How to change subscription plan to Microsoft 365 Classic to opt out of AI and avoid the price increase (in New Zealand)

It turned out that, for me at least, waiting for my subscription to expire was a mistake. I did not then see an option to subscribe to Microsoft 365 Family Classic, the version without AI. Instead, I had to subscribe at the inflated rate for one month and then immediately cancel. Then I was given the option to downgrade to Classic . I selected an annual subscription to Classic, which I will be charged in a month's time.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/switching-to-microsoft-365-personal-and-family-classic-plans-58342e83-38e7-4cda-b63b-88604a8fb7ef

I just received an email indicating my subscription price has been increased by 45% That is crazy ... I have search for how to contact Microsoft 365 regarding this matter. Could someone from Microsoft please contact me via email. I realize prices increase ... but 45% ???????? Unbelievable.

If you look through the posts in this threads, you will see two different fixes that have worked for others. And it sounds like you are having basically the same problem as the rest of us. You probably won't need to deal with a Microsoft support person.

This is from the UK, but hopefully will be helpful for those elsewhere

"Downgrade to Microsoft 365 Personal or Microsoft 365 Family Classic

Go to Services & subscriptions. Sign in with the Microsoft account associated with your subscription, if prompted.

1. Find your current subscription and select Manage > Cancel subscription
2. To downgrade to another plan with fewer features, select Microsoft 365 Personal Classic or Microsoft 365 Family Classic, or another plan that works for you.
3. Follow the instructions to complete the switch.

Your existing subscription might not change immediately, but it will automatically switch to the new plan at renewal. You will not be charged for the new plan until it renews."

From https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/switching-to-microsoft-365-personal-and-family-classic-plans-58342e83-38e7-4cda-b63b-88604a8fb7ef

For me standard Microsoft 365 Family (with AI) is cheaper from Amazon & a number of other known name retailers than Family Classic is from Microsoft (the only place you can buy it)

THANK YOU!!!

copilot appeared in everything on my Mac and because I don't have Windows, I don't see ANY of the same options to disable the AI ****.

The fact that you have to select "cancel subscription" instead of switch plan is heinous. Good lord. The only reason I'm keeping the subscription around at all is for my parents who I share it with and so I don't get ads in my email account; I've already replaced outlook with thunderbird and office with libreoffice.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/switching-to-microsoft-365-personal-and-family-classic-plans-58342e83-38e7-4cda-b63b-88604a8fb7ef

Thanks, Gareth. It's good to see some official documentation about this from Microsoft. It's interesting that it says it applies from 16th January 2025, only about a week ago.

I've just tried this and I still don't see the Classic subscription as an option. It seems that, for me and others, the fix is still to cancel recurring billing, though we will all have to wait till payment is next due to see whether the 'Classic' option really does appear then. If this really is the case, it would be good if it were to be included in Microsoft's documentation page.

I did learn one excellent piece of news from that page. Again as from 16th January 2025, it is now possible to disable Copilot in at lease some Microsoft applications. See https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/how-to-turn-off-copilot-in-microsoft-365-family-and-personal-subscriptions-bc7e530b-152d-4123-8e78-edc06f8b85f1.  I've just done this in Word but don't yet see the option in Excel.