A few weeks ago, Adobe was accused of locking users out of its services unless they agreed to the new terms that allowed the company to use and sublicense their content. Now, the company is in hot water again as it is secretly charging users who wish to cancel their subscriptions. Today, the United States Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against Adobe for imposing a hidden fee on subscribers.
The U.S. Government has sued Adobe for a hidden subscription cancellation fee
Adobe has been accused of forcing its user base to "navigate a complex and challenging cancellation process designed to deter them from canceling subscriptions they no longer wanted." If you are not familiar with it, Adobe charges subscribers on a monthly basis, which gives users the liberty to cancel at any time, but it appears that the company is secretly hosting an annual agreement that users are bound to comply with.
New users who opt for a free trial are automatically charged and signed up for the default Creative Cloud plan, and users are not aware that, in reality, it is an annual plan. Upon cancellation, users are required to pay 50 percent of the "remaining contractual obligation" regardless of when the service for the month ends. Take note that Adobe does offer a monthly plan with a higher price than the annual plan, but the difference between the two plans is harder to point out for new customers. The company intends to help users with complex plans through its help page.
Adobe's annual plan is listed as $60 per month, which allows customers to make use of all services, while in reality, the same services are listed at $90 per month, which is the actual monthly plan. You can cancel the latter anytime, but any advance payments made will not be refunded even before the free trial ends.
The DoJ states that Adobe's setup violates the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act or ROSCA through hyperlinks and fine print, allowing the company to hide information from the end user.
The complaint alleges that for years, Adobe has profited from this hidden fee, misleading consumers about the true costs of a subscription and ambushing them with the fee when they try to cancel, wielding the fee as a powerful retention tool.
The complaint alleges that Adobe has further violated ROSCA by failing to provide consumers with a simple mechanism to cancel their recurring online subscriptions. Instead, Adobe allegedly protects its subscription revenues by thwarting subscribers' attempts to cancel, subjecting them to a convoluted and inefficient cancellation process filled with unnecessary steps, delays, unsolicited offers, and warnings.
The lawsuit is designed to cater to the end user and adjust "unspecified amounts of customer redress" along with monetary civil fines. These would ensure that Adobe does not continue to charge a hidden fee through customer cancellations. The company has already gone through bad repute with its terms and conditions, and the new lawsuit will possibly allow users to subscribe through a simpler or clearer subscription plan in th e future.
About the author: Ali Salman is a technology reporter for Wccftech mobile section with a specialized focus on Apple and the intellectual property that drives mobile innovation. He has cultivated a unique expertise in analyzing and deconstructing complex technology patents, translating dense legal and technical documents into clear, insightful reports on future products.
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