Rude and questionable support (CS4)

[frenz1234]

Asking for my serial number without explanation put up some HUGE red flags for me. I said i was not comfortable with that. Bhakeshava became annoyed and kept pressing for it. I did not contact support for serial number help. FISHY, VERY FISHY ADOBE.

[Title edited by mod]

[Abambo]

What Adobe support were you contacting? Please be warned that there are a lot of impostors out who say they are Adobe, but arn't.

So the way to contact Adobe is YOU contact Adobe and not the other way around and YOUuse the official contact channels: Contact Customer Care

[frenz1234]

sadly, that is where I contacted from

[Abambo]

For what problem did you contact support? If you have a serial number it needs to be an old CS install.

[frenz1234]

I was having issues with the actual program not serial numbers

[John T Smith]

When you ask a question you need to provide some basic information

-Forum quick start https://forums.adobe.com/docs/DOC-5601

Mac or Windows, and EXACTLY which version of the operating system, and have you recently updated?

Recent Mac AND Windows operating systems have been known to cause "odd" problems

Are you using a computer Administrator account with full read/write permission?

Exactly which version of the program do you have that is causing problems, and what error message do you see?

And, specific to Premiere Pro

-Troubleshooting https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2261475

-Premiere Pro Video Editing Information FAQ http://forums.adobe.com/message/4200840

[jstrawn]

frenz1234  wrote

sadly, that is where I contacted from

Sorry for the bad experience. I am not an official support person, but as a member of the product team I'd like to help if I can. What version are you using that would even have a serial number?

More importantly, let's move past that and tell me what the problem was that prompted you to contact Customer Care in the first place?

[frenz1234]

Hey thanks for taking the time. CS4 Master Collection is what I am using. Premeire pro is crashing after 30 seconds.

[jstrawn]

frenz1234  wrote

Hey thanks for taking the time. CS4 Master Collection is what I am using. Premiere Pro is crashing after 30 seconds.

Hmmm, that might be a tough one to support since it's pretty old. What OS version are you using it on? Version compatibility usually ends after a few OS iterations. So if you want it to really run well (or at all) you may need an older OS and hardware which was around in 2008 when CS4 was released.

[frenz1234]

jstrawn  wrote

frenz1234   wrote

Hey thanks for taking the time. CS4 Master Collection is what I am using. Premiere Pro is crashing after 30 seconds.

Hmmm, that might be a tough one to support since it's pretty old. What OS version are you using it on? Version compatibility usually ends after a few OS iterations. So if you want it to really run well (or at all) you may need an older OS and hardware which was around in 2008 when CS4 was released.

I am using Windows 10, come to think of it, thats around when it stopped working for me. Is there not a fix for this? I realize its old but here is hoping.

[jstrawn]

frenz1234  wrote

I am using Windows 10, come to think of it, thats around when it stopped working for me. Is there not a fix for this? I realize its old but here is hoping.

None that I know of, unfortunately. Old software and new software/hardware (or vice versa) often don't play well together.

If I were in your shoes, I would be considering one of these options:
1. Roll your OS back to Win 8 or whatever the last version was where CS 4 worked well
2. Use something like VMware to run a separate instance of Win 8 (or whatever...) on your current OS
3. Look at switching to Premiere Elements or some other current software package which can still be purchased affordably with a perpetual license
4. Bite the bullet and become a CC subscriber for Pr Pro or perhaps even an all-products membership if that works for you

Each of those options has its own pros and cons. Please be assured that I am not trying to push CC or any other option on you. Those are just your best possible choices as I see them. A 5th option may be that someone else on here may have some other workaround for you to get CS4 running on Win 10. I don't know of any, but we have some pretty smart users out there.

[Stan Jones]

You can also try running the programs with windows 7 compatibility in windows 10. That works for some but I don't know about CS4.

[rodneyb56060189]

I have win 10 and CS6 boxed version with serial number. I don't have a disk drive on laptop but wanted to download ENCORE so I could test something to help some user.

I have another editing computer with win 10 and cs6 with a disk drive ( The Pig), but for personal reasons it is NOT HOOKED up to internet.

Soooo, I got on CHAT with customer support and after a bit of switching around from one level to higher levels of support people ( which didn't take all that long .. maybe 30 min total ? ) I got a person who asked me what's up and I told him/her and said I wanted to download via internet ENCORE for my laptop. Cause it has no disk drive.

He asked for my serial number. Same as you with your version.  I got a file link to download from him (after he did some stuff on his end while I waited ) and the files ( there were two, like the original disks, with program stuff on one and libraries and other stuff on disk 2). Two files to download.

They ALREADY had my serial number ( except last 4 digits ) embedded in the file ( via internet link provided ).. and I loaded the first file ( programs I guess ) which was the entire cs6 creative suite master collection disk 1 material ).

I installed it and did NOT need to activate it.   I did custom install so I could just get Encore installed, which is what I wanted.

So it worked out really well, even though I had doubts it could be done due to recent announcements about support for earlier programs.

So, being asked serial number for old boxed versions is NOT unusual from support people.

What IS VERY NOT COOL is if someone who contacts you via private message, asking you for serial number ( and activation number ).

[rodneyb56060189]

P.S.

after effects CS6 doesn't work on my win 10 machine. PPro, audition, bridge, encore, photoshop DO work.

[rodneyb56060189]

P.S.

I think between cs4 and cs6 it went from 32 bit to 64 bit ???? That's probably the problem ??

[Abambo]

Adobe is simply checking with this that the version is legit and not a illegal copy. Seams to be quite normal to me. When I contact Adobe via the standard channel, they can have my serial number if they ask me, because they then check if I have paid for the software.

[Test Screen Name]

Yes, it is a new policy that older software can only be downloaded by people who can prove they are customers. There are good and bad ways to handle it. Curiously, until the new policy, they would simply have refused to help, because it's so old, but it's now their job to check and deliver old software downloads.

[Ann Bens]

Moved to Premiere Pro CS6 & Earlier​

[rodneyb56060189]

Conclusion: personal opinion...

Support was probably not trying to be rude or creepy. Probably just trying to see if you did in fact own the product via your serial number, and maybe checking to see if there was some later update to CS4 ( later than the original disk distribution in box ) that made it happier running on a 64 bit O.S. etc.

Some of my programs on win10 are old 32 bit programs... and work OK.

[frenz1234]

rodneyb56060189  wrote

Conclusion: personal opinion...

Support was probably not trying to be rude or creepy. Probably just trying to see if you did in fact own the product via your serial number, and maybe checking to see if there was some later update to CS4 ( later than the original disk distribution in box ) that made it happier running on a 64 bit O.S. etc.

Some of my programs on win10 are old 32 bit programs... and work OK.

I understand what you mean. I wish there was a receipt of the conversation. There are a TON of scams where you give info out to a support worker (who is underpaid) then then forward your info to scammers and get a finders fee. When they ask for sensitive info and you reply "i am not very comfortable with that" they should not become aggressive and repeat the demand (red flag #3). I would be the first person to see the side of the employee here as you did, I assure you, this was not a normal conversation about support.

[jstrawn]

frenz1234  wrote
I understand what you mean. I wish there was a receipt of the conversation. There are a TON of scams where you give info out to a support worker (who is underpaid) then then forward your info to scammers and get a finders fee. When they ask for sensitive info and you reply "i am not very comfortable with that" they should not become aggressive and repeat the demand (red flag #3). I would be the first person to see the side of the employee here as you did, I assure you, this was not a normal conversation about support.

Even if the person was asking for your sernum for a legitimate reason, which is very likely the case, what matters is that you had a bad experience. Adobe feels very strongly about keeping that from happening. That's why I chimed in here. Not to point fingers at anyone (we're all imperfect) but to try to resolve things on a better note. Unfortunately, in this case, I don't have one easy answer for you. But this thread is getting good visibility and I already saw some other things to try. Please let us know if/when/how you can get it working. If I can think of any other things to try I will let you know.