Arturia Support on re-Authorizations STINK

[electro]

DRM is dangerous leaving the software customer in an extremely vulnerable position.

[osiris]

Same thing happened to me with NI on my new computer. Service Center kept telling me Software already authorized, and it was blah blah blah to run multiple copies. It got straightened out quickly but only by calling NI directly and being made to feel like a thief as I was told 'We'll monitor the old login to make sure it's not being used......

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Same thing happened to me with NI on my new computer. Service Center kept telling me Software already authorized, and it was blah blah blah to run multiple copies. It got straightened out quickly but only by calling NI directly and being made to feel like a thief as I was told 'We'll monitor the old login to make sure it's not being used......

If I ever heard that from a company I think my immediate reply would be something like, "Yeah, and I'll monitor all of my future plugin purchases to make sure I don't buy anything else from your company again."

[Numanoid]

'We'll monitor the old login to make sure it's not being used......

Well, I guess it shows the dog eat dog state of the world at the mo. You need to save on every nickle to stay in business

[aquar]

'We'll monitor the old login to make sure it's not being used......

Well, I guess it shows the dog eat dog state of the world at the mo. You need to save on every nickle to stay in business

Without happy customers there is no business.
People move on.

[spikey]

Well after threating to speak to their supervisors because of poor email support, I finally "today" got this reply...

Every customer has the right for a limited number of maintenance codes (activation code) ,therefore to avoid consuming all of them ,you have to transfer your products' license into a dongle(also called USB-eLicenser) so you won't lose the license in case of hard drive crash computer upgrade or using different machine .

Here is an activation code: 0240 xxx xxx xxx xxx xxxx xxxx make sure to use it wisely this time.

I have been trying to authorize all 4 synths for over a week. 2 went just fine, because i didnt have the 4 authorizations used up yet on them. These other two were hell getting them authorized. I explained several different times that their "troubleshooting" tab would not help when you have used all 4 authorizations. They continue to refuse to reset my now full authorization page on all 4 of my purchases, even after asking them to over 10 times. They wont even discuss it in their return emails. I understand that had I asked them for new codes many times over several months, they might become irritated and suspect me of whatever. But its been a long while since I have re-authorized. On checking , On the web page the last date in fact shows to be 12/28/2010..... fyi guys....

The code on the last one worked BTW (and all four are on the dongle according to eLicenser), but damn what a hassle...

[audiojunkie]

regardless, disgraceful behaviour on their part, and that's why i hate being at the mercy of a holes for C/R

My thoughts Exactly!

@Arturia: My stance on this issue is in my sig. I won't be buying your products.

--Sean

[audiojunkie]

Make sure you continue to bump this thread until you either get some additional authorizations, at which point you should let us know, or until some mod locks this thread down. The idea that you're a paying customer and you're get stonewalled on authorizations is completely beyond the pale and highlights everything wrong with copy protection systems. There's probably 10,000 warez kiddies out their using Arturia products without issue or concern while you're a paying customer that's been left out in the cold. Unacceptable.

In case anyone here runs a C/R business has some questions as to what's expected of them by their customers: if I paid for my software, I expect unlimited installs as needed (yeah, I buy new systems or have crashes or hardware changes, so what) within reason. If I'm using 3 installs a month every month, feel free to raise questions, but if I use two a year, don't bother me. I also expect any additional authorizations to be granted no more than 2 business days from when I ask for them, though I'm really expecting it to be done in a single business day. Anything beyond that is just creating an unacceptable burden on your paying customers. BTW, you better be prepared at the time you launch a product to release Key Gens in case your company ever goes under, gets bought out, or the founder gets hit by a bus. There's no reason to leave the people who did support your business out in the cold should anything happen to you, or your business.

Well Said!!!

--Sean

[SAW75]

edit: i am currently taking action on this issue.

[audiojunkie]

What we need to do, is make a new, stickied thread that highlights commercial software that only uses serial, keygen, or watermarking for protection. It would make it easier to make safe purchases.

For example:

Sugarbytes uses Serial number only--I will buy from Sugarbytes. I bought Guitarist.

Camel Audio uses Serial number only--I have bought from them.

Uhe uses one of the above mentioned, safe forms of copy protection. I want to buy Diva soon.

Xils Lab just released Oxium with a Serial-only license. This is one of the developers that has been listening. Good job Xils Lab!

KV331's Synthmaster uses just a serial, I believe. Cakewalk uses just serials for most things too. One Small Clue sells Poise with just a serial.

I could go on and on. The point I make is this: There are plenty of companies we can be supporting that do things the way we want them done. We need to vote with our wallets and support the companies that support us, the honest, not the companies the companies who make it hard for us and not the pirates.

--Sean

[SAW75]

Actually, what we need is a sticky about Arturia in particular. In all my years of experience with authorizing legal paid for software, this is the company that I know is most likely to screw me and others.

[SAW75]

I need a contact phone number for Arturia. Anyone?

[deleted]

DELETED

[Numanoid]

Actually, what we need is a sticky about Arturia in particular. In all my years of experience with authorizing legal paid for software, this is the company that I know is most likely to screw me and others.

Surely they can't be all bad, they gave away Mini V for free recently right?

[SAW75]

Actually, what we need is a sticky about Arturia in particular. In all my years of experience with authorizing legal paid for software, this is the company that I know is most likely to screw me and others.

Surely they can't be all bad, they gave away Mini V for free recently right?

It is not about what they give away. Their software elicenser system is extremely dangerous to the user, particularly when they feel like being threatening about giving new auth codes.

The problem is that your soft elicenser serial number can change if you modify software on your computer. With no hardware change whatsoever you can be stuck with auth codes that can not be used. When I say modify, what I mean is simple things like using the built in system imaging options on Windows 7. Try using that to backup all your paid for digital media, software licenses, etc... and you are in for a week of misery dealing with arturia tech support. It's just not acceptable.

The above story suggests that Arturia is making a warning to the user, telling the user to use his/her code "wisely". That is a threat. You can be threatened for attempting to re-authorize your software on the same computer. My dealings with Arturia suggest that they can not tell when re-authorization on the same hardware is occuring which pretty much defeats the purpose of c/r protection which should be in place to protect installs on multiple machines, not to give paying customers a headache when they are only using one machine.

When I dealt with Arturia over a week's time, support told me that it was "rational" for the soft elicenser serial to change on the same computer. Please explain that one to me. I jumped through every hoop in the world with them, reinstalling this and that... they knew from the beginning and I knew that if my elicenser serial had changed, then I would need new auth codes. They knew that was the only solution but made me waste a week going back and forth with them reading a tech support script that was useless until I finally got angry and started demanding new codes for the same friggin' computer.