Haduken

Canceling Xbox Live: Someone needs to die.

by: Ross

Not to nerd it up too much, but I canceled my Xbox Live service today — after much travail. I got an email from Microsoft saying they were about to automatically charge my credit card fifty bucks if I didn’t do anything about it. I popped on xboxlive.com and started to look for the “Cancel Your Service” link.

Well, that link doesn’t exist.

I logged into Microsoft Passport or whatever and I was prompted with a form allowing me to upgrade my Xbox Live account! There were zero other options.

I ended up having to search the site for “cancel xbox live” and then scroll down three pages for one sentence that said “call this phone number.” Ugh. After calling the number I had to listen to “Max” their super hip phone-answering-robot, who for some reason couldn’t understand anything I said. Finally I got to the right place and was put on hold to four measures of techno music with the lyrics: “equality, fairness, super harmony.”

It was awesome.

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  1. you should add the phone number to your post to assist others (me) when they are reminded of their subscriptions that haven’t been used in a year.

    sometimes when i get those things you have to talk to, i find that the best thing to do is just sit there quietly until it gives up. usually then it will fwd you to a huu-maan.

    — midas | @

  2. Or keep hitting zero.

    — RMSzero | @

  3. robots hate zero.

    — midas | @

  4. I actually started with the old stand by of “#00##**##0#*” which will generally kick you out to a person. And it did but …

    It took me to a Live Technical Help person who cannot cancel your account and cannot transfer you to someone who can.

    The number btw is: 1-800-469-9269.

    — MaxPower | @

  5. i am calling that number right now.

    — chewy | @

  6. i mean, the robot’s name is max… xbox helpdesk HAS to just be his dayjob

    — wolf++ | @

  7. What is it with some companies?

    I understand the importance of customer retention but helping people acheive their goals, which sometimes includes ending a relationship, is ultimately more important.

    Contrast your Xbox Live experience to cancelling an ancestry.com account, which we did recently.

    Clicked on Help. Selected the second option in the help topics dropdown menu (”cancellation of account”) and then sent a few tidbits of info to cancel@ancestry.com. Five minutes later we get a reply saying we’re all done.

    Making it easy to leave also makes me more willing to come back.

    — Tripp Fenderson | @

  8. I tried to do this about a year and a half ago when my xbox broke. I also could not find any links for canceling. Luckily? for me I had canceled the credit card that they had the number for, so when they tried to auto-renew me they couldn’t. Then after about 2 months of emails threatening me of canceled service it was gone. Yay!

    — nic | @

  9. you know, after your xbox live experience and rebooting after windows has crashed for the 923348589th time this week, I’m really beginning to hate microsoft. Just kidding, I’ve hated microsoft for a long time now.

    But hey, who want’s a mac?

    — RVAkid | @

  10. Not me.

    I mean, sometimes I want one, but I know it’s forbidden love and that it isn’t meant to be.

    — RMSzero | @

  11. mac pwns

    i didnt have a very hard time getting it cancelled. but they did try to get me to get a credit card which i thought was weird and annoying.

    anyway its done.

    i want a 360. but i also dont want one. who knows. who am i?

    — chewy | @

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