US government sues Adobe over ‘convoluted’ cancellation process

The U.S. government, acting on a referral to the Federal Trade Commission, filed suit Monday against Adobe for making its subscriptions confusing and expensive to cancel. The suit alleges that Adobe, among other things, hides the existence of early termination fees when users sign up for the annual subscription plan, only revealing the fees when a subscriber attempts to cancel. Adobe products include Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat Reader and others.

“During registration, Adobe hides important terms of its APM plan in small print and behind optional text boxes and hyperlinks, providing information designed to go unnoticed and that most consumers never see,” it said. the suit reads, referring to “annual and monthly subscriptions paid by Adobe.” ” plan. “As part of this convoluted process, Adobe ambushes subscribers with the previously hidden ETF when they attempt to cancel,” the suit states, referring to early termination fees. “Through these practices , Adobe violated federal laws intended to protect consumers.”

Adobe did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Customer service call issues

Large portions of the lawsuit have been redacted, but they describe other activities through which Adobe allegedly gave customers a workaround instead of helping them cancel their subscriptions. In one case, calls and chats with subscribers’ customer service representatives were either abandoned or transferred, according to the suit. This forces them to explain their problems repeatedly when reconnecting.

The suit also alleges that Adobe continued to charge some customers even after they thought they had successfully canceled their subscriptions, and that it did not offer refunds. Most of the complaints leading to the lawsuit were filed by the Better Business Bureau and the FTC.

“Adobe trapped its customers into year-long subscriptions through hidden early termination fees and numerous barriers to cancellation,” Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement . “Americans are tired of companies hiding the ball when signing up for a subscription, then throwing up obstacles when trying to cancel. 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 move forward. Adobe’s subscription terms and cancellation policies remain intact as of this writing, as do the company’s refund policy and Adobe’s how-to guide on canceling your subscription.

I went through most of Adobe’s cancellation process to see if there were still early cancellation fees, and according to the company, it would cost me $143.96 to cancel my existing subscription.

The lawsuit comes a week after users noticed Adobe’s most recent changes to its terms of service, which granted the company near-unlimited access to customers’ existing projects. Users of Adobe products objected because the changes gave Adobe access to all files stored on its cloud servers, including content protected by things like nondisclosure agreements.

Adobe responded that the new terms were in the name of content moderation and removal of illegal content, especially in the face of generative AI that can simulate people’s likeness in images and audio.

Adobe ultimately rolled back some of the changes and further clarified its terms of service, particularly regarding Adobe’s AI policies.