Adobe CC headaches?

[YuengLinger]

Despite seeing 38% one-star ratings for Adobe CC through Amazon, I signed up. The bait was $7.99 a month rather than the $9.99 a month going through Adobe directly.

After six weeks, Adobe says no payments have been received on my behalf, yet Amazon has charged me twice. Adobe says Amazon should have charged me for a one time yearly subscription. Adobe has been investigating the issue for four days, leaving me 10 days before my product is shut down.

Adobe can go to my account and see that Amazon has made monthly payments, but they can't adjust things on their end to reflect that.

Amazon says the way to fix the problem is to cancel their subscription, but they can't waive the cancellation fee because that is charged by Adobe.

I have choices here, of course. See how things play out with investigations. Or just cancel and go straight through Adobe, perhaps disputing any charge for the cancellation fee. Or say, screw it, go back to PS CS6 and LR 5.6.

Neither Amazon nor Adobe can give me a time frame for fixing the mess.

This is the face of the subscription model. One word comes to mind, sucks.

 

[unfocused]

I had a problem awhile back when my credit card number got stolen and had to be changed. It happened to occur near the end of the month and I knew that when Adobe tried to put through the monthly charge it would be rejected. I contacted Adobe and they were very helpful, basically they extended my renewal date until I got the new card. You might see if they will do something like that until it gets straightened out.

 

[Mikehit]

This is the face of the subscription model. One word comes to mind, sucks.

Surely it is the face of buying a product through an intermediary? It is always a risk no matter what the product/service.

 

[pwp]

This is the face of the subscription model. One word comes to mind, sucks.

Quite aside from any viewpoint on the Adobe subscription model, when you deal directly with Adobe, it couldn't be a smoother process.
What sucks is the unenviable mess you're in.

-pw

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi Mikehit.
I don't think it is unreasonable to expect an intermediary to be able to provide a product or service smoothly, after all I'd wager most of us buy just about everything from penny chews to new houses from an intermediary rather than the manufacturer!
It may however be the penalty from Adobe for buying their subscription service from an intermediary! Tin hat donned, cover taken from the inevitable fall out from this statement. ;D ;D ;D......

Cheers, Graham.

This is the face of the subscription model. One word comes to mind, sucks.

Surely it is the face of buying a product through an intermediary? It is always a risk no matter what the product/service.

 

[YuengLinger]

This is the face of the subscription model. One word comes to mind, sucks.

Surely it is the face of buying a product through an intermediary? It is always a risk no matter what the product/service.

I guess I was naïve to think that Amazon, a cloud computing pioneer, an e-commerece leader for 20 years, efficiently handling millions of Prime streaming accounts and other software subscriptions would be able to handle processing payments for Adobe. :

I'll definitely post an update with the resolution, but it is pretty aggravating to see companies with great reputations get so tangled up, not have more flexibility.

Again, the crux is that Amazon was offering a monthly payment, but Adobe was expecting a one-time payment for the entire year.

I do believe those who say going directly through Adobe is working for them, and I'm guessing that once Amazon realizes they can't fix things, I'll get a full refund, credit if there is a cancellation fee, and then go through Adobe--at the regular price rather than the promo price offered by Amazon.

But it is time consuming and a reminder that the subscription model has enough moving parts to be a pita compared to just installing from DVD.

 

[Keith_Reeder]

This is the face of the subscription model. One word comes to mind, sucks.

It has been faultless from Day One, dealing directly with Adobe, for me...

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

There are some very specific requirements for purchasing the monthly plan thru Amazon. You must create and use a new Adobe ID. If you link to a existing Adobe ID, they will expect a full payment. This is spelled out clearly enough that I could see it.

Contact adobe and cancel. If you have received no service, they should refund you, but it sounds like you have been using it. If they can't refund you, charge back on your credit card.

Your issue sounds like the ID thing.

"Account Linking

Subscribers to this product will be required to link a new Adobe ID through Amazon.com after purchase.
Current Adobe.com subscribers will not be able to link existing Adobe IDs through Amazon and will need to set up new Adobe.com IDs if they wish to subscribe through Amazon."

 

[YuengLinger]

Hi, Spokane, thanks for reading my grumblings carefully.

I went back to check, and my original Adobe ID, which was for my first installation of CS5 several years ago, was not the email I used for CC. This is the fist time I've tried CC, and I used an email that is relatively new.

So, though I did not catch the warning you've quoted, I don't believe it applied in any event, as this was my first ever subscription.

Also, Adobe is not collecting payments, so it is Amazon that will issue a refund, hopefully. They are universally regarded as about the easiest to deal with, but they won't issue a refund until some higher department investigates further. I certainly don't mind paying $7.99 x 2 for the month and a half I've used the product, but I will not (willingly) pay a cancelation fee if my product shuts down and Amazon is still collecting!

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Hi, Spokane, thanks for reading my grumblings carefully.

I went back to check, and my original Adobe ID, which was for my first installation of CS5 several years ago, was not the email I used for CC. This is the fist time I've tried CC, and I used an email that is relatively new.

So, though I did not catch the warning you've quoted, I don't believe it applied in any event, as this was my first ever subscription.

Also, Adobe is not collecting payments, so it is Amazon that will issue a refund, hopefully. They are universally regarded as about the easiest to deal with, but they won't issue a refund until some higher department investigates further. I certainly don't mind paying $7.99 x 2 for the month and a half I've used the product, but I will not (willingly) pay a cancelation fee if my product shuts down and Amazon is still collecting!

I agree with you, if it does not work, a refund is due, hopefully a full one. Amazon has always taken care of my issues, the one time they messed up, they not only refunded me, but gave me a credit for my trouble.

 

[YuengLinger]

Resolved. Amazon is going to cancel and then refund the $39.95 early termination fee when it is charged at the end of this month.

The agent admitted that many customers are being affected right now, and he was frustrated that Adobe can see payments being made but can't adjust my account to show a monthly plan instead of a yearly plan.

Somebody must have the license numbers of the yearly and monthly payment plans mixed up.

So I have a week to decide whether to go through Adobe or fall back on CS6. More than likely, as you and many others, including several local friends, have no problems, I'll give it another try.

 

[YuengLinger]

For anyone remotely interested in what is apparently a common annoyance with CC through Amazon, here is the official explanation from Amazon:


"Adobe has identified an issue with their platform that is resulting in this messaging being shown to the customer. They are working on a technical fix for this and have no yet provided an estimate as to how long they expect the issue to remain. We will continue to update this ticket with information from them on the time line for their fix. We have confirmed with them at this point that these customers will not lose access to their products, it is only a visual issue."

So you start working and get a message you have zero days left..."it is only a visual issue."

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

For anyone remotely interested in what is apparently a common annoyance with CC through Amazon, here is the official explanation from Amazon:


"Adobe has identified an issue with their platform that is resulting in this messaging being shown to the customer. They are working on a technical fix for this and have no yet provided an estimate as to how long they expect the issue to remain. We will continue to update this ticket with information from them on the time line for their fix. We have confirmed with them at this point that these customers will not lose access to their products, it is only a visual issue."

As long as it does not shut down, its just your eyes. Put a piece of tape over the screen where the message shows up

So you start working and get a message you have zero days left..."it is only a visual issue."

 

[Hector1970]

Unfortunate what's happening to you.
I'm straight with Adobe so no management issues.
What frustrates me is the different pricing and that once you sign up you can't avail of the cheaper prices available as part of promotions.
This is unfair to existing customers.
eg: Flickr have a discount but I can't avail of it until my subscription runs out.

 

[Maiaibing]

Have nothing than trouble with Adobe CC's subscription system.

Right now waiting for third week to have them accept the 1 year codes I bought from B&H... Getting an "invalid code" reply every time I copy them in. Adobe has so far 4 times promised a follow-up within 24-48 hrs - however, not even once have I heard anything from their "help desk" so far... :'(

They have previously cut me completely out of service for a lengthy time with the software saying I had not paid while their system showed I had paid for several months in advance.

Really despise Adobe's faulty license model. Incredible they do not just manually solve these kinds of problems. How difficult can it be for Adobe to manually input my two codes and add 24 months to my existing subscription?

 

[Maiaibing]

This is the face of the subscription model. One word comes to mind, sucks.

Quite aside from any viewpoint on the Adobe subscription model, when you deal directly with Adobe, it couldn't be a smoother process.

Sadly, this is not always the case.

 

[3kramd5]

What frustrates me is the different pricing and that once you sign up you can't avail of the cheaper prices available as part of promotions.

Isn't that true of most things, whether purchased outright or licensed continually?

Some vendors may allow you to claim a sale price within some short time frame of buying a product, but many more will not.

 

[privatebydesign]

What frustrates me is the different pricing and that once you sign up you can't avail of the cheaper prices available as part of promotions.

Isn't that true of most things, whether purchased outright or licensed continually?

Some vendors may allow you to claim a sale price within some short time frame of buying a product, but many more will not.

That isn't true for many of the Adobe CC offers. All the recent offerings have allowed you to 'add' them to your current license, several posters here have bought multiple special offers and applied them to their accounts and are effectively paid up for several years, at today's discounted prices.

I myself bought a 12 subscription from B&H that was on special offer, it was applied to my account and I was paid up for 14 months.

 

[unfocused]

... All the recent offerings have allowed you to 'add' them to your current license, several posters here have bought multiple special offers and applied them to their accounts and are effectively paid up for several years, at today's discounted prices...

Well, not quite. At least not in my experience. I'm a full subscription user (all the programs). I received a free 12 month subscription to the Photo offer with 7DII. I contacted Abobe to see if they would credit all or at least some of the value of the free subscription against my much more expensive full subscription. I wasn't expecting a full credit, but thought maybe they would at least give me a month free or $5 off for a year.

Nope. Their "solution" was for me to cancel my Creative Cloud subscription and then take the free Photo subscription. Not much of a solution if you need InDesign, Dreamweaver or other programs.

So, basically, I have a 12 month Photo subscription that I can't use and can't get any credit for. Not a big deal, but certainly "all" the recent offerings do not allow you to add to an existing license.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

... All the recent offerings have allowed you to 'add' them to your current license, several posters here have bought multiple special offers and applied them to their accounts and are effectively paid up for several years, at today's discounted prices...

Well, not quite. At least not in my experience. I'm a full subscription user (all the programs). I received a free 12 month subscription to the Photo offer with 7DII. I contacted Abobe to see if they would credit all or at least some of the value of the free subscription against my much more expensive full subscription. I wasn't expecting a full credit, but thought maybe they would at least give me a month free or $5 off for a year.

Nope. Their "solution" was for me to cancel my Creative Cloud subscription and then take the free Photo subscription. Not much of a solution if you need InDesign, Dreamweaver or other programs.

So, basically, I have a 12 month Photo subscription that I can't use and can't get any credit for. Not a big deal, but certainly "all" the recent offerings do not allow you to add to an existing license.

Yes

The extension is going to be limited to the same version, so if you have Adobe CC photography package, then it can be extended with another license for the same version. You cannot use the dollar value of package "A" to extend package "B".

I've extended my photography version twice with the annual prepaid license for the photographer version.