VioSoftware - Gray Market?

[The Merg]

I placed an order for Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended from VioSoftware due to their low prices and good ratings here at RR. When it arrived, I found that they had shipped Adobe Creative Suite 3.3 instead. Upon contacting them, I was told that they were out of stock of Photoshop CS3 and shipped me the suite instead.

Looking at the product I received, it was just the DVD case (with appropriate graphics), but it was not shrink wrapped. Instead it was in a sealed plastic bag with a sticker on it stating to install one of the DVD's before the other. There were no product materials as the software did not come in a retail box.

Upon contacting Adobe to verify the product, I was told that VioSoftware deals with gray market products, so what I had was not counterfeit. I sent an e-mail to VioSoftware to verify if I had a gray market product and, of course, I got no reply. I was further told by Adobe that when they release a new version of software, they purchase back the old versions from their resellers so there is no reason for a reseller to be selling and old version.

Something to think about...

- Merg

[Jazzpicker308]

I bought a couple of full version windows programs from VioSoftware at a pretty good price a couple of years back. After hearing your story, I'll look elsewhere when purchasing software. Thanks