very poor experience
I had a very poor experience with Design Cloud and would not recommend them based on how my cancellation was handled.
I signed up for their video editing service and submitted a detailed brief. Shortly afterwards, their team told me that one of the software tools required for the project was not something they used and that I would need to provide the relevant screen recordings myself.
As this was an important part of the work I needed, I decided the service was not the right fit and asked to cancel approximately one hour after subscribing. At that point I had not completed onboarding, no production work had begun, and nothing had been delivered.
Design Cloud refused to refund the payment and said I had committed to a minimum one-month subscription.
What made the experience significantly worse was the response from the company director. Rather than simply dealing with the refund request, he repeatedly told me to watch a Loom video, made comments about me using AI to help write my emails, described my brief as one of the better âChatGPT briefsâ they had received, and then warned me that pursuing a chargeback could potentially cause âfuture issuesâ with my bank if they won the dispute.
I found the tone unnecessarily patronising and confrontational, particularly given that I was a brand-new customer attempting to cancel almost immediately.
There was also a noticeable change in how the service was described after I requested cancellation. I was initially told that the screen recordings needed to be supplied by me because they did not use the software. Later, I was told I could simply provide a login and they could record the screens themselves. I was also initially told an onboarding call would be âbeneficialâ, whereas it was later described as âessentialâ.
Businesses are entitled to have cancellation and refund policies, but customer service is also about judgment and how those policies are applied. Retaining a full monthâs payment from a customer who cancelled roughly an hour after subscribing, before onboarding or any work had taken place, while responding in this manner, left a very bad impression.
I would strongly recommend understanding exactly what is included, what you are expected to supply yourself, and the cancellation terms before paying.
