The makers of Auction Sentry software is getting creative with definitions in order to spin some extra fees at their customers. The reconfiguration of terms is much to the dismay of those who signed up for one contract, only to be held to another.

One such ticked off consumer, Consumerist reader, Linda S., says she bought the program, which is a product that automatically outbids other eBay snipers at the last second, in 2003. At the time, she signed on for a contract that would expire 96 years later, in 1999.

Now, Auction Sentry has upgraded its software, and has decided to stop honoring that contract. Linda says she’s been told the original deal she signed up for will not be honored, and she and other consumers must now hand over an annual fee of $14.99.

She expressed her grievances in a letter to the company, and received the below response (which she deems “ridiculous,” and we’re leaning toward agreeing:

I am sorry to hear that you feel we are not honoring the agreement you had when you purchased the standard version of the software. The agreement for that version was a lifetime license of the software. Not for the duration of your life. Unfortunately those versions have come to the end of their lives, and thus the agreement has been met. We had to completely recode the software into a new format that would allow us be quicker in repairs and keep up with today’s standards.

The shenanigans don’t stop there! Linda says she went back into her account to make sure she’d gotten the 2003 deal correct, that she indeed had licensed the software for 96 years.

I went into that same screen today and it says that my initial license was only for one year – rewriting history for convenience and financial gain seems to be AuctionSentry’s modus operandi. Too bad I took screen shots.

Too bad, indeed.

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