When Adobe Creative Cloud launched, I signed up! No more buying expensive licenses and managing DVD keys… just download and install as needed. We have an amazing team that works on our designs, but we often just have to make a quick edit or adjustment after we get files from our designers, so I purchased a license. My business partner began to help out, so I purchased a second license for her, too. And then one of our clients didn’t have the budget for a license but needed to edit files from time to time, so I purchased a license for them.
I Never Read The Fine Print
I thought I was just paying a monthly license fee and could add and remove the licenses as needed. I found out the hard way that that’s not the case. After my business partner launched her own agency and my client had let the employee go… I found myself paying for two unused licenses each month. After stumbling through the terrible administrative panel for Adobe Creative Cloud and removing the two users, I noticed that the license count remained the same.
A quick search for “remove licenses” in their knowledge base provided the response no one ever wants… contact support. Ugh… I opened a chat window. I thought perhaps someone was going to talk me out of disabling the licenses. After 23 minutes and 51 seconds, they did. But it may not be why you think.
The actual chat is included above to show you the nonsensical pitch that I was thrown, which totally ignored the fact that I am using my own license. I know how great the program is, I bought a license!
A company the size of Adobe should honestly be ashamed using this strategy to rip off their customers for a few bucks. I didn’t realize I was inadvertently signing a new annual contract. I recognize some businesses have hard onboarding costs with customers, but that doesn’t exist with Adobe Creative Cloud. Just as with any other SaaS platform, I should be able to add and remove user licenses as needed. The reason I signed up was that I’m an honest user who appreciated the value of the platform and willingly paid for it.
Now I’m paying 300% of my license cost for Adobe Creative Suite with the other two licenses dormant. Adobe, I’ll absolutely be calling you July 16, 2018. Maybe it’s time for me to find some alternative platforms.
Warning: There’s also no option on the administrative panel to disable auto-renewal.
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