Xbox Game Pass Ultimate on BT Broadband

[PaddyB]

Hi @dazza76,

Thank you for posting back to update the thread. I'm sorry if your Game Pass didn't renew as expected. I'm glad Microsoft was able to get this fixed for you. 

@woodsey1982 

If your Game Pass has expired with BT you should be able to activate any membership code directly through your Microsoft account.

Thanks,

Paddy

[woodsey1982]

@PaddyB Unfortunately, my Microsoft Account redirects me to EE/BT as they manage my account, when I access my BT account it doesn't show an active GamePass subscription, but will let me add it to my account.

My Xbox app on my phone shows that my sub expired 17/10/22.

Spent time on both live chat and the phone today, but no one seems to know who deals with these problems. I was first told to go through to mobile, then the value team, then accounts and billing and no one seems to know whats going on.

[PaddyB]

Hi @woodsey1982,

Thank you for posting back. If you send me your details, I'll get the product team to investigate.

I have sent you a private message with instructions on how to contact the team.  You can access your messages via the envelope icon at the top right of the screen, or click on this link, Private messages

Thanks,

Paddy

[dazza76]

@woodsey1982 That's similar to what happened with me. My sub mysteriously changed to end on 1709/22 on the app even though BT states in runs until 09/02/23. From my Microsoft account it tried to take a payment on 17/10/22 with was declined so my sub was cancelled. At least with mine the Microsoft account stopped trying to direct me to BT (which it had done up until yesterday) so MS could gift me the month I should have had from BT.

[Dumpster]

Mogster has answered the issues, but it needs someone at BT to train this stuff out to the staff.  Here's my summary as I understand it.

When you get your free 12 months from BT you actually get 1 month.  Then, every month, they add another month, until you have had your 12 months.  However this means your expiry date shows as being a month away.  It's only your own memory of the paperwork that you have as proof. As far as anyone else can see your Gamepass expires in a month.  

BUT!!!! If you're already a Gamepass customer, adding the BT code messes it all up. Your old subscription disappears and is held in limbo until the BT one expires.  So you have to go to the BT account on BT.com and cancel to stop it renewing.  I assume you still get your monthly add-ons for that year, even when renew is turned off.  Once your BT Gamepass expires, your membership reverts to the Microsoft account that was held in limbo earlier. 

It's an absolute fiasco of a system and has BT written through it.

[besmirched]

@Monkey73   From your previous image your expiry date shows as 18/01/23. Can you post back tomorrow and let us know if this has changed from Jan to Feb?

Not sure if this will happen in your case, but from other comments here the theory seems to be that the promotional BT time gets added on monthly.

[Monkey73]

Hi besmirched

No change I'm afraid, still 18th Jan 2023

It has always said this date as its 12 months from when I activated it.

[besmirched]

@PaddyB @Mogster I currently still have my BT Full Fibre 500 Promotional 6mths Game Pass Ultimate sat unused in MyBT account. I want to maximise my subscription.

My current Game Pass Ultimate subscription expires tomorrow. My intention once this expires is to purchase 3 years Gold and convert this to Game Pass Ultimate. 

My understanding is that the BT promotion will get added monthly rather than all in one go. So I am expecting each month that BT will extend my long 3-year subscription by 1-month, for the next 6-months.

I don’t want to be in a position where I have to wait 3 years before I start seeing the BT promotion getting added, because if that’s the case I’d just use the BT 6mths first, and then do the 3year Gold upgrade afterwards. There’s no guarantee that will still be an option in 6mths though, so I’d rather sort my 3year sub first and then add the Bt promotion, and let that top up my sub monthly over 6 months.

If there’s any flaws or concerns this won’t work please do let me know.

[Dumpster]

If you're sub is about to expire, the easiest way would be to use the BT one, then when that expires, cancel it so it doesn't auto renew then go back to your old method of ordering Gamepass.  The confusion comes about when you use the BT code when your account already has membership.  You'd assume the code would work like every other code in the world but no, BT have their own way.  

However, this forum's Mogster has confirmed that ultimately, while it's confusing as hell, you don't lose out.  If you go into the Gamepass App on your phone you can see the expiry date and it all ties in.  Your existing membership goes on hold, your new membership is controlled by BT, they add a month at a time which is weird, then if you cancel the auto renew with BT you'll get your old account back after a year.  There literally couldn't be a more complicated way but that's BT for you. 

For the future, BT needs to understand that every retailer in the world sells Gamepass codes that add onto your existing subscription. I see no benefit at all to all this faff, unless BT get a cut of all the monthly subs that people pay for after the year, because they forget to cancel auto renew in the confusion.

By the way, if you have a VPN (and if you don't, Windscribe is a free one) you can buy Turkish Gamepass codes that work out about £3 a month, set your VPN to Turkey and redeem them on the Microsoft website.  

[Mogster]

@besmirched I think your understanding is correct, assuming the offer still works the way it used to.

When I used it, activating the BT offer added one month to my GPU sub, then added an additional month every month after that for the six months it lasted for.

If you want to make sure you can use the Gold to GPU conversion trick I'd probably do that first before activating the BT offer. The BT offer should then start appending extra months on the end of your stacked time.

I've not tested it, but I think you may be able to use the BT offer instead of paying the £10 to convert Live Gold to GPU. The BT offer should do the same thing, in theory, as either way you're just adding 1 month of Game Pass Ultimate. I'm not sure I'd want to risk testing this though, so I'd probably just pay the £10.

One more thing, but I think GPU only allows you to stack three years in advance, so you'd need to either buy one month below this limit, or just wait a month before activating the BT offer.

Also bear in mind that while the BT offer is in effect, you won't be able to use any Microsoft GPU codes for the duration of the offer. Any prepaid time will still be in place, but you won't be able to top it up.

EDIT: Also what Dumpster said!