BT customers unknowingly charged for Xbox Game Pass

Some BT customers are being signed up to, and charged for, Xbox Game Pass without their knowledge or consent.

An extra £10 per month was added to their internet bill, despite them not requesting the gaming subscription.

For those whom the BBC spoke with, BT refunded the money, but the customers described their experiences as “worrying”.

BT has apologised and urged other customers to be on the look out for similar problems.

“We’re very sorry that the customers mentioned in this article have had Xbox Game Pass Ultimate added to their account without their knowledge,” a spokesperson told the BBC.

“We recommend that all of our customers remain vigilant and if they notice changes to their account that are suspicious, to contact us as soon as possible to report this.”

“We will support and guide them on how to take steps to ensure their account is secure.”

The reason that the charges are being added is unclear – as is the extent of the problem.

But one person discovered the extra charge as recently as Tuesday, while the BBC has found examples of people complaining about the problem as far back as October 2023.

A BBC employee – who was affected by the issue – was told by a customer service advisor that it was “a known issue”.

As well as finding out through checking their bills, some customers discovered the error after receiving an email which thanked them for activating their subscription – making it sound like they had done it themselves.

Another of those affected is Sue, from London, who contacted BT after noticing a discrepancy in her internet bill.

“I logged into my BT account online and saw that they charged me an extra 10 pounds and that money had come out of my account,” she told the BBC.

“Xbox Game Pass had been added to my accounts without my consent – I thought that’s so odd, because I don’t even have an Xbox.

“I actually thought I’d been hacked, so I phoned them up… and they explained that it was a BT error.”

Sue said that she was refunded the money, but was concerned about other people who were less vigilant.

Matt, from East Sussex, had similar concerns.

“I called BT after they failed to answer my post on X [formerly Twitter],” he said.

“To be fair to them, they refunded the £10 and cancelled the subscription immediately. But it is worrying to hear that it is still happening.”

Meanwhile Craig in Aberdeen said he found out about the charge when he received an email from BT, and contacted the firm via its webchat service.

“He basically said to me in the chat that this was an issue between BT and Microsoft, where this was being kind of randomly enabled and activated on people’s accounts,” he said.

“It says in the terms and conditions that there’s no free period with this – you are immediately charged.

“My concern is this might not just be me, this might be lots of other people who perhaps don’t really notice you get an email through.”

Have you been unexpectedly charged for Xbox Game Pass on your BT bill? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

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