Underhanded Tactics by Adobe

[Jesus Quintana]

Evening all.

This is more of a warning rather than a moan. Yes, I do take responsibility for what has happened but I do feel I still have grounds to at least have a moan.

I've just spent the best part of an hour arguing with an agent about £23.99 that was taken out of my bank account. Apparently I signed up to Adobe Stock and this is a year long contract. To cut a long story short, if you try to cancel within the first 12 months, you have to pay 50% of that 12 month contract. This is where I take the blame. I obviously clicked it (I don't recall doing so...and that's no defence). However, I wasn't even aware I was paying this horrendous amount a month for something I didn't know I had or even accessed.

I don't need a smart Alec to come along and say to me "well you should have read the small print." I know that. That's not underhanded I hear you say and you'd be right.

However, it is a little known fact that once your monthly CC subscription automatically renews, you are entering a 12 month contract and are subject to a 50% fee should you decide to cancel thereafter. This is not a monthly contract but an annual contract. I feel Adobe do not have to do this and this is underhanded. Yes, there are going to be people on here who do know this, but there will be those who don't. Their customer base is massive, and let's face facts, have a monopoly in the market (which is fair enough) but they shouldn't have to resort to these tactics.

I eventually got a refund and a cancelled Stock contract but it shouldn't have gone on for as long as it did. As it stands, I think I will buy Affinity in 7 months or persevere with ON1 10.5 unless I drastically improve my photoshop skills and/or Adobe drop this ridiculous con of automatically signing people up to a 12 month contract. This is not the way to treat your customers.

My transcript makes interesting reading at least!!!

 

[Mintchocs]

There isn't much choice out there so whilst people maybe now aware there is little the customer can do.

 

[Jesus Quintana]

I totally agree. They do own the market which is why I'm struggling to get my head around the auto-renewal b*****ks.

 

[SsSsSsSsSnake]

Yes ive been done like that and am aware of their tactics now.maybe buying the standalone version. Is an option

 

[Scotty Pro]

Kudos to Mark for pointing this out, I would never have known about the auto renewal, I need to find out exactly when I started with CC, just in case I do want to cancel.

It is a real pity that Apple did not continue with Aperture, it would at least have given Adobe a little bit of competition

 

[Chappers]

Not sure if it really is a con. I signed up for their CC package and the fact it was a 12 month contract was fairly clear as was the termination clause.

 

[Scotty Pro]

so lets say if your 12 month is up in November and you do not cancel, do they auto renew in December for another year ??? and then by February you realise that you do not want to continue you have to stump up 50% of the remainder of the year

 

[ancient_mariner]

Thanks for the heads up.

 

[velocette]

Thanks for that as a result I've checked my 1 year polan and noted the date down so's I can cancel it when/if required.

 

[Jesus Quintana]

so lets say if your 12 month is up in November and you do not cancel, do they auto renew in December for another year ??? and then by February you realise that you do not want to continue you have to stump up 50% of the remainder of the year

Yes, that's it. I ended up whining a little too much in my first post! Better put than me!

 

[Jesus Quintana]

Not sure if it really is a con. I signed up for their CC package and the fact it was a 12 month contract was fairly clear as was the termination clause.

OK, con is probably a too-strong a word. My point is, maybe some people won't know about it, which seems to be the case. I still stick with my "underhanded" tactics comment though.

If I call Virgin about my media package, or I call them about my phone contract, it's clear from the start that I'm entering a 12/18/24 month contract, CC isn't that clear.

Not having a pop, just saying different strokes for different folks. Some will know, some won't.

 

[ecoleman]

I think this is a simple case of customer not reading the information on the screen.

The Adobe website seems pretty clear that it's an annual plan, paid monthly.

 

[JimM169]

I think this is a simple case of customer not reading the information on the screen.

The Adobe website seems pretty clear that it's an annual plan, paid monthly.

Have to agree, just clicked through to the Adobe site and on the pricing and plans page it very obviously states 'Annual Plan, paid monthly' there's even a little box round it that makes it stand out more! Not sure what more they could do to let you know it's an annual contract?

 

[ianp5a]

I think I will buy Affinity in 7 months

Good for you. The more people that use something else, the better it is for all of us.

 

[Mintchocs]

Until there is a viable affordable alternative there will be only one choice whether we like it or not. I don't think there is a single company that could compete with Adobe.

 

[ianp5a]

Until there is a viable affordable alternative there will be only one choice whether we like it or not. I don't think there is a single company that could compete with Adobe.

That depends on what the individual needs.

And there's no need to have a "single company". If anything that's a disadvantage.

 

[Pete B]

Until there is a viable affordable alternative there will be only one choice whether we like it or not. I don't think there is a single company that could compete with Adobe.

Try https://affinity.serif.com/blog/affinity-photo-for-windows-is-available-now/

 

[SFTPhotography]

Kudos to Mark for pointing this out, I would never have known about the auto renewal, I need to find out exactly when I started with CC, just in case I do want to cancel.

It is a real pity that Apple did not continue with Aperture, it would at least have given Adobe a little bit of competition

Aperture is a great alternative to lightroom but it doesn't have the tools of photoshop.

There is capture one pro which I would love to have a play with. I've used lightroom and haven't found it does anything better than Aperture 3 really.

 

[TG.]

so lets say if your 12 month is up in November and you do not cancel, do they auto renew in December for another year ??? and then by February you realise that you do not want to continue you have to stump up 50% of the remainder of the year

In that situation surely you just give them notice that you wish to cancel your contract at the end of November, although I get what people are saying, and Adobe are not the only ones to adopt these sort of tactics, I guess you just have to box as clever as they do.