Microsoft 365 with Copilot users who were forced to accept higher prices for its AI Copilot version may be eligible for a refund. The company also faces potentially stiff ACCC fines for deceptive behaviour.
In November 2024, we wrote Microsoft 365 price increase – do you want to pay for AI? and how new and renewal subscriptions would pay more. The single-user cost, sans Copilot, was $109 (now $159), and the Family version for up to six users was $159 (now $179).
What Microsoft neglected to tell us was that if you cancelled your subscription, it would offer you the old version for the existing price.
In a pretty weak mea culpa, Microsoft has offered Microsoft 365 Classic users who were forced to upgrade a refund of the difference in costs, and you can revert to Microsoft Classic if you switch plans back by 31 December 2025.
There is one catch. Only those who receive an email from Microsoft are eligible, and to keep that version, you must enable annual recurrent automatic credit card payment. If you bought the new Microsoft 365 via retail or an online merchant, no refund applies.
We have been present in Australia for more than 40 years, operating on the principles of trust and transparency. We fell short of our standards here, and we apologise. We will learn from this and improve.
If you want to give Microsoft the flick, the I’mTech article lists options.
Microsoft 365 with Copilot is just the start. It is in Windows, Outlook, MS Edge and who knows what.
In the EU, Microsoft 365 is supposed to have a single CoPilot 365 remove button. All it does is stop Copilot from appearing and interrupting you, but it’s still active and sending telemetry and data to Microsoft. And it’s not the same as Copilot for Windows or Bing, etc. We understand that there are several, if not hundreds, of Copilot tentacles now in Windows. And with each Windows, Edge or 365 update, Copilot reinstalls.
So, regardless of what you read, it’s damned near impossible to remove Copilot and its evil clones. It still lurks.
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