Adobe, the famous publisher of Photoshop and other graphics solutions, is accused of trapping its customers with its monthly subscriptions, hiding cancellation fees and making the process unnecessarily complex.
For thirty years now, Adobe has dominated the graphics market with its iconic software such as Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator and Premiere. So many flagship products which serve as references in their respective fields, and which have become practically essential for many professionals, to the detriment of less popular competitors. Initially, the company released its products in the classic form of a lifetime license, regularly carrying out major paid updates.
But like other publishers, Adobe has changed its business model by adopting the subscription system, as Microsoft does with its Office office suite. Except that the American company has pushed the envelope even further by purely and simply removing the definitive purchase formula to only offer rental, thus forcing users to take out a subscription. However, the different options are far from affordable, and many professionals and students, when they are starting out, simply cannot afford them. The situation is even more problematic for those who wish to be able to use the new Firefly AI-powered tools, which require additional paid credits…
Faced with its controversial business practices, Adobe finds itself in the crosshairs of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). Indeed, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) – an independent non-governmental American agency which ensures the application of consumer law and the control of anti-competitive commercial practices – software company sues for the difficulty of canceling a subscription and the concealment of cancellation fees. She accuses the company of having “harmed consumers by signing them up for its most lucrative default subscription plan without clearly disclosing important plan terms.”.
Adobe subscriptions: hidden cancellation fees and complicated cancellation
The FTC is attacking the fees that a user must pay when they cancel their subscription to the annual plan paid monthly before the end deadline. In fact, after the first fourteen days, they must pay 50% of the remaining cost of their subscription. For example, if he stops his subscription after four months, he will have to pay 50% of the remaining eight months. This operation is also valid in France. For the FTC, these cancellation conditions are insufficiently highlighted in licensing contracts, relegated to “small print and behind optional text boxes and hyperlinks”. In short, the company is pushing its customers towards its annual subscription, deliberately depriving them of a clear understanding of early termination fees, which can amount to hundreds of dollars.
In addition to these hidden fees, Adobe is accused of deliberately hindering the cancellation of subscriptions at the online level in order to discourage customers from ending their subscription. Indeed, when they risk it, the publisher imposes a very complex termination procedure on them, with multiple web pages and pop-up windows. And it’s the same when they come over the phone or via live chat sessions. “Subscribers had their calls or chats interrupted or disconnected and had to re-explain the reason for their call when reconnecting“, notes the FTC. Worse still,“Some consumers who thought they had successfully canceled their subscriptions reported that the company continued to charge them until charges were discovered on their credit card statements”.
“Adobe trapped customers into year-long subscriptions through hidden early termination fees and numerous barriers to termination. Americans are fed up with companies that hide terms when signing up for subscriptions and then throw up roadblocks when trying to cancel“, said Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Consumer Protection Bureau. The latter filed a complaint in California federal court which also directly targets Adobe executives, in this case Maninder Sawhney , senior vice president of digital marketing and sales, as well as David Wadhwani, president of the company’s digital media division. She calls for financial sanctions against the Photoshop publisher as well as an end to the offending practices.
Adobe subscriptions: American justice gets involved
Obviously, Adobe denies the FTC’s accusations. “Subscription services are convenient, flexible and cost-effective to allow users to choose the plan that best suits their needs, schedule and budget”assures the company in a statement. “Our priority is to always ensure our customers have a positive experience. We are transparent with the terms and conditions of our subscription contracts and we have a simple cancellation procedure.”
The company is particularly in turmoil at the moment. In addition to this legal episode, it is at the heart of a controversy concerning its new legal notices, which authorize the publisher to access user content stored in the Creative Cloud. If refused, users simply no longer have access to the software. Adobe justifies this decision by the need to detect criminal content, but also to “develop and improve our products and services, which allows us to offer innovative, cutting-edge solutions”. Enough to raise fears that he will use user creations to train his AI, even if he assures that this is not the case.
Remember that free or low-cost alternatives exist today, which risks causing Adobe to lose customers. So, on the side of photo editors, we can turn to Photopea Or Affinity Photo 2, professional graphic design software that has been competing very strongly with Photoshop and Illustrator for several years. He proposes truly competitive pricing compared to Adobe. For video editing, DaVinci Resolve totally does the trick. Adobe no longer has the monopoly!