Adobe sued by US for allegedly making it too difficult to cancel subscriptions

Daniel Puchert

Daniel Puchert

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Adobe sued by US for allegedly trapping customers in subscriptions

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued Adobe, alleging the software company violated consumer protection laws by making it too difficult for consumers to cancel their subscriptions.

Adobe pushed users toward annual subscriptions to its creative software such as Photoshop without “adequately disclosing” that canceling in the first year could cost hundreds of dollars, the FTC said Monday in a statement
 
I had to use their software to open a file that the open-source software did not handle correctly.
So I had to give them my credit card information.

I created a virtual credit card and cancelled it afterwards.
It's easier to create a virtual credit card and cancel the virtual credit card than to cancel with Adobe.
That's the problem it should be just as easy to unsubscribe as subscribe.
 
Perpetual licensing is being suppressed. Adobe and the like, all, needs to review their business models. Customer retention through subscription is entrenched with penalties. You also get punished when you move into a new or other ecosystem when you were already invested in another.
 
I don't mind paying a subscription fee for a web-based software-as-a-service app, but for standalone desktop or server applications that you run on your own systems it's criminal to force customers into a never-ending cycle of licensing.
 
deweyzeph said:
I don't mind paying a subscription fee for a web-based software-as-a-service app, but for standalone desktop or server applications that you run on your own systems it's criminal to force customers into a never-ending cycle of licensing.
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Welcome to the professional software world. We get raped by these companies.
 
It's my most annoying contract to deal with as it's "monthly" but on an annual contract and there is no way to reduce licenses outside of the two or so weeks they give you before automatic renewal.

They also don't send you any notice of this renewal, unless you set your own calendar entry to remember it will just go ahead without you reducing licenses.

It's very scummy indeed.

Which is why if you log a ticket with them they are so happy to just give you licenses basically for free as they were probably always waiting for this to happen.
 
SauRoNZA said:
It's my most annoying contract to deal with as it's "monthly" but on an annual contract and there is no way to reduce licenses outside of the two or so weeks they give you before automatic renewal.

They also don't send you any notice of this renewal, unless you set your own calendar entry to remember it will just go ahead without you reducing licenses.

It's very scummy indeed.

Which is why if you log a ticket with them they are so happy to just give you licenses basically for free as they were probably always waiting for this to happen.
Click to expand...
Even though I hate the prices and business model of the professional architectural software, Graphisoft will phone us if we missed a payment or when we need to renew or if anything goes wrong. 2023 was a horrific financial year and we struggled to keep up with the excessive license fees, they given us a couple of grace periods to pay the fees.
 
deweyzeph said:
I don't mind paying a subscription fee for a web-based software-as-a-service app, but for standalone desktop or server applications that you run on your own systems it's criminal to force customers into a never-ending cycle of licensing.
Click to expand...

I don't mind this at all, you are always on the latest and greatest and that's fine.

What I really do mind is paying an annual fee for something that might only be used for 1 month.

At the minimum a monthly license should be applicable, but even better would be a proper time-of-use type of thing.
 
SauRoNZA said:
I don't mind this at all, you are always on the latest and greatest and that's fine.

What I really do mind is paying an annual fee for something that might only be used for 1 month.

At the minimum a monthly license should be applicable, but even better would be a proper time-of-use type of thing.
Click to expand...

A once off purchase fee is what would be better, like a Windows 11 key.
 
RedViking said:
Even though I hate the prices and business model of the professional architectural software, Graphisoft will phone us if we missed a payment or when we need to renew or if anything goes wrong. 2023 was a horrific financial year and we struggled to keep up with the excessive license fees, they given us a couple of grace periods to pay the fees.
Click to expand...

See this is where the problem comes in as they only look after their big customer properly and the non-industry type customer who has a handful of Creative Cloud license for an internal design team and the rest using Adobe Acrobat Pro don't get the time of day.

SSO integration also only happens on a full enterprise package which is such a backwards way of working.

Besides the fact almost nobody needs the ENTIRE Creative Cloud, but there is no way of breaking it down into smaller pieces.
 
Aghori said:
A once off purchase fee is what would be better, like a Windows 11 key.
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This doesn't exist anymore. We got an email for our Architectural software that we won't be able to buy software or permanent licenses anymore. It is now fully subscription based. That way they have you on a chain. You used to be able to buy a license for Software X and keep on using it indefinitely. It was not always necessary to upgrade. This of course is not in the best interest of these greedy corps. Same goes to the greedy Autodesk.

Wish there was Blender for Architecture or BIM.
 
deweyzeph said:
I don't mind paying a subscription fee for a web-based software-as-a-service app, but for standalone desktop or server applications that you run on your own systems it's criminal to force customers into a never-ending cycle of licensing.
Click to expand...

That is understandable because the SaaS is hosted by them (and their service providers). The issue I have with some cloud subscription models is the lock in, and data retention, periods.

All models should enable the subscriber to add and remove users/devices within a monthly billing cycle.
 
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