Predatory Free Trial Cancellation Fee

[nicole_8183]

I used to be a big user of photoshop but hadn't used it in a few years. I recently wanted to do some photoshopping again and figured I'd try out the free trial with AI. I liked it and wanted to mess around a little more so figured I'd pay for an additional month and let my free trial roll over into a new month. It was not clear AT ALL that there would be an additional $126 after that next month to cancel the photoshop subscription. I paid it because I don't have the time to read the predatory fine print and see if just keeping photoshop would results in ANOTHER cancellation fee. I was a believer in paying for the product to support the company, but I will never again pay adobe for any of their softwares. A crooked greedy company. The free online photoshop look-alikes are where I will go from now on. I hope illegal downloads and competitors ruin you. 

[kglad]

you subscribed to an annual plan with monthly payments.  that's why (you ageed to a one year commitment) there's a penalty for early cancellation.

you can make your case to adobe.  there are 2 ways to contact adobe support; chat and twitter (now x):

chat:
if you have or want to purchase a subscription, use a browser that allows popups and cookies
and click here, https://helpx.adobe.com/contact.html?rghtup=autoOpen
in the chat field (lower right), type AGENT
be patient, it can take quite a while to reach a human.

twitter/x:
tweet @AdobeCare

p.s. if you're contacted by anyone (via email or private message), it's much more likely to be a scammer than an adobe representative.

[nicole_8183]

I don't need you to explain what happened. Doesn't make it not predatory with the way they marketed it. I'm aware now of what I signed up for, but it was not clear and it is annoying and a cash grab to make the automatic roll over the annual plan. 

[nicole_8183]

Their actions lost a customer forever, if that's how they want to do things, that's on them.

[kglad]

i really don't understand why people like you continue to vent when they haven't even made an attempt to rectify the situation.

[nicole_8183]

Because the situation shouldn't be set up this way in the first place. The forum is full of people who forgot to cancel a free trial and automatically got set up with a "monthly" annual plan. It's a ridiculous set up, and not clear at all. If they wanted to be honest, they would be more clear. But they don't because this bags them more money. I will obviously complain, but the fact that this is the automatic option and made to look as the cheapest option IS predatory. And the venting is to warn others, duh. People might google "adobe free trial" or "cancellation free trial" and find that there are people repeatedly finding issue with the way they present their subscription options and decide to not opt in for photoshop. The fact that this happens often enough for you to be sick of having to defend adobe over this should show that it's not particuarly clear and prone to deception.

[kglad]

ok. enjoy venting and pay.

[nicole_8183]

I hope you're at least getting some pay for your work defending this money hungry corp Dr Gladstien

[kglad]

i'm not defending adobe, anything or anybody. cite one sympathetic or exculpatory thing i've said in this thread.

[jessica_0613]

You're kind of an a$$ for a "community expert". But I guess that title just means you spend the majority of your time on these forums, which would explain the lack of social skills witnessed in this thread. Great work. Maybe try taking a step away from the keyboard and getting outside?

[kglad]

@jessica_0613 

is there something with which you need help?

[John T Smith · Accepted solution]

For anyone else reading this, Please read everything so you know what you are doing before you buy a subscription
If you buy a HIGHER COST Monthly subscription you may cancel at any time without a fee... when you buy an Annual subscription with Monthly payments, and you do not cancel in NO MORE than 14 days from the start of your subscription, you pay 1/2 of the remaining time if you cancel early
When you 'click to agree' to the subscription terms while starting a subscription, that means that you really do need to read BEFORE you enter your credit card number to buy a subscription
-LONG discussion here, with link to Nancy O'Shea 'arrows' in subscription information
-And the difference between an actual Monthly subscription and Annual paid Monthly
My Oct 4 2023 reply here discusses the different payment plans
https://community.adobe.com/t5/account-payment-plan-discussions/adobe-scam-1-year-subscription-payme...
AND
https://community.adobe.com/t5/account-payment-plan-discussions/adobe-s-subscription-amp-cancellatio...
https://helpx.adobe.com/manage-account/using/creative-cloud-subscription-terms.html

[Guest]

See here is the thing. Cancellation fees are often illegal. Within the EU your 14 days period for cancellation begins at the date of last payment. EU law also states that excessive cancellation fees are illegal. This means that any subscription that is payed monthly within the EU for an ongoing service can be cancelled at any time, without cancellation fees (as cancelling an ongoing service has no significant additional costs for different dates of cancellation), and with a garantied refund of any payment made within the last 14 days of cancellation. Essentilly within the EU, there is no such thing as a yearly subscription to an ongoing online service, that is payed monthly. If a service is payed anually for an anual subscript you would be right. However when an ongoing service is payed monthly, within the EU it is monthly subscription independent of what you call it.

[Interrogate all]

Refuse to pay and they'll cancel it. It's an illegal and  predatory strong arm tactics. Big corporations like Adobe shouldn't do this. But alas, crooks will always be crooks. Free trials for instance, should be free trials. Give users the choice to continue or not! Don't hide illegal moves in "fine prints". If they were morally correct, they wouldn't hide them. 

[kglad]

refusing to pay is an option, but it has consequences for your credit rating.

[Interrogate all]

K.

[Guest]

Which would only matter within the US. And I am going to hazard a guess that most states in the US don't allow for Adobes practices, with regards to cancellation fees. Calling it a yearly subscript when paying mothly doesn't actually make sense. EU law makes it clear. If there is no physical product attached, mothly payments = mothly subscript. No cancellation fee allowed. The problem Adobe has, it that they are providing an ongoing service with no physics product attached. It can be terminated at any time with little to no extra cost for Adobe, and there is no reason to think Adobe spends any additional money to terminate a service ealier than expected. Especially if the subscription is automatically renewed, as the service is then never expected to be terminated at a specific date.

[Anne5D8D]

Came here to rant about exactly the same thing.  It's an evil business practice and frankly predatory is the right word. 

[kglad]

make sure you're aware of the cancellation terms by selecting your plan type (at the top of the page here), https://helpx.adobe.com/manage-account/using/creative-cloud-subscription-terms.html

if you're unable to follow the steps described, you'll need to await help from an adobe employee for the next step.  (if you don't get a reply here from a badged employee within 24 hours, repost.)

and for info on how to cancel your subscription, this page describes the few steps involved, https://helpx.adobe.com/manage-account/using/cancel-subscription.html

p.s. if you're contacted by anyone (via email or private message), it's much more likely to be a scammer than an adobe representative.

[Guest]

Are you payed by Adobe. Because you seem to spend an awful lot of time providing regular, stock, corporate answers to posts.

[kglad]

no

[julian_5991]

I was in the same situation, I think I reached the best possible compromise. I explained my situation to a live chat agent, which is: I started the free trial of Adobe Pro (don't know if this fix will work the same for Photoshop) for a project at work,  didn't even end up using the product, forgot to cancel and didn't realise that it rolled into an annual subscription.  I told them that I am on a tight budget so can't afford to pay for a product that I don't use and that I'm not asking for a refund for the month I paid,  just looking to cancel without penalty.  

The agent offered me 2 options: get 2 months free and have my subscription price reduced from $25 to $17 or switch my subscription to Adobe Express at $13/month, with it being a month to month plan I can cancel after the first payment. 

While I had hoped that they would just cancel it for me without having to pay them any more money, I'm pretty happy with this compromise.  Hopefully this post can help people who fall into this trap save some money while getting out. 

[kglad]

thanks for that info, but you don't need to post it mire than once.