So I contacted Adobe support today to cancel my Creative Cloud subscription, and this is what happened.
Either at best they tried to weasel an extra $5 out of me just because they could, or at worst they may have been trying to get an extra half year worth of payments for nothing (new annual contract at half remaining rate). Either way, not cool. I censored the name of the rep just in case. Don't know what the rules are on that.
You are now chatting with '----'
----: Hello! Welcome to Adobe Customer Service.
----: Hi Zack.
Zack Maxwell: Hello
----: I am sorry to hear that you want to cancel the subscription and I will help you in this issue.
Zack Maxwell: Thanks
----: May I know the reason why you wish to cancel this subscription?
Zack Maxwell: I've been primarily using Photoshop for texturing game assets, but my new workflow no longer needs it.
----: If you would be willing to continue through annual commitment then I can give you one month free subscription so you will not be billed till Oct 11, 2014.
Zack Maxwell: I've basically found alternatives that fit my particular needs more effectively
Zack Maxwell: Like I said, I no longer have any need for it, so that would be unnecessary.
----: Alright.
----: Please allow me a moment.
----: I have checked and I am sorry to say that there would early termination fees if you cancel the subscription now.
----: So in this case I will suggest you to come after Sep 12, 2014 so we can cancel without any charges.
----: You can also stop through your Adobe account in the last month after Sep 12, 2014 if you do not have enough time to come back on chat again.
Zack Maxwell: wait, but I would be charged an extra $10 if I come after the 12th. What are the termination fee charges?
----: You will be billed at 50% of your monthly rate for the remaining months in your annual contract.
Zack Maxwell: Wouldn't that only be $5?
----: Yes.
Zack Maxwell: So it'd be better to cancel right now
----: Alright, I will go ahead and cancel and the total charge is $5.3.
Zack Maxwell: Okay, thank you.
----: So you will not be billed anymore.
Zack Maxwell: And that'll be charged automatically just like the regular billing, I assume
----: Please allow me a moment.
----: Yes you will be charged now.
----: Thank you for staying online, I appreciate your time and patience in this regard.
----: I have forwarded your request to our appropriate team to deduct the cancellation charge and you will be notifed via email within 3-5 days.
----: Is there anything else I can help you with?
Replies
Plus as I said, it's possible after the 12th that it may have rolled over into a new annual contract, at which point I'd actually owe them $60 for the cancellation instead of a mere $5.
There's no way of really knowing, since I was using month-to-month payments and started my subscription in January, but he claimed I had one month left on my "annual contract". So I have no clue how they determine when that contract cycles over.
I've worked support before so I have a lot more sympathy for the crap they have to deal with.
In fact, if there was no annual contract, that would mean I'd have to pay the $10 plus the $5 termination fee if I'd waited.
How to cancel Comcast easily: "Hello, I'm moving to Ecuador in a week so I no longer need your service"
Haha, nice. I like that...
One of my proudest achievements was calling up Mars Chocolate support to get a replacement for a defective bag of M&M's.
Afaik Adobe offers monthly commitments so you wouldn't have to deal with this sort of issue if it was a concern.
Defective M&M's? How so I am interested now.
Either way though, I suppose the moral is; be careful when dealing with customer support.
Should I have known that already?
Roboemega: I opened a bag of M&M's to find them covered with a white, waxy substance. I had just finished up returning a bunch of defective hard drives so I joked with my coworkers that I was going to call support for the candy. They egged me on so I did, the support person was very nice and explained that if the M&M's were too old they would begin to "sweat" out their cocoa butter. She ended up mailing me out 2 coupons for free Mars Chocolate products.
https://creative.adobe.com/plans
For a single app, it's $19/mo if you agree to an annual plan ($29 on a monthly plan)
And judging from the conversation, whereby 50% of your monthly is $5, leads me to believe that you took the photography package, which is $9.99/mo - and the only plan options there are, annual prepaid ($239) and annual monthly ($9.99).
So yes, you cancelled your subscription before the annual plan had reached it's maturity. So i fully understand there being a cancellation fee.
You were paying an annual subscription on a monthly basis, not a month to month subscription Ala UE4. A monthly subscription Ala UE4 is only available for complete or single app, and that is from $29 upwards.
So no, he wasn't trying to con you, or rip you off. He may not of communicated as clearly as he could've, but i don't think there will any ill intentions