"My son racked up £1k bill on Xbox"

[Serenegoose]

First off, kids in that age generally don't have a great view of the potential consequences of buying something that appears free (i.e. not actually giving money), and perhaps he was not even aware that this money would be deducted from his mother's credit card.

And why did the mother take 6 months to notice?
Does she not have any control over her credit cards and/or bank statements?

I blame the mother.
She should not have saved her credit card information on his account.

Yeah, seriously. Kids of that age don't have the ability to factor in long term consequences - to blame them for not thinking ahead is like blaming someone for being unable to see X-rays. It's just not possible. Apportion the responsibility where appropriate, in the hands of the parent of the child, who really ought to have known better.

 

[FamoFunk]

Moral of this story - if you want a games console to baby-sit etc. your children, take some intrest in the damn thing and how it works so shit like this don't happen.

Same for the internet with chat rooms etc.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Pretty stupid parenting, but what a dick child. I knew what credit cards were at that age, I wouldn't go abusing the shit out of my parents just because I could.

yup.

my brother tried to pull this stunt on itunes, i caught his ass and gave him a swift kick to the ass for buying two movies on there, he tried to play it off but he doesn't realize i don't fall for his bullshit.

kids realize what they are doing, a majority of the time even, but they never care/understand the long term effects it has.

dumbasses.

 

[Daveeo]

haha, thats so bad, at 11 he should have some sense of how money doesnt come out of his mums a**, GROUND HIM FOR LIFE!

Agree, at the age of 11 you should somewhat know the value of money.

 

[LightningBanks]

1.lol

2.he may be only 11 but he had to have realised he was spending a lot of money.

Then again, on the steam christmas sale I thought I spent around £30-£50

£120 the bill was in the end D:

wait, was that a whoops I spent more than I thought or a fail from steam?

A fault of my own.

Of course, I had the money, but it did make me jump when I saw it.

 

[hutchy27]

Damn, that kid shouldn't of used his mother's credit card like that and she shouldn't leave her credit details with her son.

 

[Danpascooch]

I propose she sell one of his Kidneys to get the money back

 

[wolf92]

Am i a bad person for laghing at the mother?

No, not really. It's kinda funny

 

[Nerf Ninja]

See as much as I know I wouldn't spend this much, I have overspent with online digital purchases such as points and the like when I look back on my account for the month I sometimes get a "holy shit I spent this much!?" moment. It's just too easy to spend sometimes and after a while it doesn't feel like real money any more.

 

[bushwhacker2k]

Kids an idiot but not completely to blame imo.

Did I miss something? If knowingly using your mom's credit card info to buy stuff she didn't give the ok for doesn't make you the one to blame then I think the world is doomed. Leaving her credit card info was careless, but it's like saying it's the owner's fault for leaving his car parked when someone broke in and stole something.

 

[Dimensional Vortex]

1.lol

2.he may be only 11 but he had to have realised he was spending a lot of money.

Maybe he just didn't care, if so than what a dick!

First this did sound a little humorous.

Second, I guess trusting kids to be responsible with your money is still a bad idea.

Third, I hope she doesn't have to pay for it all, that would be like a life ruining thing.

 

[Kenny Kondom]

Bahahahahahaha!
Morons...
this is probably one of the best reasons i thank my parents for their upbringing of me. "never rely on cards or assume your account will be full at the end of the week". Must say, it has worked wonders for me. I have never bought anything with a credit card (aim never to own one either), plan ahead if i use my debit card by checking the account balance, and attempt to buy everything with cash. Hell, i got my x-box membership and the x-box points via cash for activation card access...
The kid needs to get a job and move out. He'll learn to respect his (and other peoples) money a helluva lot more once he is throw out into the dark and uncaring real world

 

[tomtom94]

Kid's fault for not realising the consequences, mum's fault for not even checking occasionally that he might have used it for these purposes.

I agree with the guy who said this above, the cards are a great system for limiting spending.

The only thing I will say is were these microtransactions advertised well enough for an eleven year-old to understand his actions? Just playing devil's advocate.

 

[Kalahee]

Be kinder on the mom. Most peoples are unused to how credit cards work with today's online purchase and might have not noticed that her card info been saved into the machine. The only thing that is bothering me is that the mom didn't notice her bill was way up the first month. If it works the same way as here, we get the bill every month.

 

[gcninja]

On one hand, its just her being nice and letting her child play online. On the other, its the child being an idiot abusing something he shouldn't have. I'll bet you the mother didn't even know of the market place, just thought it was to pay for online.
Also, have you ever tried to remove the credit card from the account? you cant. Watch, go log into xbox.com and try to remove it. You have to have ANOTHER on there to do it. And to cancel your auto renewal, you have to CALL. Its BS and chips
Honestly the bank should have warned her too

 

[Sticky Squid]

Kids an idiot but not completely to blame imo.

Did I miss something? If knowingly using your mom's credit card info to buy stuff she didn't give the ok for doesn't make you the one to blame then I think the world is doomed. Leaving her credit card info was careless, but it's like saying it's the owner's fault for leaving his car parked when someone broke in and stole something.

I was only really talking about the fact that she left her credit card info with the child. She could have easily prevented this from happening but she didn't take the necessary measures.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

The picture in the article was hilarious. What a dumb kid and mom.

 

[Nsladey]

Get the Kid an Atari. That'll teach him to fucking behave!!!

 

[TheDandyHighwayman]

I propose she sell one of his Kidneys to get the money back

I'm not sure hom much Kidneys go for these days but I'm sure it's quite a lot more than £1000

also surely the mother couldn't have just put it down to "the recession and rising costs of petrol and food." I don't think that 6 months of the difference of new costs and old costs is £1000

also she is "planning to contact a solicitor about the payments." The kid paid her money! Even if she isn't to blame, Microsoft aren't either!

then again.. she is from SE England... you do get a lot of weirdos down there.

 

[Lazzi]

AS much as I want to speak, Im not going to touch this.