Thomas did something dumb and he wants to warn others not to follow in his footsteps. He assumed (incorrectly) that his $7.99 per month subscription to XBOX Live would roll over into a yearly subscription once he’d paid $50. (A yearly subscription costs $50, obviously.) Yeah, it didn’t.
Thomas says:
Just wanted to shoot you guys and gals a quick note on how I am an idiot and hopefully others don’t make my mistake. I was under the impression that the monthly charge of $7.99 for Xbox Live service would roll into a year once I hit a total of $50 in charges.
I was wrong. Dead wrong. Over the past year and a half I have paid $143.82 for Xbox Live. Almost the price for THREE FULL YEARS of service.
When I noticed this I called their support and asked why they don’t just roll it into a year once a user hits the $50 mark, both representatives I spoke with said the exact same thing “You are signed up for a reoccurring monthly payment of $7.99″ and could not comprehend why I would ask such a question… I guess as a naive consumer I am expecting to much from a company to give me the best bang for my buck automatically.
I accept full responsibility for this situation and hope others avoid this.
-Thomas
Oh dear, that really sucks. At least you learned a valuable lesson (check your bank statements) and are trying to help others avoid your fate.
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It’s understandable how this guy would think like that. However, it’s not really Microsoft’s fault, unless you wanna point out that they should have made it clear or something. Immoral? No. Misunderstanding? Full of it.
@michaelleung: No, it’s not…no company I know of deals with subscriptions the way the guy expected them to deal with his subscription. That is what we call an “unreasonable expectation”. We expect them to be in the business for money…and thus we expect them to bill us for exactly what we have asked to be billed for. In this case it was $7.99 per month. It wasn’t $7.99 per month up to $50 then extend to a full year.
little bit of column a, little bit of column b.
on the one hand, no, you shouldn’t ever expect that the company will ever give you the better deal by default. you selected monthly, you got monthly.
on the other hand, the billing part of xbox is horrendously screwed up. they SHOULD have better options. for instance, they should have a “cancel my subscription” option. you know, so you can tell it to not automatically charge your credit card. oh, and a way to remove your credit card. if they have any brains, they’ll revise the whole damned system once the new dashboard update hits.
This seems like the business model for everything ever. Buying in bulk is always cheaper in the long run, whether it’s a fifty-pack of Charmin being cheaper than fifty individual rolls, or a year’s subscription costing less than twelve months.
Can anyone name any business that would behave as described? Monthly plans exist for people who want to pay every month, not as monthly installments towards a better plan.
Maybe if at the time of registration, he wasn’t given the option of annual payments, this would be valid – but that doesn’t sound like what happened.
Wow, I’m amazed at how many people have been trying to claim this wasn’t just a silly mistake…
It’s simple. The XBox offer was “pay $x per month, or get a get discount if you pay for a full year now”. That’s it – nothing underhand, no billing system issues. The OP made the mistake of assuming that the discount was going to apply anyway, even though Microsoft never stated anything of the sort. 18 months later, he checks his statements and realises that his false assumption was, indeed, false.
It’s basic common sense, and thankfully the OP realises and accepts his own blame. That some people are apparently unable to accept this or try to spin this into something Microsoft did wrong is shameful. This isn’t a sign to “avoid paying Microsoft” or “only pay with points cards” or anything else. It’s “make sure you know the T&Cs of signing up before you do so, and never make any assumptions”. Because your assumptions may be wrong, and it’ll be your fault if you lose out.
Yeah I did it this way too. I just thought I’ll pay this month to try it out, I don’t want a full year if I’m not going to use it after this game, right? I’m almost 3 years in my 7.99 per month deal. Totally didn’t think about it until I read this. Now I think I will change it…..but what if I don’t play for a full year….idiot.
It’s stuff like this that makes me deal with renewals exclusively through prepaid cards.
At least he got what he asked for.
I would assume that if i signed up for a 3month membership that it would renew another 3month membership. Well i just got an email from xbox live that says it will renew as a $7.99/month membership automatically!
Dear XXXXX,
Your subscription to Xbox Live 3 mo. Gold Membership is scheduled to be automatically renewed to Xbox Live Monthly Gold Membership on Thursday, November 27, 2008. Here is a description of the service:
Welcome to the future of gaming and online entertainment. As a new Xbox Live® Gold member, you will enjoy access to demos, trailers, downloads, tournaments, friends, and your gamertag, your unique digital identity. For only $7.99 plus applicable taxes per month, your monthly Xbox Live Gold Membership gives you all the rewards, privileges, and possibilities that come with being a Gold member. Your membership will automatically renew to a monthly membership at the then current price, unless you change your renewal or cancel before your membership ends. Pricing details can be viewed in the Account Management area of your gamer profile. For information about changing or canceling your membership and your membership refund policy, go to http://www.xbox.com/live/accounts.
Please confirm that your account and payment information is up to date.
To update your credit card information:
1. Select your gamer card.
2. Select Account Management.
3. Select Memberships.
4. Select the membership you want to update.
For more info, go to http://www.xbox.com/support or call Xbox Customer Support at 1 (800) 4MY-XBOX.
Thank you for using Microsoft Online Services.
The Xbox Live team.