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I had Microsoft Office installed on my computer on 25/10/2010. The licence covers its use on three machines.
Up until now it has only been on the one but I decided to put it on my spare machine which only has Office 2003 installed.
The installation disc will not read properly so I contacted Microsoft to see if I could download the program and activate it with my product key. I have the original packaging given to me by my retailer.
To cut a long story short, MS informs me that the product key has been blocked because it has been used to install Office 2010 on several computers.
I've had the package and key in my possession since installation so how has it been used multiple times?
As far as I am concerned I have lost the ability to install on two more machines and as the original cost was in the region of £450, I am losing £300 worth of software.
Did my retailer use the key on several machines or is there any other way the key could have got into the public domain?
Should I go back to the retailer who installed it and accuse him of theft and if so how could I prove it?
I don't hold out much hope of MS being able to supply a list of the dates that the key was used, my contact with them has been quite unsatisfactory. The online chat eventually said they only deal with North America problems and the UK helpline number they gave me went through to a call centre with someone whose accent was difficult to understand and could only tell me to go back to the retailer.
NB: The retailer is a small local one I've used for years to buy machines and for servicing and I've never had any reason to doubt his honesty.
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I would go back to the retailer. They should have only sold the product key for one programme with the 3 licenses.
You are within your rights to ask how the installation key has been used by others when it was assigned to you exclusively via the sale.
If you get no satisfactory answer (and you wont) then it's trading standards next.
It could be that an employee that had access to the key code could have ripped off Office 2010 copies and sold them with your key. Although how on earth they managed to register the programme with MS after no 3 I haven't a clue.
I would be furious.
Good luck.
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The issue of Microsoft Office keys has been a total mess since the launch of 2007. The only safe method for small scale users is to shell out and get shrink wrap retail version with media. That would often mean paying a lot more than for OEM install.
If you usually buy yr computer with all the software setup by the vendor then there are all kinds of risk and things that can go wrong even if the vendor and his staff AND the distributor further up the line are straight. If not ...
You may find this a good read.
http://goo.gl/VBviqw
If you get bored in forking out for the Microsoft jugger naught there is always OpenDoc (free) which will do exactly the same job.
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Just to clarify, the Office 2010 was not on a new machine but to replace the original OEM installation of Office 2007.
Yes, I could put Open Office on but as a matter of principle I feel I should get what I paid for and be able to have the same program on my three machines if I wish.
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"I had Microsoft Office installed on my computer on 25/10/2010. The license covers its use on three machines."
This type of license is not usually installed by OEMs. Therefore it was prob. a retail license. As it appears that you paid your I.T. guy to install a retail licnese. You should have received the retail box, paperwork and media. It is impossible to get access to the key on a retail box without opening the package. Thus if the key has been compromised there are only two people who could have misused it, your I.T. supplier or yourself.
There are also upgrade licenses. If you had one license for Office2003 and the Office2010 was an upgrade license then you would only be able to upgrade one machine.
What kind of installation disk is it? It is very unusual for the DVD not to be readable and in any case the install image can be downloaded (free) from Microsoft for Office2007 and later and used to burn a new install disk. OTOH if yr disk is a "rescue" disk designed to repair an existing install then it could not be used for a new installation. The supplier may have given you such a disk.
Another possibility is that the supplier was using a volume license for the installation. Such installs generate an individual key for each installation which cannot be read back by software on the target machine. As these volume licenses are auto activated misuse of them is rife.
The customer would not receive an original MS disk but a disk generated by the supplier and sometimes not that. Such a disk could be used for update and repair but not a fresh installation.
It is very unlikely that you will get anywhere with Microsoft.
If you have all the paperwork and invoices, the product and logs then you would have a good chance of winning at the Small Claims Court for a modest fee assuming you don't employ a lawyer. OTOH if yr supplier was using some sort of OEM/volume license based installation then yr chances are not so good.
Best solution:
https://goo.gl/sPs0MX
MS also give the option of using the latest version of Office online for a monthly fee no large upfront bill. As the fee is 100% tax deductible online Office can be a good option for small biz users.
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