X Box rip off

[anncrighton]

I have just discovered that my 13 year old has spent over £200 on Xbox buying Fifa points. He has been in floods of tears - they were usually amounts like £7.99 - he did not realise it amounted to such an amount. I had absolutely no idea he was spending money like this on X Box - X Box apparently had his debit card details. Usually he buys Xbox games with Amazon using my credit card and with my permission. I think it is appalling that Xbox can let a 13 year old spend over £200 without a parents knowledge - this is something that should be made unlawful. Other parents please be warned !!!

Unfortunately with Xbox once you've put your card details once they store them for future use and all you have to do I press a button to buy stuff. No card number of pin needed and they don't ask for Id for age. My done once brought mortal kombat for £50, he was 4 at the time. I laugh about it now but didn't then. I'd left him playing a game and while I was I the other room he went of game and to the Xbox store, then complained that it wasn't working proberly. It was downloading the game.

Dear foxy6 - I sympathise with you - Xbox should take some responsibility - they should ask for ID and age. If your 4 year old wanted to buy alcohol then seller would ask for ID and age and if Xbox were a responsible company then they would do the same & not sell to those under 18 - anyone under 18 who wanted to buy something could easily ask a parent to purchase on their behalf and then the parent would know. Your son is a clever boy - brighter than my 13 year old son who did not realise how much he was spending - the most I would have let him spend over that period of time was £20 - the other £180 was not his to spend. I had no idea that he had put his card details into Xbox - it wouldn't have been that hard to check his age or identity or do Xbox do it on purpose? Surely not?

I'm sorry but at 13 years old he is old enough to know he is spending money. It's more likely he just chose to ignore it until he was either found out or he's starting to worry. As a parent you need to be supervising these things.

If it's the first time it's happened you may be able to get a refund from Xbox.

How do you supervise? I cannot stand over him whilst he uses Xbox. I agree, might be a better idea to advise parents not to buy Xbox for their kids! I cannot understand football let alone Fifa points. How would I go about getting a refund from Xbox?

At 13, children should start taking financial responsibility - which is why they're allowed debit cards. Why should Microsoft ask for ID and age? Would you expect Top Shop to ask for ID and age? It's the same thing - it's not like buying alcohol underage at all. He presumably had it in his account, or else they wouldn't have been able to take it. It's a harsh lesson, but noone has behaved irresponsibly here (apart from your son, who is presumably skint now).

Google contact Xbox on their contact page on their website comes up.

Sorry but you're the parent, it has parental controls. You may struggle to get a refund for a 13 year old but it's worth a try.

I doubt you'll get a refund. Microsoft are hard as nails. They permaban you for turning your avatar blue and all the money that's gone into that account.

You are to blame here not Microsoft and you need to take a look at the t&cs before you start your complaint.

There's no need to hook a card up to Xbox at all ever for any reason and your son has learned a valuable lesson.

*for eg

XBox have decent parental controls that differentiate between children, teens and adults. Child and teen accounts are blocked from making purchases. If you allow him to have an adult account then there are no restrictions.

If you think he is mature enough to have a debit card the he should be mature enough not to fritter his money away on the Xbox - he could have done the same in a shop
You can 'accidently' purchase things on the Xbox

Sorryy but I think parents have to take responsibility for allowing this type of thing.

If it's too complicated then there are loads of online tutorials.

I presume if he has an adult account then he can access content rated for older teens or adults.

I am sympathetic (I have teens!) but I don't think you can blame Microsoft.

I take it NeedAScarf hasn't got a teenager.

I didn't hook up my son's card to Xbox and I remain of the view that those under 18 should not be allowed to buy anything on line.

I am very disappointed that my son spent anything without my permission and I hope that he has learned a lesson.

SuperCee7 - thank you for trying to help.

As has been said there are different settings that prevent young kids and teens from buying anything. If you allowed an adult account then that's the breaks and if he somehow changed his account to adult then the issue lies with him.

This is not microsofts fault.

Microsoft are a business first and foremost and aren't going to spend money policing the buyers of their products if they've been set up with adult accounts.
I'm afraid I think some of the blame does lie with you OP, and the rest with your son. At 13 he should know that he shouldn't be putting card details in and making purchase after purchase without permission.
I'd try speaking to Microsoft but I think you'll just have to suck this one up and learn the lesson.

Oops I said in my earlier post that you CAN accidentally spend money on an Xbox when I meant to say you CANT accidentally spend money. It's not like how iPad used to be set up.

I have 13 year old boy. He's more than old enough to understand how money works.

He can spend his money how he wishes but he has to delete his card after every purchase

Ds is twelve. He has his own debit card, he knows not to hook it to the Xbox. If he wants anything he buys Xbox live gift cards. This is because too many people can access a games console.

He also knows not to buy anything online with checking with an adult first that it's a secure site.

The only site his card is logged with is Steam, as he's too young for a PP account and it still expects the security code and password for a new purchase.

I'm afraid like the others I'm very surprised you think you son did this by accident.

You can buy gift cards for steam as well, so no need to input card details.

You can remove the card details easily from Xbox by logging into the Microsoft account via a pc.

If your Ds2 used his own card/money then I would consider it a lesson learnt, remove the card details and advise him not to add them in future.

I don't mind so much for Steam as Ds checks everything with me on it, as the very new games aren't always rated. And some of the ones that are age rated I don't want him buying anyway

Gamer what's the blue avatar thing? Thanks

It's just an example of how strict Microsoft are. You can have a load of games and saves, a healthy points balance and have just forked out for 12 month of live. But if you turn your avatar a colour outside of what they give you they suspend you until 9999 and you lose the lot.

I spent a fortune on points once and one of the big codes was scratched off too hard so we couldn't read it. I rang them and they told me to email a picture to see if they could figure it out... They couldn't and it was tough shit.

Dear Supercee7 - thank you so much for your helpful advice. I contacted Microsoft & explained that my 13 year old son made unauthorized purchases & gave them details and eventually they refunded the entire lot to me (as a one off). A little bit of good karma for you I hope. A valuable lesson has been learnt by my son & his Xbox is confiscated until the Easter holidays. He did know he was spending money but got carried away & didn't realise how much it would add up to. It is very unlike him - he is generally a good boy & I am lucky because he is loving and kind too. I accept the consensus that I could be regarded as a crap mum - other than writing e-mails, a lot of technology is beyond me and so is supervising my son on his computer all the time he is on it. I think this is the 1st time I have written on Mumsnet & I am surprised by how critical some other mothers are. Strangely, I was in the Bank asking for a statement (so I could see exactly what happened on my son's account and explaining why) when a man tapped me on the shoulder to say his 6 year old son had run up an unauthorized £600 bill doing the same thing & then he advised me to go on Mumsnet to seek advice about what could be done. Anyway, thanks to Supercee7 it worked :-)

don't think of yourself as a crap mum. aside from my then 4 yr old buying mortal kombat, of which he became obsessed with even though i wouldn't let him play and we had to make a scorpion costume. i also have older boys one who spent 200 on mobile phones and another who most recently spent £40 on Facebook games, all small amounts and he didn't realize how much it added up too. it happens. xxx don't beat yourself up about it and hope he has learned mine did xxx

Microsoft refunded you, this time of night on a Sunday?

As far as. I can see NO ONE called you a crap mum. posters were just saying its your responsibility to monitor your DC. I think that's fair.

Please do as I and other posters suggested and make sure your sone has a teen account and not an adult account. This is YOUR responsibility. Otherwise he can access content with adult content. He's shown himself to be a bit impulsive.
If it's too complicated then get someone to help you. It's actually quite easy to do and there are loads of guides.

I'm really surprised that the money was refunded. Did Microsoft give you any advice on ensuring it didn't happen again?

I'm curious how you contacted Microsoft and which department you spoke to. This type of situation comes up fairly regularly on Mumsnet and it would be useful to know where to advise people to go for help.