Adobe Accused of Subscription Shadiness

The US government is suing Adobe for allegedly tricking users into subscriptions. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says the company doesn't do enough to warn users about cancellation charges and makes it too hard to cancel.

The court case is against both Adobe as a company and individually against the company's vice president and its president of digital media business. The key complaint is that Adobe has breached federal consumer protection laws and thus harmed consumers. The individuals are named because they had the authority to make decisions about Adobe's subscriptions policies.

Although the FTC doesn't appear particularly impressed with Adobe's overall practices across its subscription plan, the legal case is focused on a specific situation. It involves the early termination fee for the "Annual, Paid Monthly" plan.

50% Fee to Cancel Subscription

According to the FTC, Adobe doesn't do enough to make clear that the plan involves a one-year commitment and that canceling early is only allowed if the customer pays 50 percent of the money they would have paid through the rest of the year.

The lawsuit accuses Adobe of hiding these details "in fine print and behind optional textboxes and hyperlinks, providing disclosures that are designed to go unnoticed and that most consumers never see." In some cases, key details are only visible if users actively hover a mouse pointer icon over an informational "tool tip".

Cancellation Challenging

The court filings also say Adobe "deters cancellations by employing an onerous and complicated cancellation process" which is also calls "convoluted." It notes that when using the Adobe website "Locating and clicking on a 'Cancel your plan' button does not result in cancellation" and that users must take additional steps that are "wholly unnecessary to complete cancellation." (Source: ftc.gov)

Meanwhile customers who tried to cancel by phone repeatedly had calls dropped or transferred to different representatives multiple times: "In numerous instances, subscribers who have requested to cancel through Adobe's customer service believe they have successfully cancelled but continue to be charged. Some of these subscribers do not realize for months that Adobe is continuing to charge them, and only learn about the charges when they review their financial accounts."

Adobe responded to the claims with a public statement reading: "We are transparent with the terms and conditions of our subscription agreements and have a simple cancellation process. We will refute the FTC's claims in court." (Source: lifehacker.com)

What's Your Opinion?

Do you support this lawsuit? Have you ever been caught out by surprise cancellation charges with software? How much responsibility should software companies bear for making charges clear?