Got Fu**ed by FabFilter (Got fixed by FabFilter, cause after all we're only human)

[Proteinshake]

TL;DR: People (especially people working customer support) tend to appreciate being shown good intentions. They do not tend to appreciate harsh language threats of legal action etc. Be clear but friendly to them, and there's a much better chance you'll get your stuff back.

Thank you for your reply and advice. But I do not find it in me to crawl up some guys behind to justify myself for being legit. jens is 100% correct about his statement:

Fabfilter are offering professional products for premium prices, so handling a situation like this is an absolute no-go, I think. So thanks for the heads up!

I paid for professional products, so I felt confident that I would also get professional help in case I'd ever need it.

[billcarroll]

I don't see that FabFilter did anything wrong here.

No? Interesting.

We received multiple email from customers whose licenses were transferred to your account without their knowledge.

If this is true, there are multiple people who emailed FabFilter re: the same issue, all pointing to the OP's account. I'm assuming the OP acted in good faith, and hopefully so. If the OP acted in good faith, they were scammed by someone. I fail to see how FabFilter could be at fault for these improper license transfers. We probably don't have all the details.

It sounds like the OP was scammed by someone they purchased licenses from and who then transferred licenses to their account. That sucks.

[gaggle of hermits]

If Fabfilter's license transfer system allows the transfer of a license by someone who doesnt own that license, which the OP is saying FF have basically told him, then there's something intrinsically wrong with that system.
If FF are saying that they're aware that their system is allowing people to manipulate transfers of other people's licenses, then what they'd be 'doing wrong' by deactivating an account with legitimate licenses merely because that account was used in the process of manipulation, then that sounds like penalising a potentially unwitting victim of that process.

well, it's not clear what's happened here but the OP's story doesn't quite gel with the statement from FF.

from the sounds of the company's email, some licences were transferred from different accounts into the OP's. those licences were then sold on. my guess is that the source accounts got hacked, possibly by the same person, who sold them on to the OP. the OP then sold them on at some other point.

now, if i were running a company, i'd think that might be more than a tad suspicious. and, as i can't tell which accounts have been hacked but this one account has a lengthy trading history and the hacker does not even need to hold their own fabfilter account to work the fraud, putting it on hold is not the worst idea ever. yeah, it might piss someone off. but it might also prevent some fraudulent trades or at least stop the chain from growing.

maybe fabfilter should consider putting 2fa on accounts, but even then it's hard to enforce. the people most at risk are those who never get around to activating the 2fa option.

OP doesn't sound interested in getting it sorted so i can't help feel that we're not getting the full story here.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

In today's episode of "KVR Law"...

Seriously though, if the OP thinks something is wrong, then they should be in touch with Fabfilter getting more details and working with them to resolve the issue. I'm not going to believe that Fabfilter just randomly picked this person's account to shut down without good reason. And it could be the case that the OP was unaware of how their Fabfilter account was being used (maybe shared/leaked passwords led some fraudster into the OPs account without their knowledge - could be a million things - who knows).

Refusing to further engage with Fabfilter then complaining here isn't the way to get it fixed. That much I know.

[billcarroll]

I don't see that FabFilter did anything wrong here. Sorry you were scammed, that truly sucks.

How is it legal for them to take away licenses for software I purchased from them?

They did that by disabling the entire account .. does this mean second hand FabFilter licenses are no longer an optinion?

The message from FabFilter says, "We received multiple email from customers whose licenses were transferred to your account without their knowledge."

That doesn't sound like you purchased these licenses from FabFilter. It sounds like we're missing some details.

[Proteinshake]

It sounds like the OP was scammed by someone transferring licenses to their account. That sucks.

And I would happily assist them in getting to the bottom of this. I could tell them who I received the license in question from and hand them over the related PayPal transaction. If I felt victim to a scam, yes .. it sucks. But I'd get it and take it as lesson learnt. But FabFilter did not do that .. nor am I getting any kind of response after I requested this matter to be resolved professionally.

That doesn't sound like you purchased these licenses from FabFilter. It sounds like we're missing some details.

As stated, my licenses are a mix of both - aquired second hand licenses from here and GS (some from the same seller, so I am suspecting very much it's the two licenses I got from him .. but without any information, I cannot be sure), as well as licenses aquired via their store.

[MirkoVanHauten]

How is it legal for them to take away licenses for software I purchased from them?

TOS. I guess you'd be surprised how many companies (or better how many do not) have a paragraph telling you they can revoke any license any time for any reason. And you've agreed to that voluntarily.

Won't comment on your OP as it's pretty one-sided. I'd sort this out with FabFilter. From my own experiences, they're far from scamming others or being unfair & unhelpful.

[jens]

OP sounds 100% legit to me - I doubt he'd start this thread if he wasn't. And how is he not appearing interested in getting it sorted?

But if I was him I was super-pissed for them to - at the very least - steal my time like this and treating me like a criminal even though I paid good money for their products just because things somehow seem to somehow got messed up in some way.

The interesting thing is that companies who managed to attract a kind of cult-following tend to get away with despicable actions their followers would want to stone everyone else for.

[zerocrossing]

Hey guys, I wanted to ask if any of you have ever experienced something like this with FabFilter. I seriously got f**ked by them and for the first time I am feeling kicked in the balls for doing the "right thing", if you know what I mean.

I’ve never actually been kicked in the balls, though I have had testicular pain.

I've been a customer for a long time now, buying "new" licenses,

New or “new?” The quotes designate your being sarcastic. Are you being sarcastic?

selling them again, getting some second hand licenses - the usual thing, just like we all do.

I don’t do that. If I sell something it usually means I’m done with it forever.

Today I just wanted to do my regular check if maybe some plugins got an update, but was unable to log in. At first I was thinking they got some technical issues, so I sent an eMail to support. What I got back was the following:

Thanks for getting in touch.

Your account is deactivated. We received multiple email from customers whose licenses were transferred to your account without their knowledge. The transfer licenses were all purchased by somebody else. It seems your account is used to transfer license before they are sold again, so we deactivated your account.

If you have any more questions, just let us know!

That's all. So basically everything I've purchased .. via their own store or second hand - they've locked me out from it.

I'm considering legal action, anybody got any advice on that (I'm within the EU, as are they) - different country though.

Sounds to me like you were doing something shady, and they thought it sounded like that too. Were you?

[zerocrossing]

OP sounds 100% legit to me - I doubt he'd start this thread if he wasn't. And how is he not appearing interested in getting it sorted?

But if I was him I was super-pissed for them to - at the very least - steal my time like this and treating me like a criminal even though I paid good money for their products just because things somehow seem to somehow got messed up in some way.

The interesting thing is that companies who managed to attract a kind of cult-following tend to get away with despicable actions their followers would want to stone everyone else for.

Be careful in coming to a conclusion after hearing one side of a story that doesn’t quite make sense.

[jens]

Sounds to me like you were doing something shady

Be careful in coming to a conclusion after hearing one side of a story that doesn’t quite make sense.

yeah...

[Proteinshake]

New or “new?” The quotes designate your being sarcastic. Are you being sarcastic?

I'm being realistic. Or do you see much different in a serial number that's "new" vs "used"?

But I do hope FabFilter is going to chime in. I have sent support the link to this thread, so they know this is happening.

[MirkoVanHauten]

Oh, the public pressure strategy. Always used by customers who did nothing wrong XD

[lilsaf98]

So do you still have access to your own licence?

[whyterabbyt]

I fail to see how FabFilter could be at fault for these improper license transfers.

well, they're clearly at fault for having a system where its possible in the first place.