Dad Blames Microsoft for Son's Xbox Live Spending Spree

[Nocturnus]

While the father should have been more diligent, Microsoft really should put in a verification system on the XBox for situations where the child might still attempt to make dishonest purchases.

 

[antipunt]

Microsoft responded to the report, pointing out that the price of downloadable content is clearly stated during the purchasing process. The company failed to note that, as a 12-year-old, Nik shouldn't have been playing Call of Duty in the first place

*srnk*

BUSTEDDDDD

(pretty much what I was thinking)

>_>

 

[-Dragmire-]

Dad Blames Microsoft for Son's Xbox Live Spending Spree




Sam Ghera has sent a complaint to Microsoft after discovering his 12-year-old son, Nik, had been spending up to £100 a day on "Fifa and Call of Duty," racking up a total bill of £1,150 over six months. Ghera only found out about the numerous charges to his credit card when he went to an ATM, only to be told he had insufficient funds to make a withdrawal.

6 months... he didn't check his credit card bill in 6 months? It's kinda his fault it got so high then regardless of MS's transaction practices.

 

[esperandote]

Either the son is an idiot or the father is an idiot.

Why can't it be both?

 

[Gearhead mk2]

Why aren't IQ tests mandatory for parents yet?

 

[Leftnt Sharpe]

Let's see... letting the kid on XBL on an unrestricted account, letting the kid play a mature game, not realizing your credentials are stored, and not explaining beforehand to the kid about online transactions. That's a rather impressive streak of failures, on issues that everyone should address with their kids when booting up the console for the first time.

snip

You forgot the part where he didn't look at his bank statement once over a 6 month period.

You're right, I saw it, but the amount of time that represents didn't register; I interpreted as a span closer to 6 weeks.

Christ, that's just asking for trouble, even if you're not paranoid about unauthorized transactions.

OK, I have about as much fiscal responsibility as, well, a 12 year old. Yet somehow I manage to read my fucking bank statements correctly. This man is clearly a moron, the son however is pretty smart.

 

[GAunderrated]

Funny how parents are so quickly to blame the companies for their lack of judgement. I'm glad the father decided to openly humiliate himself with his own ignorance. I really hope microsoft doesn't give him a dime

 

[Headsprouter]

As usual, completely the parents fault.

Also the kid is retarded for thinking it didn't actually cost money despite the system telling him it did. I know I was fairly dumb at 12, but certainly not to that extent.

I think he knew. I think he was just irresponsible.

 

[Bvenged]

Parents fault. End of story. If he was concerned enough about his child he would have studied the parental controls in the Parental Control" page of the Xbox, where options to block purchases can be conducted. Also if he gave enough shits he would have noticed, by email, every single purchase made.

We all make mistakes, and this is just a parenting one; lets home Microsoft offer at least a partial refund and the parent learns from his mistakes. Even though the kid is 12, he sounds like a dumb-ass - but if your kid's liable to do things like that, then restrict their access to prevent damage from being done. Common sense.

Sounds to me like this kid was playing on an adult account for all of this to go under the nose of the parent. There are automatic restrictions on the child accounts and if the kids wasn't using one then the parent is fully to blame.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

Technically they are correct. As a parent he should have given his kid a kids account, and the kid shouldn't have been playing Call of Duty in the first place.

Don't even bother taking it to court mate, it's just not worth it.

 

[Daemascus]

Is anyone else bothered by the amount of money the kid somehow spent? Unless he was just going down the game lists and buying everything there was, I don't see how he could spend that much. Blaming CoD and Fifa alone makes even less sense to me.

 

[zombiesinc]

Seriously?

Be a parent. I'm really sick of listening to so many parents' excuses these days. They throw their kid(s) in front of a TV, tell them to entertain themselves but the moment anything goes wrong or in a direction they don't like, rather than take responsibility for their laziness they blame anyone and everyone else. Sick, just sick.

LRN 2 PARENT

 

[Pandabearparade]

Just give him back the money. Clearly he hadn't authorized the purchases.

 

[Sheo_Dagana]

The kid clearly knew what was up and the father is just an idiot. I mean, he's letting his child play Call of Duty, doesn't give a shit that the kid clearly plays the games all day and only takes notice when his bank account comes up short. Class-fucking-act parenting, right there.

Microsoft has a system for this and parents never use it. It's their own damn fault if they give their child their credit card and don't teach them about fiscal responsibility. When you make a purchase, the amount it costs is clearly stated, because otherwise they'd be fighting this battle a whole bunch.

Normally, I enjoy seeing huge publishers getting taken down a peg, but I hope Microsoft doesn't give this guy a dime. Or a euro. Whatever. Ignorance should not be refunded. Bad parenting even less so.

 

[Bigeyez]

While this is most certainly the fathers fault on many, many, MANY different levels Microsoft could very easily avoid these types of things by adding an extra confirmation screen before you spend any cash on anything. Something that pops up when you hit purchase that says "are you sure you want to charge the credit card of Jon Doe 46374719xxx9x9x8 visa $15?". Set that as a default system and then make it something you can opt-out of in the settings so most people can turn it off and not get annoyed by it.

Bam thats it. No one can say a message like that doesn't confirm that they are spending real money.