Promotional Account Balance Concern

Das Booooooooot · Sep 4, 2016

I have $20 expiring today in my Microsoft Account Balance. However, at the moment, it's only visible on my Xbox 360, but not on my Xbox One. The item that I wanted to purchase was The Witcher 3 Expansion Pack.

Mark from Microsoft support recommended that someone here might be of service. My reference number is [Mod Removed]. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

- Nikolai.

:)

Waynej · Sep 4, 2016

How to check your Xbox MSP expiry dates

I've seen some comments on this elsewhere in the forums, and while someone may have posted this before now, I've certainly not seen it.

For those unaware and concerned over their Microsoft points expiring, you can check the exact date that they expire. Sign into Xbox.com with your gamertag, click My Account at top right, goto Billing History and then click the Payment Options tab, this will display your recent Microsoft points purchases and their expiration date. Naughty, naughty, Microsoft. :nono:

All Microsoft points will expire 12-mths after their redeemed date. It's not just the points that you had on your account before they were converted to real currency, Microsoft points that you can still currently buy today will also expire after 12-mths.

If you don't like Microsoft vapourising your virtual money then you'd be best to stick to the new Xbox Gift Cards, but with Xbox One and day-1 digital right around the corner I am sure most of us will use this money up before it gets checked out and placed into BillyG's bank account.

And here's another bit of info from the FAQ, I'll bolden the interesting bit. It mainly states whenever you buy anything Microsoft automatically use the money that is closest to expiring.

What is the difference between promotional and non-promotional balances?

From time to time, and for marketing purposes, Microsoft may offer promotional gift cards that you can redeem to your Microsoft account. A promotional gift card may require that you redeem the value listed on the card, or use any redeemed balance, by a certain date or within a certain time period. Please refer to any terms and conditions associated with the promotion in question for specific details or restrictions.

Any balance in your Microsoft account that has not been designated as promotional will not expire. However, if you do not use your account balance for a prolonged period of time, the law may require us to consider your account balance abandoned. In that case, and in some countries where the law requires it, we may be obliged to transfer any non-promotional balance in your account to the appropriate government authority and you will have to retrieve your funds from the relevant authority. We will try to reach you and give you adequate notice before transferring your account balance.

When using your account balance to make a purchase at a participating Microsoft store, Microsoft automatically uses any promotional value in your account balance before any other value that is stored in your account, and does so in the order of the promotional value scheduled to expire first.Click to expand...
Click to expand...

King0fAmerica · Sep 4, 2016

Account balance query

Hi

On 26th October 2016 I got a deposit of £48.60 via the Xbox Live Rewards promotion, with a further deposit of £4.80 on 9th November 2016 via the same route.

I bought a game for £2.24 on 1st November 2016. I then bought some further games on November 9, 10, 13 & 15 totalling £39.80.

However, looking at the balance on my account, it states the following:

£46.36 expires on 24/10/2017

£4.80 expires on 07/11/2017

It seems that the game purchase on November 1 came off the Xbox Live Rewards promotional balance but all the other purchases came off my normal (non-promotional) balance. This is contrary behaviour to what has been done in the past; that is, any balance
gained from Xbox Live Rewards promotions has been used first, and then my normal (non-promotional) balance has been used.

Further, in your billing FAQ, it states that this recent behaviour should not be happening, as, I quote:

“When using your Microsoft account to make a purchase at a participating Microsoft store, Microsoft automatically uses any promotional balance in your account before any other amount stored in your account, and does so in the order of the promotional balance
that is scheduled to expire first.”

This quote is taken from https://commerce.microsoft.com/PaymentHub/Help?lang=en-gb

Therefore, can you advise why my normal (non-promotional) balance is being used before my promotional balance?

Thanks

ngocphi · Sep 4, 2016

Diferenct currency then your xbox one setting ?

For example your account region is France but you have a UK or us account to gain access to us or UK English content on your xbox one

Where your xbox one is console region dependent the xbox 360 region cannot be changed on the fly

So if your promotional account balance is in France or Euro you wouldn't be able to use it until you change the console settings on your xbox one

Or you are using an Canadian xbox live account but you use the us setting on xbox one the same thing applies

Currency is region specific.

Misses Quinzel · Nov 3, 2018

Hey, Nikolai! It sounds like your Xbox One might have reflected the expired set of currency before your Xbox 360 did. You should have been able to use this currency on the website for the same content. Were you running into issues there?

ngocphi

Diferenct currency then your xbox one setting ?

For example your account region is France but you have a UK or us account to gain access to us or UK English content on your xbox one

Where your xbox one is console region dependent the xbox 360 region cannot be changed on the fly

So if your promotional account balance is in France or Euro you wouldn't be able to use it until you change the console settings on your xbox one

Or you are using an Canadian xbox live account but you use the us setting on xbox one the same thing applies

Currency is region specific.

Misses Quinzel

Hey, Nikolai! It sounds like your Xbox One might have reflected the expired set of currency before your Xbox 360 did. You should have been able to use this currency on the website for the same content. Were you running into issues there?

Smwutches

It's not possible to pay for an overdue balance with a Microsoft account balance. Which you would have to pay that off before you could take part in the promotion anyway.

XBF Steven R

Hey there NightShade Q,

Thanks for reaching out to the Community for information on how to take advantage of your promotion.

I can understand how being in that situation can be confusing.

Your available balance should show in the payment options section of your Microsoft account. Does it look like your balance has changed since you got that email?

As put forth by @ArminatorX, it's best to make sure that you read all the email and be aware that sometimes scammers can send things to
people's email in an attempt to obtain their info.

I would say it'd be best for you to contact customer support
directly to see if they have any record of anything being credited to your account or anything that could be getting in the way of you using the balance.

When you get a chance, get with them and let us know if they were able to clarify things.

Thanks for reading!

NightShade Q

Thank you for the replies.

It's listed as a refund. Shouldn't be any currency conversions or anything.

Promotional Account Balance Concern