FTC is Investigating Adobe Over Its Rules for Canceling Software Subscriptions (fortune.com) 18
Adobe said US regulators are probing the company's cancellation rules for software subscriptions, an issue that has long been a source of ire for customers. From a report: The company has been cooperating with the Federal Trade Commission on a civil investigation of the issue since June 2022, Adobe said Wednesday in a filing. A settlement could involve "significant monetary costs or penalties," the company said.
Users of Adobe programs including Photoshop and Premiere have long complained about the expense of canceling a subscription, which can cost more than $700 annually for individuals. Subscribers must cancel within two weeks of buying a subscription to receive a full refund; otherwise, they incur a prorated penalty. Some other digital services such as Spotify and Netflix don't charge a cancellation fee. Digital subscriptions have been a recent focus for the FTC. It proposed a rule in March that consumers must be able to cancel subscriptions as easily as they sign up for them.
"Too often, companies make it difficult to unsubscribe from a service, wasting Americans' time and money on things they may not want or need," President Joe Biden said in a social media post at the time. Adobe said the FTC alerted the company in November that commission staff say "they had the authority to enter into consent negotiations to determine if a settlement regarding their investigation of these issues could be reached. We believe our practices comply with the law and are currently engaging in discussion with FTC staff."
Users of Adobe programs including Photoshop and Premiere have long complained about the expense of canceling a subscription, which can cost more than $700 annually for individuals. Subscribers must cancel within two weeks of buying a subscription to receive a full refund; otherwise, they incur a prorated penalty. Some other digital services such as Spotify and Netflix don't charge a cancellation fee. Digital subscriptions have been a recent focus for the FTC. It proposed a rule in March that consumers must be able to cancel subscriptions as easily as they sign up for them.
"Too often, companies make it difficult to unsubscribe from a service, wasting Americans' time and money on things they may not want or need," President Joe Biden said in a social media post at the time. Adobe said the FTC alerted the company in November that commission staff say "they had the authority to enter into consent negotiations to determine if a settlement regarding their investigation of these issues could be reached. We believe our practices comply with the law and are currently engaging in discussion with FTC staff."
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Right after I take the 5+ years to even understand what I have just downloaded
You say that as if everyone can code at an expert level but are just too lazy to do it.
Re: (Score:1, Informative)
No, but the point is valid, if everyone complaining about Adobe puts in $1200+/year in any other product towards developer or training cost, you would get something like Blender or Linux which is largely funded by companies that need it to do something specific.
Either Adobe is creating something of value for these people or it isn't, if it isn't put your money where your mouth is, there are plenty of both open and closed source alternatives for it.
Re:You made your bed (Score:5, Interesting)
Huh? I don't think I follow your logic here, even though I'm with you on the part about companies having better options if they spent money on alternatives to the mainstream choices.
This complaint is pretty specific. It's not about people saying, "Adobe isn't worth the cost!" It's about them unfairly handling a situation where someone wants to cancel a license.
Adobe makes it relatively easy to add a license or multiple licenses to an existing account. Someone with admin permissions on their web portal simply clicks a button and enters the email addresses of the new users he or she wants to be emailed links to set up the product, and the license count is bumped up. (Then, they email an invoice to the person on file at your company as the "owner" of the plan, and they give about a 30 day grace period to get it paid for.) If you have employees who leave the company though? Now those pre-paid licenses are sitting out there idle. Sure, you can unassign them from those former employees, but you're paying for them until you find someone to reassign them to. And maybe your company just doesn't HAVE as many people who need Acrobat Pro DC or Illustrator anymore? Now, you've got a big hassle getting the count reduced again and apparently, they're hitting people with penalties on top of that, to removed the surplus licenses.)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Okay, but that is still the deal you made with the devil (Adobe in this case). If you go into a contract for rental of a property for 36 months and you decide to bail out after 6 months, you'll have a penalty. You may not find that fair, but that's the deal you made. If you don't like it, buy your own property, or invest somewhere that will do it with your terms.
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Rental of a property involves something real which has a cost when unoccupied. Not a fair comparison.
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The creation of software likewise has a cost even if nobody buys it.
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Huh? I don't think I follow your logic here, even though I'm with you on the part about companies having better options if they spent money on alternatives to the mainstream choices.
This complaint is pretty specific. It's not about people saying, "Adobe isn't worth the cost!" It's about them unfairly handling a situation where someone wants to cancel a license.
When a cost is forced upon you even when you'd like to cancel it for valid reason, tell me again how that is somehow not directly related to the wallet-fucking statement of "Adobe isn't worth the cost!" again?
If I can cancel the competition after 2 months of use and Adobe wants to financially screw me for 12 months no matter what, I'd say that's a pretty damn obvious parallel to that complaint.
Re: (Score:2)
Sorry.... just saw your reply to this from 4 days ago or so.
But no, it's really not quite the same thing. Adobe has a LOT of value to many businesses out there, simply because they're regarded as the industry standard for some of the products they sell. (Adobe INVENTED the PDF file, for example. Their products like Photoshop and Illustrator are also the ones many, many college and art school students learned on and became proficient in.) If you want to be competitive but you're only hiring people who are ex
This is why I go through a VAR or Amazon... (Score:1)
When I need to license Adobe stuff for a short time, I go through either a good VAR or Amazon, where they handle all the subscription stuff, and I can cancel the subscription in a month. This way, it short-circuits Adobe's stupidity.
This stuff is only going to hurt Adobe. Even Microsoft allows licenses to be added and removed with some ease.
We can just hope the Republicans and SCOTUS don't find the FTC unconstitutional, so there is at least someone in our corner in government.
Ummm... no (Score:1)
...a civil investigation of the issue since June 2022, Adobe said Wednesday in a filing. A settlement could involve "significant monetary costs or penalties," the company said
In the first place, 18 months to investigate this? Really? In the second place, those "costs and penalties" are very seldom anything other than a cost-of-business which may literally appear as a line item in some budget. That means that they are in no way, shape, or form a deterrent.
What's really needed here isn't an investigation, a slap on the wrist, and a pinky swear that you'll never do it again. What IS needed is "refund double the money you scammed, then stop scamming or pay a penalty of one million d
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I love your enthusiasm towards common-sense penalties that represent actual deterrents to immoral/unethical/illegal behavior by greedy corporations, but I'm also here to help you reflect on the fact that NO executive actually goes to jail, and EVERY immoral/unethical/illegal action done today by greedy corporations is done knowing they've already successfully lobbied and coherced lawmakers to subscribe to the kickback-business model of ensuring that ANY legally-imposed penalty represents a mere fraction of
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Thanks for the support. I'm already aware of what you said regarding how the system has been fundamentally rigged and back-doored by lobbying, campaign contributions, and the revolving door between business and government. But when I hear the kinds of things TFA outlines, and some of what the EU is doing regarding corporate overreach, I allow myself to get a little bit optimistic. Not starry-eyed mind you - it just takes the edge off the pessimism and occasional despair I usually feel when it comes to corpo
Netflix doesn't offer a refund... (Score:2)
I've cancelled Netflix and other streaming services. None of them issues a refund. Once you cancel, you have use of the service until your next renew and then it's not renewed.
So why would adobe need to issue a refund just because you cancelled?
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Netflix subscriptions are in monthly terms. Adobe uses a one-year term. So if I cancel at the end of the first month, I still pay for a year.
Here in UK, Virgin Media are just as bad (Score:1)