Why is adding Microsoft Office so difficult?

Quick context: I have an older MacBook Air that I have had for almost 8 years that was purchased through my personal company. In October of 2020 I bought Microsoft Office 2019 Home & Business and successfully downloaded and installed with ZERO issues using my business Microsoft account. Over the course of the last couple of years, the apps within Office would not update because 1) I was not up-to-date with the latest OS and 2) Microsoft discontinued support in late '23.

This past week I bought a new MacBook Air, again through my personal company. (15-inch, M4, 2025) I then bought a single-user, Microsoft Office 2024 Home from my local Apple Store. Today, 9/27/25, I followed the steps to download the '24 Office to my new laptop. I logged into my business Microsoft account and entered the new Product Key. I thought that would be it.

Boy was I wrong!!

Right off the bat, the AutoUpdater told me I needed to update the apps. OK. Go ahead and do that. Not sure why the latest versions of the apps weren't just installed, but...whatever.

AutoUpdater then tells me that the apps cannot fully be updated because I need to Upgrade...what?? I am running the latest OS version on a brand new laptop with the latest Office product available. This doesn't seem right.

Well...that turns into me researching for 4 hours to see if I can figure out how to get this fixed. The ONLY solution I kept finding is that I now need to download and run the License Removal Tool for my older laptop. This did not make sense to me because the old license was for 2019 Office and was still being used on my older laptop, BUT I did it anyway.

Guess what? Nothing changed on my new laptop with the 2024 Office. Still could not update the apps.

This then led to me contacting Microsoft Support via Chat. They deduced that I needed a specific file that apparently did not get downloaded and sent it to me in the chat. I downloaded it, installed it and ran it. The apps finally updated.

Woo-Hoo!!

Well...until I tried to open Excel tonight. It began telling me that I needed to ACTIVATE with my Microsoft account so that I could create & edit. Huh?? I have already done that.

Sooo...I click on Activate and I again have to login to my Microsoft account. NOW it tells me this:

GRRRRRRRR!!!!!!! WHY?!?!?! Why am I having these issues?!?!? I am on the laptop where I added the Product Key to Activate 2024 Office.

I NEVER at any point in time added the '24 Product Key to my older laptop, but when I look at the 'About' sections of the apps, they all NOW show Office 2024.

I selected the link (shown in the screenshot above) to contact support but it is not a typical back-and-forth chat system. I can only reply with the options it gives to me. I am now stuck waiting 144 minutes for someone to call me back.

I can uninstall all Microsoft Office products and try again, but does this have to do with my business Microsoft account? I used it on both laptops.

Can anyone in this forum help me?

Has anyone run into this issue and successfully gotten it resolved?

I'm literally pulling my hair out and I leave to go out of the country on Monday. I really need this resolved before I leave because the new laptop is going with me.

Thanks! Dee