Paid for xbox live membership via credit card and havent received the membership

Today I paid for a xbox live gold membership via credit card, and the money was charged to the credit card but I havent received the membership yet. The order status says pending but the credit card has already been charged.

How long does it take for the membership to be activated after payment has been made?

And is there any email address that one can contact microsoft about? as their website is extremely unhelpful.

:)