Got an email that says "Time to renew Spotify Premium" - but how?

[OhItSands]

You would think that renewal would be so easy. You click the big green button in the email, get sent to your account with 2 renewal options. Buy 12 months in advance or pay monthly. Simple right? But no, Spotify has to make the most complicated way of renewing. Firstly there is no option to just "Renew" I paid for 12 months upfront. My card details are already on file. When you click the link in the email, it takes you to a landing page that gives you plan options like as if you're purchasing Spotify for the first time. I already have Spotify, I just want to renew. Why is this such a complicated thing? When I log into the account (on my desktop via web browser) the first thing that should be at the top of my account is a big banner front and centre with "hey your subscription expires on the 22nd of March 2024. Click to renew now" - all these years nobody at Spotify has considered this? I'm literally trying to give you guys money and you're making it way more complicated than it needs to be!

So what do I need to do? I "updated" my card details even though it's the same card. Do I need to buy premium again? Does that mean I'll pay for 2 premium subscriptions (when I only want one) or will the second subscription start automatically once my current one ends? Or do I do nothing and it auto renews with the same plan? And if it lapses between the old one expiring and getting a new subscription do I lose all my playlists etc?

[MihailY]

Hey @OhItSands,

Thanks for reaching out.

We're sorry to hear you had trouble managing your subscription. Currently, the first thing you should see when you open your account overview in a browser is your current subscription status and the date of your next payment or when it expires (in the case of a prepaid one). If that's not the case, please send over a screenshot of how things look on your end but please make sure to edit out any sensitive info.

If all works as expected, you can check there if the subscription renewal was successful and see an overview of your payments in the Order history section. 

To answer your last question, switching to free doesn't remove your saved playlists, you only need to re-download your offline playlists.

Let us know how it goes.

[OhItSands]

Hi, thanks for your response. So in ACCOUNT OVERVIEW It shows that my next bill is for [LOCAL CURRENCY] due on 3/22/24 with my card on file mentioned.

This is a yearly subscription I bought exactly a year ago (paid for 10 months and got 12). When I click the box and go to MANAGE YOUR PLAN, in addition to an overview of "PREMIUM INDIVIDUAL" the clickable choices are "CHANGE PLAN" - I don't want to do that, I want to stick with my current plan. The other clickable option is to "UPDATE" my payment. Again, I don't need to update it. The card on file is valid for several more years.

I will be billed this Friday (22nd March) for what appears to be the monthly rate. How can I renew and pay for the year up front? This way I can pay for 10 months and get 12 months or is that something you only offer the first time someone subscribes and everyone subsequently gets billed monthly?

[MihailY]

Hey @OhItSands,

Thanks for your reply and for the clarification.

I've checked the available options on my end as well and I now see what you mean. If one is using a prepaid plan, there's indeed no straightforward process to renew it from the account page and I'm guessing this is due to the fact that this plan is a digital alternative of the physical prepaid card which is currently not being sold on Spotify's website and therefore can't be offered as an easy click & buy option in the Manage your plan section. That of course doesn't make your feedback any less valid and rest assured, it will be forwarded to the relevant team at Spotify.

Now, to address your plan renewal issue - to navigate to the yearly subscription plan that you've used so far, open https://www.spotify.com/premium/ and click on Get Premium Individual. This should take you to this page which shows you the available payment options - monthly recurring and 4 prepaid ones the first of which is your plan (12 months for the price of 10).

The new yearly plan will start after your current one expires (on 3/22/24), but note that (judging from the message in the Manage your plan section) it will roll into a recurring subscription on 3/22/25. If you'd like to avoid this, simply click on Cancel plan (don't worry, your account won't revert to free when doing this, you're simply cancelling the recurring subscription that's queued after your prepaid plan).

I hope this helps and I'll be here if you have any other questions.