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Adobe charges subscription cancellation fee

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Re: Adobe charges subscription cancellation fee

#101

Post by Meph504 »

sherry-sherry wrote: post #46
johnsocs wrote: post #6

When you sign up you agree to the fee being broken up in installments. I think they have spelled it out pretty clearly, actually one could consider it ‘free’ financing in a sense. While I don’t like what they have done I don’t see what the big deal is with it.

This: https://imgur.com/a/yQFQRKF is what you see when looking at prices and after clicking Buy Now. It says "annual plan, paid monthly", but doesn't state the fee, it vaguely mentions the price. Clicking 'learn more' does not tell you the fee. It think it's deceptive, at best.

it clearly says "annual plan, paid monthly" which is what you are signing up for, a year long obligation, with installment payments.

if you click the drop down, it shows you not only your other options but also the prices.

https://i.imgur.com/CZSCvw8.png

Re: Adobe charges subscription cancellation fee

#102

Post by mappu »

nodesocket wrote: post #47
vr46 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was on a similar plan, and same machine funnily enough. I downgraded to the Lightroom only plan and then cancelled - hopefully that should still work for you.

I just went through the process and they only let me switch to Lightroom annual (which I suspect starts a new annual subscription starting today). Curious, what did you choose as a replacement for raster graphics? GIMP is a no-go, as its slow and buggy as well.

I really recommend Krita over GIMP - it subjectively feels more "normal" - it has better cross-platform support, better tablet support, better brush engine, better vector layers, and it uses single-window layout without needing to be told.

Re: Adobe charges subscription cancellation fee

#103

Post by inetknght »

greggman3 wrote: post #50

Is this really a cancellation fee or is it just honoring your contract? AFAIK it's very clear on Adobe's page that your options are (1) Annual plan paid monthly, (2) Annual plan prepaid, and depending on the product (3) Monthly plan at usually 150% higher price. https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/plans.html If you signed up for a yearly plan paid monthly, the cancellation fee is finishing your contract. If you didn'…

> If you didn't want to agree to pay by the year maybe you shouldn't have signed up for a year of service?

This whole thing sounds a lot like a loan. If Adobe wants to provide a loan then they should be regulated like a bank.

Otherwise a monthly fee isn't a loan, and a monthly fee shouldn't have a cancellation fee.

Re: Adobe charges subscription cancellation fee

#104

Post by ziml77 »

sherry-sherry wrote: post #46
johnsocs wrote: post #6

When you sign up you agree to the fee being broken up in installments. I think they have spelled it out pretty clearly, actually one could consider it ‘free’ financing in a sense. While I don’t like what they have done I don’t see what the big deal is with it.

This: https://imgur.com/a/yQFQRKF is what you see when looking at prices and after clicking Buy Now. It says "annual plan, paid monthly", but doesn't state the fee, it vaguely mentions the price. Clicking 'learn more' does not tell you the fee. It think it's deceptive, at best.

How is it deceptive? They don't even need to let you cancel if they don't want. The point of the annual plan is that you're accepting the obligation of paying for a full year.

Re: Adobe charges subscription cancellation fee

#105

Post by legostormtroopr »

petee wrote: post #58
marshmallow_12 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Justified or not, I personally take a dim view of cancellation fees in general. Evidently i'm not alone either.

I'd say especially when it's not costing Adobe anything to cancel your subscription, it's just a money grab. There are some exceptions where a fee is ok like when it's actually putting the business out financially, like Garmin & Iridium satellite service agreements, Garmin has little choice...but clearly not the case for Adobe

Actually there is a cost.

If a user signs up for a year contract, the business has certainty of future income. The business gives a discount for assurance of that future revenue.

If the user cancels early, the cost is the lose of that future revenue on the balance sheet - and this does influence the business.

Re: Adobe charges subscription cancellation fee

#106

Post by Meph504 »

maldeh wrote: post #24
wccrawford wrote: post #13

Doesn't this happen for every yearly plan that lets you pay in installments?

What does a yearly installment plan even mean in the context of a cloud subscription-based service, as opposed to one for which one has already received goods? And first of all, as the OP noted in the twitter thread, they believed they were doing a monthly subscription as advertised; the "yearly plan" interpretation is Adobe getting creative in the terms of service.

It means what it means in almost ever contract you sign for a subscription service. You agree to purchase a year of service, and pay for that monthly. It is a very common practice across multiple industries.

If they believed that they were signing up for a monthly, they did not read, what they were signing up for, its clearly stated on the sign up screen.

https://i.imgur.com/CZSCvw8.png

Re: Adobe charges subscription cancellation fee

#107

Post by deathanatos »

paxys wrote: post #79
Mandatum wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is disingenuous at best, and fraudulent at worst - and I know ACCC in Australia will take a very dim view. Take the main page for instance, the one you linked - it lists monthly prices. No mention whatsoever of "annual pricing paid monthly" - it's JUST monthly mentioned. Pic: https://imgur.com/sZPfFDI When you click "See plans and pricing details" it gives you the Annual monthly and ACTUAL monthly prices. Pic: h…

To me this is a very intuitive presentation of pricing, so not sure what you are referring to as a dark pattern. There are three clearly laid-out options: 1. No contract, pay monthly 2. Annual contract, pay monthly (cheaper than 1) 3. Annual contract, pay in one go (cheaper than 1 & 2) You pick one of the three options and check out. Where exactly is the confusion?

The first screenshot in the comment you're replying to says the price is "$52.99/mo". A reasonable person would look at that and conclude that if they purchased the product for 1 month, they would pay $52.99. But it seems (from the other, subsequent screenshots) that the actual cost Adobe would charge is $635.88. (That $52.99/mo, for a year.)

It is only on subsequent screens that the bait and switch becomes visible. A customer should not have to pay attention at each screen to ensure such a bait and switch does not occur.

Re: Adobe charges subscription cancellation fee

#108

Post by sherry-sherry »

Meph504 wrote: post #91
sherry-sherry wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, the total amount (your contractual obligation) in your screenshot would be $635.88 + taxes.

https://i.imgur.com/CZSCvw8.png If you click the options you can see the prices. This is a common practice, I feel like there are people are really trying to make this a bigger deal than it is.

That's a different deal where you pay once upfront. A user shouldn't have to open a different deal to see how they'll pay for something else.

Either way, that still doesn't tell you explicitly what the cancellation fee would be.

In Australia there is a thing called a 'Critical Information Summary' required for phone/internet plans. This is an sample of one from an old plan with similar terms to Adobe's (monthly payment, 12 month contract): https://imgur.com/a/bBVuip2 . It states how much it'll cost if you stay for 12/24 months. It also states the maximum that'll you'll have to pay to cancel, and how the cancel fee decreases as you go.

This isn't hard... they could put it upfront, but they don't and it only benefits Adobe.

Also, you might want to check those prices in the screenshot you linked, none match the price you would actually pay over 12 months, or the minimum cancel fee.

Re: Adobe charges subscription cancellation fee

#110

Post by paulcole »

paxys wrote: post #64
JMTQp8lwXL wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I cancel my lease, the penalty is one month's rent. It doesn't seem unusual to charge a cancellation fee. But for a company like Adobe, they don't have to find a new tenant to take your spot, as a landlord would. So the claim of the cancellation seems less legitimate.

That sounds generous. If I cancel my lease I have to pay 100% of the remaining balance.

This might be less true than you think but it all depends on local laws.

In Oregon, USA, for example, early termination fees can’t be more than 1.5 months rent. In most US jurisdictions landlords are required to mitigate their losses by finding a new tenant. Few courts will let a landlord twiddle their thumbs and collect much more than a few months rent if a tenant leaves early.

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