I figured this would be of interest to enough people to warrant it's own thread, so folks catch it.
Logged onto Xbox.com this morning and went to accounts to check my download history for the month.
Noticed that the layout has changed a little, and that the option to untick 'Auto-renewal' by my Xbox Live subscription had returned - it was disabled a while back.
I'm sure this had annoyed people - only way to cancel was to phone MS, and I'd heard some people had some real grief trying to do this.
There is a slight caveat however, when I clicked the ticked box to disable auto-renewal, there was the usual page extolling the virtues of Xbox Live and also a little blurb saying if I top-up my Live subscription using a pre-paid card before Live Gold expires (next year) Auto-Renewal will reactivate itself! :P
I'd taken advantage of a big discount (40%) when I signed up for Auto-Renewal, knowing full well it may be tricky to 'kill' once activated. Previously I'd used a combination of pre-paid cards and various offers (I'd actually used Live for free for a couple of years due to various bundled peripheral deals and some sneaky trading on a warranty-replaced RROD'd 360 or two). I'll happily continue paying for the service since I get so much use out of it but either through another deal on the Dash / Marketplace or through discounted pre-paid cards. Auto-Renewal on your credit card and paying full price is a bit daft, really glad the option to turn it off has returned.
Might not stay there forever though!
Also worth noting I'm a Euro (UK) user, no idea if this option will be available for all territories.
Would be awesome if this doesn't turn into a "fneeer paying for online, how stupid" thread, thanks. :^:
Posts
"To cancel your Xbox LIVE membership or to change your auto renewal status, please call Xbox Support."
http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/hm19n/how_to_cancel_xbox_live_auto_renew_without/c1wor6b
The only problem with that option is you won't be able to buy point cards directly through the Xbox anymore. True, you can get point cards all over the place, but going out and buying them, then taking the time to input the code, take significantly more work.
There's really no reason you can't turn off auto-renew with a click of a button, considering you can subscribe with a click of a button.
Also the UK site links to accounts at xbox.com, so shouldn't it be the same for any country? Note that it says to call support to turn it off, and then underneath says you can also use the link provided.
wait, they just give you a code right when you buy it? that's, like woah
I've been getting all mine this way for ages now. Shopto here in the UK used to send you a code direct to your phone and email (no extra charge), but have now changed it to where they have an image of a code that you have to log in to access. Still though, pay money, receive instant code.
MY MIND HASN'T PROCESSED THAT BEFORE.
Why would I drive to gamestop (gas money) pay sales tax (from buying live for a year) and waste $60 dollars from said year sub?
WHEN ITS ON AMAZON FOR $48.99.
Thanks for the tip.
Nailed it.
...or stop being jackholes and let people cancel their fucking service without the hassle. *sigh* Evil Microsoft (TM) may not be as evil as they used to be, but they're still evil.
Thanks for the PayPal thinger. I'll give it a shot.
Wait, you can do that now?
I always thought it was madness when you bought a points card from them, they insisted on mailing the damn thing to you in enough packaging to choke Captain Planet.
No. The site even says "Online Game Code." It comes to you in e-mail, and then you can just copy-paste that into the xbox.com window. Easy.
The downside is that the point codes rarely go on sale like the point cards do.
I haven't owned an Xbox for years, but it keeps renewing my gold membership once a year and I every time I call them to cancel it I just give up because they're twats. I just got off the phone with them again and when I told the guy what I wanted he just went "... hm, okay, yeah. Lets help you do that" and then spent the next 5 minutes pretending I sounded like a robot and there was massive distortion and he couldn't make out my handle. Eventually I just hung up. FUCK Xbox live support.
Yep. That trick can cause more harm than good.
Really the best bet to get around this is to just call Microsoft and tell them to turn off auto-renewal. It's a little bit of a hassle, but it's the only way.