[Locked: Outdated information] How auto-renewal works

[Thgrafix]

How can I turn auto renewal off of my creative cloud subscription? Adobe FAQ says that there is an option for that in account management but I can't find such option. I have one year subscription.

[tracyf7528932]

I wish I had. I never got the notification that my account was about to renew. I checked a few days too late and customer service refused to help saying it's my fault for not having checked my emails. I have checked my spam folder and the entire inbox as Google allows you to do and there's no notification. They told me that I can pay the $58 cancellation fee and that's all that can be done at this point.

[jlasiter]

There really should be a class action suit.  It's extremely sleazy to ensnare customers  in this way.

[tracyf7528932]

I filed a complaint with both the BBB and my state's attorney general. Not sure if it will go anywhere, but it's worth a shot. I just didn't like the "it's your fault" mentality that was thrown out there. Google allows you to check "all mail" and the spam folder and I did so and then had my daughter double-check to make sure I wasn't just missing it. Other than the initial sign-up email, there's nothing in my box. The customer service person did make a point to ask why I didn't have a cell phone linked to my account. I wonder if the notifications are now sent via text and not email and if that's why I never got one?

[tracyf7528932]

As an update, going through the BBB helped in my case. Adobe agreed to cancel and not charge me the cancellation fee since my inbox and spam box show no signs of any email notification. Plus. California state law requires companies that use auto renewal to clearly distinguish the auto-renewal terms in a font and size that makes it stand out from the rest of the TOS, which I don't feel is the case here: Adobe - Subscription Terms

<California's automatic renewal law prohibits retailers from charging consumers’ credit card, debit card or bank account for ongoing orders without their explicit consent. Under the law, businesses who automatically renew customers’ orders must state the automatic renewal or continuous service offer terms in a “clear and conspicuous” manner before the order is finalized, which means that the terms must be in a larger or contrasting type that “clearly calls attention to the language” and that the disclosure must be made before and in immediate proximity to the signature line or online authorization button.>

[COOLIO5676]

Wow, well done man! I'll try the same.

[emilyh69357564]

I signed up for a 1 year student account.  The account renewed automatically. I tried going into my adobe account manager and was unable to gain access. I reset the password a few times and still could not get access.  Two months later I noticed on my bank statement the cost of the Adobe service had increased to $29.99.  I tried canceling the account but the charge was $149.95.  I spoke to an Adobe rep who offered two months free service.  After much discussion they offered the plan at $19.95 a month.  I cancelled the service to end 3/30/16.  They charged $149.95 on 3/15/16. Not doing business with Adobe is better than being held hostage.  There are very good open source software that is comparable to replace Adobe.  I did not agree to a renewing contract.  I did not agree to a 1/3 price increase. I did not agree to an open ended forever, with no contractual end date contract (is there such a thing?).  Anyone wishing to pursue a class action, please include me. 

[Captain_Kickass]

What a freakin ordeal it's been trying to deal with Adobe Customer Service. Once they've got your money they do NOT let go, Adobe is ruthless against its customers. Auto-renewal got me good, I've been burned and won't be buying Adobe software again, that's for sure. And being the kind of IT guy that gets asked about what software to sue for X and Y, it's usually not a good idea to work so hard to screw customers like me out of more and more money.

Signed up to CC for a year, never got any notification that it would renew, didn't find out it had until 3 months later when I saw all these $29.99 scattered throughout a bank statement. Tried to cancel (which was inconvenient, frustrating and patronizing in itself) and got hit with a ~$130 cancellation fee. Totally absurd, considering I didn't need or want CC for a second year. Been in contact with 3 different reps and seem to be getting nowhere. It got "escalated" to the appropriate team (who you are NOT allowed to speak with and explain the situation) and recieved an email 5-6 days that basically amounted to "no refunds coz t&c soz lol". I'm not going to give up on this, I would've cancelled the second I got a notification I was nearing the end of my subscription, so surely Adobe is to blame if they failed to notify me?

If I had the option to not auto-renew, then this would never have been a problem, but Adobe has chosen not to implement that "feature" in order to get this kind of money out of customers who had other things on their mind at the time. Such an unbelievably bad attitude towards its customers. Can't believe this is still such an issue THREE YEARS LATER.

[pdemonte987]

Iv'e been on the fence for a long time whether or not I want to pay for adobe photoshop..

And I almost subscribed today, but after reading this thread, the horrible ordeals that customers have gone through with adobe customer service, that it auto renews and there is no option to turn it off, other than canceling in the last moment..

This is all waaay worse than I had thought, and I had already thought poorly of subscription models, which is why I was struggling in the first place.

So here's what I'm doing...  I'm going to use every single last competitor product until I find something suitable, and if I can't, I'd rather find other ways to use the software.. Maybe discounted CS6 from foreign users or something.

I really appreciate the former users in this thread discussing these issues so I didn't have to be overwhelmed with dissatisfaction on my own.

Adobe reps, if there was no auto renew, I would have purchased, but the frustration in this thread is maddening.

[guilhermem80136729]

This is really bad business.

I have the full creative cloud and was going to change to Photographers plan but after find out how is adobe policy about auto-renew I will not change my plan; I will cancel and try to avoid any kind of subscription of adobe cloud services.

I believe this is not related to customer service as they just follow instructions; it is more about the people who drive the business.

Good luck to the ones who subscribe to adobe plans.

[Rajashree Bhattacharya]

The next billing date is August 2016, you can get it cancelled this month without any cancellation fee.

Regards

Rajashree

[Harald_Johannessen]

Hi Rajshree.

Thank you for your emails. Don´t

excuse delay, for me your repsonses are close to the speed of light. I

´m new to using the Community and have surely made a lot of strang

things by clicking arround. Anyway, to keep this straight and simple:

Where eccactly can I cancel my orders 94452158959 (expired) and

12321270359. The last one is not paid yet due to ID and payment theft,

I´m awaiting a new MasterCard. Running out of time, two days left of

July, and I think the new card will not arrive by post until early

August and I´m afraid of making a new payment with the same ID because

the pirates are watching my activity when I´m using my current email

address. I have got a new email account at Google Gmail.

Can I change my Adobe ID with the new email adress?

Or

can I cancel my CC membership ID and create a new one with the new

gmail adress by ordering CC Adobe Illustrator (one year prepaid) in

Brazil?

A sad thing this mess I have been entangled in. I

have been using Illustrater without a hitch for some 25 years, both in

my professional work and after retirement for private purposes. It´s a

great program and I really enjoy using it!

Can you help/assist me further with this matters?

Regards

Harald Johannessen

[dianav48638669]

I subscribed to Adobe Cloud and have had tons of issues with the product and with Adobe customer support. Every time I call I am outsourced to a call center in India and they are pretty ruthless. A lady hung up on me, three of the representative and two managers were defensive — they were right and I was wrong and that was present from the very beginning. They were not empathetic or showed any concern or want to resolve an issue. I have never experienced this kind of customer service in my life and based strictly on this factor my view on Adobe is rather poor. I do not recommend anyone to subscribe to their services. There is a lot to this story, but to sum it up, it's particularly about one major issue. My reason for complaint was to get a refund and close my account due to the fact that my credit card was updated without my consent. This is very alarming!

My credit cards were lost/stollen and I did not update my credit card information in my account manager settings. I did receive an email from Adobe that stated my old credit card had been denied, but no where in the email did it state my credit cards would sync. I don't even use an online wallet. I did forget to update my information and a week later my new credit card had been charged the monthly subscription fee. I got scared! I have had to update many of my online subscriptions with Apple, Amazon, Square Space, etc. However, those companies never updated my credit card information, I had to do that manually. What Adobe did felt violating. When I asked the Adobe representatives to send me my signed contact that stated if I lost my credit card that they would automatically update, they refused. When I called Adobe to explained what happened the first time, the Indian woman told me it was my responsibility to pay. I have requested my account to be closed without being charged, and they refuse because when I signed up I agreed to a contract. They have charged me a fee for breaking the contact. I want refund for this and they will not refund me. I'm so upset, mostly with how I've been treated that I am seriously considering advising a lawyer. It's the principle and for a large corporation to give me a refund for $64 is absurd!!

[sk321890]

I just posted this in another thread, but now see this is much more related to the issue I just realized with auto-renew.

I just realized the same issue on my account, my subscription has been renewed annually for 4 years with no notice to my email account. This is a very poor customer service policy to renew without an email notification, especially from a 'premier' technology company.

Plus, here is the response from the live chat agent after he agreed to refund me for this year's subscription renewal. He didn't address my request for full renewal (other than the initial year's cost), and then abruptly terminated our chat session without addressing my request. What kind of service is this?

=============================

Is there anything else I can help you with?

12:58:39 PM

***ME***:

Yes, am I supposed to get an email notification upon subscription renewal. I get a notification for other services, and have not received it from Adobe. I would have canceled this after the first year if I had

12:58:53 PM

Mahesh:

“  The subscription was purchased online and at the time of purchase the ‘Terms and Conditions’ were accepted. The terms and conditions state the auto renewal policy which was agreed upon hence the subscription auto renewed.

12:59:04 PM

Mahesh:

Hence the plan will be renewed automatically.

12:59:56 PM

***ME***:

That's bunk. Very poor customer policy from adobe. I'd like to get refunded for each other than the original year's charge

1:00:28 PM

Mahesh:

I have canceled the plan and initiated a refund for the last charge for the plan.

1:02:04 PM

Mahesh:

Since we have not heard from you for some time, we will now end this chat.  Please click to chat with us again if we can be of further assistance.

1:02:04 PM

Mahesh:

Thank you for contacting Adobe.  We are available 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. Goodbye!

Thanks for contacting Adobe.

Visit our forums. Post questions and get answers from experts 24/7.

[carlyj12036435]

I purchased a monthly membership in October 2015. I called to cancel my service last month because I was afraid of "auto renewal." Today I logged in to my account to make sure it was cancelled but found it wasn't. I tried to cancel it myself online but it tried to charge me 50% of the upcoming year's membership.

I immediately called Customer Service who of course gave me the song and dance about why I should stay with Adobe. I told them no, I am cancelling and refuse to pay the cancellation charge. At first I was told there was nothing they could do. I then told them I am in charge of a Adobe subscriptions for a large company and would start looking elsewhere if they did not cancel my policy without charging me.

The customer service rep (who was honestly very nice and I know just following the script created for him) put me on hold so he could speak to the manager. He came back and told me he would cancel my policy with no charge. Obviously I need to follow up on this again to make sure it actually happens.

Just be firm with them and hopefully they will let you cancel without the charge. For me, I think it helped that I was so close to renewal time.

[mediopolis]

Listen up guys. I just put a block on my credit card to stop them from auto-renew paying.  Problem solved from my end, because that is some BS tactics written up by management.

[KalromSystems]

ADOBE, Are you not hearing your customers???

Seriously. How thick can you be?

How come this matter goes on and on? I just joined the affected customers group from your flawed subscription mechanism.

It's a shame such a great company gets that low in standards as sole purpose of extorting money out of loyal customers.

Good bye.

[danw35573671]

Absolute bullshit!

Staff claim they have no way of accessing and turning off auto-renewal - which is clearly a lie. Having a small window of opportunity to be able to cancel auto renewal, and refusing to cancel it at any other time is deceitful and VERY bad business.

You've lost me as a customer.

[COOLIO5676]

Not being able to turn off auto renewal should be grounds for a law suit, how can we get this ball rolling?

[danw35573671]

It's not technically illegal (although it should be) but it is incredibly bad practise.

The only way to stop them is to stop using their products - it's just a shame that so many of us are beholden to them because our company/clients use their products.

What really annoys me is that they claim they're unable to 'turn auto renew off'. With other organisations where I've encountered it (car insurance and breakdown cover) you simply tell them not to auto renew, and they don't.

There is NO reason why Adobe can't do this, other than greed.

[ram8272331]

any update regarding the "Disable auto renewal"?   you auto renewed my subscription.  No email no notification.   Now I have to pay a fee to cancel????

[goodnessgrief]

So, I went to cancel and get a refund on my auto renewed account-- 2 days post renewal.  I was advised they cannot do this.  I was then advised they can offer me a cheaper plan, but will keep the account.  Then they said they can't refund.  Then I found the email with the terms of cancellation and mention of full refund when cancelled within 14 days.  WOW, just wow.  So they don't even know what is printed in their auto-renew emails t they so lean on for sticking to their apparently wrong "no refund" policy.

Read your auto renew email if still having issue-- this was in january 2017

[kellym59981913]

I would like to collaborate with any / all interested in starting a documentary.  It would include Adobe - as well as many other companies that use similar business practices.  The hope would be to also interview law makers and put pressure on changing the way the system works.  Putting in a simple clause that says you can not be part of a class action - in order to receive a service is wrong.   Auto renewal is clearly a deceptive way to make more money.  I don't even remember my service being a contract when I signed up for it.

I am in the same situation as all of you. I have had an Adobe subscription since 2014 - and it keeps auto renewing.  Now I lost my job and I don't need and can't pay for it or pay to cancel.  Adobe gave me 2 free months and told me the window I need to cancel (October) - so 2 months from now I am going to be in the same boat I am in today.

Like over 22,000 people who came to this forum so see what others have to say -- I am upset.

If I remember contract law - no law or contract can go on indefinitely --- you legally can not auto renew forever.  There has to be an end in

Anyone out there in the film biz? 

[danielh48254542]

Cancelled my product.

Very, very bad practice for such a large company.

I honestly didn't even consent to an annual contract. I never do.
I chose month to month and now because of some promo that wasn't displayed correctly I was locked into a annual contract with no way to remove myself from it.

This is incredibly misleading and very unbecoming from a company I put side by side with the other giants like Google, Apple, and the rest.

With enough motion, I can see a lot of media picking up on this and shaming this form of business. You might have scammed your way out of my money but you will see the impact this will have on your business soon enough.

[danw35573671]

Despite being told they can't turn off auto-renewal - I discovered that if you kick off enough Adobe will cancel the account and waive the cancellation fee. Be persistent - ask to speak to supervisor, and don't take no for an answer.

It's worth quoting their own T&Cs at them...

"Annual contract, paid monthly

Service begins as soon as your initial payment is processed. You’ll be charged the rate stated at the time of purchase, plus applicable taxes (such as value added tax when the stated rate doesn’t include VAT), every month for the duration of your annual contract. If the applicable VAT rate (or other included tax or duty) changes during your one-year term, the tax-inclusive price will adjust accordingly. Your contract will renew automatically, on your annual renewal date, until you cancel. Renewal rates are subject to change, but we’ll always notify you beforehand. If you cancel within 14 days of your order, you’ll be fully refunded. Should you cancel after 14 days, you’ll be charged 50% of your remaining contract obligation and your service will continue until the end of that month’s billing period. Cancellations can be made any time by visiting your Manage Account page or by contacting {Adobe customer service} in your region."

There is NOTHING here that states that there will only be a small window of opportunity to cancel the auto-renew.

I would have been happy to continue to use CC but due to the underhand billing tactics Adobe won't get a penny more from me. If my clients want me to use CC they'll have to supply it!

[alexc55202969]

That's disgraceful, they're just hoping you forget and so they can charge you for another year. Trying to cancel anytime else and they want to charge you half the subscription for it.

Last time I ever trust Adobe for a paid product, bunch of thieves.