The United States Government, acting on referral from the Federal Trade Commission, filed a lawsuit against Adobe on Monday over claims they made its subscriptions confusing and expensive to cancel. The suit alleges that Adobe, among other things, hid the existence of an early termination fee when users signed up for the annual subscription plan, disclosing the fee only when a subscriber tried to cancel. Adobe products include Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat Reader, and more.
“At the time of enrollment, Adobe hid the material terms of its APM plan in small print and behind optional text boxes and hyperlinks, providing disclosures that were designed to go unnoticed and that most users never see,” the suit states, citing ” Adobe’s annual, pay-as-you-go plan. “As part of this complicated process, Adobe stalks subscribers with the previously hidden ETF when they try to cancel,” the lawsuit says, referring to the early termination fee. Through these practices, Adobe violated federal laws designed to protect consumers.”
Adobe did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Problems with customer service calls
Large portions of the lawsuit have been redacted, but it outlines other activities where Adobe allegedly gave customers a ride instead of helping them cancel subscriptions. In one case, subscribers’ calls and chats with customer service representatives were terminated or transferred, the lawsuit said. This causes them to explain their problems repeatedly when reconnecting.
The suit also alleges that Adobe continued to charge some customers even after they believed they had successfully canceled their subscriptions, and that it did not offer refunds. Most complaints leading to the case were registered by the Better Business Bureau and the FTC.
“Adobe trapped customers in year-long subscriptions through hidden early termination fees and numerous cancellation hurdles,” Samuel Levin, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, it said in a statement. “Americans are tired of companies that hide the ball during subscription registration and then put up roadblocks when they try to cancel it. The FTC will continue to work to protect Americans from these illegal business practices.”
What does this mean for Adobe users?
For now, existing Adobe users can do nothing but wait for the lawsuit to continue. of Adobe subscription terms and cancellation policy remain intact at the time of writing as well the company’s refund policy and Adobe’s how-to guide when canceling your subscription.
I went through most of Adobe’s cancellation process to see if an early termination fee still applies and according to the company it will cost me $143.96 to cancel my existing subscription.
Cancellation fee warning.
The case comes a week later users have noticed Adobe’s recent changes to the terms of service, which gave the company almost unlimited access to existing customer projects. Users of Adobe products objected because the changes gave Adobe access to any file stored on its cloud servers, including content protected by things like nondisclosure agreements.
Adobe responded that the new terms are in the name of content moderation and the removal of illegal content, especially in the face of generative AI that can falsify the likeness of people in images and audio.
Adobe after all undo some of the changes and further clarify its terms of service, specifically regarding policies around Adobe AI.
