Double Standards for "Redeem Code" depending on precedence of payment of previous subscription

I was left confused by the xbox.com system for Redeeming a Code and Paying for a Past Subscription.

Here is the scenario:

* I have no money in my account because I am due to be paid but work is behind on their payments due to COVID-19

(with some businesses being told to shut completely and leaves people without a way to pay their bills completely, thankfully not that bad this time)

* A friend has kindly decided to gift me a code for Xbox Game Pass or similar for Christmas/Birthday/Other Occasion

* I try to Redeem the Code first (on either the console or online) to continue the Game Pass subscription as it has already recurred for the month

(also I could be thinking that this redemption will continue the past subscription but that's apparently not how it works)

* The code is entered but I am given this message: You have already claimed this, but your account is on hold pending a previous subscription

(so it leaves me thinking I don't need to return to the Redeem a Code page because I have already done this...not the case for a specific reason...)

At this point, having received a gift from a friend, we are pretty disappointed that the gift doesn't seem to have worked as intended



* I then receive my payment late from work or get paid in some other way, e.g. allowance and try again

(so this time I can pay for the overdue subscription and that's covered, but then it's still out of date, what happened to the code I redeemed?)

* I then went back to the Redeem a Code page in frustration, and Lo and Behold it had changed appearance after entering the code again

(the page has double standards for before payment and after payment without telling you, it then has a button for converting the code to a subscription, which in my opinion is not a necessary distinction to make and hurts the player base)

This scenario also occurred after "Turn on/off automatic billing" being turned on automatically without the user's formal consent when a subscription or payment of some kind is added/renewed. The current behaviour aids Microsoft's desire to continue subscriptions
but can be damaging in situations like COVID-19 where money is perhaps not being transferred as efficiently as in usual circumstances.

In other words, "Turn on/off automatic billing" should either be a server-side remembered variable for every account, or should be turned off by default. The current behaviour of this setting is reportable to a financial watchdog authority, along with the sequence
described in the above scenario.

:)