Kid Rings Up $1700 Xbox Live Bill, Mom Blames Microsoft

[kouriichi]

"I haven't punished him...."

Well, there's your problem.

If your kid is 11 and he still has no concept of money, fuck, take a parenting course or something. Everyone and their cats have at least the slightest understanding of money at age 11.

Id hate to say it, but alot of cats are more intelligent then theyer owners, or theyer owners children.

Just look how they manipulate us into buying them fuzzy objects and bags of catnip. Maybe if she had a cat her son wouldnt have spent that much on xbox live, and most of it on returnable cat toys.

 

[Catalyst6]

Six months? Doesnt she get a statement every month? Because surely if she was tight for cash she'd be watching her spending. Weird.

That's what I was wondering. Hell, I pick through my statements with a fine-tooth comb, I can't imagine how someone strapped for cash would miss on an average of $283 a *month*.

 

[Ultra Man30]

Microsoft should at least make you enter the security code before buying something. Also they could also give users the ability to remove credit cards from the 360. Maybe these measures could stop this from happening again.

 

[Woodsey]

What a stupid women. When you type in your credit card info it tells you in fairly large print how to remove your credit card info off the console if you dont want it left there.

Right, I assume you always read the fucking small print.

I would say it's consumer fucking rights to not be told about this stuff up front, and they've even removed the option to change the recurring payments on their website to make it even more difficult for you.

No need for language like that. Its common sense that if you dont read what your actually buying then you have no right to complain about it. I always know what I am actually buying. I dont go and pay for something then complain because I didnt read what was on the package when it turns out its not what I wanted or thought it was.

I just looked at it again and in large letters it also tells you what the renewal period is. No excuse at all you not understand what your buying. It wasnt even in the terms it was right there in big bold letters in the middle of the screen.

Yeah, the screen that says:

Date of renewal: XXX
Renewal price: £X.XX

Yeah, got that. As in, this is when I myself am going to have to renew it. Not MS by their own volition. Renewal =/= automatic renewal.

If they had the option to turn it off from recurring on the actual fucking machine (and they actively presented it to me), and I ignored it? My fault entirely.

This cloak and daggers shit is ridiculous.

AND NO ONE READS SMALL PRINT. If it's something where they're going to take something from me, it should be presented clearly. Companies should not be allowed to catch customers out through fucking technicalities, and extremely obtuse measures. Go to the fucking website to ring their fucking number my arse. I'm surprised the line's not a £1-per-minute one at this rate.

 

[Worgen]

this is the one time Im a bit more likely to side with the parent, you cant just put in the info for a single purchase, it keeps that shit in there which makes it very easy to buy points and spend money

 

[SanguineSymphony]

While id hate to be sexist, many women are bad with money, and this sort of reinforces that notion.

If you didn't want to be sexist, you shouldn't have been. While I certainly don't argue that this woman is a blithering idiot, let's take her stupidity on an individual basis, shall we, and not as an indication of the gender as a whole.

Eh, its one of those things that data seems to support.
From both personal and statiscal experiences.
Like did you know the average woman spends $25,000 on shoes in theyer lifetime?
And an additional $6117 on handbags a year? ((from the money translation of £4000))

I dont want to be sexist, really D: And im sorry if its offencive to females.
But its what the numbers show. And im a man of science.

Well, go right ahead and cite your sources. Then, while you're at it, rustle up some data on how much men spend on any of their interests, and we can do a compare/contrast. Oh, and make sure you're assessing things like percentage of income, marital status, and the like.

Happly
Average woman's spending on shoes: ((also includes average spending on makeup.))
http://www.mainstreet.com/article/smart-spending/budgeting/how-much-do-women-really-spend-shoes
Average woman's spending on handbags:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1257208/The-high-price-fashion-Sales-luxury-It-bags-soar-60.html

And while yes, i will hand it to you, men do spend quite a bit on out intrests. ((men spend an average of $701 on "audio visual equiptment" per year, compaired to a woman's average of $536))
There is also an intresting satistic on womens clothing spending.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1092100/Women-spend-1-000-year-wardrobe-wear-30-clothes.html

There are no real numbers on how men spend theyer money on things. ((beyond the outset of alcohaul, sports, cars and dating services))
While id hate to say it though, the combination of things that men dont purchase, or purchase very little of ((such as make up. I know a few guys that wear it sadly)) outweights the things that both men and women do spend money on.

All I know is my personal experience and me and my wife spend about the same on our own BS. If I were to take a guess I spend a bit more on average on DVDs, VGs, and other crap than she does on Make-Up. I guess it COULD be more if her feet didn't break so easily and she could wear Heels but I doubt it would be MUCH more.

 

[Hauntghost20]

you would think her credit card company would have noticed all the payments going out and maybe told her before then but i guess even they dont check.

Yeah after buy anything from the internet my bank calls me and says money has been taken out of my accouynt from an unknown comapany and everything so its hard to belive she had nothing to know about

 

[Celtic_Kerr]

Can you imagine how many checks they'd need to send out saying "You SURE you have the money to buy this? You SURE you're not spedning too much?"

Something like windows Xp , Every time you started a program: You sure you want to start this programm?(well both microsoft but i will throw my x-box out of the window if they do that).

You be thinking vista my good man

 

[kouriichi]

While id hate to be sexist, many women are bad with money, and this sort of reinforces that notion.

If you didn't want to be sexist, you shouldn't have been. While I certainly don't argue that this woman is a blithering idiot, let's take her stupidity on an individual basis, shall we, and not as an indication of the gender as a whole.

Eh, its one of those things that data seems to support.
From both personal and statiscal experiences.
Like did you know the average woman spends $25,000 on shoes in theyer lifetime?
And an additional $6117 on handbags a year? ((from the money translation of £4000))

I dont want to be sexist, really D: And im sorry if its offencive to females.
But its what the numbers show. And im a man of science.

Well, go right ahead and cite your sources. Then, while you're at it, rustle up some data on how much men spend on any of their interests, and we can do a compare/contrast. Oh, and make sure you're assessing things like percentage of income, marital status, and the like.

Happly
Average woman's spending on shoes: ((also includes average spending on makeup.))
http://www.mainstreet.com/article/smart-spending/budgeting/how-much-do-women-really-spend-shoes
Average woman's spending on handbags:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1257208/The-high-price-fashion-Sales-luxury-It-bags-soar-60.html

And while yes, i will hand it to you, men do spend quite a bit on out intrests. ((men spend an average of $701 on "audio visual equiptment" per year, compaired to a woman's average of $536))
There is also an intresting satistic on womens clothing spending.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1092100/Women-spend-1-000-year-wardrobe-wear-30-clothes.html

There are no real numbers on how men spend theyer money on things. ((beyond the outset of alcohaul, sports, cars and dating services))
While id hate to say it though, the combination of things that men dont purchase, or purchase very little of ((such as make up. I know a few guys that wear it sadly)) outweights the things that both men and women do spend money on.

All I know is my personal experience and me and my wife spend about the same on our own BS. If I were to take a guess I spend a bit more on average on DVDs, VGs, and other crap than she does on Make-Up. I guess it COULD be more if her feet didn't break so easily and she could wear Heels but I doubt it would be MUCH more.

Oh yes, ofcourse.
All these statistics are on average.

Im not trying to be sexist, and i honestly hate it, but many of the numbers out there support my claims. I belive in numbers. I wont say something unless i know i can back it up xD

Yes, there are MANY women that dont fit with the group that spend excesively. Yes there are women that spend LESS, but there are also women that spend MORE. These numbers are just off an average. My wife spends way less then that. She barly buys 1 handbag a year.
But the moment i let her into hot topic with my debt card im eating cheap chiken and ramen for a week.

 

[wammnebu]

to be fair it is a bit too easy to buy stuff on live/steam/etc its not like being a store where you walk down the isle thinking about your purchase and personally count out the money. I am not trying to be stupid or nostalgic here but these digital sites allow you to purchase things absentmindedly. Yes its stupid, yes people should notice, but the point is they dont

 

[kasperbbs]

She has noone to blame but herself and her prick of a son .Who doesn't notice that much money missing in half a year?

"I haven't punished him because he feels bad enough and I know he won't do it again," she added. "It is ridiculous to allow someone of his age to make payments without any checks being done."

And trusting your credit card info isn't ridiculous? I personally find it pretty funny ,reminds me of my friend who did something similar ,oh god ive never seen such a bit*hslap in my life ,his mom hit him so hard his glasses went flying across the room.

 

[Everian]

dont know if this has been posted yet, but

THESE EXSIST FOR A REASON!

 

[icame]

Wow this lady is a gelatinous pile of wank. I knew the value of dollar at like age 5. I knew never to spend money that wasn't mine. Lady needs to learn to raise he child better. Microsoft has done nothing wrong, they have many ways to stop things like this from happening, all you have to do is not be ignorant of them.

 

[Snotnarok]

She's right, Microsoft should have used the Kinect to see it wasn't her and then shut down his misguided spending.

 

[ramboondiea]

well i disagree with the mother in regards to placing the blame soley on microsoft, however this doesnt mean that i believe microsoft is without blame, there is little to prevent someone doing this on xbox, and with many parents dont fully understand what these consoles entail then its very understandable. the thing is it wouldnt be too difficult for microsoft to regulate this and its painfully obviously they have no intention of ever implementing such a policy, so i do feel sorry for this mother and themany others who would also have suffered from microsoft just not giving a rats-ass

 

[damse]

I blame all 3
Mother - Should have taught her child about not spending whats not his
Child- Should have and probley knew what he was doing
Microsoft-should have did the usal can you please proove you are this person checks which are doen every where else.

To be honest the mother could have just said that child xbox was stolen or something and all the details were still, something along the lines.
Play "the its not our fault was some else but your so awesome please fix it" card!
Its all about sucking up to the person at the other end of the phone.

 

[BanthaFodder]

the only thing funnier than their ignorance is their appearance... I saw a picture of the mom and kid on Gamesradar...
really bad red dye job? check.
obvious fake tits? check.
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit background for the 360 despite the kid being 11? check.
overweight kid? check.
messy Jew-Fro*? check.
I don't usually endorse stereotypes but holy shit...


*NOTE: don't mean to offend anyone, but that is honestly the oly way I can describe this kid's hair. it isn't cool in that "white guy with a huge afro" kinda way. it just looks amazingly stupid.

 

[nutgear]

OMG parents... check on your kids, the XBOX isn't a babysitter nor is the TV... If your kid isn't responsible you shouldn't save your Card information. Don't blame Microsoft cause your kid can't read whats on the screen... is that real money or game money cant tell cause I'm in game mode... Don't give me that "I wasn't sure what I was doing when I put my credit information" its called research. You probably should read all that disclaimer stuff. Its like people blaming fast food on obesity... I'm pretty sure its cause you think 30 cheeseburgers is a "good" meal.

 

[thenumberthirteen]

Well the point I kind of lose sympathy with the mother is when it says it happened over a 6 month stretch. One month I can understand, but she never checked her bank statements to see hundreds of pounds leaving her account mysteriously?