Adobe Intentionally Vague/Dishonest/Misleading - Shocking

____Image 1

The above image is the first page one sees after clicking "Start free trial" for Adobe Acrobat Pro. The only thing to imply you're entering into a one year contract is the word "Yearly". Of course, to be fair, "Yearly, billed monthly", does strongly imply this is an annual contract, but it's not explicit. And we live in a world where no other subscriptions to major cloud/software services anywhere else on the Internet are annual. They are *all* cancel anytime, with no additional fees. Sometimes you still have to pay for the month you're in, or you pay a prorated amount, but nothing beyond that. Moving on . . .

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This is the second page. Keep in mind, clicking the "Agree and subsribe" button will be the THIRD time I've clicked on something since entering the Adobe website. The total cost of the annual contract, and my payment information don't even appear on the screen together at the same time. You have to click the down-arrow next to "Yearly, billed monthly" to see the total cost of the annual contract, and then click off of that section to actually click "Agree and subscribe". Again, *nowhere* is it explicitly stated that this is a one year contract.

Think about how much more explicit a rental agreement is. The *bolded* text on the page makes no mention of the fact that this is an annual contract, or that there will be early cancellation fees. In fact, the bolded text includes the words "cancel anytime", which we citizens of the Internet are very used to seeing, and made to feel safe by. In the unbolded part at the *END* of what, at first glance, is a boiler-plate subscription terms disclaimer we see, "cancel before [a date] to get a full refund and avoid a fee". Again, the implication is obvious, but it's just that, implication. Nowhere is it explicitly stated something like, "by clicking 'Agree and subscribe', you are agreeing to enter into a one-year contract to use Adobe Acrobat Pro services".

____Conclusion

In a world where vast majority of subscription services are cancel anytime, no additional fees, I have to believe that the *extremely* minimalistic approach Adobe has taken to advertising the fact that this subscription is radically different- in fact is an expensive annual contract- is an attempt to obfuscate and decieve. They must know the average person isn't expecting to be signing an annual contract when they're easily and quickly (just type in your email and click twice) signing up for yet another subscription, of which they probably have 7-10. And Adobe seems to have taken care to do the *absolute legal minimum* to state the reality of what's going on when people are signing up for this subscription. Without additional clicking and reading and investigating of terms in other tabs, the unwitting new user only sees things like "$19.99", and "cancel anytime", and other language and safety guarantees they're used to seeing around subscriptions. The true cost of what the person is agreeing to is at first hidden from sight. The mention of a cancellation fee is unbolded, and tacked on to the end of a boring disclaimer.

The people working at Adobe must be too smart not to realize that this could all be so much more clear, and that they are counting on people mistakenly signing their one year contract.

I'm shocked that such a major, well-established company would behave in this way.

I will be admonishing everyone in my personal life at every appropriate opportunity to take great care when approaching tbe idea of using Adobe products. This behavior is, to put it plainly, really quite "scammy" in  nature. Shocked, truly.

I hope Adobe can change their ways and begin to practice the customer-centric, low-commitment, and perfectly transparent subscription styles offered by all other major companies online, because this is shameful.