Um, if a business wants to charge me and I disagree with the charge, they need to duke it out with me directly. Over e-mail, which is my official means of contact. Or in court, if it comes to that.

I'm not going to engage a collector. They aren't part of the 2-party agreement, they have no rights to any information about me, and I'm not going to give more of my personal information to some 3rd party idiot just because they asked for it.

Pro tip: Never give private businesses your real address or phone number. Make sure they only have your e-mail address. They aren't the police, and don't need to know where you live. If there is a dispute they must engage with you directly by e-mail. If a business needs your credit card billing address, change the street address, as long as the city and zipcode are correct it will usually work.

Sure, I'm not going to tell you otherwise. Just that "ignore debt collectors" might be very bad advice with real-world consequences following people for years. Around here a mark in your negative credit report from courts means you're last in line for rental apartments, can't get a new mobile subscription, and a plethora of other nuisances.

Couldn't you just freeze all your credit reports and never give Adobe your real name, address, phone number, and they wouldn't be able to affect your credit.

I see Adobe as equivalent to a grocery store, they're just a business and don't have a legal right to any personal information, I could totally manifest to them as an avatar and pay for services with an anonymous Visa gift card.

Sure, I don't think Adobe would pursue this and you could just try and stay anonymous to most contracts. But you can't do that to all your payment obligations, so I thought "don't talk to collections" might be a dangerous advice to give out for others. Strictly following that could lead to real negative consequences in some situations.