Refunding an Xbox Live Annual Renewal Fee?

craigandthem is curious about the following: "Recently, I was going over my credit card statement, and noticed a charge I didn't remember making. After investigating, I determined that it was an auto-renewal for my Xbox Live account (for an Xbox that hasn't worked in months). I called to have the fee refunded, and Microsoft refused. They informed me that since it had been longer than 60 days from when my account was renewed, I was not eligible for a refund. The problem lies in that they didn't charge my credit card until December 26, despite renewing my account on November 15. I feel that this was done to increase the odds that I'd only be aware of the charge after it was too late to have reversed. They also claim I had fair warning I was going to be charged, since they sent me an email detailing my upcoming renewal. The email was sent to an old university account, which was de-activated after I graduated, and therefore never received. Have any fellow Slashdot readers received similar treatment, and if so, were you able to recover your money? Legally, is it my obligation to keep my Xbox Live information up to date to avoid this dilemma?"

Here's what you're legally required to do!

[Gizzmonic]

Take your Xbox...put it on the floor next to your TV. Turn it on (may I suggest "Dead or Alive Beach Volleyball"?!?!). Take a bath.

Come back when you're all wet. Take a sheet rock saw and start sawing away at the Xbox's power cord while you're all wet.

Soon, the cord will fray, and it will electrocute you. Now you're dead! This is a good thing, because you're no longer bound by the laws of time/space.

Go back in time and develop Cinnamon Rice Krispies instead of Cocoa Krispies. Then leave a sheet rock saw under your couch so that your future self will be able to use it to kill himself, setting you free.

If you follow these easy instructions, the Xbox will be free of all demons! And it will stay crunchy in milk!

XBox you say?

[GeorgeH]

If this were a reoccurring fee with TiVo or Apple or a Linux company, I'd say that you had fair warning and it's your fault for not protecting your money. I'd say that these things happen from time to time and the best thing to do is to suck it up and learn from the experience.

But since this is Microsoft they have maliciously cheated you out of your money and you should do everything you can do to get it back. Call your credit card company and accuse them of fraud. Do it so that they don't extend their IE monopoly into the game console arena and so they'll give away all their source code under the GPL!

If this were some company that Slashdot wasn't predisposed to I'd probably have advice somewhere in the middle of those two answers.

Re:Like taking candy from a baby!

[TheWanderingHermit]

Oh my gosh! Microsoft has like 45+ billion dollars in cash, and they feel the need to resort to stealing $50 from recent college grads to pad

How do you think they got all that money?

Re:Here's what you're legally required to do!

[Sheetrock]

I was wondering where my damn saws went.