There’s another expensive trap when buying Microsoft 365 Family or Personal with automatic renewal from a Microsoft “partner” like Amazon, Best Buy or computer retailer. An Office Watch reader fell into this trap but found a way out.
For years we’ve warned against buying Microsoft 365 from companies like Amazon or Best Buy which include automatic renewal of Personal or Family plans when they expire. That lets the big retailers get their cut on the renewal fee.
Companies involved in this trick are Amazon, Apple, Best Buy, or Google Play (according to Microsoft). An Office Watcher who had trouble with Dell. There’s sure to be other merchants and computer sellers affected.
The problem with automatic renewal has always been that full price is charged but now there are more problems when you’re getting Microsoft 365 from another source.
You cannot buy a Microsoft 365 subscription from any other source – you’re locked into buying from that retailer. No buying another year or 15 months from another, cheaper, outlet.
That matters a lot because only Microsoft direct plans have extra benefits.
- Buy discounted Microsoft 365 Personal/Family from any retailer.
- Extend an existing plan up to five years ahead, probably using a discounted purchase.
- The ‘Classic’ plans (cheaper, no AI)
Microsoft’s explanation doesn’t fully explain the consequences of buying an auto-renewal from a third-party. The page doesn’t distinguish between retailers offering auto-renewal and those selling a product key. In other words, Microsoft is deliberately confusing the issue.
In short, if you’re buying Microsoft 365 Personal or Family do NOT get it with an auto-renewal offer from the retailer. If they won’t sell without auto-renewal, go somewhere else.
Buying a Microsoft 365 Family/Personal plan should mean getting a Product Key that you can apply to your Microsoft account. Many retailers do that and often cheaper than full price.
If you’re in an auto-renewal trap with a “partner” retailer, cancel the auto-renewal.
It’s a Trap!
To quote Admiral Ackbar “It’s a Trap” … buying Microsoft 365 with auto-renewal provided by a third-party retailer.
For example, this Auto-renewing subscription from Amazon US.
You’re not just buying a year of Microsoft 365 but agreeing to let Amazon or other retailer control your subscription renewals.
That’s a sly change by Microsoft and their partners since those partners always renew at full price and stops the customer fully controlling their Microsoft 365 subscription.
What about ‘Classic’ plans?
Can people with one of these third-party managed Microsoft 365 plans choose the new ‘Classic’ plans? We suspect the answer is No.
Most likely the new ‘Classic’ plans (cheaper, no AI) are only possible from a Microsoft direct plan.
Escape the auto-renewal trap
If you’re locked into one of these ‘auto-renewal’ plans from a third-party retailer here’s how to get out of that trap.
- Cancel auto-renewal with the original seller.
- They’ll make that difficult but it’s worth the trouble.
- Don’t take NO for an answer.
- Do this with the original seller, not Microsoft.
- Wait until the current Microsoft 365 plan expires.
- There’s a ‘grace period’ when an M365 plan expires so you can wait until the current plan fully expires before moving to the next step.
- There should be no loss of service or data if you act within a week or so.
- Use a new Microsoft 365 product key you’ve bought elsewhere to start a fresh M365 plan direct with Microsoft.
You could call the original seller and cancel the Microsoft 365 plan entirely but there’d be no refund of unused time. Better to stick with their arrangement until it expires.
One customer story
Office Watcher Jimmy S took our advice and bought a cheaper Microsoft 365 plan (15 months) from Costco. He received the usual Product Key that can be applied to extend an existing Microsoft account.
But that didn’t work. When Jimmy tried to use the Product Key on the Microsoft site, the extension wasn’t accepted. See our description of the usual steps.
After some dealing with Microsoft Support he discovered the reason. His current Microsoft 365 was ‘locked’ into an auto-renewal deal with the original seller (in this case, Dell Computer). Only that seller can renew the plan!
His solution is to cancel the auto-renewal with Dell now. Then wait until the current plan expires (March) and the link to the third-party seller is broken. Once that happens, setup a new Microsoft 365 plan direct with Microsoft using the same Microsoft account with Product Key he bought from Costco.
As long as Jimmy adda the new Microsoft 365 plan within a few days of expiry there’ll be no loss of service or data.
Thanks to Jimmy for letting us know about this problem.
Get Microsoft 365 for less money – the steps to using a cheaper product key to extend your Microsoft 365 plan.
Will Microsoft 365 stop working if the plan is not paid? – what happens when a plan expires.
All about Microsoft 365 Classic – the cheaper, AI-free option only available from Microsoft.
