Redeemed XBL Gold 3 month prepaid card, unable to join parties despite account registering my ...

Check to see if the sub shows up on the account by going to

- Settings > Account > Subscriptions > You should see your 3 mo subscription on your account or you might see some relevant info there.

If you see the sub on the account, you might consider a console reset and use the KEEP my games and apps option and then add your account back after the reset is complete.

I am having a similar problem. Purchased 12 Month Live Gold Subscription Prepaid Card, entered the code online, and both online and on the console our Live account shows us to be a 12 Month Gold Member, but it won't let my kids start or join a party. Says,
"You must be an XBOX Live Gold Member to join a party." What????

Time you redeem via prepaid cards is fully added to whatever time is left on your son's account (up to 36 months).

So for example if your son has still 3 months of Gold left on his account, and you add a 12 month card, your son has 15 months of gold on his account.

Or if your son has an active subscription, and his subscription would renew in 3 months from now, and you add the 12 month card, the prepaid card will "pause" his subscription, activate 12 months, and after the 12 months of the card are over, the subscription
will continue with the remaining 3 months, and your son will have to be billed again in 15 months from now.

So there really is no need to wait until you redeem prepaid cards.

In fact, since some promotional cards have an expiry date on them, I heartily recommend to redeem prepaid cards as soon as possible.

But keep in mind, that you can have only up to 36 month of Gold or Game Pass time on your account.

Hello, EpicSpiderman7! Unfortunately, at this time, there is no way to pause or suspend your Gold membership. Once you redeem the prepaid card, the time starts. My only suggestion to you is to get a 3-month prepaid and save that 12-month until you get
back.

Indeed, token stacking works on a recent-first basis. The most recent membership you purchase or redeem is what is consumed first. If you have 3 weeks remaining on a 12-Month membership, and you redeem a 3-Month prepaid card, then after 3 months, those
remaining 3 weeks kick back in and it's business as usual. Peculiarly, if you have a 1-Month membership set to auto-renew, and you redeem a prepaid code, it will turn off automatic renewal. In other cases, if you had a renewing membership, but you turned
off auto-renewal, and you then redeem a prepaid card, this can turn your auto-renewal back on, as the prepaid card tells the system that you're not interested in canceling afterall. Therefore, it's always a good idea to go to Xbox.com/account after you've
set up your Gold, to make sure that the automatic renewal is in the state in which you desire it to be, on or off.