It Sounds Like You Want Us To Be Responsible For Your Own Money, Too!

I work internal IT for a retail company. We generally have a decent amount of approved software for users to download to accommodate various job needs. There is the acknowledgment that sometimes a specific software/version/install is needed that isn’t included, so we have a way to get around that.

There’s a request form that the users can submit that asks for all the pertinent info — what is it, cost, how long would you need it, etc. — and then our security team checks that it’s okay, and then the asset department confirms whether or not it’s approved.

As a rule, we ask that people don’t just download software from outside our catalog, and we don’t really support anything that’s outside the catalog, but we can give our best effort; most of the time the only “support” that’s needed is for us to do the initial install with our admin rights.

User: “I just purchased [Software] and I want to add it to my email.”

I know what the software is, but I can’t remember seeing it in our catalog.

Me: “Did you submit a license request for it?”

User: “No, I bought a subscription.”

Me: “I don’t see that in our software catalog. Did you submit the software request and get it approved?”

User: “I bought it with my own money. And I’ve already added it to my Chrome.”

Me: “Um, okay, well, I don’t see [Software] in our catalog. Unfortunately, we can’t download or support anything that hasn’t been already approved. I would recommend that you submit [request] to have security and asset confirm it’s okay. I don’t think there’s a problem, but they do have a process in place because we want to make sure there won’t be any issues.”

User: “But I spent my money on this already. I just want to add it to my email.”

Me: “I understand that, but we don’t support non-approved software. I recommend that you submit [request] and make a note that you’ve already purchased the subscription. The software shouldn’t have any trouble, but security and asset really do need to take a look and confirm.”

User: “But I already purchased it.”

Me: “I do understand, but we can’t support non-approved software. Once they’re finished with the request, they can usually provide the steps to get anything extra that’s needed. Most of those programs do have a separate install that’s needed for email anyway. You still need to submit the request so security can vet the system and you can note that you’ve followed process.”

User: “But I purchased a subscription with my own money.”

Me: *Head-desk*

I finally convinced her to submit the form and just note that she’d already purchased a subscription and had the add-on in her browser. I couldn’t think of any reason that security wouldn’t allow the software; she just needed to wait for them to confirm.