Forum Discussion

cambob's avatar
cambob
Copper Contributor
Mar 25, 2021

Free vs Trial - confusion

Hi, I signed up for Teams Free a couple of months ago, and now I got an email saying my trial is ending. Trial!? What!?!? Also, when I go to the subscription page, I can clearly see that there is a ...
microsoft teams
In_go_M's avatar
In_go_M
Copper Contributor
Apr 27, 2021
I can only tell you I started the process here: https://www.microsoft.com/de-de/microsoft-teams/free and performed quite exactly the steps described in your post above my last one and ended up with this trial version. I did not register for Office 365 trial nor did I initiated Exploratory experience (for which anyway I am quite sure I don't fulfill all criteria described here: https://docs.microsoft.com/de-de/microsoftteams/teams-exploratory )

What do you think I should ask the Microsoft support? What would you suggest how I can start a proper Teams free? Or should it even be possible to migrate my organisation to a proper free account?
ChristianBergstrom's avatar
ChristianBergstrom
Silver Contributor
Apr 27, 2021
It's pretty easy to determine if you have a full trial or using Teams free as you don't have the Teams admin center (TAC) when signing up for Teams free. So, can you enter here? https://admin.teams.microsoft.com/

Don't think you can migrate a trial to Teams free to be honest. Best way would be to start over signing up for Teams free with a new account, but that might not be an option.
  • IT_admin_kl's avatar
    IT_admin_kl
    Copper Contributor
    Nov 11, 2021
    I have the same issue- registered to get MS Teams free but got 3 months trial. Do not find any support to help because MS teams free do not have any support... anyone you had this type of problem - did you find any solution?
  • In_go_M's avatar
    In_go_M
    Copper Contributor
    Apr 28, 2021

    ChristianBergstrom Thanks for testing! So you are saying by chosing "personal use" it should still work? But I guess it would be against the Terms of Use to then use it in a work environment, I assume... so this would be useless for my use case. And still the advertisement suggests this should be ok to use Teams free for work:

    Well... let's see, I am expecting another (probably the 7th or 8th) call back today from the Microsoft support in this matter, maybe this time it will be more satisfying... 

    cheers

     

    EDIT: I just tried to set up a new Teams account "for family and friends", but I failed, as I need to register with it a phone number but mine is already associated to my main account... so it won't let me. 😞

     

    EDIT2: maybe the Microsoft_Teams_team can have a look at this then? tl;dr: teams free is now time limited? If so the product page and documentation need an update. If not there seems to be some weird stuff going on with the registration process: ChristianBergstrom and I (and at least a couple of others) ended up with a 3 month trial for Teams free. Thanks for your attention.

  • ChristianBergstrom's avatar
    ChristianBergstrom
    Silver Contributor
    Apr 28, 2021

    In_go_M Well, I now totally get your confusion. Something has obviously been changed. I created a brand new Microsoft Personal Account followed by a sign up for a Teams free org. (just as the one I already have since several months) and look and behold!

     

    *UPDATE* I just realized I selected for "work or school" this time, when previously selecting for "personal use". That's the difference I can think of. Still very confusing and the support pages needs to be updated.

     

     

  • In_go_M's avatar
    In_go_M
    Copper Contributor
    Apr 27, 2021
    Cool! Thank you. I'm looking forward indeed!
  • ChristianBergstrom's avatar
    ChristianBergstrom
    Silver Contributor
    Apr 27, 2021
    Hey, can try that but have to be later. I'll update here.
  • In_go_M's avatar
    In_go_M
    Copper Contributor
    Apr 27, 2021

    ChristianBergstrom Just to add a little thingy... a couple of days ago, I created an additional Teams free account, which I don't plan to use, on another mail adress, advised by a support agent (she wanted to prove a point, probably because of some misunderstanding... see above regarding the windmills). I just claimed my admin onmicrosoft account for that one to check, what the product info says there... guess what: It's the same there (see attached, expiring 3 months after registering). Would you mind setting up a new Teams free account for yourself on an other (old/unused/...) email-address and check if you can get an (timewise) unlimited account? Maybe they changed something in the registering process? Or maybe I am truly doing something wrong?

  • In_go_M's avatar
    In_go_M
    Copper Contributor
    Apr 27, 2021
    Thank you a lot for your time and effort... I feel I am fighting against windmills (does that expression work in English?) with the official support. I have 3 Support Cases and lots of phone calls & E-Mails with different personnel (billing / tech / whatnot). Either they provide me with the (supposedly wrong) information that Teams free is meant to be a trial or they use a language I can't comprehent (tenant, domain, azure, ... A couple of which I could decipher in the mean time by myself, but still I am lost in communicating with them in many moments).
    But I understand, that you are the wrong person to complain to 🙂 Thank you again for listening/reading and confirming that the service should be free as advertised on the product page.
    Cheers!
  • ChristianBergstrom's avatar
    ChristianBergstrom
    Silver Contributor
    Apr 27, 2021
    Yup, that's the screen you get trying to go to the TAC using Teams free. Can't say what's going on here. Better try with the official support again.
  • In_go_M's avatar
    In_go_M
    Copper Contributor
    Apr 27, 2021

    ChristianBergstrom I can't log in there (see attached). So what does that mean now?

     

    EDIT: funnily enough in my admin center it says "Microsoft Teams (free) - Trial" so it is a (time limited) trial for a free service? That doesn't make any sense, does it?