Access to licenses and downloads

[ONI_Assassin]

Hello,

I've just spent the last two days chatting with support and getting nowhere fast. Let me explain:

Part1:

History:

I purchased a VMware Fusion Pro license and support via the VMware website before Broadcom came along.  I used a personal email address (gmail) to purchase the product and my access via the VMware portal worked flawlessly every time i needed it.

Today:

I create an account with the same email address and Broadcom say they wont attach my site id because its a public domain email address and needs to be a corporate one.  Then i use my work email address (although the product isn't licensed to them) and they say it doesn't match the site email, address which is my firstname.lastname.initals.co.uk which obviously isn't a domain name i own or probably registered.

They say there's nothing they can do until i create an account with a matching email address for the site.  This feels like a breach of contract because i no longer have access to the items i purchased (support, licenses and software).  Has anyone got any advice?

Part 2:

I have a BYOD device which i have VMWare Fusion Pro running on, however one of the VM's is a corporate VM, so based on the new licensing model do i need a personal license or a commercial license.  If its the latter, the SKU seems to be VCF-DH-PRO but its only available in USD on the website, the option to use GBP is not there.  I also spotted it needs a corporate email address but does that mean the license is tied to the company and not me?

I appreciate the help on both of these items.

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Thank you

P.S. Opinions are my own
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[gbohn]

Sadly I can't help you with your issue.

But I saw that you mentioned 

"If its the latter, the SKU seems to be VCF-DH-PRO but its only available in USD on the website..."

Coincidentally I was wondering how much it would cost me to buy a Broadcom 'subscription' to Workstation Pro, but I can't seem to find where you can see the price (or actually buy a license for that matter).

Do you have a link to a website where you can buy Workstation Pro (and/or see the price)?

Thanks; 

[ONI_Assassin]

Hey,

Sure:

Cloud Vista Store

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Thank you

P.S. Opinions are my own
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[gbohn]

Thanks.

[goldeneye_007]

Doesn't work. Takes your company name and email address and then stares at you.

Maybe it only works on Windows.

[TomRBerg]

You need to remove the /pre-cart part of the URL and then it works. People keep linking to an intermediary page on the store for some reason. 

However, you should talk to customer service again before being forced to re-purchase a product you own. 

[Erich Quant]

Same here,

does anyone at Broadcom like to comment or help (doesn't look like this)

[Soeren Sproessig]

...and even better .... can't login to open a support case with them!

Redirects between https://broadcomcms-software.wolkenservicedesk.com/ and okta and finally says no SSO token.

What a shit show.

[ONI_Assassin]

This is 100% the case for a lot of users, so you get hit with the problem that Broadcom don't recognise you as a customer and then stop you from raising a ticket to solve the issue.  The only option is chat and they are happy to disconnect if you dont respond in less than a few minutes (which indicates bad metrics which they are measured on (not customer service but how quickly can you close a chat and mark it as resolved because theres no follow up survey)).

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Thank you

P.S. Opinions are my own
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[Technogeezer]

A partial answer to Part 2:

VMware always required a purchased license if you were using Fusion or Workstation for commercial use. You can not use the free personal use license if you are using Fusion for work purposes - which to me is implied for using a corporate VM.

Because Broadcom dropped Fusion Player, you need to have a Desktop Hypervisor subscription (allowing you to use either Fusion or Workstation for commercial purposes).

Broadcom seems to have this poorly thought out brain-dead idea that mere mortal end users should not be using their products. Why do they think that in order to use their products your email has to be verified as a corporate address - as if they have any idea what a corporate email addrrss is and why that makes any difference. Pure stupidity if you ask me.

- Paul Rockwell (Technogeezer)

[lexxmt]

I have non subscription licence for vmware workstation 17. But I no longe able to access licenses or view any downloads. Anyone can advise what I should do?

[rainer_xxl]

Yes, that is a problem that I also had. I wanted to download the 17.5.2 (licence version) again to downgrade from 17.6, but that was not possible! I had to download and install the private version.
However, it is possible to activate it using a known key so that it can be used as a commercial version.

[TomRBerg]

You should call them or try using the chat support (but type "contact us" to get transferred to a human).

[ONI_Assassin]

So over a week later, still unable to raise a ticket, still no answers.  So here's what I'm going to do:

1. I'm going to take screen grabs of the live chat where they show they are clearly delusional in terms of the requirements to get the site id assigned to me.
2. I'm going to get the personal version of pro when my license expires (they clearly don't want our money) with this thread as evidence i asked but got no response.

This is in case at some future date they decide to come at me to say I'm not licensed correctly.  I hope more people take a stand against paying to prove to Broadcom they are losing money and their support is terrible.

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Thank you

P.S. Opinions are my own
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