Adobe Showed 215-Day Trial, Then Charged Me Early and Locked Me into a Contract — Is This Fair?

Hey everyone,
I’ve been dealing with a frustrating situation with Adobe and wanted to get some advice or thoughts from others who may have gone through something similar.

A while after I signed up for Adobe Creative Cloud, I checked my subscription page and was surprised to see it said I had 215 days of free trial remaining. It even stated that I wouldn’t be charged until several months later. I also received an official email from Adobe confirming this — so naturally, I felt safe planning my learning around that timeline.

But then, out of nowhere, I got charged — well before the trial was supposed to end.

I reached out to Adobe support and was eventually escalated to a supervisor. After showing screenshots and the email, they admitted it was a technical glitch — that the 215-day trial was never meant to be there.

They offered me two options:

1. Cancel and get a refund, but I’d lose access to the apps immediately (which was a problem because I had just started an Adobe-based course),

2. Or, get 4 months of free access, but be locked into a 12-month contract afterwards — with a pretty steep cancellation fee if I wanted to leave early.

Feeling stuck, I chose the 4-month extension because I had already enrolled in a course that required Adobe tools, and losing access immediately would have disrupted my learning. At the time, it felt like the only practical option — but in hindsight, I now realize I was put in a position where I had no real choice. I never knowingly agreed to a 12-month contract, and that acceptance was based entirely on Adobe’s system showing false information.

Has anyone else faced this kind of situation?

• Can companies enforce contracts based on incorrect trial info?

• Should a “glitch” excuse override what the system showed and what the customer was told?

• Am I being unreasonable, or is this worth escalating?