Money taken from expired card

DAVE465

Hi, in 2006 i signed up to xbox live (annual subcription of 39.99) with my debit card,
after the first year i decided i did not want to renew it as i never used it and as the card i had used had expired (6/2006) i expected that to be the end of it and i would not to be charged for the service again.

Yesterday however i noticed a 39.99 payment had recently been taken from my account and on checking my old statements i realised they had taken the payment annually for the last 4 years.

i am baffled by this, i can not use an expired card in a shop so how can anyone else ?

i rang microsoft but they said i was on a recurring subscrition and they were just following instruction, they confirmed the card had expired but said the bank had excepted the payments, so i guess it their fault? .

As anyone else had experence with anything like this before ?
surely the bank have to refund me ? :mad:

[Deleted User]

No, they don't. You gave Xbox a continuous payment authority, which CAN be claimed against an expired card. The bank is obliged to honour it.

Tell them you don't need the service anymore and ask nicely if they will refund it. They may, or they may not.

DAVE465

No i didn't,
i understood that once the card had expired then they could take no more payments from it,
Why then do they even ask for the expiry date wich it clearly still visable on my microsoft account and also the 3 digit code on the back, if they dont need it ?.

BoGoF

You understood wrong I'm afraid. You will have to convince Xbox to refund you, your card issuer did nothing wrong.

DAVE465

If i had done it as a direct debit or a standing order, as in agreed for money to be taken from my bank account directly i could understand, but i did not, i agreed for money to be taken from my debit card untill it expired. And you carn't use a debit card once it has expired can you ?, well i carn't anyway .

I am sure i wil be refunded in full

BoGoF

You don't understand a continuous payment authority, it is just that. It does not matter that the card had expired and yes you did agree (or would have done in the small print) that they could debit your account annually.

You made the incorrect assumption that no payment could be taken and did not cancel your annual subscription.

I wouldn't be to confident in your assumption you'll get a full redund but good luck.

MrTomato

DAVE465 wrote: »

If i had done it as a direct debit or a standing order, as in agreed for money to be taken from my bank account directly i could understand, but i did not, i agreed for money to be taken from my debit card untill it expired. And you carn't use a debit card once it has expired can you ?, well i carn't anyway .

I am sure i wil be refunded in full

Don't so sure about that, I'm trying to be refunded off them, and they just avoid the question of "when will you be refunding me?"

DAVE465

BoGoF wrote: »

You don't understand a continuous payment authority, it is just that. It does not matter that the card had expired and yes you did agree (or would have done in the small print) that they could debit your account annually.

You made the incorrect assumption that no payment could be taken and did not cancel your annual subscription.

I wouldn't be to confident in your assumption you'll get a full redund but good luck.

Well clearly i don't, but knowone has yet explained to me why they ask for details that they dont need and why when i log into my microsoft account do they tell me my card has expired and i need to update my details and also why i recieved a email a few weeks ago saying they were unable to process my payment as my card had expired.
There is clearly a grey area here and i intent to find it.

DAVE465

MrTomato wrote: »

Don't so sure about that, I'm trying to be refunded off them, and they just avoid the question of "when will you be refunding me?"

i have requested a postal address from them as they refuse to deal with anything properly by phone :mad:, i wil post it on here when i get it.
I have found i have had much better success with other companys by writing to them by recorded delivery.

it harder for them to ignor

DAVE465

Just got of the phone to them,
i didnt get a address, but on the email i sent them i demanded someone rang me back, wich they did much to my suprise, better that wasting hours trying to get hold of them ,

they acknowledged their mistake and are refunding me in full :j

i suggest everone else in the same position does the same, it's just a big con this recurring payment malarkey wether it's legal or not.

I did have alot of evidence on my side to be fair thoe, i had not used xbox live in 4 years and i had email saying that my card had expired and had been rejected from them, so they didnt have a leg to stand on really .

chasingsunshine_2

I cant offer any further info I'm afraid but I had the same thing happen to me a couple of months back- the annoying thing was I had tried to remove the card from my account in the days before the renewal was due but it wouldnt allow me to. I, wrongly it seems, assumed that it would decline anyway as it was out of date.

Having read your above post I should have followed it up with them but as I would have paid the fee on another card, had I been able to change it, I left it.
Very surprised that they can take it from an expired card though