Adobe Deceptive Cloud
Disclaimer: This is a rant, but you should read it if you use, have used or plan to use Adobe products.
As I was reading this thread and the comments on Hacker News, I was warned that cancelling Adobe Creative Cloud was an arduous process. Little did I know, there is a cancellation fee when you choose to terminate your subscription, fifty percent of the total price of your remaining contract. This cancellation fee is evidently present in the terms and conditions you agree to when you blindly press accept, because you erroneously decided to trust a multinational company.
Now, this on it’s own is annoying, since most SaaS products paid on a monthly basis do not include cancellation fees, but the real kicker is what happened with “10 free images on Adobe Stock”. Adobe advertises a month of free Adobe Stock, where you can download legitimate stock images, ten a month, but fails to mention in any clear way, that your free trial automatically becomes a full paid version with a one year contract, cancellation fees and all.
To add to their scam, they do not send you any communication of any kind to inform you that your free trial is coming to an end, rather they just charge you automatically and forget to send you the bill. Now, you have 14 days following a payment you aren’t aware you made to demand a refund and they refuse to refund you if you are even a couple of days late. After that period, you have paid 50$ for stock images you won’t use (in my case), you now have a 1 year subscription worth over 500$ that costs over 250$ to cancel.
After spending 45 minutes chatting with an Adobe support, I managed to coerce the agent battling me to cancel both my subscriptions without charging me any fees, but he categorically refused any refunds, despite the fact that I had only used 3 images out of my 10 free images and 0 images out of my 10 paid images. To further aggravate the situation, I no longer have access to those images as my subscription was cancelled.
Here is the transcript from my chat with them:
I have removed some pointless information without editing any text.
Abhishek: Hi Xavier!
Xavier Lavallée: hi!
Abhishek: I understand that you would like to cancel the Stock plan.
Abhishek: May I know the reason for cancellation please?
Xavier Lavallée: Because I was not aware that I had even authorized a payment. I assumed that the first 10 images were free and that I would not be charged after
Abhishek: One moment while I transfer you to the specialist that can assist you.
Xavier Lavallée: and I was not even informed by email that I had made any payments
Zaid Ahmed: Thank you for contacting Adobe Membership Services . I’ll look into your account right away to view exclusive offers for your membership.
Xavier Lavallée: ok
Zaid Ahmed: Xavier, as I can see that you have a
Zaid Ahmed: Adobe Stock — 10 images a month (one-year). Do you wish to cancel the subscription ?
Xavier Lavallée: I want to cancel all my subscriptions
Xavier Lavallée: Because I am not impressed with how I could apparently authorize a subscription without getting any emails informing me that I would have to pay
Zaid Ahmed: Xavier, do you wish to cancel your Adobe Stock — 10 images a month (one-year) and Creative Cloud Student and Teacher edition (one-year) both ?
Xavier Lavallée: yes exactly, and I wish to have my payment for adobe stock refunded
Xavier Lavallée: because as you can probably see, I did not use it apart from seeing how it works over a month ago
I subscribed to the free trial of Adobe stock for free, unaware that I would not receive a confirmation of my subscription to the non-free version, nor that I was entering a 1 year commitment. Evidently, this is my fault for not having read the terms correctly, but who does?
Zaid Ahmed: Xavier, sorry refund is not possible.
Xavier Lavallée: I was also not aware that I would ever be charged, as that was not clear in any way
Xavier Lavallée: No, you shall refund me.
Zaid Ahmed: Xavier, you will be charged for the for the cancellation fee for both subscription.
Xavier Lavallée: I did not authorize this payment, I will not accept this payment.
Zaid Ahmed: Xavier, I would like to inform that you agreed to be in a yearly commitment, if you cancel the subscription within the commitment period, there is an Early Termination Fee which amounts to 50% of the remaining months. This fee is as per the contract you agreed to at the time of purchase and was mentioned in the terms and conditions as well.
Xavier Lavallée: This fee should be more apparent.
Xavier Lavallée: I think this is an extremely shady business practice from a reknowned company such as adobe
Zaid Ahmed: Xavier, you agreed and accepted the Terms and Conditions at the time of purchase.
Xavier Lavallée: I accord you that, but termination fees should be outlined more clearly.
Zaid Ahmed: Xavier, I have an exception for you in order to save your cancellation and help you to complete the tenure.
Zaid Ahmed: Xavier, I would suggest you to complete the tenure and to help you continue with the subscription, I can provide you a lucrative deal where in we will add 2 months free on both the subscription and you won’t be charged for the next 2 months which can lower down your expenses. You can still continue using the subscription. you will save your USD 39.98 on (CC all apps) and USD 59.98 on (Adobe stock)
Xavier Lavallée: I cannot, I am a student and I have no budget. I never agreed to pay for adobe stock, it was marketed as free for ten images.
Xavier Lavallée: if you cancel adobe stock without fees, I will accept the offer for the two months on CC all apps
Zaid Ahmed: Xavier, I do understand your concern but we cannot waive off the cancellation fee.
Zaid Ahmed: Xavier, the best I can do for you is I can provide you 3 months on Adobe stock you won’t be charged for the next 3 months and you will save your USD 89.97 and then contact us 1 month earlier from the renewal date.
Xavier Lavallée: Find me someone who can waive the cancellation fee.
Xavier Lavallée: I agreed to a 30 day trial of adobe stock for free, not nearly 500$ canadian for something I will never use.
Zaid Ahmed: Xavier, instead of canceling it and pay the cancellation fee you can continue with the Adobe Stock with 3 months free and you can enjoy using the product.
Xavier Lavallée: I don’t use the product, I used it for 3 images and decided it was not for me.
Zaid Ahmed: Al right Xavier, as a goodwill I will cancel Adobe Stock and waive off the cancelation fee and I will apply the 2 months free on CC all apps. Will that be fine ?
Xavier Lavallée: yes, thank you for your understanding.
Zaid Ahmed: You’re welcome Xavier, please stay online while I am canceling your Adobe Stock and apply 2 months free on CC all apps.
Xavier Lavallée: Ok
Zaid Ahmed: We appreciate your patience and apologize for the wait.
Zaid Ahmed: Xavier, as a goodwill I have cancelled your all plans
Xavier Lavallée: And for the month I paid? Considering I did not use it, nor even know that I would be charged automatically after the free trial?
Zaid Ahmed: Sorry Xavier, refund is not possible your subscription has been cancelled now you don’t have any subscription.
What he is telling me, is that since he has cancelled my subscription, he can no longer refund me, what kind of backwards billing system do they run??
Zaid Ahmed: Xavier, the best I have done for you is I have waived off the cancelation fee
Xavier Lavallée: I understand, but you do realize the reason for my frustration is that you have charged me without even bothering to inform me.
Zaid Ahmed: Xavier, I already done my best.
Xavier Lavallée: You do understand that I will just file this transaction as unapproved with paypal
Xavier Lavallée: This is ridiculous
Zaid Ahmed: Xavier, I already told you about the policy.
Zaid Ahmed: Xavier, sorry refund is not possible.
Zaid Ahmed: Please note down your case no. for your future reference #0220788025
Xavier Lavallée: Yes, but I had 14 days after the beginning of the second billing period to get a refund
Zaid Ahmed: Xavier, I have waived off the cancellation fee that’s the best we could’ve done
Xavier Lavallée: But you failed to inform me that a billing period had even begun
Zaid Ahmed: Xavier, you are on 18 days you have expired your 14 days period.
Xavier Lavallée: yes, but I was never informed that a payment had gone through
Xavier Lavallée: That is not my fault
Zaid Ahmed: Sorry Xavier, I already done my best and your subscription has been cancelled as well.
Xavier Lavallée: transfer me to someone else then?
Zaid Ahmed: Xavier, I told you that we have done our best now we cannot do anything as your subscription has been cancelled as well and we have waived off the cancellation fee of USD 164.94 on (Adobe stock) and USD 59.97 on (CC all apps)
Zaid Ahmed: We have not heard from you for some time. Do you wish to continue to chat?
At this point my connection with them was no longer working, so I had to start up another chat session.
Divya: Hello! Welcome to Adobe support.
Xavier Lavallée: Hi!
Divya: Hello!How are you doing today?
Xavier Lavallée: Pretty good
Xavier Lavallée: I had a previous chat with another advisor earlier, but it disconnected
Divya: Hello!How are you doing today?
Divya:
Divya: One moment while I transfer you to the specialist that can assist you.
Xavier Lavallée: okok
info: Please wait while we connect you to a representative.
info: You are now chatting with Vijeesh.
Please don’t close the chat window or browser tab since it will end our chat session.
Vijeesh: Hello! Welcome to Adobe Customer Service.
Xavier Lavallée: Hi!
Vijeesh: Hi Xavier
Vijeesh: I understand that you wish to get a refund, is that correct?
Xavier Lavallée: Exactly, the reason being I was not made aware that my trial had ended, nor that any payment had been made
Xavier Lavallée: I only realized today while checking my credit card transactions
Vijeesh: May I know are you referring to Adobe Stock — 10 images a month (one-year) purchased on 11/21/2016?
Xavier Lavallée: That is exactly what I am referring to!
Vijeesh: I have checked and see that you have canceled the subscription without any cancellation fee, I am sorry to inform you. Since you have canceled the plan we can not initiate a refund.
Vijeesh: If you cancel within 14 days of your order, you’ll be fully refunded.
Vijeesh: Is there anything else I can help you with?
Xavier Lavallée: The reason I cancelled is that I was not made aware of any trial ending, nor any payment made to Adobe
Xavier Lavallée: Therefore, as I did not know about the existence of any orders, I was unable to have them refunded
Xavier Lavallée: I Adobe sent emails confirming orders, that would greatly facilitate the management of subscriptions
Xavier Lavallée: Especially considering I had signed up for a free trial
Vijeesh: I truly understand your concern, since you have canceled there is no option to initiate a refund, you should ask for the refund before canceling the plan.
Xavier Lavallée: I did
Xavier Lavallée: As you can probably see in the transcripts of my chat sessions
Xavier Lavallée: I was disconnected from the chat
Vijeesh: I need to research on this, can you please stay online for 2–3 minutes?
Xavier Lavallée: yes
Vijeesh: Thank you for staying online.
Vijeesh: I have checked and see that we have already made an exception for you to cancel the plan without any cancellation fee, I regret to inform you in this case we can not initiate a refund for you.
Xavier Lavallée: I understand this, but realize that the cancellation and refund are due to the same event
Xavier Lavallée: They are both due to the fact that a) I was not informed that my trial was over and b) I was not informed that I had been charged for an order, nor that an order had went through.
info: Your chat transcript will be sent to xavier.lavallee@gmail.com at the end of your chat.
Vijeesh: Can you please stay online for 1–2 minutes more. I will check all the availability to assist you.
Vijeesh: ?
Xavier Lavallée: ok, thank you!
Vijeesh: You are welcome.
Vijeesh: Thank you for staying online.
Vijeesh: I will forward this issue to our next level team, they will check and assist you with this via email within 2 business days.
Xavier Lavallée: Ok, thank you.
Vijeesh: You are welcome.
Vijeesh: Is there anything else I can help you with?
Xavier Lavallée: No, bye!
Vijeesh: Thank you for contacting Adobe. We are available 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. Goodbye!
The conclusion to this whole ordeal and what to take from it, is that Adobe realistically instructs it’s customer service representatives to prevent cancellations and refunds by any means possible. Therefore if you push hard enough and long enough, you will get what you want. Furthermore, it seems as if Adobe must use scams and tricks to keep it’s paying users and I would expect much more from a company of this stature.
Take this as a word of caution, do not trust Adobe, they have proven time and time again that they are willing to go more than out of their way to provide a negative user experience in the interest of profit. Their products are industry leading tools, but alas their customer service ruins it.
