I am so very frustrated and trying to reach CUSTOMER NO SERVICE at Corel! The chat on the website does not work -- I have tried it numerous times and always get the answer there is no one available online -- so how does this constitute being online 24 hours M-Th as they advertise? The phone number listed directs you back to the website. Maddening!!
Three of my machines have started showing a popup that my software is illegal, and directs me to a link to contact customer support, which, you guessed it! directs me back to the website!! I should not have to PAY for support to ask a question or clarify this issue. I own a full copy of the software for each of my machines. All I want to do is get this resolved!!
And then, since our company is growing and we are adding yet another graphics work station for a new hire next week (yes, I already bought another full copy of the software for that machine!!), I thought about exploring a site license or even the subscription service but, shock! I can't contact anyone to talk about my options!!
VERY FRUSTRATED!!!
Hello Lisa,
can you please contact me directly per email / direct message on this site, and I will see how I can help. I will reply from my Corel.com email address so that you know it's from Corel, and will need your serial number and proof of purchase to check if your software has been flagged by mistake. From past experience, purchasing from marketplace / auction sites is usually not legitimate software. The other problem could be that the serial number you are using has been used more than what is allowed through the End User License Agreement.
Yes, in the past, we had some whole with the registration process and didn't check for validity. With CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6, you can only get a free Standard Membership (this is replacing the traditional registration process) if you have a valid serial number that hasn't been used before, e.g. we do check. If that check fails, you will get the message that we were unable to verify your status. But we didn't have this in place with X5, and at the same time, we have started a communication process to the users who might be victim of piracy in order to provide with a very attractive price to become legal. Again, I will need your serial number and proof of purchase in order to validate that there is a mistake with the display of the message.
Regarding the questions you might have about subscription, I would be happy to help. I previously posted more information in my blog here and here.
I wanted to follow-up to my previous message and provide a few extra details. From the different people who have contacted Corel (including those who contacted me directly), I can confirm that there has been no mistake in the detection about the serial number being illegitimate so far. Everyone who has contacted me so far is what I would all a victim of software piracy and did actually purchase a product in good faith from unauthorized software resellers.
Yes, with versions before X6, it was possible to register the product even if the serial number was not legitimate. This is something that has changed with X6. You can only get a free Standard Membership (this is replacing the traditional registration process) if you have a valid serial number that hasn't been used before, e.g. we do check with X6. If that check fails, you will get the message that we were unable to verify your status.
Software piracy is a persistent issue that affects all of us. At the same time, we understand that some of you might have been the victim of software pirates and have inadvertently purchased an unauthorized copy of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite. We have therefore started this amnesty campaign in the Americas (expanding in other countries in the coming months) providing users an opportunity to purchase an authorized version of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite through the in-product message.
On behalf of the entire CorelDRAW team, I am very sorry for those who have been victims of software pirates. As posted in the forum earlier and as a general reminder, Corel and our authorized partners do not sell products at 50 to 90% discount, and amazing deals on auction or marketplace sites are rarely legitimate. If you find a price that seems too good to be true compared to the one listed on Corel.com or an authorized Corel reseller, please feel free to contact me directly so that we can take appropriate action.
Combating piracy is an ongoing process. We will continue to work with all of you and with our internal teams & systems to ensure we do everything possible to promote fairness and the legitimate use of Corel software. For more information about how software piracy hurts everyone, you can visit www.corel.com/piracy.
I would just like to say that I took Mayfly's advice and clicked on Gerard's avatar and he responded very quickly with an original email and since with other emails.
Not sure if this is how Corel want us to contact them but this is definately the way I will contact them in the future (hopefully I wont need to again though!)
Thanks for your help Gerard
To Gerard, Corel Corporation, and readers of this forum,
I wanted to reply to the comment above from Gerard by saying that my experience is exactly the opposite of what Gerard states.
My Corel software, purchased directly from Corel, falsely triggered their alarm, causing me many hours of wasted time, several unsuccessful attempts to contact Corel to get a remedy, and my eventual removal of the Protexis piracy software in a final act of desperation to get back to my work using the software I had rightfully purchased. Corel's total and utter lack of customer support in this matter was appalling. Having purchased and registered over 25 software items from them over many years, all of which is listed and registered on the Corel member support site, I am here to tell you that I will NEVER, EVER, EVER, buy another Corel product.
Read my experience in detail at:
Hi Larry.
I am sorry to hear of your problems. I wish Corel would offer free tech support for life, I think it would help to build and keep a happy and loyal customer base.
I have other software that does, and it is so easy to talk with someone. The staff is so knowledgeable and it really makes me happy. I haven't had to call Corel yet but have seen a lot of griping about them lately.
We, on the is forum, are mostly users and we can try to help with most problems.
~John
Larry.
Have you tried to make a clean re-installation? Or possibly a restore point and make sure to block CorelDraw from the net?
For a clean install you have to manually find all registry entries and folders pertaining to Corel and delete. Please take care and this is for experienced users, create a backup first.
Thank you John for your concern and comments. As my lengthy posts on the other (previously referenced) Corel forum indicated, I have been unable to uninstall and reinstall this software. The error screens I received are shown on that thread. My original installation of this Corel software (as well as some other Corel software) was exceptionally difficult and failed multiple times, requiring Corel support, so it possible that my installation is somehow more fragile or has other problems which contribute to this latest problem.
Since I have been able to use this software since October of 2011 without incident, I never really cared or concerned myself if there was an installation issue until now when this new problem has arisen.
I used Acronis to restore a 1 week old backup which was done when no activation messages were being reported, but the restored Corel software began the same sequence of complaining immediately after the first launch.
I also purchased a product called Revo Uninstaller, a highly regarded piece of software, which is specifically intended to remove stubborn software. I had hoped to remove my prior Corel PaintShop Pro X3 when my new software was installed and working to replace it, since I could not find a way to uninstall the prior version either. Both the Corel uninstaller and Revo have failed to install either PSP3 or PSP4, making it impossible to install with a new serial number, an option I would dearly love to take advantage of. Some Corel (rebranded) software such as AfterShot, which I originally bought from Bibbled, has a built-in menu item to re-enter a serial number, thus avoiding the problem of uninstall / reinstall entirely. Sadly, PSP3 and PSP4 do not.
I have documented all of my efforts and eventual solution on the other Corel forum and invite you and other CorelDraw forum members to read what I did and what did and did not work. This typing and rehashing is such a waste of time and I have work to perform.
Best,
Larry