M365 premium upgrade from family. When is the prorata rate applied?

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M365 premium upgrade from family. When is the prorata rate applied?

Brad Hunter 20

upgraded from family to premium with the 50% off . When doing this it said the current subscription prorata rate refund would be applied to the upgrade yet I have been charged the same amount. When is the prorata rate refund applied?

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Answer 1

Jeronimo Fuerte 45,750 Independent Advisor

When upgrading from Microsoft 365 Family to Microsoft 365 Premium using the same Microsoft account, the remaining time from your current Family subscription is not lost. The upgrade process converts the remaining subscription time according to Microsoft’s conversion rules and applies it to the new Premium subscription. The exact result can depend on the specific upgrade offer available on your account.

Please make sure you are signed in with the Microsoft account that currently has the active Microsoft 365 Family subscription. After completing the upgrade, you can verify the updated subscription details and renewal date by visiting your Services & subscriptions page at https://account.microsoft.com/services.

Brad Hunter 20 Reputation points

2026-07-16T00:32:33.1466667+00:00

Thanks for answering that.

It seems to have done that but when "upgrading" it suggested (on a page that I cannot find now) that the remaining subscription would be pro rata applied to the subscritption and that this would be done at the time of purchase.

I had already auto renewed the subscription for M365 family in March and the way that the page had been suggesting the upgrade would work was that the upgrade would be applied to the existing subscription.

I cant find that page now because I have upgraded and now it appears that I have been charged for the other subscription 3 months after I have already paid for the current subscription.

It said upgrade which I felt would have been the difference in the price rather than paying for a future subscription.

As I can't find the page that included these details as I have already upgraded, so I cant check what it said rather I have been charged for the complete upgrade 3 months after I had already paid for my current subscription.
Jeronimo Fuerte 45,750 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-07-16T15:59:29.94+00:00

Sorry, but I couldn't find an offer like the one you mentioned.

However, this is how the upgrade process normally works: if you have a lower-tier subscription and upgrade to a higher-tier plan, you'll be charged the full price for the new subscription period. Any remaining time on your previous subscription is then converted to the new plan on a prorated basis, taking into account both the unused time and the price difference between the two subscriptions.

For example, if you had a Microsoft 365 Family subscription with one year remaining and upgraded to Microsoft 365 Premium, you would receive the subscription period you purchased for Premium (in your case, it appears to be 3 months), plus additional time calculated from the prorated value of the remaining Family subscription.
Brad Hunter 20 Reputation points

2026-07-19T22:20:22.68+00:00

Thanks again for your response. when I logged into my Microsoft account to see my account details, under subscriptions it said limited time "UPGRADE" 50% off. When I clicked on the details the impression I got was that it would upgrade my current membership, that was Microsoft 365 family.

Another pop up window came up which again outlined some details and the impression that I got was that it would take into account my current membership and apply the upgrade. Instead, after paying for the Upgraded Subscription the charges to my account showed no discount or change to the price.

After reading your initial comment I checked back on my subscription to see that it had been "UPGRADED" but that I was now subscribed until Jan 2028. This was not really the idea of an UPGRADE in my opinion.

I was looking for information to assess whether it was my misinterpretation of the offer or an error, but unfortunately there is no way that I can access the information again from my subscription page.

It seems a bit misleading but I will be more careful in the future to screen shot the information for future reference. Thanks again for your help