Carolyn F.

Years ago when this company first offered their program to consumers, I tried the free version. I liked it (still do) so I purchased the 'Lifetime' license. A couple of years later they offered a set of extras under the "gold" package, and I purchased a 'Lifetime' license for that too: and my receipts clearly state "LIFETIME".

Several years later they changed their format to a 'yearly' subscription, and offered a newer version of their program.

I have used this program for over 15 years, but now they refuse to activate my program. I had a lot of trouble with my computer and had to change hard drives. Since the activations are not kept on the pc itself, this required I reactivate both my licenses. They have been blocked by the company.

I have been back and forth with them several times about this, and explained that I am using the original version of the program since I didn't like the changes in the newer one, and I have both lifetime licenses. This was their response:

Feb 5,18:47 IST

Hello Carolyn,

Thank you very much for your response.

Please note the IncrediMail products have long been annual subscriptions.

While we honored the older licenses for a number of years, enough is enough.

It is the annual subscribers who keep the business afloat, not users who purchased some license over ten years ago.

Surely, if you had been using the same computer for the past ten years, the license codes would still be active and you would have all of the advanced features.

There is no sense in allowing the same license to be used on multiple computers till the end of days.

As a business, our primary objective is to make money on our products, not make people happy by letting them register the same license ad infinitum.

I hope this clarifies the matter.

Best regards,

Yechiel Racer
Customer Support

I truly wonder what they think "Lifetime License" means? Or maybe they should have thought of this way back when they were first selling their product. Do they honestly think a computer (in whole) will last over 10 years? I have changed just about everything in this one except the case it is in over the years, without issue; until now.

They want me to buy an annual subscription, but it won't work on the older version and I won't upgrade - Catch 22.

So do beware if you decide to deal with these people. They are not trustworthy.

Years ago I joined Gamehouse/Real Network. I purchased about 150 pc games from them over the years, most at 15.00 to 20.00 each. Originally they would send me the download link and activation key in my confirmation email.

Then along the way they changed how they did things, and developed a 'game manager' so when we purchased a game it automatically downloaded, installed and activated. This worked ok as well, until they shut down for a month and revamped their systems 2 years ago, and removed dozens of games from their website.

When they did this, I lost access to over 40 games I had bought and paid for. Their answer - they only guarantee access for 2 years. I have the installation files for many of my games, so I asked them to send me my activation keys, after all I had paid for these. Nope, they refused. They did send me a bunch of codes for free games that were useless to me since all the games they were developing were meant for windows 8 and I run XP, so they wouldn't work.

I insisted I wanted my keys, and in response, they cancelled all the codes they sent me and refuse to send me my keys. So there I sit. As long as this pc holds up I can play the games I bought, but if this pc dies, I am screwed. I lose a whole whack of games.

They have multiple law suits against them for overcharging their customers etc, so it isn't just me. Gaming isn't the only thing Real Networks is into. Needless to say I don't belong to their site anymore, and I don't buy games from them now either. Their customer service department is located in India and most times these people can't even understand what you are asking them let alone be able to solve problems.

I now belong to and buy from Big Fish Games, who have fantastic customer service and make any game you buy from them available for life. No losing them because they decide to delete games from their servers. So any new gamers who are looking to buy pc games online, Stay Away From Gamehouse. Do yourself a huge favour and deal with Big Fish instead. Games are cheaper, lots of freebies, and you won't be disappointed.

My pc crashed. I have had to install 3 different hard drives to get it up and running again. I have used AVS for the past 5+ years and loved it. I reinstalled all my programs and AVS will not activate, saying I have installed in on multiple pcs. I have gone to support and all they do is send me my license again. That is NOT what I need.

Great product, lousy customer service