How come serial no. finder software can't find Office 2013 serial no.?

[Happy Hopping]

I have a client who got screwed by a dealer. That co. sold him QTY 3 of this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ..._mmc=AFC-dealnews-_-NA-_-NA-_-N82E16883103925

for the price of $899 Each. They bought it in July.

Except their ver. is even worse, it's only dual core Celeron. The PC run so slow that they can't get anything done. So they are forced to buy 3 brand new real PC.

Now the old Acer junk PC has 3 activated license of Office 2013 Home and Business edition in it. Since these Acer PC are junk, I try to pull the serial no. off from the PC, and they can't find it. In fact, even if you go to those software website, they didn't mention Office 2013 on it.

https://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/

Now that co. charged him an extra $225 x 3 per office 2013 license for those 3 junk PC. And so far, I have no way of pulling the serial no. out.

So I try to login to microsoft to activate office 2013, but he doesn't have an outlook / hotmail acct., and his personal email acct. can't login to microsoft.

Why doesn't these key finder software able to find Office 2013 serial no. and what can he do at this point?

 

[evilsofa]

Thread with a lot of answers, mostly pointing towards Belarc, with some comments that there might not be a product key at all if those installs of Office 2013 are linked to the Microsoft Account used to install them.

 

[Happy Hopping]

I already try Belarc, it doesn't work. I also try 2 other, same results. They disclosed other s/w serial no., including win 8.1, but not office 2013

But there must be people in the above situation, that the so-called shaky dealer never tell the client what the outlook.com acct. is, what the key is, etc. And the key is sitting inside the hard disk, and now they need to transfer that Office 2013 to a new PC.

Surely I can't be the only 1. So there has to be a soln. by now?

 

[FnordMan]

I rather suspect that the original machines probably had a pirated copy installed so there is no "key". (also: shady, not shaky)
That and from what I can see, Office 2013 is non-transferrable, so even if they had a legit license (which I doubt) they can't transfer it to a new machine so it's purchase new software time.

 

[Happy Hopping]

I finally found this:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-001/...rsonal-office-365-university-HA102830243.aspx

A product key isn’t provided when you buy and download Office online. Instead, the Microsoft account you used during the first Office installation will be linked to the product and will be needed if you need to reinstall.

Important Don’t forget the Microsoft account and password associated with the Office product you bought online.

so what if the client did forget the MS account?

 

[evilsofa]

Then you're done. There's nothing you can do to help them. There is no serial number to find. I hope you didn't make any promises that you can't deliver on.

 

[Happy Hopping]

Sometime I wonder if my client email the actual proof of purchase, would mircosoft issue 2 new license? ANd if so, do you just call MS customer service?

 

[bigdogchris]

If you know the email you added the key too, all they need to do is go to office.com and download the software again.

 

[Happy Hopping]

they burn their bridge w/ that co., as they cheat on them w/ the junk PC selling for $900, so they can't call and ask for the email addr.