I finally went in and renewed my xbox live gold membership through the dashboard. When done, I noticed that it was set as auto-renewal. I would prefer to reevaluate renewing membership each year rather then just have it take it off my card so wanted to turn off this feature. I could not find ANYWHERE to do this.

Ended up having to call support and when I wanted to turn off auto renewal and remove my card from the profile (another thing you cant do) they asked for my whole card number instead of just the last 4 digits. odd. Has anyone else tried to do this and is this what happened for them.

Im just hesitant giving whole card numbers over the phone as there have been problems with fraud in the past.

Input would be awesome.

Geez, even if it is just how MS does things, that's really sleezy.

desertpike, just cancel your subscription. It won't close your account, it will just terminate the renewal period.

Don't give anybody at Microsoft your credit card number.

I gave the card number to remove it, just want to know if anyone else has done this.

So that others can learn from my possible mistake,
BUY A CARD AND JUST ENTER THE REDEEM CODE SO THEY WONT HAVE YOUR CARD NUMBER.

Oh lord, you gave the guy your number?

Update: They have removed the auto-renew. That happened right away, now just need to wait for removal of card number.

You can take the card off the account from the website [but only if you've cancelled your gold membership], I can't find anything on the site to change auto-renewal though.... that's a little disturbing.

[EDIT]Seems the only way to turn it off is to call xbox live support[/EDIT]

...am I the only person here who is not confused by the concept of a subscription?

lol apparently

indeed

Or perhaps you're the only one not annoyed that you can't just pay for a single year and leave it at that? Recurring billing is great if you really like the service and are sure you want to renew but most companies force it on you now because they figure a huge percentage of people won't use the service and will forget to cancel.

I've been burned by MS having my credit card number before. Specifically, I had an Asheron's Call account and MS bought out AC and moved their billing over to MS billing. I cancelled my subscription immediately but they continued to charge me for 6 months after the fact. I eventually got them to stop by reporting it as fraud to my bank but that was the only way they'd stop. They kept insisting I sign up for a PASSPORT account in order to cancel my account (which I already did before the billing migration).

So yeah, when we signed up for xbox live I bought a card at newegg because I don't want to give MS my credit card number again.

When i pay for a 12 month subscription I expect to get no more then 12 months of service. What is happening to other people is that their card is being charged again to renew their service without their knowledge, thats shifty.

Also, without being able to remove card from account. If someone else turns on your xbox they can buy things without your knowledge. Or worse, if someone can hack the xbox they can get your CC info.

ps: got the letter from them today. They canceled my subscription on me but gave me a code to get service back meaning that there is no card attached to my account. yay.

(Oh and btw when AC again moved away from MS I signed up again but the servers were all empty so I cancelled and had no problem getting charged after my cancellation date.)

Recurring billing is what makes the service a subscription.

Um...no? If that was the case, then the idea of a 12-month subscription or seasonal subscription or whatnot would be meaningless/a lie if customers are FORCED into continued subscription afterwards without extreme measures taken on part of the consumer to end it. While a subscription COULD be set up that way, the idea is just that the consumer pays a larger number over time (such as 12 months for 12 issues) and not individual (1 issue) at a time.

Clarification: the type of forced reoccurring billing after the time the subscription is called for would cease to be the subscription that was subscribed.

This is exactly, word for word, what you read when you sign up for the 12 month renewal. The word subscription does not appear in the description at all, and it specifically states that "Your membership will automatically renew to an annual membership at the then current price, unless you change your renewal or cancel before your membership ends."

I think that pretty much sums it up.

Nice how they talk about the "membership refund policy" and direct you to a different page (implies you can get a refund of some sort). Would probably be better for everyone involved if they just told you the truth right there.

Apparently you've never subscribed to a magazine before.

Semantics aside, this is the way every internet subscription service has ever worked. Automatic billing is synonymous with a subscription. If you no longer want to be automatically charged for the service, you can cancel your subscription. This does not terminate your account and you are still able to use the service until your actual renewal period has expired. I in absolutely no way, shape or form understand how this can be a confusing issue for anybody.

I don't see why you're still debating the word subscription when Microsoft doesn't even call it a subscription in the first place.

wtf are you talking about

Irony is, they DO give you a refund. Looks like you'll have to find something else to hate Microsoft for, Brian.

I'm talking about the renewal process I just quoted.

Ironically, the card you just pictured does not imply any sort of renewing membership, which would be in line with what Gebohq was explaining, not you. You're doubly wrong.

indubitably

It does say subscription, CM. when I here that word I think recurring payments

um... ironically, by using the word "ironically" you are literally agreeing with my definition of a subscription.

I don't really understand who is arguing what point anymore. You said that Microsoft doesn't use the term subscription to describe their service, but they do:



so I don't get what you're saying. You're probably the least correct out of all of us.

You specifically said that it's a renewing membership, that's what a subscription means. But your own image, of that prepaid card, does not give you a renewing membership, which flies against the logic you have been repeatedly stating.



Maybe, but I am still going off of what it specifically says when you go to sign up on the X-Box.

I bought an xbox.
It had a credit card number saved with ALL THE INFO set for renewal I had their name, address, etc

Morons. I almost used it...But in the ebay page I remember them saying they were selling it to pay for a surgery so I would have felt bad.

In an act of concession to Cool Matty, I now agree that subscription does not automatically imply that it will result in an automatic renewal of service.

However, given that every subscription service functions this way, you would have to be depressingly insane to expect the service to behave any differently.

Perhaps they do now, but last time I subscribed to a magazine, towards the end of my 12 months or whatnot, they would say something like "your subscription is almost at an end -- renew now!" If you didn't, then you didn't get anymore of their issues.

The Edmonton Journal definitely renews your subscription period automatically unless you proactively cancel your renewal.

That's all secondary though. MMORPGs have worked this way since the beginning (and with the exception of Eve Online - according to CM - it's simply called a subscription), and I imagine that a lot of people here pay their bills using automatic withdrawal. The idea of an automatically renewing service is hardly an alien concept.

A subscription is where someone pays for access to content.

Recurring billing is where your subscription is automatically renewed.

They are not one in the same. Just because most subscriptions are automatically renewed, does not mean a subscription is defined by it's automatic renewal.

I really don't know what magazines you subscribe to are. But my Max PC magazine as soon as the 12 months are up and I haven't paid, they stop sending magazines. When I think recurring, I think my WoW account.

Morality aside, they could have easily tracked you down for fraud, even if it was their own stupid fault.

freecreditreport.com!

**note** DO NOT GO THERE... i was just making a reference to how shoddy this type of thing is.

freecreditreport.com

I think I had to say I want to cancel somewhere around 152,235,065,404,205,754 times before they got the idea.

Yeah, all the phone subscriptions I've had have been the same. Same with when I had pay-tv. They ring you when the subscription is about to end and ask if you want to renew/whatever.
I admit WoW doesn't work that way, but I found that as very odd that I had to subscribe and then cancel just to avoid automatic renewal. *shrug*

My New Scientist subscription renews automatically, I don't really expect anything otherwise.

::heartattack::

Seriously though, like there's a lack of reasons...

My wakeboarding mag, wired, etc., don't renew automatically even though I paid with a credit card.

MS send me reminders by email asking if I want to go through with the automatic renewal about a week before they bill me. There's a link to follow if I want to cancel it.

I find this service perfectly acceptable.

*shrugs*