Adobe unethical / illegal behaviour

In February I decided to sign up to a 7-day trial of Acrobat as I needed to rotate a .pdf and had no other way to do so (clever tactic adobe).

I successfully rotated my page, and a couple of days later I cancelled the service. This was no easy feat I might add… I had to ‘Google’ to work out how this was possible. I don't remember the exact date I cancelled, but I remember writing in the 'reason for leaving' box that it was due to exploiting consumers who only needed to perform the simplest of tasks. I didn't receive a cancellation email, but I didn't think anything of it at the time.

A month later, I noticed a second charge of $22 on my credit card for the service (I was expecting the first charge to be refunded as per the initial instructions). I decided to speak to customer service online to alert them of the issue and have the charges reversed.

However, it quickly became apparent this was all part of the scam and I was not going to see any money back. Not only did the representative refuse to refund me the 2 months of service that I wasn't aware I still had, but they proceeded to advise that I was locked into a 12 month contract and would have to pay around $180 to cancel the service now! After escalating this politely to another person during the chat, I was able to have the service cancelled ‘free of charge’ - as a gesture of 'good will' it was said. As if I was meant to be thankful for this ever so gracious offer.

This happened a few weeks ago now, but it’s still left a bad taste in my mouth. Being scammed by actual scammers is one thing, but a so called ‘reputable’ house hold name such as Adobe, employing these unethical tactics to seek business is another. Reading through the community online, it’s plain to see I’m not the only person who has been ripped off by Adobe. Masking the fact that they are selling annual plans and hiding the termination fees, bullying customers to pay cancelation charges, and failing to cancel subscriptions is not only unethical, but illegal in most countries. Are you really that desperate Adobe?

Adobe, you may have the monopoly now, but businesses who treat their customers in this manner won’t last for forever in this competitive world. You certainly won’t be getting my business again, and I’ll be sharing my experience wherever possible.

I hope you put my stolen $44 to good use, perhaps start with a book on fair business practice?