My colleague has a single quarterly licence which she pays £300 per quarter to use Microstation as part of her architectural design firm.
She has been charged an extra £1000 this quarter due to activating a second licence for ten minutes back in mid January.
This activation was due to the purchase of new hardware in the form of a desktop and laptop which she was installing the software on both. It woudl appear in doing so she inadvertently utilised a second licence.
She is not consistently using a second licence or has any other staff which do so. Her annual usage statistics would show that this is a one off and therefore potentially a mistake or error but the accounts conveniently ignore this and bill her anyway.
In speaking with her account manager she was fobbed off, told they couldn't help her and redirected to the Bentleky website. We will be pursuing this further with Bentley about this wholly appalling level of service.
She pays annually £1200 to use Microstation and is a sole practitioner. A Thousand pounds for Ten Minutes use is complete extortion and I fail to understand how it is justified. If she was consistently using a second licence then she would need to pay for it and usage stats would prove that - but this was clearly not the case.
Does anyone have any experience of this? What can be done?
I have 5 years of experience with this......as in 5 years of getting screwed by Bentley. They set up their licensing system to prey off of design firms. They do NOT care that they consistently overcharge you. That is what they want to do. They have absolutely no interest in listening to their customers, or heaven forbid, actually make licensing easier and less expensive for them. I have tried to communicate with numerous Bentley employees on different levels about this and the response I get is nothing. Their status quo is to ignore anyone who tries to address this issue in a meaningful manner. Sorry, I know this doesn't help you, but it is just the truth. Bentley has no interest in helping with your situation.
The ten minute additional licence charge has occurred twice. the cost is completely unrealistic, exorbitant and unfair. Theres no warning no message to advise you are about to incur such huge cost. For individuals who pay for one licence why would it be acceptable to enable them to use more than they pay for?
Hi,
Have you looked at the Subscription Entitlement Service options? It has what you are asking for, the ability to get an alert when you have no more perpetual license available. You can also block users in your Organization for using applications. Here is a good link to review:
https://communities.bentley.com/products/licensing/w/licensing__wiki/48337/understanding-the-ses-workflow-options
Thanks,
Glenn
Thanks Glenn - we had found this previously and it seems to be set up to hopefully flag if it presents again. We are a sole practitioner practice so dont have tens of employees like some larger firms. Helpfully Bentley have acknowledged the mistake and rescinded the charge.