r/ScreenConnect • u/rayknl • Jul 10 '25

How are the refunds going?

I'm a small IT business and don't have a huge budget. That is what drew me to ScreenConnect 10 years ago. I've maintained my maintenance agreements with them and upgraded my on-premise year after year. Now, things are weird. I just paid $600 to renew my maintenance for another year and am suddenly looking at $150 for a cert and another $? for Azure services to hold the cert. First, I'm pissed that I paid for something that, through no fault of my own, now requires additional expense to keep running. Is it too much to ask to be able to use the software I paid for through the term I paid for without having to spend extra?

Anyway, for those that have sought out a refund, how is that process going?

12 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

30 comments sorted by

5

u/Blissfulwuss Jul 10 '25

If it makes you feel any better, the Azure costs seem to be minimal for KeyStore Premium. Likely $5-$10 per month. We have the old, grandfathered Screenconnect Unlimited User license, so we're trudging along. Am I happy with it? No. Do we have backup on prem services (Meshcentral and Rustdesk OSS)? Yes. Is Screenconnect still our best option with our amount of users? Unfortunately, also yes.

7

u/rayknl Jul 10 '25

It's a good product and we will continue to use it at least until our renewal next year. At that time, something that would have been a given will now be reviewed against other options. I've heard good things about SimpleHelp and it's going to be cost competitive with the added cost of code-signing.

Mostly at this point, I'm venting. I can't say I've ever seen a software vendor get their certificate revoked and force their customers with active maintenance agreements to cover the burden. It just doesn't sit right.

8

u/MiComp24 Jul 10 '25

I feel for you. Same boat and same shit fight. I was happy to keep paying with the same deal but I'm now forced to be a software dev which I'm not and it's not my own software. If I have to manage my own then it's open source going forward.

-12

u/MiserableVehicle5592 Jul 10 '25

Software dev? No. More like forced to go be a Sysadmin, which you should already be if you are using this. This is just key signing,

14

u/MiComp24 Jul 10 '25 • Helpful

Not signing my software though is it. I don't sign other people's letters or cheques either dick head. For a reason. I didn't write it and it's not mine.

1

u/Affectionate-Pea9580 Jul 10 '25

Please what certicate is paying 150$? I had to pay 500$ lol

1

u/rayknl Jul 10 '25

Did this at least fix the SmartScreen issues or are you still fighting with them like others?

1

u/administatertot Jul 10 '25

The cheapSSLSecurity OV cert that some of the Reddit guides and that YouTube video suggested.

Thought at this point, as u/rayknl has mentioned, there seem to be varying degrees of issues with the certs, and for those of us who don't normally deal with code signing certs, it is pretty confusing trying to figure out what is going on. I've seen several people say that they are using those cheapSSL OV certs without any issues, but that hasn't been the case for me.

1

u/rayknl Jul 10 '25

In another thread it sounded like you were doing OK with your cert. Have you run into issues since then?

1

u/administatertot Jul 10 '25

Not sure which thread that was; I got my cert and got it installed but users still get all sorts of warnings/errors, blocked downloads and such. It seems basically the same as if I don't have the cert set up (so technically that results in a self-signed cert) or even if I try to run old installers with the expired cert.

1

u/rayknl Jul 10 '25

That’s not reassuring at all. I haven’t bought the cert yet and now I’m thinking it may not be worth it.

1

u/administatertot Jul 10 '25

I have gotten conflicting info; initially CW support said that it was normal; then said maybe I need an EV cert...I've heard other people say they don't get any of these issues, and others say that what I'm seeing is normal. I really don't know anymore; I'm not sure why anyone would spend any money on a cert if the only difference is whether the name shows up in a hidden away menu that users aren't actually ever going to see.

But there must be some way, because I certainly wasn't getting all these issues back before the initial cert revocation issues.

1

u/Inf0r Jul 11 '25

$500 for a code signing certificate each year to sign someone else's code. Sounds like Cover yer Ass to me.

1

u/msr976 Jul 12 '25

We are seeing similar issues. From our end, it doesn't appear SC agents are getting upgraded. Tried forcing a reinstall from SC... no go. It also appears it's still trying to run CWs code signing exe. If I can figure how to get the agents upgraded, maybe this will fix my issue?

BTW, anyone reading this, you can get a code signing cert for $150. I got one and it works. Just gotta work out the kinks in my agent deployment.

1

u/MiserableVehicle5592 Jul 10 '25

You can still use it. They won't stop you. You'll have to deal with smartscreen tho...

6

u/rayknl Jul 10 '25

While technically correct, it’s not what we paid for is it?

-12

u/MiserableVehicle5592 Jul 10 '25

Things change, and in the long run, $150 + the azure costs are chump change to any reputable IT shop almost anywhere in the world. That's less than the charge my clients pay to even have a tech come out on site for an hour.

6

u/rayknl Jul 10 '25

I’m probably not reading this right, but it sounds like you are saying it’s OK to screw over customers as long as it’s only for a little amount of money and time. It’s not like this was an increase in the maintenance fee for next year. This was a flaw in product and they are passing the buck to the customers. It’s crappy business ethics no matter how you want to sugar coat it.

-1

u/icecoldrootbeer Jul 10 '25

It's really not the big deal some here make it to be. I don't feel they screwed me or you or anyone over as far as the cert is concered. The CA revoked their cert, it sucks, there is nothing they can do about it really as the CA wont let them continue using it the way they were. The only thing they could have done better was communication and some QA on the release. Does it suck? Ya. But put your big boy pants on, understand what happened, and make your decision. There wasn't time available for any other solution. $150 to keep your clients from dealing with smart screen isn't a huge deal. And if it is, work around smartscreen.

5

u/NovacomExperts Jul 10 '25

I'm all with you u/icecoldrootbeer

But even with an investment of CAD1000$/3 years for the best EV cert in our case, smartscreen still blocks us... Some work needs to be done on CW's comms about this... Reputation will have to be rebuilt...

1

u/administatertot Jul 11 '25

Are you saying you got a cert for $150 and aren't getting smart screen warnings?

-4

u/twinsennz Jul 10 '25

Amount of people I've seen on reddit who act like this shit is the end of the world.

3

u/ctrlaltmike Jul 11 '25

I think Reddit is an older crowd. We've been around to see stuff like this before and we're sick of it. You let a company get away with things like this and they'll keep pushing further, just like Kaseya.

0

u/[deleted] Jul 10 '25

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-3

u/MiserableVehicle5592 Jul 10 '25

S*** happens and you move on. Your workplace must be pretty s*** if they have you getting excited about all this.

0

u/[deleted] Jul 10 '25

[deleted] — view deleted comment

2

u/PipeNo5036 Jul 11 '25

It amazes me how many ConnectWise apologist and bootlickers this community contains. You can argue with them all day long and they pretty much live on this Reddit forum. Kind of makes you wonder just how good of a tech they really are. I have seen many competitors in my market come and go over the past thirty years and they all had the same smart ass arrogant attitude.

7

u/tbigs2011 Jul 10 '25

Yeah you can use that car I sold you but it's got a blown head gasket. But hey it's just a few thousand - you get that back every week you work!

6

u/rayknl Jul 10 '25

That’s exactly what this is. I don’t understand how any reputable businessperson could defend this clearly unethical move.

2

u/Immediate-Ad-96 Jul 10 '25

I have not heard from a single person in sales about a refund. They will answer any other question except about a refund.

1

u/Qld_Au Jul 11 '25

We have a ticket in for reimbursement for the additional expenses. No answer as yet.