Why is my Office 2003 Pro Product ID Bad?

[Larry Maturo]

When I try to get free email support on Office 2003 I
eventually get to a point where I have to supply a
product id. When I give it the product id I get from
Help About it says it is not a valid product id. What
gives? Is Microsoft trying to prevent people from using
free support so they can make more money?

 

[John Waffler]

The Product Id (PID) obtained from Help, About button is
not what they want. They want exactly from the back of
your original CD.

The Help About button encrypts the PID to stop people from
stealing it. This is to protect you from thieves and
hackers who are causing problems for all of us.

hth