[HN Gopher] FTC investigating Adobe over making it too hard to c...
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       FTC investigating Adobe over making it too hard to cancel
       subscriptions
        
       Author : CharlesW
       Score  : 20 points
       Date   : 2023-12-14 20:16 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (9to5mac.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (9to5mac.com)
        
       | drooby wrote:
       | Oh... glad to see. I just wrote a pissed off feedback message in
       | their unsubscribe page last night.
       | 
       | I accidentally signed up for a "yearly subscription that bills
       | monthly"... I misread it and thought it was just a monthly
       | subscription.. and get this.. if I cancel early I get billed the
       | full yearly amount.... AND there is no way to turn off auto
       | renew.. so now I have to set my own reminder at the end of year
       | to cancel my subscription, and if I forget I need to pay for
       | another "yearly subscription billed monthly".. that I cannot
       | cancel without a fee.
       | 
       | Abusive BullSh**
        
         | crazygringo wrote:
         | I don't get it.
         | 
         | Why not just cancel now? You're paying for the whole year
         | either way.
         | 
         | I don't understand why you have to set a calendar reminder.
         | 
         | Sorry if I'm missing a detail here.
        
         | southernplaces7 wrote:
         | You really can't just block them from that card and be done
         | with it? Or switch payment methods to a card you can block and
         | then simply not pay? Abusive bullshit indeed.
        
         | stuaxo wrote:
         | Depending on where you are based the law may give you a cooling
         | off period during which you can cancel a subscription which
         | overrides this.
        
         | crazygringo wrote:
         | So I just looked it up, and there's apparently a trick which
         | lets you get out of your year-long contract, because you can
         | change plans and then you have 14 days to cancel your new plan:
         | 
         | https://prodesigntools.com/guide-to-change-cancel-creative-c...
         | 
         | It _sucks_ to have to jump through hoops -- this is not
         | defending Adobe in any way -- but hopefully it helps you
         | personally?
         | 
         | (I guess it's kind of like hotels that don't let you cancel the
         | day before, but will allow you to change your date to 2 weeks
         | in the future, and then you call back the next day to cancel
         | that, and it's no problem because it's far enough out -- for
         | anyone unfamiliar with that trick.)
        
         | mustacheemperor wrote:
         | I just found myself in this exact situation today. I picked up
         | "a month" of Illustrator a couple months ago for a few tasks
         | and went to cancel it today, only to discover that after paying
         | for two months I will be billed close to $100 for canceling.
         | The UI included a nice lecture about how Adobe had generously
         | given me a _significant_ discount in return for the annual
         | commitment I have no recollection of making.
         | 
         | Pretty sad, to see the tech company that put the cool symbology
         | puzzle on corporate hq many years ago now applying their
         | innovative efforts to devising ever-more effective anti-
         | patterns. Somebody must have gotten a nice bonus for creating
         | this revenue stream.
        
       | qclibre22 wrote:
       | I think Congress should pass a law that if you send a registered
       | letter to the legal department of these e-commerce companies with
       | your name, address and credit card number with an order to drop
       | the service then they have to process it and cancel your
       | "subscription". Companies would be required to print out the
       | address of their legal department on the ordering page and sign-
       | up page. Right now if you complain to your credit card company
       | they won'thelp you and will refer you to the company which won't
       | help you.
        
         | thfuran wrote:
         | That's too milquetoast to even be half assed. You must be able
         | to unsubscribe by whatever mediums you can subscribe by and do
         | so without any bullshit dark patterns trying to trick you into
         | not unsubscribing.
        
       | j7ake wrote:
       | Adobe subscriptions are ridiculous. I only wanted to use it for
       | one month. Ended up paying for a year.
       | 
       | Figma has been much more pleasant. I fear the worst now that
       | Adobe bought Figma.
        
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       (page generated 2023-12-14 23:01 UTC)