Kid Racks Up £1150 Xbox Live Bill, Father Blames MSFT

[9th]

[citation][nom]DjScribbles[/nom]fixed.[/citation]
Not all humans blame someone else if they make a mistake. Some people actually do take responsibility for their actions.

 

[therabiddeer]

While I dont really agree with not checking your account for 6 months, I do agree with the father. And removing CC info from the xbox is ridiculously difficult and even forces you to call xbox customer support to remove it. Also, if you have a 2 year contract then you HAVE to have a credit card attached to the account. The entire XBox Live system is severely flawed when it comes to credit card information.

I dont know what kind of parental settings there are, and if they can limit the spending, but I do know that paying for stuff on the xbox is really simple. If his kid is relatively young, he may not fully realize his dad is having to pay for it all.

PS: What in hell are you going to use that many points for?

 

[therabiddeer]

[citation][nom]eddieroolz[/nom]Multiple lessons seems to be in order for this father:1. Watch your credit card...2. Watch your kid...3. If your kid is too young to have his own credit card, he shouldn't even be playing Call of Duty in the first place. It's a M rated game, dude.[/citation]
Every kid is different when it comes to these things. I was playing Mortal Kombat 2 at the arcade at my parents theater when I could barely see the controls. I am perfectly normal.

 

[morstern]

Who is at fault?!

I am more concerned with the thought of my kid being able to dump 1700 bucks on a damned game without me somehow being aware. What the hell is up with the system. Is there really a drain me as fast as I can click accept. Couldn't I just load credits per month, set limits or anything else?

 

[lp231]

Exactly what did the kid buy that rake up that much?
Did he like buy the same thing over 100 times or something?

 

[alidan]

i only read half of the first page, so this may have been stated.

unless you are a gamer on the console, and actively purchase things from live, you dont have a real understanding on how it works...

i refuse to punch in creditcard details every time i want a game or dlc, so i leave details in it, and i think 3 years ago was the last time i did that.

but credit card details being saved into it, i think that is automatic now.

and im betting that most people aren't going to watch their creditcard unless they are billed for large things explicitly.

 

[alextheblue]

[citation][nom]morstern[/nom]Who is at fault?! I am more concerned with the thought of my kid being able to dump 1700 bucks on a damned game without me somehow being aware. What the hell is up with the system. Is there really a drain me as fast as I can click accept. Couldn't I just load credits per month, set limits or anything else?[/citation]Actually you can set limits. Or you could just not link a credit card, and use prepaid points. There are options.[citation][nom]MWD_Dave[/nom]Interestingly I just had something similar happen with my own son. Now the difference is that I noticed immediately that I have been charged $30 for 2000 MS points. I called them the next morning and arranged it so my card would be removed from the account at the end of the billing cycle. (My son also paid for the 2000 points with his own money)But here's the thing. I'm good with computers. And my son wasn't even aware that he was making a purchase. Call of Duty 4 has "coins" that allow you to get upgrades. You earn them through doing missions and what not. So I can understand the confusion. Also, I know you can setup a child account. But my son is 16. And a child account can't play COD. (And, yes I realize it's rates 18A+) In the end, I absolutely have to take responsibility for my own actions, but MS "does" make it way way to easy to charge stuff. (No confirmation or even a notification...) And I can confirm trying to remove your credit card from the account is a pain. (Hence why I had to call Microsoft) Even finding their support number was a bitch... Think I might try a PS3... at least their network is free.[/citation]What a load of bologna. When you buy points, it says how much they cost and asks you to confirm the purchase. It even shows that you're charging it to such-and-such card ending in number xxxx. Maybe if you taught your 16 year old son what that funny "S" with the line through it meant, it wouldn't have happened. 16 might not be too early to teach a bit about finances, dad. The only other explanation is that he has the wool pulled over your eyes. He probably thought you wouldn't notice one small charge. Or maybe you're just a troll. As for PS3? If you link a card to it, it has the same issues. Click and buy.

 

[Kami3k]

[citation][nom]chewy1963[/nom]Ya john_4 is almost as stupid as you are. Posting political crap on a hardware tech site.[/citation]

Only time I've done that was in response to idiots like you doing it first.

 

[Steveymoo]

Can't you just pin protect XBL payments? I thought this was a thing........ Either way, this guy is a complete idiot.

 

[ProDigit10]

it wouldn't have been prevented, merely reduced in effect!

 

[Guest]

Jesus, some of you are so hateful...


Not every parent in the world is competent with technology. Now, knowing this is a tech site, most of you know better, but we still have naive people who put there CC info and forget about it.

Why should he monitor his money when you would think you wouldn't get charged for random things on XBL? It makes sense to look at your bills in a while, but one would assume that you wouldn't have to worry about a $1,700 overdraft over XBL.

It's M$'es fault for allowing irresponsible purchases. The son didn't know that it costed money (Things on XBL cost M$ points, basically a disguise for a real price tag). Even a really basic passord or PIN would be fine. Something's amiss if just one click allows purchase.

M$ should at least warned the parent that things like that could happen, and that you will have to be careful with linking your CC info. Even then, a PIN to purchase would of been nice.

 

[Guest]

No this is MS fault. When they accept your credit card info they are also accepting responsibility for keeping that info secure. Secure means no one but the holder can make a purchase. But they dont even try to do this, instead, they make it sooo easy for the kid to make a purchase without the parent knowing. Just click a button, done NO REFUND! Why wouldnt they even take the most basic of security measures and ask for the card 3 digit security numbers prior to purchase? I think its because they profit from this kind of thing. You are only reading about this guy because his was a huge amount .. but how many $30 charges do you think are made every day by kids? The facts are this. MS takes and stores credit card info .. then make NO effort to secure that info. MS markets games directly to minors KNOWING that they have you insecure credit card info right there for the minor to just press a button and use. Then if contacted about this unauthorized transaction they REFUSE to issue a refund. Shame on MS