Does anyone else have a problem with Adobe Stock taking your credits you paid for when you cancel?

[Nicole2783221493q0]

I signed up for Adobe Stock Images, thinking I would use the credits. I found that I did not use it much and tried to cancel. They offered me a plan at a lower price. I first thought, why couldn't the plan be at the lower price right from the beginning? I say, "No, thank you." Then it got ugly. I am told that I have to pay for the entire year to get out of the contract, AND by canceling, I will also lose all my existing credits. WHAT THE ACTUAL EFF? I paid for those credits! I honestly do not recall agreeing to this term... I am vigilant about contract terms, but I must have missed the small print on this. So I am (begrudgingly) fine paying for the year to terminate BUT to take away my credits that I have paid for? That seems shady to me.

[Jill_C · Accepted solution]

That is clearly specified in the T&C's that you agreed to when you signed up for a Subscription. Imagine if you cancel your phone plan without having used all the minutes. Would the phone company allow you to use those after you cancelled? Same concept here.

From the T&C's:

14. Effect of Termination.
14.1. If your subscription ends, or upon termination of these Additional Terms, then:
(A) you will forfeit all rights, title and interest in and to any and all unused credits or unused standard assets from
a subscription plan, as applicable;
(B) except as set forth in section 9.4(D) (Effect of Termination of Pro Edition Plan), any perpetual licenses granted
as to Stock Assets will survive and you may continue to use those licensed Stock Assets;
(C) you should download any Stock Assets that you have licensed, as such licensed Stock Assets may not be
available after termination or expiration; and
(D) you should make note of any license validation codes issued upon license of an Audio Work, as such license
validation codes may not be available after termination or expiration.

[Nicole2783221493q0]

Jill,

While I understand that I messed up, I have a problem with your analogy. I view the credits as tangible items I paid for, much like a phone. If I cancelled my phone contract, I would righfully have to pay the remaining balance for the phone, and once I did I could rightfully keep it. In this case, I paid for the credits. I owned them and then they were taken away despite the fact that I had paid for them. It feels icky and wrong. And I imagine if you were completely honest with yourself you would acknowledge that this practice has its flaws. It is wrong. Period.

[Abambo]

Jill,

While I understand that I messed up, I have a problem with your analogy. I view the credits as tangible items I paid for, much like a phone.

By @Nicole2783221493q0

My phone subscription does not include the phone. But I have free minutes, and the minutes I don't use get lost at the end of the month. What I pay for are not the free minutes, but I pay for being able to use the infrastructure 24/24 7/7.

In the case of Adobe: you pay Adobe for keeping the system up and running, you pay for the moderation of new assets. Depending on your subscription, you get a certain number of complimentary assets. Further assets, or asset types not included in your subscription, are paid extra.

then they were taken away despite the fact that I had paid for them. It feels icky and wrong. And I imagine if you were completely honest with yourself you would acknowledge that this practice has its flaws. It is wrong. Period.

By @Nicole2783221493q0

I understand that you are not happy, but those are the terms you did agree upon.

Imagine, you did take a plan like 40 assets per month, after a year you cancel with the rolled over 480 assets, and you won't licence an item for the next 10 years. Who would pay Adobe for running the computers, just to keep the lines open in case you might need a picture someday?

(BTW: we are not Adobe, we are users and customers like you. And I can tell you that the Adobe conditions are industry standard.)

[Nicole2783221493q0]

Trade involves the exchange of goods. You put a $29.99 amount on ten credits. I paid for the ten credits. You took them away after I paid for them because I canceled. It is punitive. It is robbery.

[Nicole2783221493q0]

And I am not arguing that these terms are not outlined in the contract. I am arguing that it is wrong. It should not be.

[Abambo]

And I am not arguing that these terms are not outlined in the contract.

By @Nicole2783221493q0

Sorry Nicole,

But that was your first statement. You clearly did not read the terms, you agreed upon.

Your initial message is full of false assertions.

• I am told that I have to pay for the entire year to get out of the contract
  Yo have to pay an early termination fee of half of the remaining due, as you took an annual subscription, so you promised to keep paying month per month for this for a whole year. You had other options like Credit Packs or a monthly subscription.
• I honestly do not recall agreeing to this term... I am vigilant about contract terms, but I must have missed the small print on this.
  It's not small print. It's part of a one screen page (on my computer screen) terms & conditions, written all at the same size in clear wordings.
• They offered me a plan at a lower price. I first thought, why couldn't the plan be at the lower price right from the beginning?
  This is a commercial action to get the subscriber to keep the subscription after all. This is done quite often, even for other things. My newspaper subscription works the same way.

[Jill_C]

Just to clarify, I am not an Adobe employee. The majority of us who participate in the forums are not Adobe employees. So it wasn't me who took away your credits. And I am being completely honest with myself; plese don't suggest otherwise.

This is the way that essentially all subscription models work. Netflix, in the days when they mailed DVD's to your home; if you didn't order any DVD's for months at a time, they didn't owe you anything when you cancelled. Your WIFI provider. If they offer 5GB of data free per month, and you only use 2GB per month before cancelling, they don't owe you the unused data. Your phone plan minutes. An appliance service plan; if you never used it before cancelling, they don't owe you anything. I could go on and on... Adobe has undertaken the expense and made a commitment to have a system available for your use during the time you are a paying customer. If you no longer have a subscription, how would you even access those unutilized credits? How long would you expect them to make them available to you? Forever? That would require them to continue to invest the expense in making a system available to former subscribers who have stopped paying... It doesn't make economic sense.

[Matthewsheppard]

Ex turpi causa non oritur actio"
("No action arises from a dishonorable cause") 

You paid for the credits and the accumulate. This implies purchased value, not just temporary access. Credits are banked, not ephemeral--unlike something like streaming, which is purely time-bound. The accumulation of credits builds the impression of ownership. 

Merely stating that credits will expire upon cancellation makes it look like Adobe is retaining both the money and the unused value—a potential case of unjust enrichment. 

Take it to court. It is the only thing that will make a giant like Adobe listen. 

[Jill_C]

A Stock subscription is like a cable tv or mobile phone subscription in that you are paying for access to a service. When your subscription ends, your access to the service ends. Once you cancel your cable subscription, you don't have access to the movies you never had time to watch, nor do you have access to the phone minutes you didn't use... Same concept with Adobe Stock.

[Matthewsheppard]

This is not the same kind of thing. You don't accumulate credits with each monthly charge when you have a cable subscription. Although Adobe claims its stock credits are not property, their own systems track them, limit access, and assign them monetary value (1 credit = 1 download). Under property law, especially as applied to intangible digital assets, these credits meet the standards for property: they are definable, exclusive, valuable, and functionally transferrable, even if contractually restricted.

[Jill_C]

You'll have to take up that argument with their attorneys. Have you read the Adobe Stock Lice se Agreement?

[Abambo]

You have accepted the subscription contract. It would be difficult to deny that this clause is part of the contract. If you think, however, that the contract is not valid as a whole or parts of it, you would need to contest this. This forum is not the right place to do that.