Upgrading from 365 family to 365 premium how are you going to rebate the 7mo. Left?

Question

IF I upgrade from 365 family to 365 premium how are you going to rebate the 7mo. Left? The billing just shows you want to add on the discounted $100 for the first year for the upgrade just like if I had signed on to premium in the first place. So annoying if you're just a little pee on home user you can't get ahold of Microsoft any more. " An emergency on my part definitely does not necessitate emergency on their part!" Sooo... I've been all over the place on their website reading all the help that is no help answering my question so at this point since at the end of September I paid my $130 for the family plan adding on another $99 is just throwing them a free $70 the way I look at it. I'm really not getting anything anyway because I use Google photos to edit and repair photos as they take them and I use Google now a banana banana for AI and I already have 60 credits with the family plan if I wanted to use some kind of AI here.

Answer 1

Hi, Dave Davis

Thanks for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A forum.

Sorry for this frustrating experience that you're having. Microsoft does not rebate or prorate the remaining months of Microsoft 365 Family when you upgrade to Microsoft 365 Premium (Copilot‑included plans).

If you upgrade now:

• Your Family plan does not convert remaining value into cash or months
• Microsoft treats it as a new subscription starting immediately
• You effectively lose the remaining ~7 months of Family

From a cost perspective, upgrading now means you are giving up roughly USD $60–70 of unused value.

Why billing looks deceptive

What you are seeing is expected but not fully explained:

• The “$99/$100 first‑year upgrade” price
• Looks like a discounted add‑on
• But in reality it is a completely separate subscription

Microsoft does not:

• Pause your Family plan
• Credit unused months
• Extend Premium by the unused Family time

They just start Premium immediately and let Family continue running unused, unless you cancel it.

What actually happens behind the scenes

When you click upgrade:

• Microsoft 365 Premium starts immediately
• Copilot credits switch to Premium level
• Your Family subscription remains active but redundant

Billing cycles do not merge or offset each other

This policy applies to:

• Family > Personal
• Family > Premium
• Personal > Premium

There are no exceptions for home users

When a refund might happen

Microsoft only refunds full subscriptions, not partial months, and only if:

• You cancel within 30 days of purchase
• And you have not significantly used the service

Your Family renewal in late September is past that window, Support will not override this anymore for consumers.

The sensible options

Option 1. Do nothing now (recommended)

• Keep Family until it expires
• Use remaining Copilot credits or ignore them
• Re‑evaluate Premium at renewal time

This costs you $0 extra

Option 2. Cancel Family, wait it out

• Cancel auto‑renew only
• Continue using Family until expiry
• Upgrade after the last day

Hope this helps. Feel free to get back if you need further assistance.

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Answer 2

Since moving from 365 Family to 365 Premium is considered an "upgrade," the subscriptions should be added together. See https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/switch-between-microsoft-365-subscriptions-3fcc1efc-2722-427f-8efa-db94b9b0a36b#bkmk_morefeatures. The screen shot below is from the article.

Answer 3

I have the same issue.

This seems grossly unfair/unreasonable and is typical of the way that mega-corporations treat subscribers! Why on earch would anyone need a subscription to MS 365 Family AND MS 365 Premium simultaneously?! Microsoft seems to be doing itself out of business here; clearly MS would like users to subscribe to 365 Premium (and pay more in the process), but there is no way any sane person would do that until their current 365 Family subscription period ends and is due for renewal if the charge for the unused portion isn't going to be refunded! Crazy!