Did anyone else get billed for april when they weren't supose to?

[Kanacteeol]

I've been playing again since feb 17 i think canceled it once then reactivated it on march 02 i got billed for feb and for march and now i am getting billed for april. Correct me if i am wrong but don't i get april free? Is SE going to refund everyone after they get billed or am i the only one that got billed for april that wasn't suppose to?

I'm a long time customer to FFXI and i don't think it's fair that SE might exploit some loop hole like; my content ID wasn't activated most recently in feb so i don't get the free month even though i payed for march and i was only able to use it half the month. I would hope that an established business like SE would not stoop to something that low.

[Catnipthief]

Just be happy you can get on bro.

I would have happily paid if it meant not putting up with this.

[RAIST]

You may have just fallen through the cracks because of the screwy timing with when billing was run. Your best bet is to call them if you got billed and see if they can help straighten it out.

[Klowd]

Yeah I thought it was free so I had no money on my card and then my account got shut off do to unpaid fees. paid for all expansions last month and now i cant play till friday.

[Alderin]

I also got billed for this month. Not impressed.

[Cylla]

Both me and my husbands accounts also got billed for April :/ Yesterday, my account had been fully closed out because of the billing issues and he lost his content id. I got my account fully working yesterday some how and ended up getting hit with the monthly fee for April. Got his account working today and his also got hit with the monthly fee.

[Mylynx]

Ya i got billed too, now i cannot play until i talk with SE cause im not paying for something they said was free

[Catnipthief]

Be glad you can play at least, I would gladly pay if it meant that we wouldn't be locked out of our accounts, just call them tomorrow and explain the situation, i'm sure they will refund your money back to you.

[Klowd]

SE clearly doesn't actually look at the forums posts because this has been up for a while and one of the most recent updates from SE states no charges will be given for the month of April. Once again SE please change "April fees waived" to "April fees waived...lol jk XD"

[RAIST]

I've been playing again since feb 17 i think canceled it once then reactivated it on march 02 i got billed for feb and for march and now i am getting billed for april. Correct me if i am wrong but don't i get april free? Is SE going to refund everyone after they get billed or am i the only one that got billed for april that wasn't suppose to?

I'm a long time customer to FFXI and i don't think it's fair that SE might exploit some loop hole like; my content ID wasn't activated most recently in feb so i don't get the free month even though i payed for march and i was only able to use it half the month. I would hope that an established business like SE would not stoop to something that low.

Just noticed something that slipped my mind when I first read the OP. It would appear you were not active during the March Billing cycle (you re-activated in March, just after billing completed), and therefore did not pay during March, which was the first criteria for getting the credit. Here is the announcement on the Feb 28th billing:

The PlayOnline registration server will be unavailable due to maintenance at the following time. During this period, users will be unable to perform the following:

- Register or unsubscribe PlayOnline accounts
- Review, purchase, cancel, or reactivate Content IDs
- Review or update member information
- Purchase registration codes
- Apply for the World Transfer Service
- Access PlayOnline Membership Information from the official PlayOnline web site (http://www.playonline.com)
- Register Reward Codes
- Apply for the Character Reactivation Service
- Purchase of Square Enix Security Tokens
- Purchase of add-on scenarios

Also, if there is a problem with your payment method, you may be automatically disconnected from the game during the maintenance period. To avoid this, please complete all necessary billing changes in advance.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation.

[Date & Time]
Phase 1
From Feb. 28, 2011 23:50 to Mar. 1, 2011 3:00 (PST)

Phase 2
Mar. 2, 2011 from 0:00 to 3:00 (PST)
* Maintenance completion time may be subject to change.

[Affected Services]
PlayOnline

[Details]
PlayOnline registration server maintenance for the billing cycle.

* PlayOnline and all PlayOnline services not listed above will remain accessible.

* Please be aware that several services including purchasing, cancellation, and reactivation of Content IDs will also be unavailable between Phase 1 and Phase 2.

So, if you did not activate prior to 2/28, you could not have activated in March until AFTER the billing to prepay for March was completed. So, you did not meet the first criteria for waiver as noted here:

April Subscription Fees Waived Due to Server Downtime

Due to the temporary suspension of the FINAL FANTASY XI game service, customers with active, paying subscriptions as of March 2011 will not be charged monthly FINAL FANTASY XI subscription fees ($12.95 + $1.00 per additional Content ID) for the April billing cycle. Below is a list of important notices for affected customers.

[Important Notes]
* Only customers who paid subscription fees for March 2011 are eligible. Customers registering new accounts or reactivating accounts in April are not eligible.
* Fees for any additional Content IDs purchased from April 1, 2011 onwards will not be waived.
* Any charges aside from monthly subscription and additional Content ID fees (e.g., expansion purchases, etc.) will not be waived.
* Customers who closed their accounts during March will be eligible. However, you must reactivate your account before the end of April; since subscription fees are only being waived for the month of April, we recommend you reactivate early in order to reap the full benefits of this offer.

It is possible that you got billed for the time you were active in March that did not get billed in the 2/28 cycle because you were inactive when the billing took place. Then, because you did not pay during that 2/28 billing cycle, you also did not get the fee for April Waived. If you DID get charged a fee during the 2/28 billing, it may have likewise been to pay for the time that you were active in February since you activated the account in Feb. after that billing cycle that took place at the end of Jan/first of Feb.

I think the only way you will be able to sort it out for certain is to contact SE directly so they can pull up the full history of the account to see the exact timeline and make the appropriate adjustments if you indeed do qualify for the April Waiver.

EDIT:
tldr: the way it looks after I read OP again is like this:

Account inactive when prepay biling for Feb took place.
Account activated on 2/17, then deactivated before end of month.
Billing for March took place (2/28), you were charged backlogged due for Feb. play time that was missed in Feb. billing cycle, and not charged for March because the account was inactive.
Account activated after March billing cycle, and remained active through the April billing and you were charged the backlogged fee for play time in March that was missed on 2/28 cycle, then billed to prepay for April.

The big question for SE is whether they can make an exception in your case because you ultimately did end up paying for March, just not during the 2/28 cycle but on the 4/1 cycle.