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?