to give up and try for a refund, but it shouldn't be necessary.  If you could suggest a way to get the program to validate the serial number which Adobe sent me so it would work the way it should, then I'd be happy to keep it.

Secondly, I've spent well over 2 hours today trying to open up a chat with an Adobe support person, but without success.  The blue Contact Us button you recommend is dead, i.e. has no effect. The four categories above Contact Us are 'live' and open new pages to Help Centre, Community Forums, etc. and I have tried all of them, but the Adobe support system just sends me round and round from one unhelpful page to another then back to the first.  I see from other threads on this site that this is a common experience. 

[Greg_S.]

It sounded like you had already made the decision to cancel, so I didn't offer any suggestions to get it to work.  😉  Also, I have now deleted your order number from your original post as it serves no purpose and may be misused by others.

What OS are you using?

Have you ever tried to sign in to register the program?

What is the exact message that you are receiving when you try to register.  A screenshot would be helpful.

What internet browser are you using?

Have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling the program?

[Eric_CrapTone]

Hi Greg

Thanks again for the quick reply. To answer your questions in order:

I'm using Windows 10 Home 64-bit

I'm not sure what you mean by 'register the account.' I have an Adobe account, and I have signed in and out and in again just to check that it's working. My account page 'My Products' confirms that I have purchased Elements 2020, and also gives the serial number, but when I try to register it via the 'Register a Product' section just above it doesn't accept the number. I've tried that many times, as I've already described.

The message I get when trying to register is: An error appeared while registering your product

​I use Firefox, but I've also tried it with MS Edge and with AVG browsers.

Yes, I have uninstalled the program and reinstalled it, but the problem stays the same.

Thanks for your continued interest.

Regards

Les Merrills


[https://ipmcdn.avast.com/images/icons/icon-envelope-tick-green-avg-v1.png] Virus-free. www.avg.com

[Phinny]

- even though the serial number was cut and pasted from the same page where it appears a little further down in my list of purchases.

You may have reviewed the info in this KB Docuent previously and if so my appologies.  It's importan to understand the difference between Adobe Order numbers and producct Serial Numbers thats all..  Just in case, the one you need begins 1057 and you may already know that.

[Eric_CrapTone]

Yes, thanks.  The serial number I entered began with 1057.  I entered it both with and without the hyphens - no joy.

[Greg_S.]

I really don't think we can help you any further on this forum.  I'm going to again suggest that you contact Adobe Support through the Contact Us button.  I just tried it and it worked fine for me.  Type in the error messages you are getting and see what response you get.

If you can't get any satisfaction from there, I have one other possible suggestion, but it is somewhat complex and you have told us that you have limited computer skills and don't want to try anything complicated.

[Eric_CrapTone]

I have tried the blue Contact Us button over and over again without any result.  I can't find an email address with which I could contact the company.  There is no phone number.  I would just like to get my money back at this point and put an end to this frustrating waste of time.  Does anyone know of a way I can get a message to someone at Adobe?

[Greg_S.]

You say:

I have tried the blue Contact Us button over and over again without any result.

Do you mean you have not received any response to your question, or the response you received was not satisfactory?

In any event, try Googling, Adobe Support phone number.  A phone number should come up immediately.  It did for me.  I tried the phone number and went as far with the menu as getting a choice for cancelling a product.  I'm not going to post the phone number here since it may be different depending on which region of the world you are in.

[Eric_CrapTone]

I mean that when I click on the blue Contact Us button the sole effect is that it turns to grey.  No further boxes or menus appear, and no contact takes place.  Perhaps it has been disabled or overwhelmed because of the current situation?

As for googling Adobe Support phone number, I tried that and found two numbers.  One was for Adobe Sales, and the other was for businesses interested in Adobe Creative Cloud.  Otherwise the message was: If you need technical assistance or customer service, please contact Adobe Support, which is where I have been going round in circles for the last 2 weeks.  If you had more luck with a number you found, please pass it on.  I'm in the UK, so this may lead to different results appearing for my search than yours.

I can understand that there might be a shortage of staff to man a phone helpline, but surely Adobe could provide an email address for customer support!

[Greg_S.]

I think you should first try the UK sales number.  Since you want to cancel a purchase, I would think they can take care of it. 

Here is the number that jumps up on a Google search in the US:

[Eric_CrapTone]

Thanks to everyone in the Adobe Community who tried to help with this problem.  I finally managed to get a message directly to Adobe Customer Care and they arranged a time with me via email when they would phone me.  A very pleasant and patient man rang the next day and spent over an hour trying to fix the problem, which turned out, as I understand it, to be caused by a software conflict with the Nord VPN program I was running.  Everything is working fine now, so thank you to Adobe Customer Care.  I just wish they made it easier and quicker to get in touch! 

[Dhananjay Sati]

Hi there,

It seems you are facing issue with the activation of Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020.

Could you please confirm if you are using any VPN software in your machine ?

If "yes" then please disconnect it , restart Windows 10 & try to activate .

I hope this works for you .

Regards

Dhananjay Sati

[Mohit Goyal]

Hi Eric,

We're extremely sorry about the delay in response and all the trouble. I have sent you a private message. Kindly check and respond. 

Thanks,

Mohit