Payment Profile Nightmare
My Google Support Odyssey: A Tale of Tech Support Terror and the Unexpected Pitfalls of Family Plans
Table of Contents
- My Google Support Odyssey: A Tale of Tech Support Terror and the Unexpected Pitfalls of Family Plans
- Introduction
Introduction
Okay, people, grab your snacks and settle in because I’m about to tell you a story about the most ridiculous tech support experience of my life. This isn’t just any old “my internet was down” story, no sir. This is a saga of epic proportions, a tale of frustration, confusion, and the unexpected pitfalls of having a Google account.
The Scene of the Crime:
So, there I was, minding my own business, trying to close an old Google payment profile from my days living in Turkey. Seems easy enough, right? Just a little digital housekeeping. WRONG. This turned into a tech support odyssey that would make Odysseus himself weep.
The Never-Ending Story:
Google, in their infinite wisdom, wouldn’t let me close the account because I had “active subscriptions.” Okay, fair enough. So I canceled them. ALL of them. YouTube Premium? Gone! Google One? See ya! My beloved VPN? Hasta la vista, baby! But did that work? Of course not! The error message mocked me, “Cancel your subscriptions.” It was like a bad joke that just wouldn’t end.
Nancy to the Rescue (Maybe?):
Enter Nancy, my Google Support angel (or so I thought). I poured my heart out to her in the chat, explaining my predicament, my frustration growing with every typed sentence. Nancy, bless her soul, seemed eager to help, but she was clearly trapped in the Google Support maze, armed with scripts and pre-approved responses.
“Cancel your subscriptions,” she said, like a broken record.
“I DID, I DID!” I wanted to yell.
Screenshot City:
And then, the screenshot madness began. I sent Nancy screenshots of everything – my subscriptions, my error messages, my dog (okay, not my dog, but you get the idea). Nancy, in return, sent me instructions that were about as useful as a screen door on a submarine. We were going around in circles, and I was starting to lose it.
The Plot Twist:
Just when I thought things couldn’t get any weirder, Nancy dropped a bombshell. The reason I couldn’t close my Turkish profile, she declared, was because I had… a family plan. A FAMILY PLAN! Who knew that having a digital family could cause such chaos?
“Delete your family group,” she instructed.
I kid you not. My digital family, exiled because of a payment profile issue. But hey, desperate times call for desperate measures. I deleted the group.
And guess what? It worked! I could finally change my country profile. Hallelujah!
The Grand Finale:
After what felt like a lifetime (okay, it was an hour and a half, but still), I was finally able to buy something on Google Play. The error message was gone, defeated by the sacrifice of my digital family. (Don’t worry, I added them back later. Family is family, after all.)
The Moral of the Story:
- Google’s payment system is a wild and unpredictable beast.
- Never underestimate the power of a family plan (for good or evil).
- Patience is key when dealing with tech support (and a good sense of humor doesn’t hurt).
- And always, always take screenshots. You never know when they’ll come in handy for a hilarious blog post.
So, the next time you’re battling with tech support, remember my story. Take a deep breath, arm yourself with screenshots, and maybe, just maybe, you’ll emerge victorious.
Chat Transcript for Case: 5-4909000036946
Thanks for Contacting Support
You can find a copy of the conversation you requested below.
Chat Transcript for Case: 5-4909000036946
Date: Nov 13, 1:11 PM (Pacific Time)
1:11:38 PM – Nancy joined the conversation.
Nancy: Welcome! Your Case ID is 5-4909000036946. Refer to this if you need to contact us again.
The chat will stay open for 24 hours after your last message. If you step away, you can come back anytime.
1:11:42 PM – Waqas Rana joined the conversation.
Waqas Rana: Hi Nancy
1:12:10 PM
Nancy: Hello! Thank you for contacting Google Support. My name is Nancy. Am I speaking with Waqas?
1:12:45 PM
Waqas Rana: Yes, I am Waqas.
Nancy: May I also please confirm if your email is waqaskhan137@gmail.com?
1:12:47 PM
Waqas Rana: Hi, I’m trying to close my payment profile but I can’t. When I try, it asks me to cancel all my subscriptions, which I already did. Now it still says the same thing. The only thing left under my services is payouts, which I can’t cancel through any settings. I’m stuck and need help.
Nancy: Thank you for confirming.
Waqas Rana: Yes, this is my email.
1:13:02 PM
Nancy: Thank you for that information. I understand that you want to close a payment profile.
Nancy: I definitely understand where you are coming from. No worries, I want to assure you that I will do everything possible to help. Let’s work on this together.
1:15:18 PM
Waqas Rana: I’ve been living in Turkey for over a year and created a payment profile there. Now, I no longer live in Turkey and don’t have access to my Turkish bank account. The profile is useless, and I can’t make any purchases because it gives me an error saying, “Something went wrong” when I try using my card.
1:18:08 PM
Waqas Rana: Can you guide me on how I can fix this issue?
Nancy: Thank you for that information. Let me go ahead and check your account.
1:19:21 PM
Nancy: Let me go ahead and check your account.
1:19:40 PM
Waqas Rana: Ok
1:19:45 PM
Nancy: May I place our chat on hold for about 2-3 minutes while I look into this?
1:20:04 PM
Nancy: Upon checking here, Waqas.
1:20:13 PM
Waqas Rana: Sure
1:20:17 PM
Nancy: Upon checking here, it seems that the subscription effectivity of the cancellation will be on the next billing date. If you are canceling today, you need to wait for the billing cycle to cancel your subscription.
1:20:37 PM
Nancy: I hope this information helps.
1:20:56 PM
Waqas Rana: Oh, so if the subscription ends in 3 months, I wait for it, and then I can close it? There must be another way ☹️
1:21:31 PM
Waqas Rana: There has to be a way ☹️
1:21:38 PM
Nancy: Yes, that is correct, Waqas.
1:21:43 PM
Nancy: Let me check this for you.
1:21:48 PM
Nancy: May I please put you on hold for about 2-3 minutes while I look into your concern?
1:21:54 PM
Waqas Rana: Sure
1:24:24 PM
Nancy: Thank you for patiently waiting.
1:24:30 PM
Nancy: Did you use waqaskhan137@gmail.com to make the purchase?
1:24:36 PM
Waqas Rana: Yes
1:24:40 PM
Nancy: Thank you for confirming.
1:24:53 PM
Nancy: And may I know what type of subscription that you would like to cancel?
1:25:40 PM
Waqas Rana: I have Google One, YouTube, VPN.
1:25:45 PM
Waqas Rana: Let me share the screenshot.
1:26:13 PM
Nancy: Sure, please go ahead.
1:27:34 PM
Waqas Rana: Rana Muhammad Waqas
Subscriptions and Services
Google One 2 TB (Google One) - You canceled this service.
Google Play Kaspersky Standard (1 device, 1-year) with Trial (VPN & Antivirus by Kaspersky) - You canceled this service.
Google Play Pocket Premium - Yearly (Pocket: Save. Read. Grow.) - You canceled this service.
Google Play UFC Fight Pass Annual Subscription (UFC) - You canceled this service.
Google Play Unlimited traffic 1 year with special offer (VPN Kaspersky: Fast & Secure) - You canceled this service.
Google Play Weekly Subscription (Chatly - AI ChatBot Assistant) - You canceled this service.
YouTube YouTube Premium - You canceled this service.
1:27:53 PM
Nancy: Thank you for that information.
1:28:26 PM
Waqas Rana: Screenshot_20241114_022824_Chrome.jpg
1:31:45 PM
Waqas Rana: Can you help?
1:31:53 PM
Nancy: Let me check this for you.
1:32:02 PM
Waqas Rana: Ok
1:33:26 PM
Nancy: Okay let me try to cancel this one by one, okay Waqas.
1:33:37 PM
Waqas Rana: Ok
1:36:35 PM
Nancy: Upon checking, the UFC fight pass is already canceled.
1:37:59 PM
Waqas Rana: Another thing, I would be happy that if I can use my current payment profile to pay, I would not be worried about closing this one even.
1:39:25 PM
Waqas Rana: Screenshot_20241114_023942_Google Play Store.png
1:39:26 PM
Waqas Rana: Whenever I try to buy something, it gives me an error.
1:39:33 PM
Waqas Rana: How can I fix this issue?
1:39:46 PM
Waqas Rana: My account is useless, I cannot buy anything now.
1:40:01 PM
Nancy: Thank you for that information.
1:40:37 PM
Nancy: I’m really sorry for this, however, let me investigate your account.
1:40:54 PM
Waqas Rana: Ok
1:41:02 PM
Nancy: May I please put you on hold for about 2-3 minutes while I look into your concern?
1:41:09 PM
Waqas Rana: Sure
1:46:01 PM
Nancy: Thank you for patiently waiting.
1:46:31 PM
Nancy: Upon checking, Waqas, it’s all already canceled.
1:46:49 PM
Waqas Rana: Ok
1:47:02 PM
Waqas Rana: Can you check why I cannot buy anything?
1:47:22 PM
Nancy: I completely understand the importance of this matter to you, and I can only imagine how difficult it is for you to experience that. No worries, I want to assure you that I will do everything possible to help. Let’s work on this together.
1:47:29 PM
Nancy: Please bear with me, Waqas.
1:47:33 PM
Waqas Rana: Screenshot_20241114_023942_Google Play Store.png
1:47:34 PM
Waqas Rana: I get this error whenever I try to purchase something.
1:47:56 PM
Waqas Rana: Ok, I am here, please help 🙏
1:48:30 PM
Nancy: Sure, nothing to worry about for this, Waqas. I’m really sorry for the inconvenience and the long process for this one.
1:50:40 PM
Nancy: 1. On your device, go to pay.google.com.
- Select Settings.
- Under “Payments profile status,” select Close payments profile.
- In the pop-up window, select Continue.
1:50:54 PM
Nancy: You may follow these steps, Waqas.
1:51:06 PM
Waqas Rana: Let me follow and get back.
1:51:15 PM
Waqas Rana: Which profile do I close?
1:53:07 PM
Nancy: You will decide what account you would like to close, Waqas.
1:53:15 PM
Nancy: I hope this information helps.
1:53:58 PM
Waqas Rana: I am getting the same error.
1:54:18 PM
Nancy: Could you please send me a screenshot?
1:54:39 PM
Waqas Rana: Screenshot_20241114_025240_Chrome.png
1:54:40 PM
Waqas Rana: I only want to close it so I may be able to purchase services with the active profile I have.
1:56:24 PM
Nancy: Yes, once you close the profile, all of the subscriptions will automatically close, and all of your transactions will be in the account.
1:56:29 PM
Waqas Rana: The original issue is me not being able to purchase any services.
1:56:38 PM
Nancy: Yes, I understand, Waqas.
1:57:01 PM
Nancy: Could you please send me a screenshot of why you cannot make a purchase?
1:59:07 PM
Waqas Rana: Screenshot_20241114_025825_Google Play Store.png
1:59:09 PM
Waqas Rana: This is the error I get when I try to purchase anything, like a game service.
1:59:21 PM
Waqas Rana: Can you see the screenshot?
2:00:35 PM
Nancy: Thank you for the screenshot.
2:02:36 PM
Nancy: May I know where you are physically located right now, Waqas?
2:03:20 PM
Waqas Rana: Pakistan
2:03:37 PM
Waqas Rana: I’m having issues making any purchases on my Google Play account. Every time I try, I get an error message saying, “Something went wrong.”
Here’s what happened: I originally created a payment profile while I was living in Turkey, and it worked fine. Now that I’ve moved back to Pakistan, I created a new payment profile for Pakistan. Since then, I’ve been getting this error whenever I try to buy anything on my Google account.
I tried closing the Turkish payment profile, but it asked me to cancel all my subscriptions first. I canceled all of them, but it now says I need to wait for the subscriptions to fully end before I can close the profile. I’m stuck in a loop where I can’t close the old profile, and I can’t make any purchases with the new one. It’s frustrating and I need help resolving this issue.
2:03:55 PM
Waqas Rana: Here is the full context.
2:05:15 PM
Nancy: Thank you for that information.
2:06:09 PM
Nancy: Please allow me another 2-3 minutes. Thanks, Waqas.
2:06:23 PM
Waqas Rana: Ok, Nancy.
2:06:40 PM
Waqas Rana: But it’s already been 1 hour of me trying to explain my issue.
2:06:55 PM
Waqas Rana: It seems like you are stuck in a loop as well.
2:07:48 PM
Waqas Rana: Can you please try to fix it quicker or pass it on to someone who knows what is going on?
2:08:58 PM
Nancy: Yes, sure, we can fix this quickly right now. So sorry for this, Waqas.
2:11:17 PM
Nancy: Hi Waqas, upon checking here that you already made a profile in Pakistan.
2:12:31 PM
Waqas Rana: Which is not working to buy anything.
2:12:40 PM
Waqas Rana: That’s why I am frustrated.
2:13:31 PM
Nancy: Yes, I understand, Waqas. I’m really sorry for this, however.
2:13:48 PM
Waqas Rana: Do you have a solution to this?
2:14:16 PM
Waqas Rana: I do not want to be wasting my time and still have the same issue; that would make me feel even worse.
2:14:22 PM
Nancy: 1. Open the Google Play Store app Google Play.
- At the top right, tap the profile.
- Tap Settings, then General, then Account and device preferences, then Country and profiles.
- Tap the country or region where you want to add an account.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to add a payment method for that country or region.
2:15:34 PM
Nancy: Reminder: Your profile can take up to 48 hours to update.
2:17:14 PM
Waqas Rana: I do not have Pakistan option in country.
Waqas Rana: Screenshot_20241114_031727_Google Play Store.png
2:17:23 PM
Waqas Rana: Please check the screenshot I attached.
2:18:00 PM
Nancy: And also for the limitations of switching between payment profiles.
2:18:24 PM
Nancy: User can only change their Play Country once per year, and once changed, can’t change it back for one year.
2:18:47 PM
Waqas Rana: So can I change it or not now?
2:19:06 PM
Waqas Rana: ?
2:19:54 PM
Waqas Rana: How do I change it to Pakistan? It doesn’t even give me an option or warning or error.
2:19:55 PM
Waqas Rana: Screenshot_20241114_031727_Google Play Store.png
2:20:04 PM
Waqas Rana: Nancy?
2:20:44 PM
Nancy: Let me check first your screenshot.
2:21:06 PM
Nancy: Yep, you can change it to Pakistan, Waqas.
2:21:15 PM
Waqas Rana: How?
2:21:25 PM
Waqas Rana: No option to change it to Pakistan.
2:21:41 PM
Nancy: Once you change your profile, it will update within 48 hours.
2:22:00 PM
Waqas Rana: How to change the profile?
2:22:45 PM
Nancy: You try to click the country.
2:23:00 PM
Waqas Rana: I am; it’s not doing anything.
2:23:44 PM
Nancy: Okay, so sorry for that. Let me check this one first, Waqas.
2:24:57 PM
Waqas Rana: I am tapping on country or profile; it’s not working.
Waqas Rana: Screen_Recording_20241114_032424_Google Play Store_1.gif
2:25:24 PM
Nancy: To give you the right information, may I place this chat on hold for 2-3 minutes?
2:25:46 PM
Waqas Rana: Please do whatever, but fix my issue quickly.
2:29:59 PM
Nancy: Hi Waqas, did you see any active subscriptions on your end? Please tell me if you have any active subscriptions.
2:31:19 PM
Waqas Rana: Screenshot_20241114_033120_Chrome.png
Waqas Rana: I see this.
2:31:28 PM
Waqas Rana: And I cannot cancel it.
2:31:41 PM
Waqas Rana: Please check the screenshot.
2:32:05 PM
Nancy: Okay, thanks for this, Waqas.
2:33:12 PM
Waqas Rana: So why can’t I change my profile or country?
2:33:14 PM
Waqas Rana: ?
2:33:19 PM
Waqas Rana: Any clue?
2:35:11 PM
Nancy: Please bear with me; I need to convey this to our higher specialist.
2:35:40 PM
Waqas Rana: Ok
2:38:59 PM
Nancy: Please bear with me.
2:40:47 PM
Waqas Rana: Ok, waiting.
2:41:16 PM
Nancy: Please allow me 3-5 minutes, Waqas.
2:41:29 PM
Waqas Rana: Ok
2:45:37 PM
Waqas Rana: Any luck?
2:46:12 PM
Nancy: Hi Waqas, thanks for patiently waiting.
2:46:55 PM
Waqas Rana: ?
2:47:57 PM
Nancy: Please bear with me, really sorry for the long process, Waqas. Nothing to worry about; I will make sure that I provide the right information so that we can fix this concern.
2:48:58 PM
Waqas Rana: Ok
2:50:32 PM
Nancy: Hi Waqas, thank you so much for patiently waiting.
2:51:20 PM
Waqas Rana: Please cut to the chase; do you have a solution for me or not?
2:51:25 PM
Nancy: Upon checking here, we cannot cancel this subscription on our end because this is a different platform.
2:51:39 PM
Nancy: https://support.google.com/merchants#contact=1&topic=12158920
2:52:14 PM
Waqas Rana: What about changing the country profile?
2:54:37 PM
Waqas Rana: ?
2:55:43 PM
Waqas Rana: Hello, Nancy.
2:55:49 PM
Waqas Rana: Are you there?
2:55:51 PM
Nancy: Yes, if you would like to change your payment profile, we have another way. You can delete your family group.
2:56:15 PM
Waqas Rana: Ok, please guide me on how to delete the family group.
2:56:48 PM
Nancy: Sure, please bear with me, Waqas.
3:00:46 PM
Nancy: Hi Waqas, you may follow these steps.
- Go to g.co/YourFamily.
- Select the family member that you want to remove.
- Select Remove member, then Remove.
3:02:46 PM
Nancy: Please tell me how it goes.
3:04:16 PM
Waqas Rana: I have deleted the family members.
3:04:21 PM
Waqas Rana: Now what to do?
3:06:10 PM
Waqas Rana: I have deleted the family group as well.
3:07:08 PM
Nancy: Alright, thanks for that information, Waqas. Once you delete your family member, try to switch your payments profile.
3:07:12 PM
Waqas Rana: It is letting me change the country profile now.
3:07:48 PM
Waqas Rana: Thank you 🙏 Nancy.
3:07:57 PM
Nancy: Yes, Waqas, please let me know how it goes.
3:08:07 PM
Nancy: Does it work?
3:08:33 PM
Waqas Rana: Yes, it is letting me change the country, but let me try to purchase something.
3:08:42 PM
Waqas Rana: And see if I get the error or not.
3:09:36 PM
Nancy: Wonderful, Waqas. I’m glad that we have already changed your play country. Reminder: Your profile can take up to 48 hours to update.
3:10:32 PM
Waqas Rana: I can buy now.
3:10:37 PM
Waqas Rana: It changed already.
3:10:44 PM
Waqas Rana: Nancy, you are a legend.
3:11:16 PM
Nancy: Wonderful, thanks so much. I’m really glad that we already made it.
3:11:20 PM
Waqas Rana: Who would have thought I was having this issue because I had a family group created?
3:12:27 PM
Nancy: Yes, especially Waqas. I’m really sorry for the long process we went through, but I’m glad we found a way to change the payment profile.
Nancy: Is there anything else that I can help you with aside from this?
3:12:59 PM
Waqas Rana: I think I am good for now 😄
Waqas Rana: Thank you.
Waqas Rana ended the conversation.