XBox live.....a cautionary tale!!

[rufusindigo]

My 10 yr old son, who has ADHD, was given an Xbox and Xbox live membership for Christmas. I set it up with all the parental controls on which took me ages as I found it really complicated and difficult to understand. Once it was up and running he began to receive 'friend requests' which he told me he was unable to accept on a child setting. At his behest I changed his setting to either a teenager or adult setting so that he could accept the requests. The next thing I know I receive a bank statement that shows over £400 worth of Fifa points purchases in one month!! I had no idea that if I changed his child setting then he would be able to access the debit card I had registered to activate his Xbox live account. I have tried to take this up with Microsoft who are distinctly unsympathetic and have offered me a refund of......$13.49. I feel so stupid, as a single parent on a low wage I really can't afford this. I would seriously advise against getting one of these.......we were much happier with the Wii!!

That is why we had our 17 yo baby sitter set it up and explain it all to us! I hate to say this but you did change the settings and with anything like this I would never link a credit or debit card to anything, we still don't even with itunes. We pay for the X Box live account £33 a year and if he wants £ for extra points he has to earn it or get X Box live gift cards for birthday/christmas.

Also not to be able to accept friend requests on a child seting is also a little dubious to me, I have 11yo DS who has child settings and is friends with his friends ie: the ones he knows in real life only. I'd get your DS to go through all the friends he has on x-box and tell you who they are in real life, if he does not know them face to face they should be gone ASAP.

www.commonsensemedia.org is a very good website for parents

Micro soft are hard as nails. I've knocked heads myself.

Remove your card from the account. NEVER hook up a card to live. Always use pre paid cards you can buy.

You won't get anywhere.. its always tough shit with Microsoft staff. Just take your card off so it can't happen again.

grants1000 Don't worry, you can say it! I realise that ultimately it was my fault , but I had no idea of what I was doing.

With regard to the friend requests, I took my son's word for this - perhaps I was wrong? I really didn't understand the whole set up.

gamerchick Yes, they really are very unsympathetic. I've developed a pathological hatred of everything Microsoft related! I've packed up the Xbox completely now and will probably sell it to try and recoup some of the money I've lost. I've put the Wii back in its place which I think is perfectly adequate and not nearly as addictive as Xbox live...