Impossible to cancel Xbox Live Online?

[Lovelocke]

Captchas suck... bad. I almost didn't want to post this...

"It seems to be impossible to make Xbox Live do anything but SIGN UP for service... do I really have to call the phone number to cancel my account? I swear I used to be able to do it in-browser..."

 

[Shiftysnowdog]

Most likely this is a security measure added so if someone's account is hacked, then the hacker would be unable to delete the account from the browser. Just another hoop/deterrent I suppose.

 

[Ridgemo]

The last time i did it i had to wait on the phone for about an hour. If there is a way to do it online, i couldn't find it. But i think thats why they do it, to try putting you off canceling.

 

[Wondermint13]

Yep.
I would say more but it wont help.
I tried taking a break from XboxLive during christmas but still ending up paying 2 months I never used just because I got sick of writing down links and phone numbers from websites... I'm sure I could have pushed harder and canceled but I really dont like phone or computers much so I just thought f*** it. I'd rather waste another £12 than navigate through that website another time!

 

[OakTaooper]

I canceled from the dashboard itself last time I canceled my XBL subscription, and got the confirmation e-mail within an hour. So, good luck with that I guess?

 

[drizztmainsword]

What happened with me was that my card expired at pretty much the same time as my Xbox Live Gold subscription did. I didn't want to renew, so I figured I'd just not update my payment information so that they couldn't charge me. For some reason, they didn't notice for another year, though I never did use Gold again.

 

[Booze Zombie]

You can unsubscribe your card details and make sure it's all set to not auto-renew, but it is fiddly.

 

[WrongSprite]

Yeah, same as Oak, I just cancelled from the dashboard, wasn't a big deal, unless they've changed it?

 

[Valksy]

I have had difficulty cancelling it too, and I just wanted them to stop emailing me to tell me that the credit card used to create it was expired. I know, I didn't bother updating it because I didn't want the service anymore and in the land of normal people if you elect not to pay for a service it is fair to assume that you don't fucking want it any more. Last time I was on their website the cancellation instructions/FAQ just went round in circles or went to "page not found". When I emailed them, I was told that I would have to ring them to cancel it.

Fuck. Right. Off. Am I really going to ring them to tell them that I am not going to update my credit card, I don't want their service, stop bloody emailing me?!

How about. No.

Annoying customers and stopping your service being transparent is a way to make sure that they never come back.

 

[Don't taze me bro]

Don't you just disable 'auto renewal' from the dashboard? It took less than a few minutes last time I didn't want to renew my Gold Account.

 

[lapan]

That's why i activate my Xbox Live with The Activation Cards, much less trouble.

 

[Infesord]

Yeah I had this issue too when I wanted to cancel. I thought having to call them up was the stupidest thing I've ever heard of. Security Reasons? Bullshit. Ever other service I have had with ANYTHING never REQUIRED to call them up. It was an option in case the other methods failed (for example you had a specific circumstance or something) but never the ONLY way.

Naturally like a few here mentioned, I just edited my credit card details so it was labeled as expired so they couldn't charge me. But low and behold the amount of emails they sent me. I simply ignored and deleted every single one. It was pretty ridiculous how many times they e-mailed me but eventually they stopped. I assumed they eventually figured it out.

As well I've never been a fan of how they set up their system to get in on it and definitely not on getting out. You'd think that everything you need to handle your account can be done on the dashboard and/or on the website. Telephone calls should only be for things that simply require a human touch. Canceling an account should NOT be one of them.

 

[Mister Benoit]

Captchas suck... bad. I almost didn't want to post this...

"It seems to be impossible to make Xbox Live do anything but SIGN UP for service... do I really have to call the phone number to cancel my account? I swear I used to be able to do it in-browser..."

At least for Quebec, Canada I've had to call in to cancel, there is no way to do it through either Xbox LIVE or their web site, it's pretty damn lame.

Then once you get them on the phone they will offer you discounts for about 5 minutes regardless of all the no's you say.

 

[ZombieGenesis]

It took me three days to get all the phonecalls and information gathering done- and even then the account wasn't removed even when they told it it was. I got charged for a futher two months before I had to call them up and pretty much demand it be shut off immediately.
Had to talk to a manager and explain the situation, I think they ended up cutting the service simply because I used the words 'legal action'.

Same problem happened for my little brother, except he gave up and just let them sap his account for another six months or so before our dad stepped in.

Once you cancel Xbox Live, never re-open it. It's not worth it.

 

[LawlessSquirrel]

I lost all my money, got spammed for months, got my account banned, and then eventually put back to silver finding this out. Yes, they expect you to call up and convince them to cancel your subscription, which is otherwise always recurring (unless you buy the time in-store).

I don't care if they claim it's to stop hackers, it comes off to me as a way to make it more inconvenient to stop the service. They're not exactly the paragon of open support and honest business choices.

This was Microsoft's strike two for me.

 

[Gromril]

Just get youyr bank to cancell the direct debit? Im sure if you stop payong microsoft your account will drop back to silver

 

[sneakypenguin]

I'm like 99% sure you can do it on the dashboard . At least that's what ive used the times I've gone gold to silver .

 

[fix-the-spade]

"It seems to be impossible to make Xbox Live do anything but SIGN UP for service... do I really have to call the phone number to cancel my account? I swear I used to be able to do it in-browser..."

Yup, M.Soft make it as difficult as possible to turn off auto renew or cancel an account.

Quite how this is legal is beyond me.

 

[SwiftBlade18]

The other year I had MS try to charge me for my old gamertag from original xbox...obviously I had thought I had cancelled this but apparently not. Fortunately when I phoned them up I got it cancelled within 15mins or so...luck of the draw I guess