Posted on 07 February 2009 by Weefz
One of our most popular post series’ is How to Remove Remove Credit Card Details from Xbox Live. The upshot of it all was basically… you can’t. Not properly. We tried the website. We tried phoning them up. 53 days later, TheFluffyFist’s credit details were still on his Xbox Live account.
Stories came in from everywhere about people having the credit card problems. Scott wanted to stop his son from buying MS points indiscriminately – couldn’t do it. PrincessMeri spent two years asking Microsoft to stop billing her. Mark’s account was hacked and $247 worth of points was charged to his card. People even made complaints to Watchdog and the Better Business Bureau (sadly, with no direct response). Lots of worldwide frustration over such a simple little thing.
We are now happy to report that Microsoft have finally added an option to remove your credit card details from your Xbox account! They no longer blacklist your card and you can add it back later if you change your mind.
Here’s how:
- Log in to Xbox.com
- Click the My Xbox drop-down in the top-right corner and select Manage Profile. (screenshots from the UK version of the site)
- Click Manage Payment Options in the list on the right-hand side
- You should now be presented with a list of your current credit cards! Note the magical new word, “Remove” next to the card ;) Click the image below for a bigger version.
Praise to the gods of customer service! And thanks to reader Johan for letting us know about the update.
Update: 11th Feb 2009
We’re getting reports that some people are having trouble removing their cards. Some even think this is a fake option on the site to placate us. Trust us, it’s not. You can actually remove your card details. Click the screenshots below for the readable pictures:
A few people get the following message:
“This payment option cannot be removed at this time. Please contact Xbox LIVE Customer Support.”
As Gabe says in the comments, they may have an active subscription using their credit card that needs to be cancelled first. I switched to a pre-paid 12 month subscription a few months ago, so the theory seems to hold true. If you get a customer service rep to explain this, let us know.
Our advice, remove your card details and buy pre-paid cards instead:
Posted on 26 November 2008 by Weefz
What with its upcoming closure and all, Tabula Rasa doesn’t feel fun anymore. You know how when you’re playing a game, there’s always a tiny voice reminding you that are real-world things you could be achieving? Mine gets louder during MMO grind-fests and other repetitive games like Spore. When I know that everything I’m working towards will be gone in three months, it’s hard to convince myself that the entertainment value is worthwhile.
So, I’m looking for a new MMO. Any recommendations? I already know LOTRO, WoW and Guild Wars reasonably well. I played the beta of Empire of Sports and tbh, having my character work out in a gym just reminds me that I should be working out in the gym. I’ve just tried Archlord and omg, the serif-font menu design looks like arse so I can’t bring myself to give it a proper go.
What else is out there that:
- Lets me play a female character in all classes, not just sexpot mage clichés (Archlord = FAIL!)
- Has good casual clan/social support
- Works well, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel
Any ideas?
Posted on 25 August 2008 by TheFluffyFist
The guys (and girls) at 1137pwn.com have been beavering away writing some great little applications and widgets for PC, Mac, browsers and the iPhone. As their tagline on their website says – don’t pwn alone!
At the moment the following Widgets and applications are available.
- Xbox Live Friends List:
This is the application that I’ve currently got installed on my iPhone. It’s a nice little application. It is very similar to the Vista Xbox Live Friends Widget but shows a lot more information. You get a breakdown of the last 15 games and their achievements for these games. Nice. Also available for IE, Firefox, MacOS, Blackberry and Palm OS.
- Warhawk Leaderboard:
It does exactly what it says on the tin description. Yep, it shows the Warhawk leaderboard. Simple, clean interface, err, yeah, that’s it.
- Halo 3 recent games:
Not tested this as I don’t have a Mac and I don’t particularly like Halo 3. But given the high standard of all the other apps, I’m sure it will be useful, just not to me.
Posted on 11 May 2008 by TheFluffyFist
- Go to xbox.com and sign in
- Go to support and click on the repair agent box (right side of the screen)
- Click on register a new device and enter your Xbox 360s serial number (found next to the USB ports, under the white falp on the front right of the console)
- Now click on your newly registered device (under manage devices) and click request a new repair
- Follow all the on screen instructions to “order” a repair from Microsoft
- Ignore the bit about being sent a shipping box as you will never be sent one (in the UK anyway). I confirmed with Xbox customer support that Microsoft doesn’t send out shipping boxes. You will only recieve an email containing the UPS pre-paid shipping labels
- Now check your email address (the one attached to the Xbox Live account)
- You should see an email called UPS delivery label. Click on the “retrieve UPS returns label” link and print it
- Also click on the “get the receipt” link and print it too (more about this later)
- Now find a box and pack your Xbox 360 inside it. Obviously use packing materials to protect your Xbox 360 during transit
- Attach the UPS delivery label printed earlier to the top of the box and make sure its either in a plastic pouch or covered to prevent damage. UPS need to scan it after all
- You can either request UPS to pick up your package, or you can go to a UPS drop off location
- Important: If you go to a UPS drop off location don’t forget to take the receipt that you printed out earlier. The UPS person will stamp this as proof that your Xbox 360 has been received by UPS
- Wait 2 weeks for the console to be repaired and sent back
Our repaired Xbox 360 came with a 1 month’s free Xbox Live gold membership and a letter identifying what the fault was and what they had done about it.
I hope that Microsoft has corrected the inaccurate and misleading information relating to sending you a shipping box. It caused a 2 week delay in getting our Xbox 360 fixed as I was waiting for a pesky box that was never going to arrive.
Microsoft Xbox Live and points cards:
Posted on 24 March 2008 by TheFluffyFist
Datel’s FreeLoader software supposedly makes any Wii multi-region. Whilst this is a very good thing, there is very little information on just how effective the FreeLoader software is. So Tikipod decided to test his collection of GameCube games (and 1 US Wii game) to find out.
Test system:
- UK Wii Console – set to 60 Hz 4:3 screen mode
- Sony CRT TV (handles 60hz mode)
- RGB SCART lead
- COMPONENT lead – For CARNIVAL game test
- Wii FreeLoader – EURO version (£9.99 from Play.com)
Games tested and results: (GameCube unless otherwise indicated)
- PIKMIN (JAP) – Works fine
- PIKMIN 2 (JAP) – Doesn’t work
- PN03 (JAP) – Works but has squashed display
- SUPER MONKEYBALL (JAP) – Works fine
- METROID PRIME (US) – Works but with some pre-game menu issues (in game ok)
- ZELDA – WINDWAKER (US) – Doesn’t work
- ZELDA – WINDWAKER BONUS DISK – OCARINA OF TIME (US) – Doesn’t work
- RESIDENT EVIL 4 (US) – Works but has squashed display
- WAVERACE: BLUE STORM (JAP) – Works but with thin flickering band near the top of the screen. Gameplay unaffected but flickering band is annoying
- VIEWTIFUL JOE (JAP) – Works but with squashed display and playback issues with pre-menu movies
- DOBUTSO BANCHO (ANIMAL LEADER) – Works but has squashed display
- CARNIVAL (US – Wii Version) – Works but need to use COMPONENT lead otherwise the colours are all screwy (red and black)
As you can see, most of the games tested worked, but a number suffered some sort of issue. Tikipod didn’t test any JAP Wii games, as he didn’t have any available. According to one of the comments on the Play.com Freeloader product page Super Smash Brothers Brawl (US) works just fine so you can all rest easy.
Oh, and the recent reports that the latest Wii firmware update (called IOS37) disables FreeLoader is a hoax. However, with all the Wii firmware updates that Nintendo rolls out there’s no guarantee that FreeLoader won’t be disabled by one of them in the future.
Update 24th Mar 08: Carnival is a Wii game, so updated the post accordingly.
Posted on 25 January 2008 by TheFluffyFist
Update 7th Feb 2009:
The saga is over! Microsoft have now given us the option to remove credit card details through Xbox.com. See Remove Your Credit Card Details from Xbox Live – ONLINE! for details.
So 30 days have now passed since I was called by Xbox support. Have they removed my card details as they promised? Err, no they haven’t.
To be honest I didn’t expect them to have either. Maybe they had their hands full dealing with the rather shoddy provision of Xbox Live since Xmas and forgot about my support call?
It has now been 53 days since I first asked Xbox Live support to remove my credit card details. I’m now wondering if they actually are able to remove my card details? At this rate the card will have expired. Very, very poor service Microsoft.
Check out part I and part II of this ongoing saga.
Update 26th Mar 08: They’ve been removed. I can’t believe it. Microsoft have FINALLY done what I asked them to do over 3 and a half months ago. When I examine my LIVE account on my 360 there are no card details at all! Upon reviewing my LIVE account at http:\\billing.microsoft.com my card details have been flagged as removed (only there for historical purposes) and can’t be used or viewed. About bloody time Microsoft.
Our advice, remove your card details and buy pre-paid cards instead:
Posted on 01 January 2008 by TheFluffyFist
Update 7th Feb 2009:
The saga is over! Microsoft have now given us the option to remove credit card details through Xbox.com. See Remove Your Credit Card Details from Xbox Live – ONLINE! for details.
In my previous post I outlined how to start the process to get your card details removed from Xbox Live. I say start the process, as following my latest conversion with a Microsoft representative, it’s going to take a little bit longer.
So there I was opening my Christmas presents when my mobile phone rang. It was someone from Xbox Live support about my request. Wow, they’re dedicated! We then had a fairly short conversation, in which I reconfirmed that I wanted my card details removed. They were finally going to carry out my request. However, this will take 30 days from the date of this latest call to remove my card details. In addition, I would never been able to use this credit card on Xbox Live again. Apparently, the “very complicated” process (support person’s words, not mine) to remove card details from the Xbox Live servers means that my card is essentially now blacklisted.
I was a little surprised to be called again following my discussion on the 15th Dec 07. As I’d specifically asked not to be called back and for them just to remove my card details. Ho hum. I guess the message was never typed never got though.
Here’s the time line for my support call(s) so far:
- 3rd Dec 07 – Raised original support call to remove card details.
- 4th – 14th Dec 07 – 3 missed calls from Xbox Live support.
- 15th Dec 07 – Phoned Xbox Live support – 30 days to remove card. Recurring Gold subscription stopped. Given new support call reference.
- 19th Dec 07 – 1 missed call from Xbox Live support.
- 25th Dec 07 – Informed that card details will be removed in 30 days, unable to use card again on Xbox Live. Given another new support call reference
With any luck when I post part III it will include the words “my credit card details have finally been removed.” I await this moment with bated breath. Almost….
Posted on 17 December 2007 by Weefz
Do you have friends or relatives that tend to leave their Christmas shopping until the last minute? I know I still have a couple of things to get. Perhaps you have a birthday coming up in January.
As a “subtle” hint, you could point them towards an article I wrote a couple of weeks ago, How To Buy Video Games As Gifts. It’s a quick 5-point guide of things that may seem obvious to you and me, but your average non-gamer has probably never considered. Quick snippet:
Check which games are age-appropriate. Video games have ratings, just like movies. Not all games are appropriate for minors. If you’re an adult buying for your own child, it’s up to you to make the final decision on whether a game is appropriate.
What other how-to articles do you think would be useful for me to write?
Posted on 15 December 2007 by TheFluffyFist
Update 7th Feb 2009:
The saga is over! Microsoft have now given us the option to remove credit card details through Xbox.com. See Remove Your Credit Card Details from Xbox Live – ONLINE! for details.
A few months ago I decided to purchase a months Xbox Live Gold membership. As you all know this is very easy to do. Enter credit/debit card details and Microsoft take your money before you can blink. Then you receive the obligatory confirmatory email thanking you for your soul purchase. This email also tells you that your membership will automatically renew and:
For information about changing or cancelling your membership and your membership refund policy, go to www.xbox.com/live/accounts.
However, you can’t cancel your membership or remove your credit card details either via your Xbox dashboard or www.xbox.com/live/accounts. Even when you end up at http://billing.microsoft.com you can only change or add a credit/debit card. There is no facility what-so-ever to remove a payment method or cancel a service. Rubbish.
However, I want to stop my monthly Xbox Live Gold subscription. The only way to do this (at the moment) is by calling Xbox Support. I’ve included all the options you need to select to get you through to the relevant help desk person.
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Posted on 05 November 2007 by Weefz
I play games to relax. I like to immerse myself in a world where I am the biggest, the most powerful, the most badass and generally the saviour of all the world. The Nerevarine was pretty much my ideal storyline. I play games to escape the mundane rat-race.
Others couldn’t care less about plot. They thrive on challenge, being knocked back again and again but refusing to give up. They derive some sort of sick pleasure from suffering under capricious whims of evil game designers who like to change the rules with no warning, rhyme or reason. In short, they play games like R-Type.
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