Xbox Chat Support Willful Denial of Clear Xbox Live Subscription Offer

I have been an xbox live subscriber for 9 years. I have been making purchases through the xbox store for years using my stored credit card info. My annual subscription is about to expire later this month on 6/19/2017.

Weeks ago, a banner ad from MS began appearing on my xbox one dashboard:



I selected the RENEW GOLD NOW button and was directed to the usual payment screen with my credit card identified. I selected the 12 months option (which showed the $39.99 price) and hit subscribe. I was given an error screen which said:



The error seems to indicate there is a problem with my credit card. (Note: The timestamp is current because the error has still not been corrected - this has been the condition for weeks.)

1) I contacted my credit card company. There is no block on my card.

2) Just to be sure, I entered a completely different credit card and got the same error.

3) I happened to make another purchase of a game using the first credit card and the transaction went through without a hitch.

Obviously, there's something wrong on the MS end.

I contacted support through the online chat and explained the situation. After fully explaining the situation and all the steps that I had already taken, I was given the following explanation by "Cher M.":

"As confirmed it here, the promotional offer or the discounted promo for the 12-months Gold membership is only available for those accounts that doesn't have any active Gold membership subscriptions. As what I can see here in my end, you currently have an
existing Gold membership which is the reason why you're having issues purchasing it right now."

I responded that the explanation "does not hold water." I was transferred to a manager. I ask anyone reading this post now to tell me if they really think the posted ad requires that I don't "have any active Gold membership subscriptions."

The ad reads "Your Gold is expiring 33% off when you renew now." The ad also says "don't lose access."

The manager, Fhinlyn Y., offered the following explanation, attempting to narrow the definition of the word "renew" to an action that can only occur after my subscription has expired. "Yes on the statement itself Brad, you see, "renew" meaning, you shouldn't
have any active subscription on the account before you can get the promotion."

The ultimate kick in the pants came when I pointed out the obvious contradiction that the ad's emphasis that renewing
now gets me 33% off implies that I may not get the discount if I wait until my subscription has expired as he/she is suggesting. The response: "I am so sorry Brad that this has caused you confusion regarding the promotion of the subscription. This is
not the impression that we want you to feel. I totally understand your side of things, Brad.
I myself have missed a few online deals due to real life activities."

My response: The ad is not ambiguous. "Your Gold is expiring 33% off when you renew now" You are telling me the ad does not mean what it clearly says and suggesting that I am confused by it. BTW when I attempt the purchase, I do not get a message that says
I am ineligible for the promotion. I get a message which tells me my payment method was not approved, but I know that is false."

The manager then followed up with: "Prices, promotions and availability of items are subject to change without prior notice. that is why we encourage users to purchase items while it is available. Again, we are unable to provide the discounted pricing
as offered recently."

When I pointed out that I had not missed the promotion and I was looking at it on my screen presently, I was given a string of corporate platitudes and the chat was abruptly cut.

I've never dealt with any customer support so willfully determined to deny the truth in order to avoid doing some work. Clearly, there is some problem on the MS end regarding the billing transaction. MS fully intends the ad to apply to me - a subscriber
who's subscription is about to expire.

We’re not talking about some unique or vague phrasing in the MS ad. Anyone who’s had a magazine subscription has seen this exact phrasing used on a promotion sent with one of their last magazine copies BEFORE the subscription expires – “Your subscription
is expiring. X% off when you renew now!”



In addition, I later realized that this problem does not only occur when I access the deal through the ad – if I just go directly to my “membership” screen and try to extend another 12 months, the same thing happens. The only price it will show me is the
sale price but it won’t let me purchase 12 months. (If I had known this, I would have never mentioned the ad – I could have just said that I’m trying to purchase 12 more months and the transaction fails.)

I'll wait and see if anyone on the MS team is going to fix this.

Cheers,



P.S. Here's the complete chat transcript below.

Hi, thanks for visiting Xbox Support! I'm Cher M..

3:44 pm

Cher M.

Thank you for your patience waiting on the queue. I hope you are doing great today!

3:44 pm

Cher M.

How may I assist you, Brad?

3:45 pm

Me

I am responding to xbox banner offer for 12 months of xbox live 33% off - $39.99 but xbox will not let me pay. Error message says "invalid payment instrument" but I have used this same stored card on the xbox to buy another game.

3:45 pm

Cher M.

Oh dear! I'm sorry to hear that. No worries, you got me! I will do my best to be able to help you resolve the issue right away.

3:45 pm

Me

I have also contact my credit card company and they say there is no block on the card. In addition, I have tried a completely different credit card and I get the same error.

3:45 pm

Cher M.

Thank you for the additional information, Brad.

3:46 pm

Cher M.

I may need to check your account here in my end for further information.

3:46 pm

Cher M.

May I have your gamertag please?

3:46 pm

Me



3:47 pm

Cher M.

Cool gamertag! Thank you for the information.

3:47 pm

Cher M.

May I know if the promotional offer is available on your console dashboard or online?

3:48 pm

Me

console dashboard

3:48 pm

Cher M.

Alright and is it your profile that is currently signed in to your console?

3:50 pm

Me

yes

3:50 pm

Me

I'm on the error screen now.

3:50 pm

Cher M.

Would it be possible for you to try a different card?

3:51 pm

Me

I did already.

3:51 pm

Cher M.

Alright, thank you.

3:51 pm

Me

I've also tried multiple times over the last few days with the same result.

3:52 pm

Cher M.

Let me check our end for any issues with getting the discounted price.

3:52 pm

Me

I've also used that same card to buy another game (Voodoo Vince) in the meantime with now problem.

3:52 pm

Cher M.

Please wait while I check this out for you and I'll be right back, okay?

3:52 pm

Cher M.

Alright

3:54 pm

Cher M.

Thank you so much for patiently waiting, Brad.

3:54 pm

Cher M.

As confirmed it here, the promotional offer or the discounted promo for the 12-months Gold membership is only available for those accounts that doesn't have any active Gold membership subscriptions. As what I can see here in my end, you currently have an
existing Gold membership which is the reason why you're having issues purchasing it right now.

3:56 pm

Cher M.

I understand this is not the outcome you wish to have and it looks like you still wish to explore additional help. I have my manager ready to talk to you for further assistance and options. Please stay online while I transfer you.

3:57 pm

System

You've been transferred to another agent

3:58 pm

Me

Sorry, but the explanation doesn't hold water:

3:59 pm

(Manager) Fhinlyn Y.

Hi there. This is Fhinlyn, one of the managers on duty. I understand that you are having issue with the gold promotion that you wanted to avail?

4:00 pm

Me

The ad reads: "Your Gold is expiring 33% off when you renew now"

4:00 pm

Me

Your colleague just told me the reason why I wasn't being allowed to purchase the 12months 33% off is "12-months Gold membership is only available for those accounts that doesn't have any active Gold membership subscriptions."

4:01 pm

(Manager) Fhinlyn Y.

Yes and thank you for the information that you have given. I believe that you still have active gold subscription right now right Brad?

4:01 pm

Me

But the ad specifically says "Your Gold is expiring 33% off when you renew now"\

4:02 pm

Me

The ad indicates that I already have an active membership that is "expiring"

4:02 pm

Me

The ad does not say that my membership has "expired"

4:03 pm

(Manager) Fhinlyn Y.

Yes on the statement itself Brad, you see, "renew" meaning, you shouldn't have any active subscription on the account before you can get the promotion.

4:03 pm

Me

I do have an active subscription

4:03 pm

Me

My subscription will expire later this month. It is active now.

4:04 pm

(Manager) Fhinlyn Y.

Yes you do have an active subscription however for you to be able to avail the promotion, we may need to wait till the subscription expires.

4:04 pm

Me

Then why does the ad say specifically that I will get the 33% off if I renew "now."

4:05 pm

Me

The ad implies that I won't get the 33% off if I wait until it's expired.

4:06 pm

(Manager) Fhinlyn Y.

I am so sorry Brad that this has caused you confusion regarding the promotion of the subscription. This is not the impression that we want you to feel. I totally understand your side of things, Brad. I myself have missed a few online deals due to real life
activities.

4:09 pm

Me

The ad is not ambiguous. "Your Gold is expiring 33% off when you renew now" You are telling me the ad does not mean what it clearly says and suggesting that I am confused by it.

4:11 pm

Me

BTW when I attempt the purchase, I do not get a message that says I am ineligible for the promotion. I get a message which tells me my payment method was not approved, but I know that is false.

4:13 pm

(Manager) Fhinlyn Y.

To be honest I am with on this Brad, me myself would also want to avail in promotion especially for gold. And as a Microsoft employee, I'm afraid we don't have special deals available for us. We rely on what's available online too.

4:15 pm

Me

If not you, who do I talk to in order to get the advertised offer?

4:16 pm

(Manager) Fhinlyn Y.

Prices, promotions and availability of items are subject to change without prior notice. that is why we encourage users to purchase items while it is available. Again, we are unable to provide the discounted pricing as offered recently

4:17 pm

(Manager) Fhinlyn Y.

Do you have anything else that I can be of help for now?

4:17 pm

Me

It's available now - I'm looking at it on my xbox.

4:18 pm

Me

I'm trying to purchase it now.

4:18 pm

(Manager) Fhinlyn Y.

I believe I've already provided you with the resolution path, and I know it's not your ideal path. Still, I'm glad you checked with us so we can provide you the solution that's available and address your questions.

4:18 pm

(Manager) Fhinlyn Y.

I respect your opinion, and I'm not here to argue with you at all, Brad. Do know that I'm doing my best to provide you the utmost customer service and tech support that I can offer. I hope you can understand as well, that if there are policies, we need to
abide by those, to avoid chaos.

4:19 pm

(Manager) Fhinlyn Y.

Now, I don't want to waste any more time, and I believe I've already explained the process, and that I'm unable to override or do anything, as much as I would want to.

4:19 pm

(Manager) Fhinlyn Y.

Thanks again, and it's been pleasure assisting your today. Have a great day!

4:19 pm

(Manager) Fhinlyn Y.

Your Xbox Support agent (Manager) Fhinlyn Y. has ended your chat session. Thanks for visiting Xbox Support.

4:19 pm

System

Chat has ended.

4:19 pm

:)

 

Just Cause 3 Xbox One

OK, so seeing your post @Beard of Steel reminded me that I still haven't got my code. I've just spoken to support on live chat and was told that the offer is still valid, but codes seem to be quite slow at being issued right now. They said that the best thing to do would be post in the Xbox forums and she gave me a link to the correct sub-forum. It might be worth giving that a go rather than trying live chat again?

08 - Promotions & Special Offers on Xbox One - Xbox One Support - Xbox.com Forums

 

Unwanted Subscription Renewal

At this point you might be better off contacting support for this issue since you have already turned off auto renewal. To call Xbox Support 1-800-4MY-XBOX you could also try the chat with support feature here
support.xbox.com/.../contact-us

Here's the link for turning off auto renewal or canceling your subscription
support.xbox.com/.../cancel-xbox-live-gold-subscription

 

Will anyone from MS support address my problem above?

 

Hey there BKLortz.

Really sorry about the frustrations. Because this a billing issue, this isn't something we can really assist with over the forums, as it requires personal information. I definitely understand the frustrations with chat and it's not the experience we want you
to have. That being said, have you by chance tried reaching back out and mentioned that you've attempted to purchase Xbox Live Gold outside of the advertisement and it's still not going through?

Additionally, if you try to renew here on Xbox.com, are you seeing the discounted price or do you see the regular price? It's possible that the offer has expired for you but your Xbox One has yet to update it's advertisements. Give your Xbox One a full power
cycle by holding down the power button for 8-10 seconds to see if there's any change with the offer you see.

 

Thanks for responding.

I continue to see the offer banner every time I'm on the xbox. My live subscription expires 6/19. It seems to me, by both the wording of the offer and the timing of it presentation, it is intended to be available until my subscription actually expires.

I contacted phone support and had someone who did look into the billing issue. (Thankfully, he never suggested that I was somehow ineligible for the offer.) He was able to confirm that there was some "corrupted data" related to my account, but was unable
to clear up the issue.

In addition, I also looked at renewing my subscription through my browser at xbox.com. However, I am not seeing the discounted offer there - the purchase price is the full $59.99. Obviously, I would prefer to get the offer which is continuously shown to
me on my xbox.

At this point, I don't expect this problem will be corrected before the offer does disappear when my subscription expires. It would be great if someone who had the authority there would just charge $39.99 on my card and then add another year to my subscription.
I've already outspent the dangled $20 savings in time and frustration trying to see this through on principle.

I'm not the type of person who always has some gripe against a large impersonal corporation complaining that they are a victim of the systems and bureaucracy when the "common sense" solution is so simple and self-evident, but this time I guess I am. You
win MS.