Adobe tricks users into a 12 month contract • Hacker News Board

Re: Adobe tricks users into a 12 month contract

#381

Post by ed » Sat, Feb 05, 2022, 7:53 PM UTC

estro0182 wrote: post #371

ferminaut wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got a X1 credit card a little bit ago. You can have unlimited "virtual" credit cards, trial subscription cards, and one time use cards. I now use it for everything, with a different "virtual" card for every business. I wish more credit cards offered this. (not affiliated with x1)

CapitalOne offered this feature too, which I used heavily. Then they _got rid of it_. Blows my mind, it was incredibly nice.

They're still offered through the Eno extension https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/eno%C2%AE-from-cap...

Re: Adobe tricks users into a 12 month contract

#382

Post by sgustard » Sat, Feb 05, 2022, 7:54 PM UTC

I just tried this in USD and at least the initial screens were more clear about the options. To wit: after "start your free trial", there's a choice of "$79 monthly, no cancellation fee" or "$52 yearly billed monthly, fee if you cancel". It is pretty common to discount per month when a user agrees to an annual contract.

Re: Adobe tricks users into a 12 month contract

#383

Post by pcurve » Sat, Feb 05, 2022, 7:55 PM UTC

unfocussed_mike wrote: post #277

inversetelecine wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AutoDesk (CAD/BIM/etc) is also getting like this. Maybe not totally Adobe yet, but they too also basically have a lock on their industry. Just like with Adobe, some alternatives exist and a few might be good enough, but AutoDesk bought so many competitors and/or companies that most of the time they are the only game in town. Bentley (not cars) is another company I loathe, but I've already gotten off topic. The profes…

Yes, AutoDesk is a very good comparison. The problem is these companies aren't evil but they are under considerably less pressure to be good . Perhaps the saddest thing about Adobe is that the subscription model has almost completely eliminated their support staff's ability to allow things like discretionary late free upgrades (which I've benefited from in the past, before I made the jump to Affinity Photo in 2015, a…

I agree there's no pressure on these companies as a whole. Ideally, they should be heavily investing in R&D while the moat is still wide.

I manage a product design team. We've long moved away from from using Adobe products. It's not that we detest subscription model or Adobe as a company; their products were no longer meeting our needs.

Re: Adobe tricks users into a 12 month contract

#384

Post by teekert » Sat, Feb 05, 2022, 7:56 PM UTC

They did something like this to me, 3 persons on the phone (all English speaking) later some manager finally caved after me repeatedly stating they were breaking Dutch law with 1 year renewals (after one year it’s always monthly if there is no new approval, it was my 3rd year).

I reported this to the relevant instances here, heard nothing from it.

Re: Adobe tricks users into a 12 month contract

#385

Post by alok-g » Sat, Feb 05, 2022, 7:58 PM UTC

cpach wrote: post #68

If you’re on macOS and just want a good and convenient image editor, I warmly recommend Acorn. The Muellers (owners of Flying Meat Software) have put a lot of effort to make it feel like a really solid Mac application. The price is good and from time to time they offer discounts. The whole experience reminds me of using good old Paintshop Pro back in the late 90s (^_^) Other options are Affinity Photo from Serif Ltd…

Corel PaintShop Pro is alive still and works great.

Re: Adobe tricks users into a 12 month contract

#386

Post by msavio » Sat, Feb 05, 2022, 8:00 PM UTC

Fell for that trick once. Avoiding Adobe products since. Found Capture One instead of Lightroom, the Affinity Suite instead of Photoshop/InDesign/Illustrator.

I am upgrading Capture One every year, so I probably pay the same as what I would pay for Lightroom.

But it just feels like a fair contract. And I love the product (probably because I know it well by now).

Re: Adobe tricks users into a 12 month contract

#387

Post by mrtksn » Sat, Feb 05, 2022, 8:03 PM UTC

mthoms wrote: post #380

mrtksn wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got a refund and I know my friends who got theır refunds when they forget to cancel subscriptions in time. It's also well known policy of Apple to refund you right away. I'm having hard time understanding why are you so bitter about. I got 3 months of Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade trial with my purchase and Apple keeps reminding me to active it because the offer is valid within the 90 days of the decice activation. So…

>I got a refund and I know my friends who got theır refunds when they forget to cancel subscriptions in time. It's also well known policy of Apple to refund you right away. That doesn't excuse deceptive tricks used to prematurely start subscriptions. Many people don't bother chasing refunds. Anyways, you didn't address the issue: Apple says it's a three day trial, but the fine print says it's effectively a two day tr…

I don't know what to say really, go buy something else. I have no issue reading the offer details and IMHO the terms are clear and easy to understand but if that's not the case for you get a refund and buy from somewhere else.

In my opinion, the wording is not intended for deception but for mood uplift. It answers the following question: Interesting device but what I'm going to watch on this? Answer: No worries it comes with this service so you can start using it right away, go to the bottom of the page for the details.

Re: Adobe tricks users into a 12 month contract

#388

Post by Karunamon » Sat, Feb 05, 2022, 8:03 PM UTC

ElemenoPicuares wrote: post #372

qwertox wrote: post #339

I don't understand this. It's a free 7-day trial. If I cancel during the 7-day trial, the following cancellation terms apply: If you cancel within 14 days of your initial order, you'll be fully refunded. 7 Also, it's not even clear if the 7 days do even count towards the 14 days, since in that case they could just as well state "first 14 days are free". But they are not free, since they belong to the first subscripti…

No, that's correct. If you cancel within 7 days you pay nothing. If you cancel after 14 days you have to pay for half the year. I'm not sure what happens between those two points— I'd guess it's a grace period but I'm not sure— but personally I'd be surprised to have any reduction in cost if I went beyond a clearly stated free trial I agreed to. Folks have legitimate bones to pick with Adobe— including the cost alone…

I tend to agree on principle, but this whole concept of 'annual, monthly' is really scummy.

Even YC startups are doing it now, showing you a per-month price while de-emphasizing the fact that you're paying for a year up front. Adobe is the first one I'm familiar with that does normal monthly billing but forces you to stay a year.

>Hanlon’s Razor shreds the assertion of deliberate malfeasance over a site-wide design system flubbing form follows function.

Hanlon's Razor is a heuristic, not a law, and ceases to apply in the face of bad-faith actors. If Adobe wanted to be clear, they'd say "$X/month for 12 months", and not hide the commitment terms in WCAG-violating grey-on-white text. I offer instead the heuristic of "follow the money".

Re: Adobe tricks users into a 12 month contract

#389

Post by BikeRanger » Sat, Feb 05, 2022, 8:06 PM UTC

prox wrote: post #280

cpach wrote: post #68

If you’re on macOS and just want a good and convenient image editor, I warmly recommend Acorn. The Muellers (owners of Flying Meat Software) have put a lot of effort to make it feel like a really solid Mac application. The price is good and from time to time they offer discounts. The whole experience reminds me of using good old Paintshop Pro back in the late 90s (^_^) Other options are Affinity Photo from Serif Ltd…

I use Affinity Suite professionally, absolutely possible to switch. Have done for three years, it’s really good.

Same here, on about the same timeline. I miss a few things from Photoshop, but some things are much better in Affinity Photo. Especially love that Affinity isn't a subscription.

Re: Adobe tricks users into a 12 month contract

#390

Post by readingnews » Sat, Feb 05, 2022, 8:08 PM UTC

I will get "downvoted" into oblivion, but dear god does no one want to write a small blog/page anymore? I read so many "this is super interesting useful information" blurbs about contracts, laws, etc, but they are in the smallest possible digestions given to us by twitter.

Either "when did I get so bitter" or "when did the web go to hell" thoughts enter my mind.