Child using debit card online without permission

ILW

grumbler wrote: »

Where are you looking to? Do you have a safe and lock your cards in it as soon as you come home? Are we all supposed to have our cards locked when we are at home?

If you have thieving teenagers in your house, yes.

WTFH

lisyloo wrote: »

Mine show up on my bank account under "direct debits".
In fact I have cancelled them before with the bank (or online) which you cannot do with CPAs so I think you are wrong on that.

I've also received the "direct debit guarantee" inforamtion with all of them so think you are wrong.

Are the charges a fixed value each time, or do they vary?

If it's a variable direct debit, then they can take as much or as little as they want each month, and they don't have to contact you to get authorisation to do so.

lisyloo

And you are wrong about that - CPAs can be cancelled with the bank - you have a legal right to do so.

Ok sorry, let me rephrase.
CPAs can be cancelled with banks but not all bank staff know this and it can be difficult (source MSE)
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/recurring-payments

Personally I'd prefer to use DD's where I can go online and cancel them myself rather than CC's which may involved a lot of haslle with the bank or reclaiming money via the courts or complaints system.

Just my personal choice - and I don't have to live like a hermit without a TV, gas or electricity.
I also don't get people thieving from me.

You might not agree, but I think that should now be OK.

lisyloo

If it's a variable direct debit, then they can take as much or as little as they want each month, and they don't have to contact you to get authorisation to do so.

The financial ombudsman says the bank MUST notify the cutsomer

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/27/27-directdebit-guarantee.htm

I'm pleased to tell you that all of mine do. For example Orange send me a monhthly bill and text me also.

ALIBOBSY

zagfles wrote: »

Though that's completely different as presumably she had permission to use the phone. Giving a child a contract phone is no better than giving them your credit card!! People don't seem to realise this!

My kids have contract phones in our names, BUT we have set upper limits for spends on the cards AND I log into the accounts every few days and check what they are up to.

Mind you this is after son running up a £52 phone bill the first month after he got a android phone a few years ago. We changed the contract and I keep a closer eye on things now, plus he had to pay the extra back/was grounded etc.

We had our daughter do the "card details already in on a free game" thing, but spotted it straight away as we got the emails confirming the amounts £20 and £11 I think. Again she was punished and no trouble since.

BTW OP something for the future, we know if any PS purchases or actions are made as you can get it to send an email to your home address. The number of times I have shouted upstairs-who's been buying stuff on the PS and its my OH lol.

I can't imagine any child getting the card out of a bag/purse/wallet behind their parents back. BUT for us we simply would not leave a child of 14 on their own for that length of time. My son is now 15 and we do sometimes leave him for a few hours in the day on occasion, but all the holidays is too much really. So for me I feel the parents need to accept some responsibility for this. At the end of the day the child has stolen and needs to be punished, but the parents do need to reflect on their lifestyles and the amount of time their children are alone. We made the decision early on that we would put our children first and money/fancy house/holidays/new cars would be left behind.

Hopefully the family can come together and work out why this happened and get the son onto a better life path.

Regarding the money I would say Sony's goodwill maybe the best way and the son needs to pay it back either through work for the parents or handing over pocket money/christmas/birthday money.

Good Luck

Ali x

ALIBOBSY

BTW There may have been some outside pressure on the son, do the parents realise you can talk to other players online on these games? We have talked to our son alot about this and listened in and the language to say the least can be "colourful". There is a serious amount of mickey taking and especially when the latest "big" game comes out, older games can get deserted and you will be getting messages from your online "mates" to come over and play the new game. Was he bored and alone after usually spending every hour on the game with the only company he had, then they all went off to play the latest new game-Black Flag AC was out on the 29th for the PS3 I believe. He would then keep getting messages from them about playing the new game and you know how much peer pressure effects teenagers.

Not trying to excuse your son, but it sounds like OP has no idea about the online enviroment. Are you sure your son wasn't buying games for mates?

Ali x

purplestar133

I haven't read every post on this thread - skimmed through and also read all the OPs posts, so apologies in advance for any ignorance of points already made.

OP, I'm not on anyone's side but I would imagine your son didn't know he was spending so much. He probably intended to spend a little on the card but, as with lots of these things, once the card is registered there will be lots of opportunities to 'buy' services, many of which won't be marked as clearly as purchases as they were the first time because the card is already registered. It's similar to the stories that have come to light recently of kids spending thousands of pounds on 'free' apps that have aspects you have to pay for.

Then there is the possiblity that he knew he was spending each time, but didn't know quite how the charges were racking up.

Of course he was deceitful and needs punishment, but it probably got out of hand without him realising. This is an important lesson for him in money and spending.

Again, I'm not defending him, but these are the thoughts that occurred to me as I read through the thread.

You must be fairly certain it's not going to happen again after his punishment!

dzug1

lisyloo wrote: »

The financial ombudsman says the bank MUST notify the cutsomer

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/27/27-directdebit-guarantee.htm

I'm pleased to tell you that all of mine do. For example Orange send me a monhthly bill and text me also.

It's the merchant who must notify the customer, surely??

lisyloo

Sorry was concentrating on MUST.
Here's the defnitive statement from the proper source.

if there is a change in the amount to be paid or the payment date, the person receiving the payment (the originator) must notify the customer in advance.

supersaver2

If I were in this position I wouldn't be going after the bank or Sony to refund the money your child stole. I would be selling anything he owes that is worth selling and not buying him anything but the basics until the debt was cleared. That would teach him a much better lesson then making the company pay for his dishonesty.