The only times I’ve had to work with Adobe applications are when testing new hardware. The PugetBench scripts require a Creative Cloud license and so I subscribed. Unfortunately, it was one of those plans where you pay for an entire year on a monthly basis. Cancellation leads to the deduction of a year’s fees, depending on how many months are left in your plan. While this is a scummy model, it can be avoided if you carefully read the terms and conditions before hitting “Subscribe.”
My scenario was a little more twisted. After the 1-year sub was up, I canceled the plan and paid the final invoice. To be extra sure, I removed all payment methods from my Adobe account. Unfortunately, there was more.
I got the following email from Adobe, announcing the suspension of my account for non-payment of a non-existent invoice. I checked my account (above images) and found no active subscription, and let the matter be.
A few days later, the following charge appeared on my debit card. I checked my account details and there were still no active plans or payment methods. The Adobe Assistant led me to the Photoshop plan which led to a blank screen with an error.
After some back and forth with customer care, it was revealed that the charge was under an incorrect email address that somehow charged the debit card I had deleted from the account. Speaking of deletion, I’m still unable to delete my Adobe account. Adobe’s official site directs users to this page to do so.
But, of course, that page is half blank for me. These are some of the nasty methods employed by Adobe and its rivals to keep consumers trapped in their subscription models and worse. Storing personal information is one thing, but retaining confidential payment details (and using them) without the users’ permission takes it to another level.
