I'm not sure where you are, but you could also file a complaint with your attorney general's consumer complaint office.

I'm in MA and every single time I've done that, I have gotten the result I'm looking for. Even when "executive relations" calls have failed.

It's posts like this that make me glad that I buy those yearly subscription cards. I'm not a fan of automatic billing for any service let alone something as trivial as an Xbox Live account.

This is absolute bullshit. There is no way that you should be sent to collections. The $50 cost is to renew your account. If you don't pay (because the card is expired), then it shouldn't be renewed, and you should no longer have Xbox Live Gold. However, there is no way that you should owe MS anything that could be sent to collections.

That's odd. My credit card expired and I sat around with an XBL Gold Account for about 2 months while carrying a balance on my card. They never got around to billing me or anything. I entered the new card info and they happily took the money and that was it.

It sounds like prepaying for a gaming service by buying the cards at a store is the way to go.

I remain secure in the decision to only allow my husband to buy World of Warcraft cards instead of giving them our credit card number.

(I understand the company is completely different, but if it can happen on an XBox it can happen on another site too..)

The best thing to do for both Microsoft Points and XBL subscriptions is to buy the pre-paid cards at the store and never give MS your info to begin with. Then it's a simple transaction -- you buy service, consume service for fixed amount of time/value, everyone's happy, transaction over. In addition, you can often get the cards at a discount over MS's base rates if you look hard enough.

@chenry: I would guess that it would have worked fine if the OP had opted to renew/reactivate his Gold account. In this case, though, he wanted to switch to Silver...so MS decided he owed for those two free months. It's screwed up and doesn't make sense, but I'm guessing they saw a lost sale and screwed the consumer to get one last bit of cash...pitiful.

@Hauler - I totally agree. Not only that, the yearly subscription cards actually give you 13 months of service, so you're actually saving money buying the cards.

@Hauler: This is the way to go.

I've recently discovered it's pretty easy to get 12 month cards for under $50. When you use those, your account doesn't automatically renew, even if you've payed with a credit card in the past.

Microsoft - How hard is it to fine him $2 late fee, and then give him his year's subscription.

I can see why they are against prorating. The yearly subscription costs about $3 a month, whereas doing it monthly is about $7 a month. So if you could prorate, he would be beating the system.

But a late fee + giving him what he paid for = fixed.

heres the deal - if you enter in a credit/bank card to use xbox live - they charge you automaticlly. if your accout has no money or you chaged accounts but forgot to update it in live it keeps trying for 2 months, but the kicker is then you get locked out of your account.

if you only use the prepaid subscription cards - once the balance is empty - you get a nice silver account.

CountZer0 fron the CommanderTim podcast told this story about 5 months ago. man does it suck.

@FatalisticDread: What probably happened is his account renewed itself for another year ($50) and the rep heard "silver membership" as cancel my one year that I didn't pay for yet.

Move that shiznit up the tree, no way should he be charged anything but a prorated amount for the time used.

Microsoft is probably the last company I would trust with my credit card info. Pre-paid cards is the wisest choice.

Part of that conversation sounds like a bad Abbott and Costello routine.

I actually had a similar situation with these folks about 4 months ago. I also had lapsed on updating my now-expired credit card and my account was "Closed." I also wanted to reopen my account as silver.

SO i called up and spoke with a (admitidley very nice) gentleman to politely informed me that not only was he unable to convert my account to silver, I would also not be able to redeem my gamertag, downloadable content, or any other xbox live feature ever again. I was told that once an account is cancelled it cannot be pulled back from cancellation. I informed him that i was still able to log into my account on xbox.com, and that all of my account details were there... so knowing, how databases work it was unacceptable to me that my account is obviously still there but that they couldnt reopen it. Furthermore i was furious at the prospect of losing my meaningless gamerscore and also (and more importantly) the downloadable content I had paid for that microsoft had now disabled with my gamertag. (I hate DRM)

Eventually the call was escalated and i was told the same thing by a supervisor however, having worked in a call center before, i knew to keep my cool and calmly explain my discontent. The supervisor vowed to pass along a support ticket to the 3rd level support people who actually have access to change my account directly.

The next day my account was magically back to silver and i wasn't charged for the extra month or so I had used not updating my card.

how has MS gotten away with this for so long?

Woah, wait a minute, if you have content that you purchased through XBL and then discontinue their $50/year plan, all that content is inaccessible? Even with the Silver/freebie plan?

According to the story, you just talked to one rep. I would escalate, and escalate directly to Microsoft. Xbox Live Support is contracted to an outsourcer.

Yet another nail in the Xbox's coffin.

@Hauler: I waslk told by a microsoft employee years ago (like original xbox days) to _ALWAYS_ buy the cards at the store and never, ever, under any circumstances do the automated billing on a credit card. At the time I didn't know why...but I followed his advice.

In the last year or so, I can now see why he said that and I'm glad I was "forwarned" so many years ago.

While I think that it was ridiculous to charge $50 for the delinquent account, keep in mind that the OP isn't completely innocent here. He stated that Microsoft kept sending him reminders to update his info, but he "kept forgetting". I doubt it takes that long to update that info. If that had been done, this whole fiasco could've been avoided.

Microsoft was in the wrong here for letting his service keep running for two months. I would guess that it was automated, so why without a payment they would continue service is beyond me. However, if his account had been sent to collections I'm sure the OP would be kicking himself for not updating his info.

It is possible that failure to pay with continued is a violation of contract, which may then make him liable to pay a full year's service to bring his account current.

The OP should just call back and play dumb. Just say "I just paid $50 for a year's membership, but for some reason my account didn't get updated. Can you please fix it?" Sometimes just "playing dumb" works for me in these kinds of situations. It's worth a try anyway.

Shocking... another anti-Microsoft post on Consumerist.

@Diet-Orange-Soda: Exactly. So he had it set up to renew for a year membership, MS wanted payment for the free time he got, and, boom, $50 down the drain and a nice Silver account for his efforts.

Of course the end result is that he should have 10 more months of XBOX live... but let me get this strait.

User calls in to change his account from Gold to Silver.

User find out there is still a charge that is due from his gold membership.

User then updated credit card information to take care of the charge.

Charge is now taken care of, and his original request to go from gold to silver is now done also.

THEN user states that because he paid, he now wants to go from silver back to gold.

AGAIN - Not saying what Microsoft did was OK, but this user should have NEVER PAID until he knew what he was getting. It seems like the user waited until AFTER he paid to then decide what he wanted, and sounds like it was already too late for the level 1 support guy to fix it.

again - common since would say he should have 10 more months of gold....... but how many times is support yelled at for not listening to callers and what they want.... this time they did, and it backfired on the user.

@GMFish: Oh cool, I was hoping this would eventually turn into a fanboy soapbox!

They are notoriously sneaky with the billing. I too had forgotten to update my billing info. Microsoft canceled my account. Fine. Some months later I got a card for a free month of XBOX live. They asked me to enter in a CC number for verification purposes only. Big bold letters said "YOU WILL NOT BE CHARGED." However after I entered in my CC, XBOX charged me $50 for a year. Their reasoning was that I updated my cc info, so of course they would rebill me on their yearly plan EVEN THOUGH THEY HAD CANCELED THAT ACCOUNT. It took me over a month and a half to get my money back. I would call crying every Monday to find out where my money was. IT was terrible.

@NikonGal: This is probably the quickest way to go, especially if you get a compotent rep on the phone. They'll see the payment and the Silver account and get you upgraded... hopefully. It can't hurt anyway.

@GMFish: That's a funny article. I wonder how much Sony paid them to write it.

Honestly, that article is so full of holes and misconceptions and ridiculous bias, I had a hard time reading it all (which I did). Much of the information is out-dated (and the article is a day old...!?!?) and based on what appears to be the author's opinion.

I own all three consoles and the 360 gets the love. The PS3 gets turned on to play Echochrome, Eden, and, um, and...well, system updates! I could go on, but it's pointless, isn't it?

@illtron: See my above post to make you proud!

Next time don't "forget" so much and maybe you won't run into so many problems.

When you got the emails about renewing your account, if you had answered them then and downgraded your account from a Gold to Silver then, you wouldn't be having a problem now.

When you signed up to the automatic billing, you agreed to be automatically renewed. If you didn't want that, and then you shouldn't have signed up for the service in the first place (buy the pre-paid cards instead) or you should have ANSWERED the email when Microsoft gave you proper notice.

I think you should be given the remaining 10 months since you paid for it. I also think the rep was acting out of his own accord and not according to Microsoft policy. But please don't come whining about your billing woes to The Consumerist when this whole situation could of been avoided if you had acted accordingly and with proper timing when you received timely and adequate notices from Microsoft.

I'm getting kinda tired of news stories posted on The Consumerist of people screwing up and then expecting companies to compensate them for their screw up.

Next time pay your bill on time or tell them you want to cancel!

You need to call and talk to a supervisor. I had this same issue. They need to charge your card the ammount. Bringing you current. Then refund you the total ammount. This can take a few days but will keep your account good and up to date.

Sounds like a "Who's on first?" comedy bit.

Yea, the Microsoft rep screwed up, but I think there was a general confusion between both parties here. When you have a gold account and don't pay to renew it, your gold ends. You automatically become a silver member. When you first create your account (gamertag) you become silver, so everyone who has an xbox has a silver account by default.

I dislike the automatic renewal on live, so like the other posters, I recommend just buying the prepaid cards. But I'm pretty sure that if MS tries to renew your live, and you don't have the money in that card, then it will simply not charge you that gold because it can't. I think the fact that the op was a bit confused with how it works (having to call to get it downgraded to silver is not needed, it does it automatically,) caused some confusion at support, and led to this situation.

File a BBB complaint. Microsoft plays nice when you file a BBB complaint.

Got my issue fixed a few months ago.

Another similar story here. It seems to stem more from CS reps not COMPREHENDING situations.

My ex* got sent to Baghdad on 2 days' notice. He had renewed his XBL about 2 months prior. I contacted support to see if they could either credit him for the time he would not use, or to get credited for the year and put him on silver until he came back.

The response? They told me that they were sorry that I wanted to deactivate MY account (Noooo!). Would I like to do that right now? They just wanted to "warn me" that I would lose my achievements, DLC, gamertag and that the yearly fee that had been paid would not be refundable. GAH! I was TERRIFIED that this rep had my information, and for the next week was waiting to see if my account would be suddenly deactivated.

* Why I was doing favors for him is another I'm-a-dormat story, you needn't remind me.

@The_IT_Crone: ER, very tired. That should read: "I contacted support to see if they could either refund his payment, or to get credited for the year and put him on silver until he came back."

@Hauler: Auto-payment for anything but predictable loan payments and utility bills is downright crazy. Why give Company X free reign to randomly change your rates and immediately take your money rather than keeping the power to dispute charges in your hands before the payment is due? I don't let my cable/internet company auto-debit any payments; some service providers love changing rates.

I don't really understand why they continued to give him service after his payment lapsed. What does Microsoft gain? Although he admits he ignored his emails, he is right that you prepay. If his credit card did not go through, they should have cancelled his service right away. It isn't as though the Live service is like your heat or electric: something that, in the winter, you might need survive without. Could anyone tell me if I'm missing something about how Live works?

@Shevek: Ahem."...you might need survive without" should be "you might not survive without."

I just went to Xbox.com and checked my account. Under 'Update your membership" there is no option to downgrade the account to Silver either now or when the Gold subscription expires. Neither is there an option to switch to using the prepaid cards once the subscription expires, without entering the prepaid card number right now. Since I don't trust MS and their account system, I certainly am not going to redeem a prepaid card months in advance. If I did, they'd probably give me 2 Gold accounts at the same time.

I figured I'd wait until there was a slew of comments before writing :) It was my submission that Meg was so nice to post (thanks BTW). Anyway, a couple of points:

1) I'm not complaining about having to pay - when they told me I had a balance I sucked that part up. When I asked if I would be receiving the balance of the months the rep did tell me yes initially. It was after the fact that the story changed.

2) Yes, I admit that I am guilty for allowing the account to lapse, but that should matter when it comes to me paying for services. It's not like I was asking for something that I didn't deserve or just complaining to be a pain in the ass. I just wanted what I paid for.

3) coan_net made the comment about there being some fault on my end because I initially requested a downgrade to a silver membership. I would agree that could have been the case (and therefore my mistake) if the rep hadn't told me at first that I was paying for the gold membership and would be getting the balance of 10 months. It was never said, "okay, you're paying for a gold membership and now I'm going to downgrade you to silver." It was stated that my payment made my account "current" and now I have a silver account.

4) PurpleMonkey said that when your gold account lapses it goes into a silver account. Unfortunately for me that wasn't the case. My account was completely locked and I could not login at all. If it had defaulted to a silver account I would have never noticed. It was the inability to login that prompted me to call MS.

5) Rojma makes the point, "please don't come whining about your billing woes to The Consumerist when this whole situation could of been avoided if you had acted accordingly and with proper timing when you received timely and adequate notices from Microsoft."

Yes, MS did notify me properly, and I did exactly what they asked of me in their last email. I called their support line, spoke with billing, but in the end I was fed a line of BS. Like I said previously, it's not like I want to get something over on MS... I just want what I paid for. Should I not let others know about my experience with their billing department just because my account lapsed? It's not like I violated a TOS or did something else wrong - my account lapsed and I wanted to reactive it, plain and simple.

6) And finally to Shevek - yes, you would think they would just cancel your account when billing doesn't go through. However, I think their MO is that by providing you extra months of service they can then claim you were given services that you now need to pay for and possibly even send you to collections if it's not paid for on time. However, who knows. I honestly don't think they would send it to collections at all because it's such a small amount. Shutting off the account makes more sense.

Regardless of all of this, the point was to just let people know my experience. The rep that I spoke with was actually very nice - he just kept repeating the same ridiculous line over and over. I probably should have escalated the call, but I was too frustrated at that point and I would rather not getting pissy and yell at someone just because I'm in a bad mood. It's not fair to the rep on the other end.

For now I'll just work with my credit card dispute, attorney general complain, and BBB complaint :)

"I started receiving emails from Microsoft telling me that I needed to update my card info so that I could be charged for the next year, but I kept forgetting. I finally received a final email saying that my account had been closed and at that point I could no longer sign onto Xbox Live."

So let me get this straight, Xbox emails him to remind him he needs to update his credit card information. At this point, he could have either cancelled his account by calling customer service or renewed the information. But instead he was lazy and probably wanted to find out if he could keep getting service without paying.

However, it isn't surprising that the billing department was not clear with the customer on what he was being charged for in the first place.

@PurpleMonkey:

You are wrong on this. If you do not remove the auto renew. You do infact get charged and if they are not able to charge. They will block the account. Not downgrade. And when you want to upgrade. You do indeed lose the days/weeks/months that you did not pay on time. They dont up your service 12mos from when they charge you. You are back dated and out of luck those months you failed to update your billing.

Its very shady. Like I said if you have them charge your card and then cancel and credit it back In 3-5 days when you get the money back you can just go on your xbox and reup it for the full 12 mos.

@coan_net: One generally assumes that, if one pays for a year of gold, one will get a year of gold. Not 2 months of gold.

Son, you need to go down to the store and sell that 360.

Get yourself a PS3, you'll thank me later for it.

This actually reminds me a lot of how the local paper works. You subscribe for X amount of time, and then once X months are up...they keep giving you papers and sending you bills.

If and when you call to cancel, you're offered the opportunity to pay for the extra papers you never wanted. If you refuse to pay, they keep sending you papers, and send you to collections. If you do pay, they offer you a new subscription, both without the discount you had before and without credit for the papers you didn't want and will have to pay for.

I find your story very strange since as noted above, Every user has a silver membership until siad user decides to update to a gold membership, and if while being in gold you download content, it will stuill be usable and available when the gold membership expires and turns into silver. I have been a Live! member for 4 years with an autmomated credit card renewal system and never had any problems. This year I decided to buy a box that included a headset, some MS points and a 12 month gold membership and planned to apply it just beofre my old membership was about to expire, maybe I waited a day or two too long and MS charged my credit card with the renewal, I called support and asked if they could cancel the renewal so I could renew the subscription via the package I bought.
The rep said it was not a problem and that in the nex 24 hours the charge would be dropped and that I could do the renewal using the card I bought. And that was it, no fuzz. So I dont believe you when you say that a rep denied you of a silver account when every silver account is free for any user.