Spending money on Habbo

Wordwork

The age limit thing is obviously just window dressing. They know she is only 12, but on their "buying credit page" it says you have to be 16 to buy credits using a mobile phone. They have accepted her purchase knowing she was breaking their terms and conditions, which may be grounds for getting the mobile phone charges back at least.

mrcow

eranou wrote: »

Like what?

Quite possibly perhaps that the people that run the Habbo site would think it normal or acceptable that a 12 year old would spend £650 on their site over a 5 month period.

Any company worth its salt would have a fail-safe in place to stop this type of thing occuring......unless of course it's the type of behaviour they rely on in their business plans?

As I said OP - put in a call to Trading Standards tomorrow. It will be interesting to hear what their thoughts are on it.

eranou

Wordwork wrote: »

The age limit thing is obviously just window dressing. They know she is only 12, but on their "buying credit page" it says you have to be 16 to buy credits using a mobile phone. They have accepted her purchase knowing she was breaking their terms and conditions, which may be grounds for getting the mobile phone charges back at least.

unfortunately not from what I see on the site the credits are purchased first and a voucher is issued to the phone via text this voucher is then entered onto the account. so at purchase stage habbo do not know which account they are going to be used for

Wordwork

I'll certainly try Trading Standards and see what they say. I looked at those previous posts too, and when I checked my phone bills most of my daughter's calls were made in the early hours - no wonder I didn't spot her making them. It's very worrying that she has been so deceitful, particularly as up to now I have had no reason not to trust her.

Wordwork

eranou wrote: »

unfortunately not from what I see on the site the credits are purchased first and a voucher is issued to the phone via text this voucher is then entered onto the account. so at purchase stage habbo do not know which account they are going to be used for

Maybe not, but if their rules are that you can't buy credits via mobile phone if you are under 16 and then someone who is only 12 spends £550 odd in mobile phone credits, one would think that any responsible company might just ask a question...

My daughter belongs to a couple of similar sites, and I get a copy email from them when she signs up to anything so I know what's going on. I get messages from Habbo too - but obviously not when it matters. This is what really annoys me about them - they have this veneer of being a safe place for your teenager and that there are all these checks in place, but funnily enough not when it might affect their profits.

eranou

What I'm saying is that although it may not be moral the way they operate the charges they are most likely legal so I don't think you have a leg to stand on.

Be sure to post the outcome of your conversation with TS though

Wordwork

Eranou - yes, unfortunately you may be right. But I will certainly complain to everyone I can think of tomorrow - maybe if I make enough of a fuss, they'll pay something back just to get rid of me!

Darksun

Wordwork wrote: »

The terms and conditions have obviously changed since she signed up. The only way you could buy credits then was via debit/credit card or by earning them - I know that for certain because I bought some for her in the past! The buying by phone is a new thing - over the last year or so at the most, as she hasn't been on Habbo for a while and started again just before Christmas. I suppose the lesson is to keep checking the rules because it's a moving ball game. Presumeably also the age limit has changed?

I used to use Habbo when I was 13 or 14 and you could buy credits by mobile phone then. I'm 22 now, so the option has definatly been there a while!

pulliptears

ahhh 12 year old girls are a sneaky breed, I own one my self, lovely little thing but wouldn't put anything past her Never let your guard down with (soon to be) teenage daughters lol

Hope things work out OP

peachyprice

Wordwork wrote: »

I don't think she had any idea just how much she was spending -

Wordwork wrote: »

and as I said, she apparently had no concept of the charges involved.

I think you're being a little naive here, she had the temerity to spread the payments over 4 phones so you wouldn't notice, and it worked for a good while.