Client dumbfounded software costs money ...

thecomputerguy

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I have a client who works in Insurance and lives in Adobe. He's got about 15 computers and he has a mix of reader and pro installed in all of them and every so often one of his employees needs the features Pro offers. In those 15 computers he's installed his single copy of Acrobat Pro 11 as many times as adobe would possibly let him.

In the last couple of days Adobe must have done an internal audit of registered licenses and I'm sure his license is coming back installed too many times and they have blacklisted it because multiple computers are now showing that it has been installed too many times.

I've explained to him multiple times that yes you have to pay for software, no you can't buy one copy and install it 15 different times. He says he doesn't understand how Adobe can do that. I've explained to him technically you are supposed to have one license per user and the fact that you've successfully installed one copy that many times surprises even me.

He keeps calling me when someone gets a license bounce back and I explain the same thing over and over and over. He says, "So what if you have 15 computers you are supposed to pay $14.00 a month for every single computer?"

YEP

I've explained that yes you can buy it outright but that comes with it's own set of problems like not getting updates, and I know if I buy one copy for him he will then try to install that one 10 times and we'll be back to square one.

I've explained to him there are alternative to Acrobat but he wants to stick with it because that is what they have always used.

He just keeps coming to me for a different answer like I miraculously come up with some way continue sharing licenses...

I'm like bro, your company cannot operate with the right tools. You just bought a $3000 iMac for video editing, you've never used a Mac before, you've never used Final Cut, you've never edited video, and yet you just go out and slap 3 G's on the table for something you have no idea how to use or if you will even use it.

PONY UP.
 
He sounds like a cheap client when it comes to doing the right thing but wants to justify buying things he doesn't really need. This is a huge headache. Pull out the Blunt card. I am sure he is just waiting for you to devise a plan to see if you can "bend the rules".
 
Tell him you'll be happy to make sure he's able to run Adobe Acrobat properly on all his machines, but because it's going to take your time and potential legal exposure you're going to have to charge him $500/month.

If he pays you (because it makes him feel like he's putting something over on "the man"), you can then turn around and just license the software and pocket the difference.
 
Why don't you contact Adobe and see what licensing deal they could come up with?
Tell your client that you can make all his Adobe issues go away for $XX per month/year.
He obviously has the cash to spend and if you remove his headache with the licensing he may be happy to pay?

Edit: Apologies to @fencepost
You said the same thing!
I should read ALL the posts before commenting.
 
I have no idea what Adobe license policies are like but there is software out there that has seat license and you can install the software on as many computers as you want. But, you can only have the number of seat licenses in use at any one time.
 
He's just trying it on.

I've had customers like this in the past. They just hope that by continually asking, you'll get on their nerves and you'll do something dodgy (like installing a cracked version) just to get rid of thEurope pestering.

Customers like that annoys me - which is why I make them ex customers.
 
Next he'll be confused on why he can't upgrade all of his systems to Win 10 Enterprise or Pro for the cost of a single license....
 
Based on my experience Adobe is one of the strictest in terms of licensing, short of those that use dongles. Some 12 years ago I had a Apple customer with Adobe CS. Machine died, set her up on her new iMac and slaved the old HD via external enclosure. Make it easy to access files as well as more storage space. She's always legit with licenses, etc. After reinstalling CS, registration and reboot it refused to run saying it had detected another instance, from the old HD. LOL!!!
 
On a similar note, I find it frustrating how many people expect Microsoft Office to be installed on their re-install of Windows or even on a brand new custom build.

"No, sorry, free and preloaded office has been gone for 10+ years."
"But I had it before!" (The one they got from work/school/CD)
"OK, I will be happy to install it when you provide a license key."
"I don't have one."
"Well then...."

@Markverhyden Adobe is super crazy about licensing. I have CS6 and recently had the opportunity to upgrade my CPU from a 6700K to a 7700K at no cost and it totally pooched the Adobe licensing. FML, SMH, WTF and all that!
 
Hah. Yeah well I had a client this week lose his Quicken 2003 product key (failed HD). You cannot imagine his fury at having to buy Quicken 2017 for $37 on Amazon...

$37 DOLLARS ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!!!!!!!!!! I RODE THAT 2003 TRAIN FOR 14 YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
He's just trying it on.

I've had customers like this in the past. They just hope that by continually asking, you'll get on their nerves and you'll do something dodgy (like installing a cracked version) just to get rid of thEurope pestering.
.

This has been my experience as well in other places I have worked.

If you tell him "no" enough times they'll move on to another Tech. I worked in a place with a dozen people and in two weeks the customer had cycled through all of us with the same issue.

After he cycled through he wrote the check and make it all legal.
 
We are getting the same from all the people that have met the end of the line with their Vista machines. They all want to "upgrade" to Win7 or later but don't believe they need to pay for Windows. I guess the free upgrade to Win10 set in their minds that all Windows software is free.
 
I guess the free upgrade to Win10 set in their minds that all Windows software is free.

It's funny because we still get people coming in saying to go ahead and upgrade it to windows 10 while your cleaning it up. They don't realize the free upgrade period ended a while ago and are stunned when you tell them it now costs money.
 
It's funny because we still get people coming in saying to go ahead and upgrade it to windows 10 while your cleaning it up. They don't realize the free upgrade period ended a while ago and are stunned when you tell them it now costs money.
But you CAN legally upgrade to Windows 10 for free. Microsoft stopped advertising it, they haven't stopped providing it.
 
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