Live! Gold to Silver?

[RancidLunchmeat]

*MOD NOTE: This thread is a year old*

So, I logged on to Live! today to find out that I have been downgraded to a Silver membership. There was no notification through Live! that this was approaching, but upon checking my email account I found an email that was a 'confirmation' that my Gold account was 'canceled.'

It directed me to Xbox.com, where they state that they give you a one month trial membership with the purchase of your console.

Where do I find this magical trial membership? I used the one month Gold membership that came with GTAIV in order to 'fund' the month that has apparently now passed (how time flies).

So two questions: 1) Is there a 30 day Gold membership included in the purchase of the console? If so, where do I find it? 2) Is it true there's no Live! Notification that your membership is about to expire? The only notice they give you is when your membership does expire via email?

If that's the case it seems like incredibly poor marketing to me. They should have been warning me for the past week that my membership would expire each time I logged in.

As it is, I'm shocked that my Gold account was 'canceled', annoyed that I supposedly have rights to an additional month with the purchase of the console, and just overall irritated with how the process was handled.

Anybody else encounter anything like this, or am I the only one that used a 30 day trial Gold membership included in a game immediately?

I've checked the box that came with my Elite and the only thing I can find in there about Live! is telling me how I can sign up and pay for it.

I have no problem with paying for it, but I think I'm due another free month, and I think this notification process is severely lacking.

 

[AlNom]

When you setup a completely new gamertag profile for Live, you should get 30 days free. I'm not sure about the rest as my gamertag was made during the old days, and that carried over when I bought the 360 - I didn't get 30 days free.

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

Well, it didn't happen. Unless when I activated the Gold membership from GTAIV at the same time I set up my GamerID the two memberships ran parallel.

Which is also retarded and stupid.

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

Thanks Nuc, but you got that via email and not via Live!, right?

So as far as your signing into Live! is concerned, you'd never have known your membership was expiring?

Take for instance the example of providing Live! with an email address (which is mandatory) that you never use and created only for the purpose of satisfying the requirement to provide an email address.

If you never check that email address, you would never be notified until your membership has been 'canceled' to Silver status. Right?

We all use bogus email accounts to sign up for various services because we don't want to get spammed with their ads and garbage.

Shouldn't the SERVICE itself that we signed up for and are using tell us when that service will expire? Rather than sending those messages to an email account?

And shouldn't the SERVICE itself realize that the primary point of contact for that information would be the SERVICE itself and not the 'alternate' contact that we provided them when signing up?

I paid the $49.99 to get 12 months service, I don't have a problem with the cost. I just think the methodology that they are using in order to communicate with their consumers is incredibly flawed.

 

[AlphaWolf]

I'd recommend you not use fake email accounts for signing up for things you want to be notified about.

Microsoft will also use that account to notify you about repair status etc should you need warranty service, the account is also tied to the forums online.

 

[AzBat]

Well, it didn't happen. Unless when I activated the Gold membership from GTAIV at the same time I set up my GamerID the two memberships ran parallel.

Which is also retarded and stupid.

I think you have to setup the new account as a Silver account first through the dashboard. It will then ask if you would like to try a free month of Gold. After that it should start the free month. If you then use the free month subscription that came with GTA4, then it should add it to the end of the first free month. I would call 1-800-4MyXbox to get some details on what happened. It's possible you never got the first free month. BTW, they won't auto renew your membership via credit card unless you specifically tell them to. You can do it through the Account Management on the Marketplace Blade.

BTW, you should be able to view your Membership expiration via the Account Management link mentioned above. But yes, the only notice they send out that your account is about to expire is via the email account you used when setting up the account. I understand wanting to use fake one for some sites, but it doesn't seem real bright to do that with a service that you're actually paying for. Hopefully you don't do that with your Internet or TV service either.

Tommy McClain

 

[D3B]

Yeah you new a new tag I think. When you sign up keep refusing to gold every time they try to offer it,at the very end they should give in and offer a free month.

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

I'd recommend you not use fake email accounts for signing up for things you want to be notified about.

I didn't use a fake account. That's why I was able to log in and check and see that I got an email notice.

My point was twofold, first that I've been logging into Live! more than my email account and that should be the primary point of contact. Second, MS should know that X percent of the population WILL use fake email accounts to sign up, especially for demos or trial offers. It makes no sense to me for MS to immediately give up on that X percent of the population because they will only notify/contact via email rather than by the service they've created, provided and hope is value-added enough to charge additional money for!

It just blows my mind.

 

[Arwin]

Didn't want to create a new thread for it as considering E3 is coming, that could be considered inflammatory, and the topic name was suitable for what I wanted to say anyway. So ..

After 5-6 years of Live (Gold) membership, I finally decided to cancel my Gold subscription. The last few years I have barely played any online on my 360 - it's all PS3, and in Europe (and particularly in the Netherlands!) there are just really few other incentives to keep Gold. And remember, it's still 59,99 euros here, and it has always been - which means I spent 300-360 euros on something I've only barely used (a few weeks of PGR3, DTM and Forza 2 each). And so after cancelling my XNA subscription (I won't go back until I've actually created a game using XNA on PC first ) my Live Gold subcription bites the dust in July (I'm letting it run its natural course of my year's subscription, who knows E3 might bring something fun or change my mind, but doesn't seem likely).

Anyone else did something similar or is contemplating this?

 

[Graham]

I've been in and out of silver over the last couple of years. However, I ended up with nearly 5 months of gold vouchers, and also recently took advantage of a half price offer a while ago (I think, it was something like $30nz for a year - it was a credit card only offer, so I guess they wanted to hook people into recurring payments ).

I guess I hardly use it. I'd like to use it more, however timezone and internet performance sometimes make it more trouble than it's worth. I do find I get annoyed with the abitrary 'one week delay' for silver demos, however I'd like the deals of the week to be more substantial too. Half price Bionic Commando Rearmed still costs money after all.
However I do use my xna sub quite a bit (plus it's the only way to download XBCG games over here)

To be honest Arwin, I've always had the impression you were more a PlayStation type of person anyway.

 

[tirminyl]

I currently have gold now through some very awesome deals in purchasing a 3 month card but that's it.

I don't play multi-player much and don't find it to be worth it. I don't like the idea of having to purchase a subscription because I feel like playing L4D with some friends for one weekend. I don't like the idea of paying to play period. Therefore, the 360 has been relegated to exclusives only.

 

[Gradthrawn]

I recently let me pre-paid Gold membership expire. I hardly played online. Similarly, I hardly play online with PSN. It's difficult finding a game with strangers that I actually enjoy on either service.

The only exception being Demon Souls, which is the only game in recent memory that I've played extensively online (in its online hybrid system). While its online system may be considered a bit backwards by some, it lets the people who want to be jerks, jerks (Black Phantoms) and the people who want to be helpful and cooperative, helpful (Blue Phantoms).

I wish there was a simply mechanism to invite a friend to PvP or Coop, but that's the only thing I would change.

And its comm system, while limited, keeps things universal (reducing the language barrier) and clean.

(I think, it was something like $30nz for a year - it was a credit card only offer, so I guess they wanted to hook people into recurring payments ).

"It's a trap!"

 

[BadTB25]

I enjoy LIVE a lot more now that we have a semi-regular group from here to play on Fridays. With Netflix integration, to me, it's definitely a keeper (not sure if you get this with Silver).

There was about a one year period where I barely played on-line, but other than that year, it has been well worth it for me. I started on LIVE back with the original XBox and got into the LIVE beta program.

FREE would be great though.

 

[tirminyl]

With Netflix integration, to me, it's definitely a keeper (not sure if you get this with Silver).

Netflix is gold only.

 

[BadTB25]

Another reason for me to keep it I guess.
Hopefully I will still be able to stream it in Guam. I couldn't find anything on the web either way.

 

[obonicus]

Another reason for me to keep it I guess.
Hopefully I will still be able to stream it in Guam. I couldn't find anything on the web either way.

Geographic Limitation: You may not view a movie through the instant watching functionality anywhere other than within the 50 United States and the District of Columbia. Due to licensing restrictions, you may not instantly watch movies outside of this area, including the U.S. territories, and Netflix may use technologies to verify your compliance.

http://www.netflix.com/TermsOfUse?lnktrk=PUD_TOU

Features and Functionality -> Watch Instantly -> Geographic Limitation. Guam seems to have its own range of IP addresses, though I'm not 100% sure on that.

 

[BadTB25]

http://www.netflix.com/TermsOfUse?lnktrk=PUD_TOU

Features and Functionality -> Watch Instantly -> Geographic Limitation. Guam seems to have its own range of IP addresses, though I'm not 100% sure on that.

Thanks for the find.
I never really read the TOS.

I do remember that some military members were able to stream Netflix while stationed in Europe (via some sort of proxy I think)

Hopefully Netflix will change their policy to include the territories in the future.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

After 5-6 years of Live (Gold) membership, I finally decided to cancel my Gold subscription. The last few years I have barely played any online on my 360 - it's all PS3, and in Europe (and particularly in the Netherlands!) there are just really few other incentives to keep Gold. And remember, it's still 59,99 euros here, and it has always been - which means I spent 300-360 euros on something I've only barely used (a few weeks of PGR3, DTM and Forza 2 each).

It is really easy to find 13 month gold cards for about 35€ though. Of course that still adds up, especially if you don't need it.

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

Hi, thread, how are you doing?

Fine? Great! Glad to see you're still breathing.

To follow up: I did just get a reminder VIA EMAIL AGAIN that my account would automatically renew and I needed to make sure that my credit card information was valid.

Still, NO LIVE! notice, only a notice VIA email that Yahoo decided was SPAM so it didn't even show up in my in box.

This little things really irritate me.

The main reason I keep my GOLD membership is because I like the option to play with others if I want (which I rarely do), and for Netflix.

But Boy howdy, do they need to FIX the Netflix interaction. Forcing you to log onto a PC to pick your movies and such that are available is just trash. Even moreso because the Netflix website is GARBAGE and their interface SUCKS. I was trying to find the BBC program 'Top gear' and see if I could set it in my view instantly folder. I spent 15 minutes trying to figure out how to 1) Find the program and 2) how to see if it was available instantly.

I'm pretty sure the end result is that the program is now on my MAIL DVD TO ME LIST but not on my WATCH NOW list.

Granted, some of these gripes are with Netflix and not with Xbox or Live!, but they really need to fix this functionality. There's no reason why if I have a Netflix membership and a Gold Live! membership, I shouldn't be able to goto the Netflix option on my 360 and find a list of EVERYTHING that is available for streaming.

I really hope they're working on this. I don't mind so much the inability to change my MAIL A DVD TO ME list via Live, but the idea that I have to use a PC and then run through their clunky and retarded interface in order to find programs that are even available for streaming and then go BACK to my xbox to choose which ones I want to watch is just.. well, damn annoying.

What are the benefits to having a silver membership again?

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

Sure, Nav.

That works fine as long as you want to search through their entire list of whatever category it is you want to look in. (IE: Action movies, latest releases.. you can go there and scroll through and see which ones you can add to DVD or Instant)

But if you already know what it is you want and search and find it, that functionality breaks.