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[rs7k]

Ok, has anybody had the same problem with the two-month trials offered by Microsoft for free? I signed up with the number I got from Halo 2, and I've only used the service once. Or maybe twice, but it would have been in the same day. I was like, oh yeah, I love Xbox Live, this shit kicks ass, then I got San Andreas and forgot all about it.

Fast-forward two months later, MS sends me a notice that my account's about to be billed or whatever. My CC at this point was maxed out, like it had been for quite a while. I had a problem with gambling and shopping (I have an addictive-obsessive personality and credit cards get me in deep shit).

I tried to call them to cancel the account, but instead I just get a message that they can't be reached at this point (I guess they were too busy) and the call disconnects. Fuck them is my first reaction. Tried a few times in the following days, and the same BS happens, so I said fuck it, they obviously don't want me to bother calling them, fucking pieces of greedy pig shit, they can try all they want to bill me, but it just won't go through because my card is maxed out. I also changed email addresses at that point, so whatever notices they were sending me got unanswered. That's besides the point, because I don't have time to play games anymore and I have other things to worry about.

My credit is fairly healthy at this point, and I just realized the other day that maybe I still have an account over at Xbox Live along with my CC#, and I know Microsoft loves money, so I decided to give them a call. And this time, it went through.

Talking with the girl at the other end, who sounded my age and also pretty cute, I realized that MS has been trying to bill my card ever since I got the first notice, and that according to their system, I owe them $91 CDN. And that if it fails to go through, a collection agency will take care of the matters. I also realize that the girl on the other end is trying to appease me, although I'm not mad. I think it's fucked up that I have to pay for this shit that I don't want and won't use, especially since I only tried it once for maybe 20-30 minutes? Jesus Christ, cocaine's cheaper than that.

They haven't billed me, and so far I've transferred a bunch of money from my CC to my chequing account so they won't succeed with the billing. I don't know what the hell is gonna happen, because I have a feeling my bank is gonna side with Microsoft. Goddamn corporations.

What should I do? The girl on the phone literally told me there is nothing she could do. Bill Gates will try to take my money, and my bank probably won't give a shit because he's probably doing it lawfully. Jesus Christ.

 

[littlewig]

Do it the american way, sue them! And I mean Rockstar and not MS, because if it wasn't for GTA, you wouldn't be in this trouble. :lol

 

[Wario64]

off topic, but how difficult is it to cancel an xbox live subscription? gotta cancel my 12 month sub. in a month.

 

[Stinkles]

You can do it from the dashboard. It is teh easy. It sucks for the dude above, and I can relate because I am a flaky spaz, but really, they do make it easy to cancel.

 

[Patrick Klepek]

I wish I'd known you could do it from the dashboard. I collectively spent hours waiting for them on the phone trying to get rid of it.

 

[FrenchMovieTheme]

I tried to call them to cancel the account, but instead I just get a message that they can't be reached at this point (I guess they were too busy) and the call disconnects. Fuck them is my first reaction. Tried a few times in the following days, and the same BS happens, so I said fuck it, they obviously don't want me to bother calling them, fucking pieces of greedy pig shit, they can try all they want to bill me, but it just won't go through because my card is maxed out.

i dont know you, but i call bullshit on this. you either forgot to cancel, didn't even bother trying to cancel figuring you "didn't subscribe for more than 2 months!", or dialed a wrong number and didn't feel like finding the right one.

ms is pretty spot on about their xbl customer support (as far as getting into contact with them). i've easily renewed my subscription and even activated an expired 2 month card over the phone. no offense, but i have a feeling you are telling a half-truth or are flat out lying about the situation

 

[littlewig]

i dont know you, but i call bullshit on this. you either forgot to cancel, didn't even bother trying to cancel figuring you "didn't subscribe for more than 2 months!", or dialed a wrong number and didn't feel like finding the right one.

ms is pretty spot on about their xbl customer support (as far as getting into contact with them). i've easily renewed my subscription and even activated an expired 2 month card over the phone. no offense, but i have a feeling you are telling a half-truth or are flat out lying about the situation

Maybe MS has different consumer support for Canada then the US.

 

[FrenchMovieTheme]

i dont know dude, you have to be pretty out there to say "why bother canceling... my CC is maxed out anyways, good luck assholes!" just suspicious/shady to me, thats all

 

[TheInkyVoid]

Call your CC company and talk to someone in their billing dispute department - should be one of the options on their main number's menu of choices. They will either send you a form to fill out or talk to you over the phone about the details. And then the CC people who handle this type of stuff will take it from there. I've done it before with companies who tried to bill me for goods or services I never agreed to purchase. The CC company people I've dealt with have been amazingly helpful in getting situations resolved. But you do have to have a reason better than I changed my mind for them to reject the billing.

 

[Sinatar]

Maybe MS has different consumer support for Canada then the US.

Doesn't seem like it to me, I have had nothing but good experiences with it. OP just kept putting it off thinking a full credit card would stop it. Thats a braindead way to go about things.

 

[Shaheed79]

A couple of guys on TXB complained about the same thing earlier this year. I doubt they fully considered the image repercussion of their actions. You would think that out of all the money they loose off the entire project that this would be the least of their worries to take such actions.

 

[sangreal]

I'd send a collection agency after you too.

 

[Varian]

Tell them your identity was stolen on Internet Explorer. Your bank will understand.

 

[littlewig]

Tell them your identity was stolen on Internet Explorer. Your bank will understand.

I don't think these guys will be so understanding. :lol

 

[sangreal]

why is this in the gaming forum anyway

 

[cvxfreak]

MS did the same thing to me when I was 14 years old. I signed up for a trial of Official Xbox Magazine, hated it, and didn't bother resubscribing. They don't make it clear that you have to cancel yourself, and being 14 years old, who the fuck would know that they'd send a collection agency after you?

Mother fuckers. Send a letter to the collection agency with a copy of MS's letter (or email, or a transcript of the phone call). They never sent me a letter back, but I managed to get a credit card three years later, so I assume everything turned out OK.

 

[Shaheed79]

i dont know you, but i call bullshit on this. you either forgot to cancel, didn't even bother trying to cancel figuring you "didn't subscribe for more than 2 months!", or dialed a wrong number and didn't feel like finding the right one.

ms is pretty spot on about their xbl customer support (as far as getting into contact with them). i've easily renewed my subscription and even activated an expired 2 month card over the phone. no offense, but i have a feeling you are telling a half-truth or are flat out lying about the situation

No I believe him because others have complained of the same thing happening to them. Now maybe they just choose a small percentage of users to take action on like they randomly choose a small percentage of users to replace their broken Xbox for free while the other have to pay.

http://forum.teamxbox.com/showthread.php?t=320028&highlight=collection+agency

http://forum.teamxbox.com/showthread.php?t=318982&highlight=collection+agency

You could argue that it can't be helped but it does in fact exist.

 

[VALIS]

Wait a minute. You didn't cancel Xbox Live when the free trial was over and now you're complaining you have to pay for it? Brilliant. Would you try that with a cable company, order cable on a free trial, not cancel it but not expect to pay? Dude, you're not having a "problem" with the Live free trial. You were too lazy to cancel and don't want to pay. The end. This is how free trials work everywhere! You start getting charged after your trial period is over if you don't cancel. Netflix, Dish Network, cell phones, whatever.

 

[Rorschach]

I wish I'd known you could do it from the dashboard. I collectively spent hours waiting for them on the phone trying to get rid of it.

I didn't know the first time I cancelled it. Man, was it a pain in the ass...and the chick was even grilling me on why I wanted to cancel. I told her it wasn't xtreme enuff 4 me.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

why is this in the gaming forum anyway

Because it is something videogame related.

 

[sangreal]

OXM isn't Microsoft its Future Network

Because it is something videogame related.

Not really. Its a post about how to get out of subscription obligations. The subscription just happens to be to a video game service, a fact that is largely irrelevant.

 

[Shaheed79]

I didn't know the first time I cancelled it. Man, was it a pain in the ass...and the chick was even grilling me on why I wanted to cancel. I told her it wasn't xtreme enuff 4 me.

Sure ya did. :lol

 

[rs7k]

Fuck, no one can trust me it seems. I have called them MANY times, only to be disconnected. I didn't know you could cancel from the dashboard, I actually thought you couldn't. At least, that's what my friend told me *shrug*.

I only used the service *once*, played a bit of Halo 2 and CMR2005. Didn't bother after that.

I left it at that because unlike many gamers, I don't have the time or the motivation to chase them into cancelling my friggin account. I realize it was an oversight on my part that they would request my permission to start billing after the trial was over, because I thought trial meant trying out a service to see if you'd like to buy it. There's probably some fine print somewhere putting Microsoft in the clear to charge me, and I'm probably fucked.

So I guess this puts me in the "forgot to cancel" category. I obviously didn't know "forgetting to cancel" had such consequences. My CC was maxed out, and I essentially figured they would just forget about me, just like I basically forgot about them.

I'm not paying a hundred bucks to some fuckin corporation for a service I used once on the first day of a 2-month trial, and probably will never use again.

 

[silver]

Wait a minute. You didn't cancel Xbox Live when the free trial was over and now you're complaining you have to pay for it? Brilliant. Would you try that with a cable company, order cable on a free trial, not cancel it but not expect to pay? Dude, you're not having a "problem" with the Live free trial. You were too lazy to cancel and don't want to pay. The end. This is how free trials work everywhere! You start getting charged after your trial period is over if you don't cancel. Netflix, Dish Network, cell phones, whatever.

You're absolutely correct, but that doesn't make it right. A lot of customers get stuck with subscriptions and the like because they aren't notified that they can either cancel or continue it. This is just a sleazy way of making money over the backs of (admittedly somewhat naive) people. You should offer a trial, and then one week before it ends give the customer the option to cancel or continue. That would be fair.

Regardless, rs7k, you will eventually pay MS this money. MS doesn't care if you used it for 20 minutes or 100 hours, you signed up for the service. Don't wait for the collection agency, because you're probably gonna have to pay for that too. Accept it, learn your lesson and move on.

 

[sangreal]

Fuck, no one can trust me it seems. I have called them MANY times, only to be disconnected. I didn't know you could cancel from the dashboard, I actually thought you couldn't. At least, that's what my friend told me *shrug*.

I only used the service *once*, played a bit of Halo 2 and CMR2005. Didn't bother after that.

I left it at that because unlike many gamers, I don't have the time or the motivation to chase them into cancelling my friggin account. I realize it was an oversight on my part that they would request my permission to start billing after the trial was over, because I thought trial meant trying out a service to see if you'd like to buy it. There's probably some fine print somewhere putting Microsoft in the clear to charge me, and I'm probably fucked.

So I guess this puts me in the "forgot to cancel" category. I obviously didn't know "forgetting to cancel" had such consequences. My CC was maxed out, and I essentially figured they would just forget about me, just like I basically forgot about them.

I'm not paying a hundred bucks to some fuckin corporation for a service I used once on the first day of a 2-month trial, and probably will never use again.

Well, you said Microsoft sent you a notice before they billed you..

I'm sure if you try hard enough you can get out of it. They should have discontinued the service when the card didn't go through. NYTimes tried that shit on me once. Just call again and talk to someone else or a supervisor.

 

[StRaNgE]

on a side note. i bought a year package with head set while i was using the free 2 month trial. at the end of the 2 months i forgot to sign that 1 year card in so i was auto charged for a year. the other day i gave that free card to a friend so he could make use of it and it said invalid.

the card was brand freggin new and never used so what gives?

does MS sell a lot of invalid cards?

 

[VALIS]

You're absolutely correct, but that doesn't make it right. A lot of customers get stuck with subscriptions and the like because they aren't notified that they can either cancel or continue it. This is just a sleazy way of making money over the backs of (admittedly somewhat naive) people. You should offer a trial, and then one week before it ends give the customer the option to cancel or continue. That would be fair.

Sometimes. Cancelling a Girls Gone Wild DVD subscription is like trying to find the Holy Grail, but cancelleing Xbox Live isn't. Could he have had bad luck and all those times he called, they were busy? Unlikely, but not impossible. Regardless, he's trying to put all the blame on them. If anything, maybe they're guilty of having an overcrowded support line. But they're certainly not screwing him over by trying to get the money for the service he agreed to.

 

[cvxfreak]

Regardless, rs7k, you will eventually pay MS this money. MS doesn't care if you used it for 20 minutes or 100 hours, you signed up for the service. Don't wait for the collection agency, because you're probably gonna have to pay for that too. Accept it, learn your lesson and move on.

I never paid anything for my OXM subscription after sending a letter to collection. Maybe because I was 14?

 

[sangreal]

Cancelling a Girls Gone Wild DVD subscription is like trying to find the Holy Grail, but cancelleing Xbox Live isn't.

Coincidentally, GGW will cancel your subscription if they can't charge your card

I never paid anything for my OXM subscription after sending a letter to collection. Maybe because I was 14?

PC Gamer tried that with me before. I just sent them an email saying I never intended to subscribe and they dropped it. I'm sure OXM did the same. But again, OXM isn't run by MS

 

[rs7k]

Sometimes. Cancelling a Girls Gone Wild DVD subscription is like trying to find the Holy Grail, but cancelleing Xbox Live isn't. Could he have had bad luck and all those times he called, they were busy? Unlikely, but not impossible. Regardless, he's trying to put all the blame on them. If anything, maybe they're guilty of having an overcrowded support line. But they're certainly not screwing him over by trying to get the money for the service he agreed to.

I did call them over a period of three days, and they were busy each time. You couldn't actually get to the menu IIRC, it would just disconnect after a short message.

And I don't care about blame, I just don't want to pay $90 and get nothing in return. I haven't used XBLive after the expiry date, hell I don't even think I played an Xbox game since then. Shouldn't their computers show them this? I realize I probably broke the contract. I didn't read the damn thing. Does it still make it right to charge me $90 for this bullshit? My card got declined, why can't they get a damn clue?

 

[VALIS]

I did call them over a period of three days, and they were busy each time. You couldn't actually get to the menu IIRC, it would just disconnect after a short message.

And I don't care about blame, I just don't want to pay $90 and get nothing in return. I haven't used XBLive after the expiry date, hell I don't even think I played an Xbox game since then. Shouldn't their computers show them this? I realize I probably broke the contract. I didn't read the damn thing. Does it still make it right to charge me $90 for this bullshit? My card got declined, why can't they get a damn clue?

I used to think the same exact way. "But I didn't use it." "It wasn't my intention." And I've also tried to cancel services by giving them a maxed out credit card. None of this shit flies, and I ended up having credit problems because I always had an excuse for everything. Hey, I'm just tellin' ya. You do owe them that money and if you want to try and fight it, go ahead, but you really don't have anything to stand on. "Busy phone" isn't gonna cut it. The best I could see happening is they knock a month off for the "busy phone" stuff.

 

[rs7k]

I used to think the same exact way. "But I didn't use it." "It wasn't my intention." And I've also tried to cancel services by giving them a maxed out credit card. None of this shit flies, and I ended up having credit problems because I always had an excuse for everything. Hey, I'm just tellin' ya. You do owe them that money and if you want to try and fight it, go ahead, but you really don't have anything to stand on. "Busy phone" isn't gonna cut it. The best I could see happening is they knock a month off for the "busy phone" stuff.

I realize I am fucked, and I'm just hoping I can talk to some supervisor over at MS to drop this shit altogether. Hopefully someone over there has some common sense and realize I'm not trying to rip them off or anything. I don't care how wrong I am, but it sure doesn't feel right that they'd try to send a collection agency after me for a two-month trial for a service like Xbox Live. It's not like I forgot to pay my mortgage or something more important like that.

 

[xsarien]

And I don't care about blame, I just don't want to pay $90 and get nothing in return. I haven't used XBLive after the expiry date, hell I don't even think I played an Xbox game since then. Shouldn't their computers show them this? I realize I probably broke the contract. I didn't read the damn thing. Does it still make it right to charge me $90 for this bullshit? My card got declined, why can't they get a damn clue?

This discussion was pretty much over when you admitted to not reading the fine print, and not realizing that it was your responsibility to cancel after 2 months. Is a policy where they assume no response from the consumer is acceptance of a paid subscription fair? It's kinda shady at best, but pretty much legal since the instructions for what to do if you don't wish to keep the service were laid out for you.

Consider this a lesson learned, find another way to pay them, and move on.

 

[rs7k]

This discussion was pretty much over when you admitted to not reading the fine print, and not realizing that it was your responsibility to cancel after 2 months. Is a policy where they assume no response from the consumer is acceptance of a paid subscription? It's kinda shady at best, but pretty much legal since the instructions for what to do if you don't wish to keep the service were laid out for you.

Consider this a lesson learned, find another way to pay them, and move on.

Oh man this sucks. I actually have a reason to dislike Microsoft now unlike those Nintendo fanboys, even though I'm sure every other company is just the same.

<sigh>

On a last note, my service is suspended, which means I can't use it. Should I owe money for a service I can't use and that they won't let me cancel? It's not like I'm stealing or anything, but I'm probably fucked anyways, so let the flaming begin. I just don't want to be alone questioning the morality of such practices.

 

[xsarien]

Oh man this sucks. I actually have a reason to dislike Microsoft now unlike those Nintendo fanboys, even though I'm sure every other company is just the same.

<sigh>

On a last note, my service is suspended, which means I can't use it. Should I owe money for a service I can't use and that they won't let me cancel? It's not like I'm stealing or anything, but I'm probably fucked anyways, so let the flaming begin. I just don't want to be alone questioning the morality of such practices.

They're not charging you for the amount of time since the service has been suspended. However, they ARE charging you for how much time went by between the end of your 2 month trial and the suspension.

 

[Sysgen]

If you didn't use the service they would know that. Just call and talk to a supervisor and explain that you changed your email and forgot to cancel. MS sends emails that the trial is expiring.

 

[ChrisReid]

I've done it before with companies who tried to bill me for goods or services I never agreed to purchase.

But the original poster did agree to purchase neverending XBox Live service, unless he canceled. He agreed to the license without reading it, but he agreed to it nonetheless. It's all there in black and white (green and yellow), and the original poster just let it slide for a year hoping it would go away, and now it's finally caught up with him.

 

[VerTiGo]

Microsoft's online service is a piece of shit. It automatically renews itself without your approval. I wanted to cancel the account but I couldn't since I had lost my old Credit Card and I needed those last four digits to cancel it from the Xbox itself. I don't know how, but Xbox Live renewed itself and I did not want it to. Microsoft sucks major dick.

 

[Gek54]

Takes 2 days to get a new credit card for most people. Oh and I am pretty sure they give you a new number and cancel your old one. So you would have been green if you actually tried.

 

[The Faceless Master]

you can cancel after the period is up, i know someone who did, they just said their xbox was stolen so they couldnt play and forgot about it...

they saw he hadnt been on live and cancelled without charging for another year...

 

[The Abominable Snowman]

I realize I am fucked, and I'm just hoping I can talk to some supervisor over at MS to drop this shit altogether. Hopefully someone over there has some common sense and realize I'm not trying to rip them off or anything. I don't care how wrong I am, but it sure doesn't feel right that they'd try to send a collection agency after me for a two-month trial for a service like Xbox Live. It's not like I forgot to pay my mortgage or something more important like that.

It's your responsibility as an adult to take care of your own shit. In this situation, you didn't. IMO, it seems as if you're used to living with mommy and daddy all of your life, how lax you are on being responsible, and how you think you can talk/wriggle yourself out of situations in which you were in the wrong. I'm not judging you, just making observation.

 

[The Abominable Snowman]

Microsoft's online service is a piece of shit. It automatically renews itself without your approval. I wanted to cancel the account but I couldn't since I had lost my old Credit Card and I needed those last four digits to cancel it from the Xbox itself. I don't know how, but Xbox Live renewed itself and I did not want it to. Microsoft sucks major dick.

Yes, blame it ALLLL on Microsoft. :lol

EVIL M$ EVIL CORPORATION!

 

[Zaptruder]

The primary culprits that have led you to such a situation is

1. Gambling
2. Shopping addiction
3. Inability to follow through and get the service cancelled.
4. Faulty reasoning
5. MS' poor trial subscription policy

i.e. I think you fucked yourself man.

 

[Rabid Wolverine]

 

[Mupepe]

I also changed email addresses at that point, so whatever notices they were sending me got unanswered. That's besides the point, because I don't have time to play games anymore and I have other things to worry about.

Umm, that basically is the point. The emails got unanswered, and just like any other business, they want their money. You could have written them a letter. When my xbox crapped out and I cancelled they were very understanding and didn't charge me for the month that had passed. And you definitely have other things to worry about now, like paying your past due bill.

 

[Tellaerin]

But the original poster did agree to purchase neverending XBox Live service, unless he canceled. He agreed to the license without reading it, but he agreed to it nonetheless. It's all there in black and white (green and yellow), and the original poster just let it slide for a year hoping it would go away, and now it's finally caught up with him.

Yes, he's technically in the wrong for not reading the fine print, but since when are concepts of right and wrong determined by legal hairsplitting? When the original poster's card failed to clear, they should have automatically cancelled his account and stopped billing him for service - that was a fair assumption, since it's what a decent outfit would do in that situation. The whole point of offering free trials that automatically switch over to paid subscriptions after the trial period ends is to take advantage of the people who forget to cancel. The fact that it's a legal scam doesn't make it any less a scam, and it doesn't justify the actions of the companies who do this (and there are many.)

That said, I suggest the original poster call and request (politely!) to speak with either a supervisor or the billing department. Most companies have a fair amount of latitude when it comes to writing off charges for billing issues, and as has been mentioned previously, it shouldn't be hard for them to confirm that he hasn't actually used the service during the period for which he was billed. If he gets a sympathetic person on the other end of the phone, they could very well write off the subscription fee for that period - which would be the right thing to do.

 

[Nerevar]

I don't get why you didn't just call your credit card before they billed (while it was "too fucking hard to get through to MS") and tell them that MS might try and charge you for a service, but you weren't using it and couldn't cancel due to a customer service problem on their end, so you didn't want to pay for it. Do people not realize you can do this on credit cards or something? I'd think someone who racked up thousands of dollars of CC debt would know this.

 

[The Abominable Snowman]

It's different from a magazine or subscription to a DVD. Live is all about uninterrupted service, and despite your bitching, many people would rather uninterrupted service. I'd knock myself for being a dumbass if I made the same stupid assumption as the OP did.

I can't believe you all are defending this nonsense.

 

[Mister Zimbu]

I didn't know the first time I cancelled it. Man, was it a pain in the ass...and the chick was even grilling me on why I wanted to cancel. I told her it wasn't xtreme enuff 4 me.

You're fucking kidding.

My roommate and I told the operator the same thing when we cancelled our account.

No joke. She was just like, "Um... okay..." and cancelled the account thereafter.

 

[Sanjuro]

"I'm too lazy to call back because all the reps were busy at the moment.

I gave Microsoft the big FU!!#$?!

OH....they want their money at some point....cry for MEEEEEeeeee!"

---------This sums up your post. Either your going to stay like this the rest of your life and get murdered by casino thugs because you don't understand the concept of owing money or your going to change your life around and look back at these posts with your children as they ask "Daddy were you really this stupid?".