Cannot Apply Gift Cards

[BJandOreo]

I have a premium account but when I try to apply Gift Card I get the following message.

"Unfortunately you can't apply this Premium code on your account. This is likely because you have an existing Premium subscription that cannot be combined with a Premium code." 

How can apply these cards to my account?

[BJandOreo]

Yes, I tried different browsers.... IE11 and Chrome

[Carina]

Hey @BJandOreo and welcome to the community!

Odd. Even if you are on premium you should be able to redeem the code. I suggest reaching out to the official support team by using this contact form and ask them what's going on (tell them your code): https://www.spotify.com/about-us/contact/contact-spotify-support/.

If you receive an automated email that leads you back to the community or help pages, reply to it (even if it's from "no-reply") and one of the Spotify team members will get back to you as soon as possible.

[BJandOreo]

Carina,

Please pardon my suspicions but responding to an email that specifically says "do not reply" and enclosing the information that amounts to the redemption value of the gift card doesn't sound like a legitimate way of doing business and in fact sounds a whole lot scammy to me. Are you a Spotify employee? Are you speaking with authority on behalf of Spotify? How would I know?

I had already filed a request at the link you provided before I posted here but I did not include the redemption codes. The Spotify website says responses can take 24 hours. It has been more than 24 hours and I have not had a reponse yet. 

Bottom line is I am out $90 for 3 gift cards that claim to be applicable to a Spotify account yet Spotify's website is denying me the ability to do so. I am losing faith.

[Carina]

Hey @BJandOreo ,

No I'm not an official Spotify employee but yes, I am able to speak to them.

What did you receive after contacting them through the contact form? An automated mail that leads you back to the community or a case number # ? If you got a case number, you can post it here and I can escalate the case for you. If you only received an email without a case number, you need to reply to it as I said before (yes it sounds strange and I think the same, but that is the adivce of official employees) to make sure your mail goes to the right people.

[BJandOreo]

Case #: 02119062

[Carina]

I escalated the case for you. You should receive an email very soon (but maybe a little slower than usual because it's sunday)

[BJandOreo]

Thank you. I'm eager to see what results.

[Peter__]

Do you currently have premium and if so how do you pay for it?

You can't redeem a gift code to an account that has a subscription which is set up by a third party (such as free subscriptions you get with mobile phone operators) or if your account is part of a Spotify Family subscription plan.

[BJandOreo]

I do have premium and I am paying for it with a major credit card.

My subscription plan is Spotify Family.

If I cannot apply the Gift cards to my Spotify Family subscription I need to find out how to get my money refunded for the cards. Stores will not provide a refund on gift cards.

Thank you for your help

[BJandOreo]

Carina,

I appreciate your help. I was told that I cannot apply the gift cards to my account.

So now I need to find out how to get a refund on the $90 worth of gift cards because they are useless to me.

The store will not take them back.

I need your help with this please.

[BJandOreo]

Peter

I appreciate your help. I was told that I cannot apply the gift cards to my account.

So now I need to find out how to get a refund on the $90 worth of gift cards because they are useless to me.

The store will not take them back.

I need your help with this please.

[jspot122]

Was this issue ever resolved?

I have the exact same problem.  I have a premium family account with my sister on it.  Mine is the primary account.  I was given two gift cards (purchased at a store) by my parents ($60 total) and get the same error:  "Unfortunately you can't apply this Premium code on your account. This is likely because you have an existing Premium subscription that cannot be combined with a Premium code."

No where on the gift card does it say there are any restrictions.

I suppose I could cancel my sisters account and go back to a single account to apply the gift cards, but that is really a pain.  It should not be that hard to apply gift cards.

[Simonfaz]

Same problem here. I have a family subscrition paid by credit card and can't redeem a $72 give card.

"Unfortunately you can't apply this Premium code on your account. This is likely because you have an existing Premium subscription that cannot be combined with a Premium code"

This needs to be resolved or a refund issued on this card.

[MattSuda]

@Simonfaz 

I suggest you contact support for assistance with this:

https://www.spotify.com/about-us/contact/contact-spotify-support/

If you get an automated reply email, you need to reply back to it.

[BJandOreo]

I have been working this issue with Spotify officials offline. I was able to gain contact with them by responding to the emails that say "do not reply to this email." The issue appears to boil down to this. Application of the gift card redemption code is done by way of a "premium" field on their website. Once done, it shows that a "premium" has been applied to your account. The same field is used for Spotify account holders that have opted to use the "family" feature where multip[le family members can be signed up at a reduced monthly rate. They are claiming (insisting) that only one premium code can be applied to your account at one time and since my account already had a premium code applied (the "family" plan) they could not then apply a second premium code (the gift card redemption code). Their only solution so far is to kick me off of the family plan (currently me and my wife) and to drop us back to two individuatel accounts, therefore increasing my monthly subscription rate. I have rejected that offer and am pressing for a refund of the value of the gift cards.

[Simonfaz]

Thanks; yes the first response from support was for me to obtain a refund from the store! Completely washing their hands of the issue...

I am also pressing for a completed refund from Spotify or a credit to my account.

There is nothing on the card either in the main or fine print suggesting that it cannot be used on the family plan and therefor they must accept it.

[SismoWellington]

Wow - I literally just upgraded to add my fiance to premium under a family plan, then tried to redeem my code... now I'm getting this error.

Cannot believe they won't work with you. Unbelievable. Please let me know if you get a solution. Really not looking forward to fighting the team over this.

[BJandOreo]

I finally reached resolution. it was a lengthy process but finally ended up with a satisfactory result.

Here are the steps we had to follow.

1) Spotify required that I downgrade to the FREE service. They did all the work on their end to do the downgrade and only after they outlined the process for me and I agreed to it. The result was two separate unlinked FREE accounts.

2) Spotify then applied the gift card redemption codes to my account. I did get email confirmation when the redemption codes had been applied to the Free account and I could see the value had been applied when I logged in to my account. Spotify was able to apply the redemption codes for me (I didn't have to do it myself but they gave me the option of doing it for me or letting me do it). I gave them my redemption codes and let them do it for me.

3) After the redemption codes had been applied, I then logged in to my account and upgraded it to Premium service. This of course required that I set up my account billing all over again.

4) After I successfully re-upgraded to Premium I was then able to re-apply for the Family plan thereby re-linking my account with my wife's account.

In the end, patient persistence paid off. 

I am extremely satisfied with Spotify otherwise despite this apparent weakness in their billing systems. I will continue to be a big fan.

My only other gripe is their rather unimpressive and incapable ROKU app.

[SismoWellington]

Good to hear it worked out. Not looking forward to downgrading to free and losing my downloads, but at least they got you the sixty dollars.