Adobe Stock - Beware! How to cancel without charge.
A few months ago I was pushing to complete a project on deadline for university and did a google search for a free brush to use in Adobe Illustrator that would fit my project. The brushes that I liked however were Adobe Stock, and the free trial offer popped up. Already having a Adobe Cloud sub and having had positive experiences prior to this with altering my plans I went ahead without too much deliberation and not carefully reading the terms as I usually would. Massive mistake.
Beware the ‘FREE’ claim
In my mind I was going to cancel just as soon as I’d gotten the project done; within the next week. But being a busy mum + student + carer + sleep deprived of course I forgot all about it. Then cue COVID, weeks of sicknesses, and still trying to muddle through my course, then on break and trying to get a handle on my finances… OH SHIT! I’ve been getting charged AUD$39.59 every month ON TOP of my Adobe Cloud student sub AND another charge for Adobe Acrobat that should’ve ceased when I signed up for Adobe Cloud. This was money that we could NOT afford to have leaking out of our budget.
Adobe Stock haven’t done anything wrong per se, as you can clearly see the mention of ANNUAL plan.
The issue of having been charged for Adobe Acrobat was a simple one to solve, I rang the Australia Adobe Cloud customer line 1800 907 119 and told them the issues and this was something the Customer Service rep was able to cancel and refund me for. NOT the case for Adobe Stock. The first attempt I was informed that I needed to be transferred to billing, then was informed that there was a fee for canceling the annual plan of around $170 (it was even more online when I first tried to cancel through my account). I asked if there was any way to not pay this and in fact be refunded what I’d already paid. Um, no. Damn. Then I asked if there was at least a student rate on this plan, to which I was told to please stay on hold while the billing guy asked his manager. ONE HOUR later the call finally cut off. Annoyed and not having time to piss around with phone calls another week went by, and annoyingly another monthly charge went through. Argh!!
Next attempt I called when the baby was sleeping and listened more intently to what the offer was… an offer to NOT refund any money back, but rather give me 90 ‘free’ days and a heap of more ‘free’ assets if I continued with Adobe Stock and didn’t cancel. This actually meant I had to continue monthly payments at a lower rate, starting with one upfront (so not free at all), they gave me the math and showed me how it made it cheaper overall. Mmmhhmmmm… I gave them silent cold fury back over the line and accepted as I had seen online how this could save me money overall when I did actually cancel. BUT I also listened intently as he (very quickly) went over the terms and conditions, making me realise that he WAS actually cancelling my current plan in order to sign me onto a NEW plan. And what did that mean? There was a 14 day ‘cooling off’ window where I could CANCEL FOR NO CHARGE!
I gave it a couple days to process and then logged into my account online and canceled. NO CANCELLATION FEE and what money I’d been charged upfront was refunded minus the days I’d waited. This loophole worked for me as a resident of Australia and under our laws, let me know if it works for you!!