xbox 360

I have completely lost faith in the company’s Support staff. Having asked the same question for the third time, I received this email from a ‘Joseph’.

Hello James,

Thank you for contacting Microsoft online support for XBOX. I am Joseph and I will be helping you today with this issue.

We have received your email and understand that you would like to cancel the auto renewal of your account.

James as you has been informed numerous times we cannot cancel the auto renewal of your account over email. This support line is for Xbox technical troubleshooting and Xbox setup only . As much as we would like to help we do not have the tools to process your request.

No matter how many times you email us we would be unable to cancel the auto renewal of you account.

If you need to replay to this email and, please reply ‘with history’ (include any previous email) or reference to Service Request Number 1145989902 so we can expedite our service to you.

For future questions on Xbox products or services, please be sure to revisit our web site xbox.com, as we are continually adding information to enhance our service.

Best Regards,

Joseph

Microsoft Xbox Support Services

It’s amazing how someone can be so up front and to the point yet completely miss the point by ignoring the question I asked. Needless to say, he did not help me today with this issue. In fact, he completely missed the issue, which is amazing seeing how completely up front and stern he attempted to be. While acting like he’d read my emails (“No matter how many times you email us”), he obviously did not read them, otherwise his email would of included a message explaining the answer.

Hi. I have been in contact with your support team, in which I have asked a very simple question which your team members "Rio", "Krafft" and "Joseph" all failed to answer, instead dodging my question. For a complete history of my emails you can look at the following page, in which the last few emails are in the last articles. http://zombieskittles.com/series/james-vs-xbox-live

I now have two questions.

1) Why is it that I -or anyone with or without my permission- can make purchases through my account on the Xbox or via the website with little to no verification, yet to do something as simple as stop Automatic Renewal, I have to make a phone call for "high security verification"? Should it not be the other way around?

2) In lieu of the way Support has responded -or not as it seems- to my question, I’ve moved from simply trying to cancel my Automatic Renewal to cancelling my account completely. If I do so, will I lose anything I have downloaded from Live? E.G. Games and demos.

If you could answer these two simple questions, that would be nice.

I’m actually a little sceptical as to whether or not they’ll actually answer this email properly. I do hope though.

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After a few days, I received an email back from Xbox, saying nothing but the usual crap, and asking that next time I show all history so they know where to work from. Meanwhile, “Krafft” completely ignored my question.

Hello James,

This is Krafft, with Microsoft XBOX Support services.

We are sorry for the inconvenience and as I understand, you want to cancel the auto renewal feature of your account. It is advisable that you call Xbox Customer Support. Your concern requires personal information for verification which cannot be divulged over email.

If you need to reply to this e-mail, please reply ‘with history’ (include any previous e-mail) so we can expedite our service to you.

This is frustrating. I did not think that my question was so hard to answer. So, here’s my reply.

Hello. I have been in contact with several members of Xbox Support about stopping automatic renewal. In the process, no one has actually answered my questions, dodging them to spout the same thing every time as if off a template.

Here’s the last email I sent, in which "Krafft" neglected to answer my question, which I didn’t think was too difficult at all.

"If someone jumped on my Xbox, they’d only need to select my account, and they’d have full access to buy any number of things. On the website, the only thing separating myself or anyone from making purchases is a username and password.
I would like to know why I, or anyone, can jump on and spend my money with little to no "security" or verification, but if I want to change something as simple as auto renewal on an account that I at least for now, will continue using and purchasing things in, I am expected to- essentially -jump through hoops."

I have been asked to provide support with history of the past emails sent. I have been blogging my progress as we’ve been exchanging emails, and you can see them and all the sent and received emails at http://zombieskittles.com/series/james-vs-xbox-live

I’m looking forward to your reply.

I’m hoping third time lucky and someone actually answers the question I have asked. If they can tell me that, I feel this will be one step closer to finishing.

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Receiving a reply to my email from “Rio”,  I feel as though he were less than helpful. Repeating twice that he apologizes for the inconvenience, he then pretty much repeated what Ana said, without answering my question at all.

Hello  James,

This is Rio, with Microsoft XBOX Support services.

Thank you for writing to Xbox Live. I understand that you need assistance in disabling the auto renewal option of your Xbox Live subscription however you feel that there is no need to do this over the phone. We apologize for the inconvenience.

I apologize for the inconvenience. However, to ensure authenticity, accuracy, and security, we need to speak directly with the credit card holder when changes are made to transactions linked to a credit card.

To turn off the auto renewal option of your Xbox Live subscription, kindly contact us by phone for further assistance.

As such, I responded.

Hello. I have been in contact with you chaps regarding my auto renewal status. I would like this changed, or at this stage at least have my questions answered. In my email exchange in which I got "Rio", however, he failed to answer my question and instead repeated "apologize for the convenience" a few times before repeating what "Ana" had told me.

If someone jumped on my Xbox, they’d only need to select my account, and they’d have full access to buy any number of things. On the website, the only thing separating myself or anyone from making purchases is a username and password.
I would like to know why I, or anyone, can jump on and spend my money with little to no "security" or verification, but if I want to change something as simple as auto renewal on an account that I at least for now, will continue using and purchasing things in, I am expected to- essentially -jump through hoops.

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I have received a reply to my inquiry about cancelling Automatic Renewal on my Gold subscription, which reads as follows.

Hello James,

This is Ana, with Microsoft Xbox Support services.

I understand that you would like to turn off your account’s auto-renewal.

With regards to this, all cancellations, billing questions, inquiries, and account or subscription problems are being address through our phone Support line. Additionally, access to a customer’s account information requires a high level of verification from you. This is to ensure the confidentiality and security of your account.

Thank you for understanding.

I do not understand. The only verification standing between anyone and my account information is my username and password. Why is it that I can make as many purchases as I want through my Xbox or the website at the touch of a button, yet they’re forcing me to call up just to stop? Let’s send another email.

Hello. I recently emailed Support about turning Automatic Renewal off on my Gold account. I was informed by "Anna" that it had to be done over the phone, attributing it to the high level of verification needed.
However, I do not understand. The only verification standing between anyone and making an infinite number of purchases on my account over the website, is my username and password. Furthermore, there is absolutely no verification on the Xbox itself; they merely need to select my account on the dashboard, and they’re in to spend my money as they wish.
Why is it that there is little to no verification in the act of purchasing an item, yet the moment I want to stop automatically billing myself, you require I call up? It does not make sense.

-James

I hope they actually respond beyond stock answers.

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I have a problem. A while ago while using Xbox Live Gold, they informed me over my Xbox that my membership was expiring and that I could automatically pay for my account’s next month using “Automatic Renewal”. Wanting to play my game, and enjoying the experience, I hit yes.

Fast forward several months and you get me today. I no longer use my Xbox as much as I’d like, and as such want to go back to paying for it every occasional month that I want the perks Gold membership offers. This is where things get annoyingly difficult.

There is no way to change your Automatic Renewal status on the Xbox itself, and the website, while telling you that your status is set to ON, leaves no choice in the matter of turning it off. Contacting Xbox Support has told me that I need to call them in order to be put on hold for a long amount of time, before finally being given to someone who will more likely than not flounder around attempting to distract me or convince me not to cancel it. This bothers me because:

1. They made me call them.
2. They are quite willing to let me give them credit card details over the internet, which could be stolen, but they don’t want me taking it OFF, even though that actually doesn’t hurt anyone financially.
3. For me to be able to access everything online, I have to be able to log into the account. If I can log into the account on the website, I have to know the password. If I know the password then obviously it is me and I should have access to turn shit off if I damn well please.

Previous conversations with them over the online support in regards to trying to cancel AR has lead to them talking about cancelling my account and the like, which is bullshit.

So here’s the ultimatum; I am going to continue to contact them on Customer Support via the online form trying to argue them into disabling it. If they don’t, I will eventually call up their Support Line and cancel my account completely. When they ask why, I will tell them because of their “Shitty online support and inability to do anything like a normal fucking company.”.

I have started anew, and sent them the following email:

Hello, I am looking to cancel my Automatic Renewal on my account, as I do not have the desire to pay month to month for something I don’t actually use. While I still love and want to use the System, Gold Membership is something I want to be able to decide when to pay for and use. This in no way is me wanting to cancel my account completely.

However, I do not see a way to do so over the internet, even though only I can log into my account on the website, and therefore it makes sense to have the power to decide on the website. While you’re quite willing to let me put in the numbers for a billion credit cards, the ability to decide when I want to pay is not present.
Some real assistance in this matter would be appreciated.

Expect updates on this matter, whether you want it or not.

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