I think the reason why Dell does that is because they must tie the office sku and whatnot to the laptop.  They may not have it in their system to remove add on products from each primary product (like a laptop or desktop).

It could be because you need a volume license for business use. Contact Microsoft instead of Dell about Office license problems.

It gets even better when you say screw it and set up throwaway MS accounts for the employees, and then go to install and the product keys are invalid! So you call Dell and they say to call Microsoft, who tells you to call Dell. From what I can see, sounds like someone must have made some pretty effective keygens for MS Office 2016. I wasted about 6 hours in the last few days between Microsoft and Dell trying to get this issue fixed. And it is only fixed on one of the 2 laptops I bought.

A license for office must be purchased for each computer. If you bought only one single user license for Office 365, it can be installed on only one laptop. You had to buy the Office 365  license for up to 5 users to install on diff computers. If you did buy the 5 users version use a diff MS acct setup or use a new email if you have to--for each laptop. See this-- products.office.com/.../compare-microsoft-office-products

I don't know if it is me you are replying to Mary G, but there was no issue with the number of licenses purchased, and it was Office 2016 Home & Business, not 365. I am not renting software. When they start forcing that, I will look for other alternatives.

I had 2 purchased product keys that came with 2 laptops. Both had product keys that had already been "redeemed"