office 2k3 product activation

[phishphreek]

I have a refurbished laptop from dell.

When I went to activate office 2k3 it told me that I had exceded the number of licenses.

I called the number and the automated system also denied me activation.

I was then put on the phone with a live rep. (whom I could barely understand...).

I told them that I just got a refurbished PC and that it came with office 2k3.

They said that the copy had been activated already.

I told them there was no possible way that I had used it before because I just pulled it out of the box.

Do you think it was activated by someone who had this laptop before?
They fixed it and just sent it out again? I've got a 3yr warranty on this... and I've never had a problem with the refurbs... (knock on wood...)

So, does that mean that there could be other people also using my cdkey?

The rep. said it was due to a "technical difficulty"... and he had to override it.

So, does that mean, you can use the same cdkey and "social eng." them into thinking you got a refurbished PC and you've never used this copy before? (I didn't do that... it is a legitimate copy.)
But it got me to thinking... How are they to know if it is really refurbished or not?

[P8riot]

Hi Phish - I can't be certain, however, based on what I have been reading on other forums and my own difficulty with acheiving activation on numerous Microsoft products lately. Specifically OEM products, it always requires a phone call to Microsoft and someone to over-ride the activation. The only commonality is the OEM versions seem to be the affected grouping.

Maybe Microsoft is having trouble with the activations?

[cheyenne1212]

I've had simliear instances with windows XP.

I'have had to reformat before and couldn't re-activate cause my key was in use so I called them up told them my situation, and they gave me a new CD key. lol Pretty easy

I also have some unlimited use cd-keys though that people at comp usa use to activate computers there.
Don't hate me.
lol

Its pretty easy to socail engineer someone at M$ into re activating your copy.

lol

[Zonewalker]

Its pretty easy to socail engineer someone at M$ into re activating your copy

um sorry to disapoint you cheyenne - its been known for quite some time that people on the MS activation 'desk' would be fairly amenable to giving you new activation codes....

The people on the other end of the phone when you have to call up to reactivate are going to be positive pussycats. Honest. What happens if you uninstall XP, throw away your old machine and install on a new one? What happens if you uninstall and sell it to somebody else - how do they activate? "If you phone and say you sold the product, you're going to tell me and I'm going to assume you're telling the truth." Allen didn't specificy how many times the call centre people were going to assume a particular individual was telling the truth, or indeed whether particularly flimsy stories (Martians kidnapped my Dell, this is the sixth time I've been burgled just this morning) would eventually trip the wire, but it really did sound like he meant these people would be pre-programmed to believe and accept absolutely anything.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/10...s_cuddly_says/

Phish - I believe this probably goes some way to answering your query too.

[P8riot]

Indeed true Zonewalker - I have had not a problem at all in dealing with the CS reps on the line at MS. My first experience was when I called them after my W2K Server disc #1 SHATTERED inside the drive during a reinstallation. I had a new disk set with a new CDKEY the next day for $24. All they asked for was the product number so they could send the right package. Can't argue with that.

'nuff said.

[WildOneNKC]

While looking around I found a little program for Win Xp that lets you recover your activation file and product key. This comes in very handy when having to reload machines, I am not sure if they have any thing for MS Office.

The program is RockXP http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4138.html

[phishphreek]

Thanks for all the feedback.

It really is a pain though. The whole process took 30min out of my day when it should have only taken 2 seconds online. (trying to activate online failed, reading numbers to an automated system failed, rereading them to the automated system failed, and then reading them again to the rep in which I played 50 questions)

If it keeps up like this... I'm going to stick with office 2k and never upgrade at all.

[untuchable-me]

just another thought, but it could be that your key was used by someone who pirets software. they might have gotten a key gennorator and came up with your number........

[phishphreek]

Originally posted here by untuchable-me
just another thought, but it could be that your key was used by someone who pirets software. they might have gotten a key gennorator and came up with your number........

That'd be quite a coincidence, since I had this problem the other day but thought nothing of it.

I have a couple more refurbs that I will be working on in the next couple of days.

I'll see if it happens again.

Thanks for your input.