Overcharging $370 for Xbox Live Gold

So it appears that I've spent $670 on an Xbox Live Gold subscription in the last five years. Not on games, not on downloads; just the subscription alone. All that for playing a few hours of Left4Dead and allowing my Xbox to show Netflix. It should've been
$60 a year, roughly $300 in total. But apparently I'd been paying a %110 premium per year so I could cancel at any point.

In my defence, I'd noticed an occasional payment of 12 or so dollars from my credit card, but had assumed it was adding up to the $60 per year subscription.

Needless to say telephone support could not offer a meaningful refund nor apology.

As a game developer who has made, amongst others, 7 Xbox 360 games, I want the Xbox to do well. It's good for the games industry, it's good for my career and it's good for gamers.

Dear Microsoft, treating your gamers and game developers as money-cows, to be milked for every cent without concern nor apology will only serve to widen the margin by which your competitors outsell you. You have turned what could've been a situation where
you offered a partial refund and STILL kept 5 years of my subscription money into a deep and continuing annoyance with your subscription model and my now cancelled subscription. You MUST do better to keep your paying customers.

:)

 

Overcharging my account for an XBox Live Gold Subscription

You would need to contact support and speak to billing. Contact Us | Xbox Support

 

Overcharging my account for an XBox Live Gold Subscription

I have just renewed my XBox Live Gold Subscription for 12 months. However, the link I did this through on the XBox itself told me that the cost would be just £26.50 and you have billed me for the full £39.99

I have a screen photo of the offer as it stood at the time the payment was made if there is a need to supply you with proof.

Please let me know how you intend to refund this difference.

Thanks you.

 

Hello there BelatedRegret It`s your responsibility to make sure that you check your billing statements and payment history to make sure everything is in order. There is nothing we can do for you here. This is a problem for Xbox Support as
you have previously stated.



Needless to say telephone support could not offer a meaningful refund nor apology.

6.9. Refund policies. Unless otherwise provided by law or by a particular Service offer, all purchases are final and non-refundable.



It should've been $60 a year, roughly

6.8. Price changes. We may change the price of the Services at any time and will notify you by email at least 15 days before the price change. If you do not agree to the price change, you must cancel and stop using the Services before
the price change takes effect. If there is a fixed term and price for your Service offer, that price will remain in force for the term.

 

PR1NCE, if there is an overcharge then it needs to be made right. The price of an annual Gold membership has not changed from $59.99. If Xbox Support will not fix it, contact your bank.

 

PR1NCE DARKNESS, I appreciate you taking the time to respond.

With regard to your comment "There is nothing we can do for you here. This is a problem for Xbox Support as you have previously stated.", I was told by an Xbox Support person specifically that, if I wished
to raise the complaint further, the Xbox Forum was my only recourse. Apparently the
Feedback section of the Xbox Support site has recently been dissolved. Apologies if that advice appears to have been incorrect.

With regard to your comment "It`s your responsibility to make sure... everything is in order", of course, a company can legally change their pricing structure to be highly costly for a customer without providing any additional
benefit for said customer. It is indeed my ultimate responsibility to protect my money from such companies. I had simply hoped that Microsoft was not a company that I needed to protect myself from.

Just as you understand that this situation is technically within the law, I'm certain you can understand my disappointment.

On a side note, I honestly can't remember the last time a took to a keyboard, let alone to a forum, to complain about a product or service. I'm just not that type of guy. If the person on the support line had said "Hey, what the hell, let's comp you
the next 6 months and then you'll roll onto $5 a month for Live Gold" I wouldn't have blinked, I would've thought "well, silly me, I've lost a few bones but at least they were helpful" and I would've still paid $340 for nothing. Even a "hey, we really appreciate
you paying us $130+ a year, it helps us make better games!" would've soothed me. Anyway, I'm just waffling now. You get my drift, I'm not being a jerk, just bummed that I've spent a game-console amount of money on absolutely nothing. You feel me?