My ordeal with Adobe Creative Cloud membership.

I tried Adobe, I really did. For the last 10 years I’ve been a good, if not loyal customer. I’ve introduced new business to you, spent many hours defending your products and even supported the subscription model you introduced.

Today, however, was the final straw. Today, I officially cut ties with your bullish ways and the inept way you run your customer service.

Three months ago, I came close — I’ve been using more of Sketch in my work flow, and my subscription was about to expire. I wish I had gone through with my membership cancellation then. Instead, I was persuaded by an agent with enticing new terms of agreement …

This was the promise — 3 months free credit and a promotional rate of US$24 (normally $50) for the remaining 9 months of my new contract. It was a little too good for me to resist.

I was happy, even a little sceptical. So, I went back to customer support looking for an confirmation email, which I received.

I couldn’t complain. It was a solid offer, and I was really looking forward to new releases from Adobe, including Project Comet.

Fast forward three months … I receive an email from Adobe.

Surely this was a mistake — the $49.99 I assumed was a error generated by the automatic mailing system. I had an agreement in writing, right?

Naturally, I contacted customer support to see if they can correct the problem.

What?

Oh. An miscommunication from the previous agent? That’s fair, but surely I can’t be made responsible for their mistake, right? Surely they can honour a mistake on their part?

Whoa whoa, the subscription price is now $55.99? And there’s nothing Adobe can do for me? At all?

Weird, I thought it was $55.99? So now it’s back to $49.99? That’s amazing Adobe. I’m truly impressed /sarcasm.

Long story short. I asked for my subscription to be cancelled, which thankfully the agent took care of without charging me any fees.

Despite this, I was left with a bad taste in my mouth. A multi-billion dollar company refusing to honour a mistake they admitted to, and did next to nothing to hold on to a loyal customer.

I know Adobe won’t care for a single, disgruntled customer. They are in a position of absolute power in the design industry. I’m just glad I won’t be seeing any more support chat windows in my foreseeable future.