Xbox Live Dies Because I Used Prepaid Card While On Auto-Renewal Plan

Nathan tried to save some money on his Xbox Live subscription by buying a prepaid $50 card to avoid having to pay the recently increased annual fee of $60. While he did so, he failed to replace his expired credit card on file with a valid card.

The Microsoftbots did not like this plan, and kept trying to bill him $60. When Nathan called customer service he was told that he had to pay the $60 or his account would be canceled. The CSR also said he’d have to forfeit his prepaid subscription.

He writes:

I subscribe to Xbox Live Gold, an online feature of the Xbox 360 entertainment console. I have been a continued member of the service since November,
2005.

In November 2010, I received email notification that my subscription to the service would be auto-renewed to my credit card on file for $59.99.

The credit card on file had expired and been canceled during the summer of 2010. The annual service fee for Xbox Live Gold had been $49.99, which I had agreed to auto-renew to in December 2009. Seeing as the price increase had gone up, I purchased a pre-paid 1 Year subscription card to Xbox Live Gold from a local Costco store. I applied this code to my account in the middle of December, 2010. Evidently, Xbox Live tried to bill my expired credit card for the auto-renew fee of $59.99 and was unsuccessful. I put the new pre-paid card into my account and the Xbox Live billing account page I have showed my subscription being credited an additional year.

In the end of December and through January, 2011, I continued to receive email notifications from Microsoft saying that I had a balance due for $59.99.

I contacted Xbox Live billing on 1/17/2011 to see if the situation could be straightened out.

I was first told by a CSR that my account had to be billed $59.99 or my account would be canceled within days. When asked what would happened to my pre-paid card that I applied to my account, the CSR said it would be forfeited.

Nathan escalated his complaint and got the same answer from a supervisor, who added that he had to pay for two years upfront if he wanted to continue his service.

If you subscribe to Xbox Live, how do you handle your payments?

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.