Refunding an Xbox Live Annual Renewal Fee? 196
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?"
Credit is good, Debit is Bad (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Acutally, this just happened with me (Score:3, Interesting)
The email account I registered with is active and I check it regularily, i was not sent a message regarding being re-billed.
Interesting question about the TOS for X-BOx Live though, if your TV is too small to actually read the TOS, and thats the only place you see a lot of it, can they hold you to it?
Re:Credit Card Fraud Is a Serious Crime (Score:3, Interesting)
I make it easy on myself - I just send the company a written letter that they stop service and send it via certified mail.
The small change of certified mail is worth not having to deal with some kid on the phone for 30 mins.
Underhanded tactics (Score:2, Interesting)
Smartcards are good, Credit/Debit are bad (Score:3, Interesting)
This is why I wish everyone would use smartcards. While theoretically you could build an auto-payment authorization system with one, it isn't just a matter of "company A has your CC# and can charge you whatever they want to charge."
Re:Smartcards are good, Credit/Debit are bad (Score:2, Interesting)
Temporary credit card numbers are the way to go. (Score:2, Interesting)
November 15 you say? (Score:2, Interesting)
ALthough i feel sorry for your situation, there certainly isnt a clause in their contract that says "XBox Live, buy 12 months get 3 months free".
At the end of the day you've had access to their service for 3 months, and although i'd support the refund pro-rata, you can't possibly justify being refunded for the time you've already had access (whether you used it or not is hardly their fault).