Xbox live, child purchases; anyone successfully claimed money back?

Pelatage

We bought an Xbox for our 12-yo son. His account has his date of birth set up correctly. We registered a credit card onto a parental account that we had to set up using my email address. The reason we did this was to purchase an Xbox live account for him - this is an annual payment that allows him to play online games (for those who don't know gaming). We also set him up an email account for him just for xbox as we expected a torrent of spam from them.

So, all set up, our son on an account as a 12-yo (i.e. we didn't set him up as an adult) was allowed to bang in a bundle of purchases. Emails were being sent to his unattended email inbox - the one we'd set up just so he wouldn't get spam, not to the account holder, i.e. me.

The default is that the kid can spend, not that he can't. My son didn't buy games, he just got some points for FIFA that he thought were included as part of his xbox live account. The poor lad has been in tears ever since he realised that he's spent £331 on the account. He's offered up all his pocket money until it's paid back as he feels it's entirely his fault. If you knew him you'd know that he values money and simply had no idea that we were being charged.

Is it reasonable that the default setting for a 12-year-old's account is to allow them to use their parent's credit account without the parent even receiving an email to tell them that their money had been spent?

Microsoft, predictably, have told us that we agreed to terms and conditions that mean we're liable. In the end, I'm sure that's true and it was our error for not reading every word of the fourteen page (!) document.

Has anyone had any success in contesting charges with the Xbox people? Whether it was a legal approach or just blind persistence, I'd appreciate guidance as to what worked (or not).

Thank you.

bod1467

Another thread with yet another username?

It seems not, although the coincidence is astounding.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4865987

bris

Pretty much no, you set up the account and allowed him access to it, it wasn't the 12 year olds settings it was you parental control, or lack of thems, settings.

You still need to confirm your spending real money before you go ahead with the purchase, even a 12 year old knows that, so spare the didnt know he was spending real money story.

Pelatage

Wow, a rush to judgment in the first two replies. What a friendly forum.

1. I searched for "xbox live" on the forum and ended up on another (similar) thread, where I posted this. I was told that the case is different and advised to start a new thread.

2. Your comment assumes knowledge of my son and his behaviour - rush to judgment if you wish but you have NO basis for your sarcastic comment.


I love the fact that my post has a label next to it that says

"MSE requests that you give new posters a chance! Please be especially nice." Pretty pointless request if those two responses are typical of this place.

DaveTheMus

I play FIFA on the xbox, it's the FIFA ultimate team option, Option 1 - you can buy gold, silver or bronze player packs if you want to increase your chances if getting a standout player or Option 2 - you can win tournaments to get in game coins and buy the same players, this takes more time and effort.....

When you buy the in game packs with money it is very clear that you are spending real money.

This raises another point though, your son went for the easy option, the one with minimal effort, this is bad.....you must teach your son that anything worth having is worth working hard for and taking the easy option is something he shouldn't do.

You won't get the money back from xbox..........instead of taking your sons pocket money to pay the debt back, get him to work it off, for example you'll take £10 off the debt for washing the car, £5 off for cutting the grass, £2 for washing the dishes and so on....

hollydays

What's wrong with mr potato head and a game of snakes and ladders..

shegirl

If he didn't know he was spending money he needs to pay more attention.

It is always incredibly obvious on an Xbox,even tells you exactly how much you are paying before you confirm.

And no,you won't get it back.

wealdroam

Pelatage, yes you are right... this is different from the other thread.

You/your son have paid money and clearly used the purchased service.

On what basis do you think Microsoft (if that's where the money goes, I don't know about these things) should refund money for a service that has been used?

It also appears that you made a mistake on the use of that specially set up email address.
It's too late now, but wouldn't it been a good idea to monitor it for at least a little while to see if your suspicions about spam were correct?

ChasingButterflies

DaveTheMus wrote: »

When you buy the in game packs with money it is very clear that you are spending real money.

Thank you for this confirmation, could I also ask (if you have purchased these packs/coins whatever they are... Do they appear in your xbox live download history?

Apologies, we have learned a bit too late that we need to know how these games work.

Apologies for the thread hijack OP, we were alerted today by the credit card fraud department to a high number/value of transactions to xbox live so I can completely understand your upset. However if it turns out our son has downloaded these items, his xbox and anything else he has will be sold to cover the debt...

zagfles

If the purchases were ordered from your son's account and it was clear the payment card wasn't his, what proof does the retailer have that the cardholder authorised the purchase?

If there was a CPA set up, then each individual transaction doesn't need authorising, but as per this http://www.oft.gov.uk/business-advice/treating-customers-fairly/cpa-principles/ it must be made crystal clear that a CPA is being agreed to, not just buried in T&Cs:

All relevant terms of the CPA agreement should be set out clearly and in plain, intelligible language, and brought prominently to the consumer's attention. They should not just be contained in 'terms and conditions'.

So it's likely that a CPA wasn't set up (or not compliant with the above anyway). Therefore the cardholder will need to authorise every individual transaction. If the account being used wasn't a password protected account in the cardholder's name, then where is the proof? And it is up to the retailer to provide that proof, otherwise the bank must refund.

I'd report it to your bank as an unauthorised transaction. They'll almost certainly try to fob you off, but be persistant and threaten to go to the financial ombusman. Good luck!

DaveTheMus

ChasingButterflies wrote: »

Thank you for this confirmation, could I also ask (if you have purchased these packs/coins whatever they are... Do they appear in your xbox live download history?
.

I'm not sure it would be in the xbox download history because the points are purchased from EA Sports(people who make Fifa).

He will have an EA account on the EA Sports website, it might be on that....


http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HN2XZ3xAgLw

Here's a video showing how the points are purchased and that there is a price clearly marked beside it. Although it's an American video the interface is exactly the same, just replace $ with £.

Once the points are purchased they are used to buy packs of player cards.