Adobe Photo Stock Is very inconvenient

[Daffy_Draws]

Hi, I am a student, and I decided to buy adobe photo stock for a project some time ago. I ended up using some photos but realized this wasn't for me, so I went to cancel, and adobe offered me a good deal to stay.... later I noticed that I accepted to join a one-year subscription as the deal... at the time I didn't realize ..... not sure what happened there but once I noticed I requested to cancel the subscription again, but I was told I couldn't cancel unless I pay about $60 because its a 1-year commitment... if I canceled, I would lose my credits Aswell even though I already pay for them... I didn't want to waste that money, so I decided to stay because I didn't want to pay the $60. and I thought I could just use that money to keep paying for the subscription... but I really didn't have any need to get anymore photos and didn't know what to get photos of... also I didn't want to waste the credits I already pay for on some random images so I just left them there until I could use them..... a year went by and i forgot all about photo stock, but I was still paying for the subscription. so, by the time i remembered to use my credits now that I have a project ... turns out all my credits are gone... because they expired...!?! and I just don't understand why is that a thing... to take away my credits after i pay for them... I accumulated 110 credits so technically i just wasted all that money on adobe photo stock without getting anything in return ... in my opinion whatever i pay for i should have access to it until i decide to use it even after i cancel my subscription and i feel like this is a tactic to have you trapped/forced into paying for the subscription because of being afraid of losing your credits and if u don't need them at the moment you would also be forced to get photos you don't want or need just to not let it go to waste..

I am very annoyed with this and regret ever getting a subscription I spent so much money for no reason is like I just threw my money away. as a student having to deal with that is very disappointing and I understand that's their rules but at the moment I didn't understand them or really knew that's how it would be... I feel like I was robbed, and I believe I should still have the right to use my credits but now I can't use them and feels like I gifted my money to adobe photo stock.

at this point it doesn't matter and know they don't care but just wanted to share my experience and hopefully that stops being a rule because it doesn't make sense to me... at least. and I will not be subscribing to adobe photo stock ever again.

[Jill_C]

Lesson number 1 is always read the T&C's before undertaking a subscription, particularly the cancelation options. All of these facts that you've uncovered are not hidden secrets - they are readily available on Adobe's website and easy to find. Think of an Adobe Stock subscription like a tv cable subscription or a streaming channel. Once you cancel the subscription and stop paying to use it, access to the services is removed and no longer available to you. 

if you should have a need for an occasional stock photo for a school project, Adobe has over a million assets in their Free Stock collection. You can download just the few photos that you need for a project, assuming you can find what you need, without having to commit to a subscription.

[Daffy_Draws]

Such a helpful comment.. i didnt know.. thank you! 😮

[Abambo]

If you have indeed an annual subscription, and you do not use it, you indeed sponsor Adobe stock. Many people think that they pay for the credits, but indeed you pay for running the infrastructure and you get free stock credits. It's similar to having a cell phone subscription and not using the free credits. You pay for keeping the network up and running. If you do not need the free minutes, they will expire. Running the infrastructure costs a lot of money.

You could contact Adobe customer care and look what options they can propose you: Adobe customer care can be contacted by beginning a secure chat session at https://helpx.adobe.com/contact.html?rghtup=autoOpen. Pop-up blockers need to be disabled, you need to accept cookies! If the chat window fails to open, or is non-responsive, use a different device and/or browser to start the interaction.

For support via Twitter:
https://twitter.com/AdobeCare

(see also here: https://community.adobe.com/t5/creative-cloud-services/how-to-contact-adobe-support/td-p/11875703 or here
https://community.adobe.com/t5/account-payment-plan/how-to-contact-adobe-support/td-p/11843852)

Important: Adobe does NOT contact you unsolicited by e-mail or direct message. If you get contacted by direct message from a person, claiming to be an Adobe employee, look at that profile and check if they bear the “Adobe Employee” marking under their name. Adobe support does not use Skype to give you support.
If in doubt, ask the forum.