Email I sent to Microsoft as a Canadian Consumer

[nacthenud]

Fellow Canadians, we should be raising this issue more often in the hopes that Microsoft will take note and make this right.



I'm mostly looking to provide feedback here, so this may not be the correct channel. Please advise if there is somewhere else I should be directing my feedback.

With regards to the purchase of Microsoft Points I have two concerns over pricing as a Canadian consumer.

1) Currently, buying points cards in a store (ie - 2800 points for $39.99) has a lower price per point than buying points online through your website (ie 2000 points for $29). This causes me to buy points using the much less convenient points card method.

2) Why do Canadians pay significantly higher prices for points ($1.45 per 100 points) as compared to Americans ($1.25 per 100 points) when our currencies have been on or near par for so long now? In fact, the Canadian dollar is higher than the US dollar currently. Canadians don't pay more for retail games, but we're asked to pay more for XBLA games and DLC. This makes no sense to me and seems mostly indicative of an organization that isn't up to date with international currencies. It drives me to make a lot of purchases on my PS3 rather than Xbox 360, since the PS Store doesn't charge a premium to Canadian Consumers.

[Maximus]

You'll get some BS answer in response -- if you get one at all -- but the real answer is that there is no reason why we pay more. With game and console prices on par, there is no justifiable reason why we should be paying more for a digital currency that doesn't have to be manufactured and shipped to stores. The ironic thing, like you mentioned, is that it's cheaper to buy the cards in-store than to buy points online over Xbox Live.

[gandra]

The reason why is convenience. Its just plain easier to log in and buy then go get in the car run down to the local store and buy one. As for why you pay more who knows it prolly has to do with being another country not dependent on the price of currency.

[nacthenud]

May 31, 2011 1:08:47 GMT -5 gandra said:

As for why you pay more who knows it prolly has to do with being another country not dependent on the price of currency.

What it has to do with is that the prices were set when the Xbox 360 first released based on what the typical exchange rate was at the time. That was a very different time though and exchange rates haven't been there for a long time now. The company has failed to adjust to reflect economic shifts in their DD service despite having adjusted prices for retail games long ago.

[Eradiani]

microsoft's response:

[best3444]

May 31, 2011 10:53:51 GMT -5 nacthenud said:

May 31, 2011 1:08:47 GMT -5 gandra said:

As for why you pay more who knows it prolly has to do with being another country not dependent on the price of currency.

What it has to do with is that the prices were set when the Xbox 360 first released based on what the typical exchange rate was at the time. That was a very different time though and exchange rates haven't been there for a long time now. The company has failed to adjust to reflect economic shifts in their DD service despite having adjusted prices for retail games long ago.

Yea which is garbage.