black friday is almost here, and you might want to take advantage of the sales season and grab a copy of Microsoft 365 Family at a discounted price. Amazon.co.uk is offering a 12-month subscription for £77, a 27% saving on the usual £105, for six people with up to 6TB of cloud storage and AI Office apps.
If you also want antivirus, you can pick up a sub of Microsoft 365 Family with Norton 360 Deluxe for five devices for £90, a solid 57% off the usual RRP of £210.
Bargain buyer beware
Instead of giving customers a code to add to an existing Microsoft account, the license is linked directly to the buyer’s Amazon account.
That change means users cannot accumulate multiple years of service. People who normally add prepaid codes and accumulate them several years in advance cannot do so here, as Amazon’s system does not support it.
Renewal is also controlled solely by Amazon. After the first year, the full renewal price is charged through your Amazon account. Anyone who wants to switch to a version purchased from another retailer cannot simply add a new code and continue.
The change is considered like starting a new subscription and that process involves reinstalling the Office applications.
Mac users in particular report that apps require a new activation linked to the new sub. Families that share storage or apps also need to rebuild their group, as Amazon’s managed plan does not extend an existing Microsoft 365 family setup.
These details are not clearly spelled out in the listings, so some urge potential buyers to take a closer look before purchasing. The initial savings may seem attractive at first glance, but the long-term behavior of the subscription is very different from the familiar code-based model.
Fortunately, there are other UK retailers, such as Argos, that offer discounted deals on Microsoft 365 Family without this flaw.
In the US, Amazon.com is selling a 12-month subscription at full price ($129.99 per year), but Newegg has a version with ESET NOD32 Antivirus included for just $58, proving that when it comes to Black Friday deals, it’s worth shopping around.
