Microsoft KB Archive/937221

= How to handle situations where a customer's Zune Marketplace subscription payment is in decline =

Article ID: 937221

Article Last Modified on 6/21/2007

-

APPLIES TO


 * Zune Live

-



SUMMARY
This article describes how to handle various situations where a customer’s Zune Marketplace payment is in decline.



MORE INFORMATION
For an overview on the decline cycle, please see the following KB article:

937220 Description of the decline billing cycle for Zune Live

If a customer has a Zune Marketplace renewal fee that has been declined by their financial institution, the subscription enters a suspended state after 45 days. When this occurs, the user does not have access to the service.

A user wants to cancel subscription
If a user is in decline and calls to cancel their subscription, please see the following articles:

927981 How to cancel a Zune Pass subscription

929159 How to cancel a Zune Pass subscription in CAP

The customer wants to renew or to continue with a subscription
If the customer wants to continue and not cancel a subscription, the customer must first clear any outstanding balance that the customer owes Microsoft.

The customer can clear any outstanding balance by updating the existing payment instrument, if the card has expired, or by using a different payment instrument. For information about how to update a payment instrument, see:

936020 How to manage Zune Marketplace credit card payment options

After the customer pays the outstanding balance, any violations that the subscription may have associated with the account will be automatically removed. This process will also change the status of the subscription from &quot;Suspended&quot; to &quot;Enabled.&quot;

Note Sometimes, the subscription status does not automatically get updated to &quot;Enabled&quot; after a declined payment is settled. If this is the case, Tier 2 can change the subscription status manually after you confirm that the customer settled the charge.

The following decline scenarios describe what to do when a customer wants to continue a subscription.

A user has declined payment but the subscription has yet to be suspended
Subscription Status = Enabled

Violations = None

The status and violations are viewable in CAP. View the corresponding subscriptions by selecting the Subscription Details in the Customer Information section.

What this means:
 * The account has been in decline for less than 45 days.
 * Access to Zune Marketplace has not yet been suspended.
 * The customers should update their credit card details and pay the balance.
 * The customer has to pay the balance, or their account will eventually be suspended and cancelled through the decline cycle.

How to handle this scenario:  Confirm the amount in decline in Billing Activity . Explain to the customer exactly that the amount in decline is $. (Explain the amount in decline). Explain to the customer that if they want to continue using their Zune subscription and avoid a future suspension of service, they have to pay the outstanding balance. See the following KB article:

936020 How to manage Zune Live credit card payment options



A user has declined payment and subscription has been suspended
Subscription Status = Suspended

Violations = Billing Violation

The status and violations are viewable in CAP. View the corresponding subscriptions by selecting the Subscription Details in the Customer Information section.

What this means:
 * The account has been in decline for more than 45 days.
 * Access to Zune Marketplace is suspended.
 * The customer has to pay the balance, or their account will eventually be suspended and cancelled through the decline cycle.

How to handle this scenario:  Confirm in Billing Comments when the violation was imposed. Confirm in Billing Activity the amount in decline.</li> Explain to the customer that access to Zune Marketplace was suspended due to an unpaid $ account balance. (Explain the amount in decline).</li> Explain to the customer that if they want to continue using their Zune Marketplace subscription that they have to pay the outstanding balance. To do this, they have to update their credit card information.</li> See the following KB article:

936020 How to manage Zune Live credit card payment options

</li></ul>

After the outstanding balance is paid, the violation is removed and the subscription status will return to Enabled.

Note: Sometimes the subscription status doesn’t automatically update to “Enabled” after a declined payment is ultimately settled. If this is the case, Tier 2 will need to escalate this issue internally to Microsoft by creating a bug in Product Studio.

A user has declined payment and their subscription has been cancelled
Subscription Status = Cancelled

Violations = Billing Violation

The status and violations are viewable in CAP. View the corresponding subscriptions by selecting the Subscription Details in the Customer Information section.

What this means:
 * The subscription was canceled because the account was in decline for a prolonged period of 85 days or more.
 * Access to Zune Marketplace is suspended.
 * Account Management features are inaccessible from the Zune Software or Zune.net.
 * The account can no longer be enabled. The customer has to create a new Zune Marketplace account.
 * Users who have been cancelled due to billing violations may be sent to collections.

How to handle this scenario:
 * Confirm in Billing Comments when the violation was imposed.
 * Confirm in Billing Activity the amount in decline.
 * Check to see if any subscription charges have posted between the time the subscription was suspended and the time the subscription was canceled.
 * These situations are rare, but if any charges have posted, and if the subscription is currently canceled, the customer has paid for something they can no longer access.
 * Explain to the customer that access to Zune Marketplace subscription was canceled due to an unpaid $ account balance.
 * The account can no longer be re-enabled, so if the customer wants to use the Zune services again, they have to create a new subscription and a new Zune Tag.
 * If they are going to use a credit card as their primary payment method for this new subscription, they have to use a different card than the one that was declined on the subscription that was cancelled.
 * Note Canceled subscriptions with billing violations cannot be reactivated. This is not just a matter of policy, it is not technically possible. Do not escalate these issues internally to Microsoft. There is no solution other than to recreate a new account.
 * If a user receives a collection notice, refer them to the collection agency for assistance.

A user is attempting to use a pre-paid card and can’t because of a declined subscription payment

 * If the subscription has not been cancelled by the decline cycle, select the appropriate option to clear the violation or declined payment. Choose the option based on the subscription status.
 * If the subscription is in the cancelled with violations status, the customer has to use the pre-paid card for a new subscription and a new Zune Tag.

Keywords: kbzunebilling kbexpertisebeginner kbpubtypekc kbzuneamericasportal kbhowto KB937221

-

[mailto:TECHNET@MICROSOFT.COM Send feedback to Microsoft]

© Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.