Adobe SCAM 1 year subscription payment

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
October 4, 2023
2 replies
8071 views

I've seen 40+ posts about people unknowingly signing up for an annual subscription under the guise that it's a monthly subscription. Absolutely disgusting and ridiculous that a company is allowed to operate like this. If there are hundreds of people falling victim to this these deceptive antics then it's obviously not a "clearly advertised" plan they're selling. Absolutely 0 support in cancelling as well. If you try to cancel, they offer you a free add-on, as if they know they wronged you the first time. Either you pay a $600 cancellation fee (pay off the entire year and get to cancel) or you continue to pay $50 a month. They split test their checkout pages so at times the plan is in bolded text that it's an annual plan you pay monthly (no total price at checkout, just the price of the monthly subscription that is tied into an annual contract) and other times the word "annual" cannot be found.

I'm making sure my AMEX blocks all future charges from Adobe.

Abambo

Community Expert

They split test their checkout pages so at times the plan is in bolded text that it's an annual plan you pay monthly (no total price at checkout, just the price of the monthly subscription that is tied into an annual contract) and other times the word "annual" cannot be found.

I'm making sure my AMEX blocks all future charges from Adobe.

By @karanj27

Annual means annual and not monthly. So an annual contract paid monthly is still an annual contract.

Either you pay a $600 cancellation fee (pay off the entire year and get to cancel) or you continue to pay $50 a month.

By @karanj27

Show me that? The Early cancellation fee is half of the remaining fee. So if you cancel the first month of your $50/month annual subscription, you will have to pay $275.

Moreover, just because some individuals are voicing their dissatisfaction with the treatment they receive is not a corresponding indication that they are, in fact, correct. Adobe has millions of subscribers, having only 40+ complainers is a great success.

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer

K

karanj27Author

Participating Frequently

Amambo, I apologize but this image you sent is garbage. It has been referenced in every single complaint reply but I promise you maybe 10% of people actually see that type of checkout page. There are much more scummy pages and I will show you an example of one the one you find normally. If you're a Software Engineer for Adobe you should know that they have multiple checkout pages, and they split test checkout pages. This is what I saw right now when I went to try a "free trial" for Adobe. It's completely deceptive and it blows my mind that you could possibly defend this. Only a SINGLE BULLET POINT vaguely touches on the fact that this is an annual commitment. Big letters, 30 day (monthly) free trial, 29.99 a month, starting Nov 3, 29.99 a month. Absolutely disgusting deceptive practices.

Abambo

Community Expert

My image is, what I see, when I take a plan for Adobe Creative Cloud. It's not garbage because it's the actual screen shown to millions of users around the world. In the past, there were others, but companies are evolving.

You are talking about the stock plan, who actually has many different features (30-day trial, against 7-day trial, free assets against free access to the programs, …) compared to a Creative cloud plan.

Nevertheless, you can't say that it is not an annual plan. You need to say that you explicitly need to accept the terms and conditions. You have to say, that in the terms and conditions there is a paragraph about cancellation and the cancellation fees. And, finally, you get again all that e-mailed to reading in all tranquillity once more what you have agreed upon when you entered your credit card (!) and took the plan. I can agree upon that you didn't read it, but you can't say that Adobe did not give you every chance to learn about those conditions. You can argue that the conditions are not what you expected, but that does not excuse you for not reading them.

You complain that there is only one bullet point about an annual commitment, out of only five? Furthermore, you forgot to mention the bullet point talking about “cancel risk-free before your free trial ends”! Didn't you see that as well? I suppose you only saw free, free, free, which is OK because it's psychological.

I do not see “Big letters, 30 day (monthly) free trial, 29.99 a month, starting Nov 3, 29.99 a month.”, at least not on your screenshot.

Incidentally: I'm not a software engineer for Adobe. I'm a paying customer, reading the terms and conditions. I'm also hiring people to work for me, and I read their terms and conditions. Normally, there is a clause in the contract, that when I need to early terminate the contract some amount of money needs to be paid. That's also in my contracts when my company sells my services.

When I read my telecom contract, that made the commercial nervous (also because there was a considerable line-up behind me). Whatever you do, read your contracts, before you sign them. It will help you later on.

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer

John T Smith

Community Expert

When you 'click to agree' to the subscription terms while buying a subscription, that means that you really do need to read BEFORE you enter your credit card number to buy a subscription
-You also need to know that a subscription renews AUTOMATICALLY if you do not cancel during your 12th month

-there are so many people who miss the details that Nancy O'Shea added red arrows
-see the Nancy O'Shea message dated 3-22-2023 (with big red arrows) in this message
https://community.adobe.com/t5/account-payment-plan-discussions/bloated-nonsense/td-p/13669109

ALSO

If you are willing to pay more, SOME programs are available Monthly https://community.adobe.com/t5/Get-Started/Being-charged-for-a-full-year-when-i-m-on-month-to-month/td-p/10248222 - links and pictures
-the special Photography Plan is ONLY available on an annual plan, with monthly or 1 annual payment
https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/help/manage-cc-individual-membership.html

K

karanj27Author

Participating Frequently

John, I'm not talking about a yearly subscription I forgot to cancel, I'm talking about the supposed "monthly subscription" that is a yearly commitment in disguise. You reply with this same answer to the thousands of people that are dealing with this issue who are surprised that they're locked in to an annual subscription, or shocked that they're paying hundreds of dollars in "cancellation fees" for what they thought was a monthly subscription. Think about this for a second: If thousands of people, likely tens of thousands a year are falling victim to the same issue, and feel deceived, CLEARLY it's purposely manufactured point of deception. You can agree with me on that at the very least, right? If I go to purchase something and on the checkout screen it tells me I'm signing up for a "monthly subscription" I'm not going to read the terms & conditions page to make sure I'm not being shown monthly but secretly signing an annual contact, that's incredibly ridiculous. Does everyone who purchases Adobe products happen to be stupid, or is it more likely that this company is being deceptive?