Microsoft publicly apologizes for confusing customers about M365 price hikes, offers refunds

There's no doubt that Microsoft 365 is an incredibly useful suite that regularly receives new features. However, Microsoft soured all the goodwill that it had accumulated over the past few years by hiking the price of the subscription earlier this year, justifying it by emphasizing the addition of AI features. While that alone wouldn't have been a problem, the company failed to clearly communicate that the cheaper plan is still available if you cancel your existing subscription and don't want access to the latest and greatest in Copilot and AI. I complained about this a couple of months ago, and just a few days ago, Microsoft was sued by an Australian watchdog on the same grounds.

Now, the Redmond tech giant has issued an apology directed at its customers in Australia and New Zealand, highlighting its regret at not communicating subscription price changes more clearly in October 2024. It states that it should have been more explicit about the cheaper, non-AI version of Microsoft 365, rather than just making it visible to people who cancel their existing subscription to protest the price hike.

In emails sent out to subscribers, Microsoft has offered two options to existing subscribers along with an apology. The first option is to stay on your more expensive plan with AI capabilities, in which case, no action is required. The second option is to switch to the "Classic" version that still sports the old price tag. In this scenario, Microsoft will offer you a refund that is prorated based on your switching dates, but it's only valid if you switch by December 31, 2025.

It's unclear if Microsoft will offer the same concession to its other customers around the globe, considering that people in other countries were trapped by the firm's dark pattern too. But this public apology might just be a way to placate the Australian watchdog which filed the lawsuit earlier. We'll find out in due course.