Participant

Question

Trapped in an annual subscription - Don't fall for this scam

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
November 14, 2021
1 reply
10388 views

Here's the rundown:

Last month I needed to use lightroom to edit a few photos. I don't use lightroom often, I haven't touched it in a few years. But, I needed it for these photos so I ended up purchasing what I thought was a monthly subscription with the intention of cancelling later. It's marketted on their website as a "monthly payment," right beside the annual payment option. "Perfect!" I thought, "I don't need a full year, I only need the software for these photos I'll buy it for a month and cancel once I'm done, I won't be using it past that."

Boy was I suprised when I realized it wasn't a monthly subscription at all. Hiden inside pages of fine print is a $25.98 cancelation fee for ending a yearly subscription. WHAT??

I didn't want a yearly subscription! I never did! I only wanted this product for a few photos thats why I selected a monthly payment. This intentionally misleading and a total scam.

What's even more ridiculous is that there is no was to contact customer support!

There's literally a button on their support page that says:

"Contact us. Real Help from Real People"

When you press the button it just takes you back to the default support page. No phone number, no email, even when you try doing the online chat it just bounces you back to the default page. They've now billed me for another month of a plan I don't want and are trying to charge me even more money to get out.

I can't believe a company like adobe would rely on hidden fees and misleading advertising to try and milk it's customers for an extra few dollars. I am truly disgusted.

I want my money back and I want out of this ridiculous plan!

John T Smith

Community Expert

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

D

default9sxatvbnqb5yAuthor

Participant

You're missing the point entirely.

There are pages and pages of info on different plans, prices and products that adobe offers. As a new customer (someone who is not familiar with adobe plans and payment structures) I shouldn't be expected to dig through dozens of pages and forums to figure out what I'm buying and where I'll be hammered on hidden fees. This information should be clear and transparent from the beginning and it isn't.

When I registered for adobe I got an email with a "more info" link that said the following:

"Cancellation details:
Cancel your annual subscription before Oct. 25 to get a full refund and avoid a fee.

You can cancel your subscription anytime via your Adobe Account page or by contacting Customer Support."

Avoid a fee? I wonder what that's all about? I'm guessing they're talking about cancelling before next months bill? Let me double check the "more info" link to see if there is a cancellation fee I missed somewhere during the checkout.

When I click the "more info" link right underneath the cancellation policy it takes me to this page:

https://helpx.adobe.com/manage-account/using/cancel-subscription.html#

There is something incredibly devious about this page. Something that I expect most users won't notice but I did.

I clicked that link the day I registered for adobe looking specifically for anything that mentioned a cancellation fee. There was NOTHING. Not one word mentioning any form of cancellation fee. There is a section titled "Cancellation Fee and Refund" but says absolutely nothing about a cancellation fee, only talks vaguely about a 14 day refund.

I was quite suprised when I went to the same link this afternoon and noticed a new section that explains the cancelation fee: 50% of the remaining balance of the contract. What?? How can this be? I read that entire page a few weeks ago and I could have sworn it wasn't there before??

I figured out why. The section explaining the cancellation fees is not visible if you are logged out of your adobe account. When I navigate to the link while logged in: boom there it is plain as day; an entire section at the top of the page explaining the cancellation fees. But when I log out this entire section of the website magically dissapears!!!

This is a disgusting system designed specifically to trick new customers into thinking they can cancel at any time.

GIVE ME MY MONEY BACK!!!

E

elliott22381345j3zk

Participating Frequently

you can keep claiming "fact and fiction" but the facts are, they changed the pricing model a couple years ago, your belief doesnt change that reality. They had a month to month subscription back in about 2018. There were three options back then, anual - paid monthly, annual -paid yearly, and then there was just monthly, I had the monthly plan for a couple years on and off because i couldnt always afford it, until they changed the pricing model. Since the change they have made me get the annual subscription and auto renewed it for the last couple years even when i asked them not to, last time I spoke with them they finally cancelled the autorenew but they did not refund anything and it lasted for the rest of the year even though I asked for a refund at the beginning of the last subscription informing them i probably wouldnt even be using it as I hadn't used it more than a few times in the previous 10 months. Im not sure why you can't remember the other pricing model.

The point is this is not very becoming of a large company that has many users. This kind of difficulty didnt happen in the past or it was taken care of in a way that was honorable and straightforward. Its not like that anymore. All these terms and rules are used to protect the company at the users expense. Even if im wrong about a few memories and details im not wrong about that.

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