Gift cards can't buy Live?

My son withdrew $75 from his savings account to buy Microsoft cards to renew his Live membership. He enters the codes and finds out he can't use the cards to buy Live. This is ridiculous. He's 13 years old, he doesn't have a credit card! So he now has this
money sitting there unable to be used to buy Live. Now what? Can he get refunded so that he can buy Live?

:)

 

Unable to use gift cards buying extra contents on NBA2K14 ONLY CREDIT CARDS

I can't use my gift card to buy VC and Additional content . The only option was Credit card

 

Using Microsoft Points to Purchase Xbox Gift Card

You can't buy a gift card with a gift card basically. If the ones you have have not been redeemed to your account yet, you would just need to give him those.

 

You have never been able to use Microsoft currency to buy live.

Your son would need a pre paid live subscription card,paypal or a credit/debit card to pay for live.

You can try contacting support
support.xbox.com/.../contact-us but I highly doubt they will refund the money.

 

As what Ambassador Daft Badger has told you, currency stored value is a payment instrument that can only be used to purchase digital contents but not Xbox Live Gold subscription. For you to be able to subscribe to Xbox Live Gold, you need to use a credit
card or a paypal. This is because these payment instruments can shoulder the auto-billing and auto-renewal of the said service. As an alternative option, there is also a card that can be used to subscribe for the said service and that is the Xbox Live Gold
Prepaid Code. :
support.xbox.com/.../types-of-prepaid-codes

 

Now he knows. Unfortunately, when we went looking in the stores for XBox cards these are all they had. They don't mention anything about not working for Live. Seems absurd but then again...

 

You can actually purchase one via:
http://microsoftstore.com.

 

Hey there!

Thanks for the support message.

No, you can not use currency to purchase anything on the Microsoft Store. The funds in the account can not be refunded once they are redeemed. Your son can still use the funds to purchase a game or something else on Xbox though! See: Trouble with an Xbox
Gift card/Currency in your account? - FAQ

Cheers!

 

Yeah, I'm sure he'll find something to blow the $75 on. But he'll have to save up for Live again. You could be clearer on the cards that they won't work for Live.

It's not as if this is a new issue...

xbox.uservoice.com/.../6028656-use-our-microsoft-money-to-buy-xbox-live

 

The fact that Xbox Live Gold renews monthly, currency is something that can only be used when redeemed to the account. This is the reason why it cannot be used as an alternative option to purchase gold. The said service need an active account that can charge
a payment instrument directly from a customer's bank account.

 

Hey Phoobee, I don't know what you're trying to say. I do know you don't need a "bank account" to have Live Gold. Clearly you can top it up when needed with vouchers. And he's not topping up monthly. He wanted to buy a 12 month sub. Like I said, he's a13
year old kid that doesn't have a credit card.

It's just a ridiculous set up having your account split up over two payment requirements. Imagine if the Apple app store or the Google Play store was run like that. One payment option for music, apps, movies, etc and other payment option for subscriptions.
It's nuts and that's why they don't do it.

If the vouchers he bough said they won't work with Live then he wouldn't have bought them. But they don't and he he bought them with the expectation of renewing his Live sub. So MS are happy that they have his $75 locked away and can expect him to fork out
another $75 (at some point in the distant future) to get his Live active.

Think I'm going to pursue this further. I have the vouchers here and I'm going to contact our Consumer Protection organisation to get their take on the wording (or lack of) on the vouchers.

 

Hey there!

The reason why it doesn't say it on the cards itself, is because you read and agreed to it in the Terms of Use. That's also the reason why there are pre-paid Xbox Gold cards. Your son could have just used that money to simply purchase a pre-paid card.
You can sometimes find a year of gold for pretty cheap to at some retailers. I've seen them sell as low as $40.

Cheers!

 

@fast and happy, I do understand that this is really frustrating on your part as a parent and you actually have a point there. Please do send us a feedback regarding this as we know that your feedback improves our service:
Web Server's Default Page.

 

Why would the op send you feedback? You don't work for Micrososft.

Ambassadors are just regular gamers & posing as Microsoft staff will get you banned.

This thread has been answered,no need to add to it.

 

I am asking our customer to post a feedback like a suggestion so that Microsoft can learn about these issues and see if they can make an adjustments or possible changes for our customers' convenience.