No way to complain, Nintendo Shame

[Kayela]

My 10-year-old son spent over £1500 between July 2020 and Dec 2020 on in-game purchases for Fortnite, with my card, without my knowledge.

I didn't notice it, as the card is for a savings account I use every year to save for Xmas (presents, food, treats). I don't look at the account, just put money into it. I know how stupid that sounds now, but it's worked fine for years. When I found out I was devastated and so was my son as he didn't understand the scale of what he'd done or the consequences on the rest of the family.

I contacted my bank who initially said they would be able to help, but after further investigation said they couldn't dispute the charges as it was a 'civil matter', because it was my son that had been using my card, it wasn't fraud.

I contacted Nintendo who confirmed that the quantity and pattern of spend on the account was very irregular and that they would refund the last 90 days. They refunded £500 really quickly (which was helpful during the Xmas period). However, that was 57 days, not 90 days.

I have continued to contact them to try to further the case. I cannot speak or email the same person twice. I cannot speak to a supervisor or manager. They have no complaints process! I am £1000 out of pocket with no way to even complain to a multi-billion dollar company!!

My son will not touch his Switch. He hasn't done so since the evening I found out. We are in a new 'lockdown' and that was the way he socialised with his friends. He has been affected terribly by this, as have I.

Does anyone know of a similar situation, or have any advice for me to further this. I feel strongly that I want to do something to protect others from going through this gut-wrenching situation. More importantly to stop children from being made to feel so awful, depressed, and guilty through Nintendo's utter exploitation and refusal to rectify the situation.

@babblingbumblingbandofbaboons, thank you for your advice. It has been really helpful. I appreciate it. :)

Sorry it's your fault not theirs. Parental controls are built into all games systems and phones. How did he have your details even? Why should everybody else essentially pay for your mistake, these firms ultimately put the prices up to cover such payouts

@theculture

Although technically the responsibility is yours, Nintendo spend a lot of time making these games attractive to play for young kids, I think it is an unfair setup for the average person to be held to the same standard as Nintendo against all the marketing and programming and sneaky in app purchases

They make it too easy to take the money and not easy to give it back and none of that is not an accident!

Fortnite isn't a Nintendo game. Epic Games are the developers. Nintendo have just provided the platform.

The parental controls on the switch are pretty solid so this is down to the OP.

Leaving someone else to set up the switch was unacceptable. If your son is ten, and his date of birth has been put in correctly, the switch won't even let him save any card details as he is under 13. I have a child's if the same age, and every time he wants to purchase something I need to physically input my card details.
Saying that, this is unfortunately his fault, and I think Nintendo have been more than fair giving you £500 back already.

I'm sorry OP, but you really don't have a leg to stand on here.

If you do not know how to set these things up properly and appropriately yourself as an adult, then you should not be allowing your children to have access to them.

My kids can't even get into Nintendo shop without a password, let alone buy anything. On the Xbox, we have set up a password AND a pin for Roblox, which is another game notorious for in game daylight robbery.

I think you need to put this one down to a lesson learned. Teach yourself about setting these things up. I also recommend teaching yourself about Internet banking on your savings account as well. Use it as an opportunity to teach your DC about the value of money and Internet safety as well.

Why didnt you have the parental controls set? Claiming ignorance isnt an excuse now. Everyone knows about online purchases and setting up a switch is easy to do. Why didnt you?

@Kayela you’re welcome :)

Your son has used your card and you think its Nintendo's fault? He could have accessed anything so you are lucky it was just Fortnite really. Nintendo giving you some back as a gesture of GW is nice, but why should they stump up for your - sorry but there isnt another way of saying it - stupidity?

If you’re tech savvy enough to post on mumsnet, you’re tech savvy enough to set up a Nintendo Switch.

How could your older son set it up? You should have made an adult nintendo account, and then added supervised children's accounts. Then they cannot spend without you putting in a password.

Why did your older son have access to your just for special occasions card details in order to put it on the switch. Every time you make a purchase on Nintendo you get an email letting you know so whose email is it set up for?
Also why didn't you spot this before Christmas if this is where you stash your Christmas funds?

I've just asked my 7 year what buttons he should never push when playing a game, and when he should check with me. He answered "anything with a money sign and anything that says purchase or confirm or anything like that".

Surely your 10 year old understands that?

Sorry OP, I know you're getting a hard time but as parents, we all know about this stuff. It isnt new. We all know what to teach our kids, and to set up parental controls. These things cannot just happen. They only happen when you dont parent correctly.

Why did your older son have access to your just for special occasions card details in order to put it on the switch. Every time you make a purchase on Nintendo you get an email letting you know so whose email is it set up for?

This. What age is your older son?

Why did you have a card on there?
My sons have a switch. 15 year old has x box we have iPads. None have my card on them. Ever, no virtual money or in app pish is bought it’s like setting fire to your cash and basically that’s what your son has done. I have 4 boys and my 10 year old KNOWS he can’t have in app purchases purely because I don’t put my card on shit mainly because I’m a single parent and I couldn’t afford to. Even if it’s their own money I don’t allow it. I’m totally the bad guy in my house because of this. But tough luck.

Bit of a nightmare for you, but as a parent of kids with devices it’s up to us to make sure those devices are safe and secure. Check history etc I’m sure you’re totally gutted, I would be too complain away there should be a code or email sent to an adults account re using card I suppose but I’ve managed by not adding mine to devices so they aren’t needed.

I'm sorry OP, I'm with other posters who've rightly pointed out that this isn't Nintendo's fault. I doubt you'll get anywhere tweeting them or trying to shame them, they haven't exploited you or your son in any way. They don't even make Fortnite, it's just available on their platform. Everything's in their favour, and your son is too young for the game.

It's an expensive lesson for you and your son to learn, sorry you're so out of pocket OP.

The items purchased have already been used by your son, Nintendo can't take them back off the console. Same as if he'd spent £1500 on sweets, chocolate, and coke and then eaten/drunk it. Giving the empty wrappers back to Tesco won't get you a refund.

I cannot imagine how it feels to have lost that money, it's a huge amount for most families. But Nintendo have provided so much parental control and safeguarding on the switch- this is down to you not them.

Games such as Fortnite are exploitative. The companies make their money from DLC (downloadable content- £££) and in game purchased bonuses. But this isn't a secret, and it's one reason that many parents don't allow their children access to games like this. Nintendo are actually one of the better companies about this, and have fewer games that do this than other companies. (Fortnite isnt a Nintendo game, it just runs on their platform).

you were lucky to get any money back. You have nothing to complain about here

I should have done better on the setup, but unfortunately, I am not very computer savvy and my eldest son did it. I understand that I'm not blameless.

I'm sorry but it really is on you to make sure your child knows how to safely use and navigate consoles you aren't familiar with before you give him unsupervised access.

My sister isn't tech savvy at all but she researches parental controls and not a single game gets installed without her researching them, seeing if they're suitable and she installs them herself and depending on the console she has password set for every purchase, even free stuff and because she looks at the store info herself, she will discuss with the kids if there's purchases in it and will spend some time navigating the games menus and in App Store herself to and at 10, there's no unsupervised online gaming and she'd check every friend added is an actual friend and not some random. In the flip side, my brother would call himself very tech savvy but my 11 year old was able to spend £50 over three days on roblox in apps because my brother, in his own words, thought it was a faff but he's just took it on the chin and has said it's his own fault so isn't making her pay the £50 back either.

To be able to refund the things bought and take them off the console (just as you would take back to a shop).

You can't return most in app purchases they are consumables like battle passes and timers and energy and extra lives which your son has paid for and used. If your son had used your debit card to buy a McDonalds and ate it, you can't make him return the eaten meal for you money back after you gave him access to your debit card.

I know I can't be the only one to have been exploited by a massive company in this way.

You have not been exploited, and if you have it's not by Nintendo, it's the people who make the game who charge for in apps. The game devs take the bigger chunk of profit from those in apps and it's the game devs that use shitty techniques to encourage you to buy them. I don't think you'll get far with them though, esp once they learn you didn't take steps to stop or reduce any of this happening.

I wasn't very computer savvy either.

I make damned sure that I know about every app, game or anything else my kids go on though. I spend ages looking at the things they go on, and teaching myself how they work before they are allowed on them.

You don't have a leg to stand on with complaining, you dropped the ball here, you need to take the hit, and educate yourself in future and be thankful you got 500 back.

Like others, I am really confused as to why you think this is Nintendo's fault?

I know it's a hard pill to swallow and pretty embarrassing but you have to take the blame for this one. And educate your DS to understand money. It's a lesson he won't forget in a hurry.

Actually even when my details are saved you usually have to put your cvc number in to pay

Well, according to every article I have found, Nintendo absolutely don't offer any refunds on in-app purchases. So, I'm extremely surprised to hear that they offered you 90 days. Epic games will offer some refunds.

It is extremely hard to accidentally make purchases on a Switch, they are very easy to set up and use. If you are tech savvy enough to set up a Mumsnet account, then you are tech savvy enough to set up a Switch account.

It just seems like bullshit to me. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I am £1000 out of pocket with no way to even complain to a multi-billion dollar company!!

You’re missing the point. It isn’t fraud, you have no claim to a refund. Your son purchased and used £1500 worth of content. It can’t simply be returned like a shop purchase, it has already been redeemed and consumed. Any refund offered is a goodwill gesture rather than an entitlement.

You really should have been more on the ball. You’re more responsible here than Nintendo. This happened multiple times over a 90 day period and you didn’t step in. A one off is understandable but you let this continuously happen by being careless

I know I can't be the only one to have been exploited by a massive company in this way.

But you haven't been exploited op. Your son has taken (?) your card details and entered them to buy stuff online which you haven't disabled. You're lucky you got any money back at all.

If I go on an Amazon spending spree my bank sometimes calls me to check because of "unusual spending" it's a shame this didn't happen here.
I think many parents would imagine purchases made in a kids game would not add up to very much. I remember ds playing a minions game on my iPad and options to spend £70+ with a click of a button kept coming up. (He couldn't have as needs a password).
I think the OP has messed up but I do sympathise with the shock of it all.