"My son racked up £1k bill on Xbox"

[FamoFunk]

Hahaha, poor Mum, should of looked after her card/details better when She first brought him some Gold!

A mum-of-two is furious after her 11-year-old son racked up a £1,000 bill on his games console in just six months.

Dawn Matthews got the unpleasant surprise after one of her bank cards was turned down when she tried to pay a phone bill.

Miss Matthews, 37, from Strood, had entered her bank card details into the Xbox when her son, Brendan, first got it to allow him to play against friends online.

However, she was unaware Brendan had continued to use it - and buy extra games, weapons and costumes for his virtual characters - totting up a bill of £1,087 since July.

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kentonline/news/2011/february/7/xbox_bill.aspx

 

[gostlyfantom]

Am i a bad person for laughing at the mother?

 

[Fooz]

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!

 

[Jasper Jeffs]

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.

 

[rockera]

1.lol

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

 

[Sad Face]

Yeah, at 11 years old he should know how a credit card works.
Poor woman.

 

[RatRace123]

Ha, I'm sorry for laughing but that's pretty funny.
I bet that kid's not gonna be allowed to play for a while.

 

[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:

 

[Sticky Squid]

Kids an idiot but not completely to blame imo.

 

[Dr Ampersand]

Sell everything the child owns, get back "teh moneyz" problem solved.

 

[DesiPrinceX09]

One word: Irresponsible

The mom was irresponsible for putting her bank card details and leaving them there and not asking if he was doing any more spending.

The kid was irresponsible for being frivolous and spending all his mom's money without thinking of the consequences and how it would affect her (didn't even ask permission).

I know many will blame the mom more but I personally blame the kid since I knew about money and banking and how it affects people by that age. But then again I suppose it could all be the mom's fault for failing to teach him about money.

 

[TwitchierGuitar]

Dear god... That mom sucks as a parent. Hopefully the kid got his xbox taken away... Not just as punishment, but because I despise the people on XBL who either scream "HACKER!!!" in their high-pitched voice, or are just too stupid to think of the end result of using a credit card on their xbox. I just drive up to Wal-Mart and get the cards with the scratch off stuff on the back...
I love the scratching off part...

 

[maddawg IAJI]

I feel bad for the poor woman. Even worse for the child, seeing as how he just proved to her that he isn't mature enough to handle money. Its gonna be a while before he is ever gonna be able to play again.

 

[rockera]

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?

 

[DasDestroyer]

Sell everything the child owns, get back "teh moneyz" problem solved.

Two birds with one stone - you get the money, and he can't spend any more.

 

[fenrizz]

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.

 

[emeraldrafael]

First off, thats funny.

Second, I hope he gets a hide tanning.

Third, well.. this will be interesting to see how the finances of this family work out.

 

[kasperbbs]

Both child and mother are idiots ,congrats.

 

[thethingthatlurks]

Here's how to fix such shitty parenting (the story is incidentally hilarious):
1) Destroy the xbox in front of the kid
2) Take away enough of his stuff to cover half of the bill, and make him work to pay off the other half
3) ???? - something tough love related
4) Congratulations, you are no longer a shitty parent, and your brood will think twice before treating credit cards like mere plastic.