The United States Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Adobe, alleging that the company misled customers by hiding early termination costs and making it difficult for them to terminate their subscriptions.
Adobe conceals the costs, which can sometimes amount to hundreds of dollars, and other significant elements in its “annual paid monthly” membership plan in the fine print or behind textboxes and hyperlinks, according to a Federal Trade Commission complaint filed in a federal court in San Jose, California.
The “Annual, Paid Monthly” (APM) plan, which Adobe offers as the default choice for a number of software products, is expressly criticised by the DOJ.
Newsng gathered that users can pay the lowest possible amount on the day of enrollment for the APM plan, but according to the complaint, Adobe conceals an early termination charge (ETF) that, depending on when a user cancels, may cost them hundreds of dollars.
Adobe has responded by announcing its plan to challenge the allegations in court. Adobe’s Chief Trust Officer and General Counsel, Dana Rao, defended the company’s policies, saying: “Subscription services are convenient, flexible, and cost-effective, allowing users to choose the plan that best fits their needs, timeline, and budget.
“Our priority is to always ensure our customers have a positive experience.
“We are transparent with the terms and conditions of our subscription agreements and have a simple cancellation process.”
The Adobe Creative Cloud package, which includes several groundbreaking software applications, can be purchased for $59.99/month with the APM plan.
Customers can choose to pay the lowest possible amount on sign-up day instead of paying $659.88 for a “Yearly, Billed Upfront” plan or $89.99/month for a “Monthly” plan.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) claims that Adobe places additional obstacles in the way of cancellation and fails to adequately notify parties that this is a one-year contract with early termination fees.
We earlier reported that Adobe is working to revolutionise video creation and production methods, by showing off its generative AI video tools.
