Unable to change country after upgrading to Premium Family from Premium Individual

[astralclouds]

Plan

Premium (Individual > Family)

Country Japan (originally UK)

Device

everywhere - iPhone, Android, Samsung SmartTV, Alexa

Premium account originally signed up in UK with UK address and UK payment details in 2015. In 2017, moved with family (me, wife, 2 kids) to Japan for unknown duration. Checked at the time the Ts&Cs of Premium and it clearly states a Premium account is valid worldwide and there is no reason to change account details. As there was then every chance of returning someday to the UK, decided not to change to Japan address and payment method.

Now, 4 years later, my 2 kids are both over 13 and want to start using Spotify, and my wife has started using a Free account but wants to upgrade. The obvious solution offered by Spotify is to upgrade to Premium Family.

I checked the Ts&Cs and the Help topics, and despite some warnings of restrictions, I felt our circumstances ticked all the boxes to qualify. So, here is what I have done today:

1. In my Premium Individual account, I clicked the link to upgrade to Premium Family
2. The system asked me to enter an address at which all family members were living (no mention at this point about country or payment method). I entered our Japan address. Completed the upgrade process.
3. Sent the invite link via WhatsApp to all my family members
4. Sat with my wife as she clicked the link. Her Spotify app was installed when she was already in Japan, so has Japan as the account country. After entering our Japan address she gets a message 'You cannot join Premium Family if you are in a different country as you need to live at the same address'.
5. Again, checked the help topic (https://support.spotify.com/us/article/family-address-verification/), and it clearly states that 'We don’t track your location. We only check your address to verify.', with no mention of account country or payment method
6. I therefore assumed the problem must be the difference between the country of origin of the two accounts (my upgraded Premium Family and my wife's Free account. I therefore went back to my account and followed the process for changing the country from United Kingdom to Japan. The drop-down is greyed out and will not let me change.
7. So I went back to my wife's account and noted that also will not allow a change of country (as is the rule with Free)
8. I therefore have upgraded to Premium Family, but have no way of adding the family members who live with me.

Help in solving this issue would be much appreciated. I understand Spotify needs to protect against fraudulent use undermining revenue, but this is blocking genuine customers from legitimate use.

[Maxim]

Hey @astralclouds ,

Thanks for reaching out 🙂 I'll be happy to help.

In this case, you'll need to change your payment method to one that's been issued in Japan:

1. Log in to your account page. 
2. Under Your plan, click UPDATE next to your payment method. 
3. Enter a new payment method that was issued in your new country or region. 

The changes will take effect from your next billing date. After your country has been updated to Japan, your wife will be able to join your Family plan.

Hope this helps!

[astralclouds]

Thanks, @Maxim

I have made the change to my payment method. My next billing date is in 5 days, so will wait to check everything is OK with your suggested solution before marking it as accepted.

[Ver]

Hey @astralclouds,

Thanks for the info 🙂

Let us know, how it goes.

If you need anything else, the Community is here for you.