Can't change country of Xbox Live account

Idiophreak

Hi All,

Not sure if this would be a techie one or a vent...I left it in techie as I'd *really like* a resolution to my problem if there is one...am venting about the fact I don't think there *is* a resolution though

My hotmail account is set to the US. I don't know why, I really don't...I don't see why I'd have put the US into it if asked...But that's besides the point. Anyway, when I created my Xbox Live account, it picked up "US" and ran with it...so I had to enter some bogus details for where I lived.

No big deal, I thought..and anyway, I can always change it. Pretty soon realised what the big deal was - you're unable to register a UK credit card to a US account. All the pre-paid codes are locked to a region, too...so can't use those. Oh and "I can always change it"...I was wrong. Once created, you can't change the country your account is locked to. You can't, MS can't, just can't. Ultimately, what does this mean? I can't renew my Gold account.

I just got off the phone to MS about it. Their suggestion? Order an American code from a US website. It's that, or start again, lose my GPs (only 8000, but still), friends list, game history, etc etc.

It's annoying in my situation, sure, but just the idea that *in this day and age* MS don't allow for the possibility that someone might...*move countries* I just think is horrific.

Has anybody else come across this problem and found any way round it?

Am I being stupid being *so forked off* about this?
(I just want to *give them my money* - should it be this hard!!?)

Thoughts and suggestions are more than welcome

beezel_bug

I am sorry you have fallen into this situation. There is only one solution Microsoft give and that is create a new account with the correct information.

I imagine that when you signed up with Hotmail the country was defaulted to "US" as all Microsoft products do this.

One reason I have heard in the past (from a podcast) is that countries have their own content listings on XBOX live due to licensing and age restrictions, laws, etc. So to allow someone to switch country on their profile allows them to obtain content they are not lawfully allowed to get.

Apart from creating a new account go to this website http://www.jasper1675.com/UKgoldcards.html. He sells live gold card for £10 cheaper than Microsoft and retail. What I do know is that the codes work on UK accounts, I DONT KNOW if they will work on US accounts.
The website looks "iffy" but I have purchased once with no problem and the code worked. Look for testimonials on game forums first that is what I did.

I hope this helps

Idiophreak

beezel_bug wrote: »

One reason I have heard in the past (from a podcast) is that countries have their own content listings on XBOX live due to licensing and age restrictions, laws, etc. So to allow someone to switch country on their profile allows them to obtain content they are not lawfully allowed to get.

Apart from creating a new account go to this website http://www.jasper1675.com/UKgoldcards.html. He sells live gold card for £10 cheaper than Microsoft and retail. What I do know is that the codes work on UK accounts, I DONT KNOW if they will work on US accounts.
The website looks "iffy" but I have purchased once with no problem and the code worked. Look for testimonials on game forums first that is what I did.

I hope this helps

I understand their are legitimate (ish) reasons for them wanting to prevent you changing the country of your profile at will, that's understandable. I don't understand, however, how MS fail to see there are legitimate reasons for people wanting to be able to change their country - moving country being the most obvious...There's no reason they couldn't have something in place to allow call centre staff to change this - but limit it to, say, 1 change per year - so that you could change it when you need to renew your subscription - that would be "reasonable".

Anyway, my renewal is up again in the next couple of weeks - I'll do the same thing I did last year, buy a cheaper US code off ebay. At least it will save me a couple of quid anyway.

And it's for the best - if I had a UK account I'd probably spend way too much money on downloads etc - guess it's just a good thing MS don't want my money

(codes are regionally locked, so if the ones you mention work in the UK, by definition they can't work in the US)

Thanks for your help, anyway.

[Deleted User]

Have you tried changing your details from within Hotmail?

Idiophreak

anewhope wrote: »

Have you tried changing your details from within Hotmail?

Yeah. Doesn't work.

Your location's drawn from hotmail into XBL the first time you set up the account, but never after that - so you can change the country in your hotmail account all you want (even use a different hotmail account altogether if you wish) - but XBL will never notice that you've done it.

jmc160

Idiophreak wrote: »

I understand their are legitimate (ish) reasons for them wanting to prevent you changing the country of your profile at will, that's understandable. I don't understand, however, how MS fail to see there are legitimate reasons for people wanting to be able to change their country - moving country being the most obvious...There's no reason they couldn't have something in place to allow call centre staff to change this - but limit it to, say, 1 change per year - so that you could change it when you need to renew your subscription - that would be "reasonable".

Anyway, my renewal is up again in the next couple of weeks - I'll do the same thing I did last year, buy a cheaper US code off ebay. At least it will save me a couple of quid anyway.

And it's for the best - if I had a UK account I'd probably spend way too much money on downloads etc - guess it's just a good thing MS don't want my money

(codes are regionally locked, so if the ones you mention work in the UK, by definition they can't work in the US)

Thanks for your help, anyway.

It all comes down to licensing. There's a lot more online content available on Xbox Live in the US, including music and videos that cannot be made available in the UK as well due to international licensing and embargos(sp?). A new movie released for download in the US may not be officially available in the UK until a few weeks (or even months) later. Microsoft don't take any chances with this kind of thing as they get sued a lot and are constantly scrutinized by the media for it, so do everything possible to minimize the chances of it happening. If it was possible to change your Xbox Live locale on a whim, imagine how easy it would be to pirate new movies...

ave you tried phoning them? There may be a support line that could help/advise you.

Idiophreak

jmc160 wrote: »

It all comes down to licensing. There's a lot more online content available on Xbox Live in the US, including music and videos that cannot be made available in the UK as well due to international licensing and embargos(sp?). A new movie released for download in the US may not be officially available in the UK until a few weeks (or even months) later. Microsoft don't take any chances with this kind of thing as they get sued a lot and are constantly scrutinized by the media for it, so do everything possible to minimize the chances of it happening. If it was possible to change your Xbox Live locale on a whim, imagine how easy it would be to pirate new movies...

ave you tried phoning them? There may be a support line that could help/advise you.

You're right of course about the different content - I've missed out on several UK only promotions as a consequence of this and haven't been able to enjoy the US ones (as I can't buy any MS points for the accout)...

That's what's frustrating - surely, if they're so bothered about the licensing and so on, they'd be happy to help someone to get put back to the region they're supposed to be in - I agree, though, as above, that people shouldn't be able to change it frequently or on a whim. - They can use IP tracing (or even caller ID..) to be relatively sure of your country when you ask to change, anyway.

I've called them several times, spent hours on the line each time whilst they try the same old junk to get the thing to work. it never gets escalated, they never call back when they say they will, the "higher" staff at MS never bother to reply to emails. It's just a waste of time.

At what point it became acceptable for a customer service line to say "I guess we can't do it then" and hang up the phone, I'm not so sure.

justfin

I know this is an old thread but someone might come across it again

If you are in the UK and as Microsoft Trade in the UK why not use the data protection act to force the change

Extract from Information Commisoners Office website (see FAQs)

Q: An organisation has inaccurate information about me. What can I do?
You should write to the organisation explaining what the problem is and where appropriate provide them with any evidence to show what the information should say. Keep copies of this correspondence. If, after a reasonable amount of time (we would recommend 28 days) the information has not been corrected, you can make a complaint under the Data Protection Act. Please ensure that you supply copies of your correspondence, evidence and, if applicable, any response you receive.

Idiophreak

justfin wrote: »

I know this is an old thread but someone might come across it again

If you are in the UK and as Microsoft Trade in the UK why not use the data protection act to force the change

Extract from Information Commisoners Office website (see FAQs)

Q: An organisation has inaccurate information about me. What can I do?
You should write to the organisation explaining what the problem is and where appropriate provide them with any evidence to show what the information should say. Keep copies of this correspondence. If, after a reasonable amount of time (we would recommend 28 days) the information has not been corrected, you can make a complaint under the Data Protection Act. Please ensure that you supply copies of your correspondence, evidence and, if applicable, any response you receive.

Hi justfin - thanks for that, sorry for the slow reply, I only check these things every so often...

It's certainly an interesting angle, I might give it a go and see what they say

turniplord

Hi,

MS can't change the region of an account once its been created due to drm issues - but there is a sort of way around this...

Regarding the xbox live - this you will have to buy yourself using an american subscription card or american credit card - easiest way is like the person a few posts up - go on amazon .com or ebay and get an American xbox live card - that will give you Gold live access for 12-13 months


The work around is that the console can have many accounts all in different regions (I have a USA, UK and Jap one on mine for the different dlc)
-Goto hotmail/xbox account and create a UK account
-On your xbox create/recover the account (create if you made it on hotmail or recover if made on xbox site)
-then log into that account - you will have access to the uk store
-Here you can use your UK credit/debit card to get points and buy things

Xbox live purchases are linked to the console and not the account - so you can buy games/dlc on the UK account and still use them in your games on the USA account without even having to sign into the UK account.

This works perfect for full xbox/xbox 360 games, game add-ons, themes + arcade games - it DOES NOT WORK with videos/avatar items as they ARE locked to the account they are bought with.


so just get a USA 1 year gold card on ebay, create a UK account and put it on your xbox, use that UK account to buy your add ons etc, Enjoy on your main account even though classed as USA



I know this all works because i regularly buy off all 3 regions for different demos, some exclusive dlc and the USA sometimes gets arcade games and add-ons before us in the UK but I can still buy, download and play as soon as they come out

Idiophreak

turniplord wrote: »

Hi,

MS can't change the region of an account once its been created due to drm issues - but there is a sort of way around this...

Regarding the xbox live - this you will have to buy yourself using an american subscription card or american credit card - easiest way is like the person a few posts up - go on amazon .com or ebay and get an American xbox live card - that will give you Gold live access for 12-13 months


The work around is that the console can have many accounts all in different regions (I have a USA, UK and Jap one on mine for the different dlc)
-Goto hotmail/xbox account and create a UK account
-On your xbox create/recover the account (create if you made it on hotmail or recover if made on xbox site)
-then log into that account - you will have access to the uk store
-Here you can use your UK credit/debit card to get points and buy things

Xbox live purchases are linked to the console and not the account - so you can buy games/dlc on the UK account and still use them in your games on the USA account without even having to sign into the UK account.

This works perfect for full xbox/xbox 360 games, game add-ons, themes + arcade games - it DOES NOT WORK with videos/avatar items as they ARE locked to the account they are bought with.


so just get a USA 1 year gold card on ebay, create a UK account and put it on your xbox, use that UK account to buy your add ons etc, Enjoy on your main account even though classed as USA



I know this all works because i regularly buy off all 3 regions for different demos, some exclusive dlc and the USA sometimes gets arcade games and add-ons before us in the UK but I can still buy, download and play as soon as they come out

Thanks for the description - that's exactly what I do at the moment, subscribe on US account, but buy content on UK silver account.

Shouldn't have to do this, though...