Purchased Microsoft 365 Family subscription via Apple App Store, but Microsoft subscription says payment failed. Help.

I've finally got a refund from Apple after hours of Microsoft chat not understanding the issue - they simply said the payment was declined and that's why I can't reactivate the subscription when I open any Office 365 app.

With both Microsoft and Apple on separate chats I cut and paste messages between the 2 and Apple happily applied the refund, this took about 24 hours to appear correctly on the App Store.

If you haven't had a refund, here's what I provided to Microsoft:

Screenshot of App Store showing the current active subscription

Screenshot of Microsoft Account Payments page showing the declined transaction

Redacted copy of my credit card statement showing the transaction
Confirmation that I only had 1 Apple ID

...this wasn't enough, I needed to provide confirmation from Apple support that I have provided the correct Apple ID

So I cut and paste the messages for Apple Support and we had a subtle WTAF conversation

Apple replied that yes he could confirm that was my Apple ID

I cut and paste this text to Microsoft who confirmed this was sufficient confirmation (hint, just give it 5 mins and type it yourself!!)

...despite this, they still insisted the payment was declined and said I should request a refund from Apple and buy directly from Microsoft in future (no attempt to fix the problem), and that the problem was Apple. At this point I requested escalation because by now they are talking nonsense and it would be unfair of me to expect them to be able to resolve the problem.

The Apple refund process took about 20 hours to update the App Store to show it as cancelled and allow me to re-purchase.

Selected the annual option, had message about some transactions needing extra security in EU, then screen said something like connection failed, however the subscription is now showing as live until 2025.

Downloaded Word….same issue as before (Restore previous purchase -> No subscription found)

While signing out & rebooting I wondered if I should be putting my Microsoft account details through ‘I have a subscription’, rather than 'Restore previous purchase'…..FINALLY, it all works.

When looking at my payment history on my Microsoft Account I can now see the status is ‘Redeemed’ on my new subscription, and at the bottom it says ‘Paid with Redeemed code’

24 hours later, no call back from Microsoft as promised, but it’s fixed, and I’ve been refunded a year’s worth of license, which I couldn’t use for 6 months in any case, so £30 for my hours of trouble I’ll take as compensation.

I hope your google search lands you here if you had this problem, if not it’s been cathartic for me!

Hello Jtomalley,

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

I am a Microsoft user just like you, I hope you are doing well?

You cannot purchase a subscription from Apple store and expect to see it in your Microsoft account. When you purchase from Apple (any third party retailer), your subscription is with them regardless that it is a Microsoft subscription. You will use your Apple ID to install and activate your subscription.

Check with Apple support to manage your subscription please.

https://support.microsoft.com/office/44749f45-4c0b-5d41-a73f-7634b8d2a763

Please let me know if you need more assistance.

Give back to the Community, Help the next person who has this issue by indicating if this reply solved your problem. Click Yes or No below.

Warm Regards

Hi Raymond - yes, you do have that information wrong.

The Apple App Store does offer a Microsoft 365 Family annual subscription - Apple is simply the 3rd party vendor in this case -- as they are with ALL non-Apple software products in the app store. Check for yourself.

We have successfully renewed our annual subscription three times (3 years) without issue. What happens is that Apple is supposed to create a random-generated Subscriber ID and send it to the developer (Microsoft). Apparently this year there was an issue with that ID and it didn't go through or for some reason was rejected by Microsoft.

In the meantime, I am out $99.99 and I'm NOT happy.

Jtomalley, you cannot make payment to Apple app store for a Microsoft store purchase. Unless I have the information wrong.

However, I would recommend you contact Microsoft billing support via live chat for further assistance since this may require account access. Kindly go to Microsoft Contact Us website:

http://support.office.com/home/chat

1. Type "Microsoft subscription" and click Get Help.
2. Click Login and Contact Support at the bottom of the page.
3. Log in with your Microsoft account.
4. Under products and Services, select Microsoft 365 and Office Option.
5. Under category, select Manage Subscription.
6. Click "Chat with a support agent".

This was simply a renewal - not a new subscription. I've been subscriber since 2019.

Apple cannot help because all they can see is that the annual renewal fee was posted successfully. They cannot see that the Microsoft account page is saying that "payment failed"