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

steampowered

I am frankly astonished at the level of judgment and negativity in some of these these posts. Of course in hindsight the op would have done things differently, but it is a very easy mistake to make. Everyone makes minor financial mistakes.

I am sure neither the op nor her son appreciated the size of the bill which was being created. There are in fact very few checks to make sure you know what you are doing when you buy something on xbox live. It is not that obvious.

I find that half the time when companies refer to their 'terms and conditions' there is actually nothing in the T&Cs which protects them. Ask them to point to the specific clause in the T&Cs you agreed to which they are talking about. Bearing in mind that the son does not have authority to bind you to a contract.

I think it is worth pushing this further with Microsoft, and also worth contacting your card provider to do a chargeback as an unauthorised transaction.

steampowered

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth wrote: »

For the sake repeating myself, again, again and again. Here is the advise I gave yesterday.

This involves non-returnable electronic credit for a videogame, not a toy that can be returned to a shop. It would help if you actually read and understood the post before making an unjustified and judgmental comment.

OlliesDad

steampowered wrote: »

There are in fact very few checks to make sure you know what you are doing when you buy something on xbox live. It is not that obvious.

The fact is that a screen appears that has the cost confirmed on it, the payment method and a button that says "Confirm Purchase". I am not sure how much more obvious it can be made that a purchase is being made.

bluenoseam

I had written something but it sounded extremely harsh, so here's a much calmer, nicer version.

TO AVOID THIS HAPPENING IN THE FUTURE HERE ARE THE WAYS IN WHICH TO REMOVE YOUR CARD DETAILS FROM THE XBOX 360 SYSTEM.

1. switch on console
2. using the bumper buttons atop the controller go to the "Settings" tab. (furthest right)
3. Select "Account"
4. Select "Manage Payment Options"
5. Select "Remove Payment Option"

That will remove any stored payment options on your console, this will not affect any "credit" on your Microsoft account (i.e. the top up cards bought at retail). That will avoid any purchases being able to be made without buying extra credit available at all good retailers.

Pelatage

bluenoseam wrote: »

The second thing about this is having the notifications go to a different e-mail account, c'mon no offense intended here, but that's really pretty nonsensical now you're kicking off about things. That's the quickest & easiest way to know when money is being spent, that's not spam that's keeping an eye on things!

Not sure you've getting the point. Obviously, with hindsight I would have looked. However, on Nintendo and iTunes, an email is sent to the person whose credit card is on the account. If you think it's reasonable to email the child (he's registered as 12, remember) rather then the owner of the credit card, then you have a different world view from me. By all means kick me for making an assumption but at least agree that the setup looks desiugned to keep the cardholder from knowing.

I'm not aware that I'm "kicking off". If I've come across as so, it's not intended. I'm annoyed that the setup is designed to allow kids to do this without letting the cardholder know.

bod1467

I've not read the whole thread ... when the card details were entered, was an email address for the card holder ALSO entered?

If not, then how would MS even KNOW the card holder's email address?

If yes, was a different email address entered?

If a different address (for the card holder, on a child account) was entered then I'd agree that MS may be somewhat remiss in their actions.

Pelatage

Thanks to all the people who have posted useful information and support. The bit about the CPA is very helpful indeed - the fact that no further approval would be needed only appears in the Ts and Cs. Thank you.

As to the comments that were a little more negative (dock pocket money/Work off the debt) I'll give you a little pen-portrait of the kid in question, as you don't know him. He's about the most sensitive child you'll ever come across. He's top of his class at school but also lives for football. All he wants out of life is to play football and when he's not playing for real, FIFA is his outlet. He had a Nintendo account and has an iTunes account. Every single time he spends money on either of them he comes to us with the cash, often before we know he's spent it. We're talking about a kid coming to me with 69p in his hand (never 70p and "keep the change", mind!).

Sorry if that sounds saccharine but some of the posters on here have made some rather cutting assumptions with no basis in fact about a boy they simply don't know. I'm under no illusions that the fault here lies with me. What I'm trying to resolve is the fact that the Microsoft system is designed for the cardholder not to know about spending, i.e. by not emailing the account holder when money is spent. What possible justification can there be for that?

So by all means attack me, call me stupid if you like, tell me things I should have done (it'll maybe inform other people what to do in future). However, leave the kid out of it please. I'm upset enough without reading some of the attitudes on this thread.

sw67

I was sitting at my computer 2 years ago when i had an email thanking me for purchasing fifa points ( using xbox points ) As my kids were at school i phoned microsoft and they were able to confirm my xbox had been hacked and another user was buying stuff using my points while we were on the phone.

This is a well known scam were websites offer free points and when they get your xbox login they can use it to buy stuff on there own xbox as the purchases stay with the console when the switch back to their own user name.

Microsoft were very good and refunded all the points.

Pelatage

bod1467 wrote: »

I've not read the whole thread ... when the card details were entered, was an email address for the card holder ALSO entered?

If not, then how would MS even KNOW the card holder's email address?

If yes, was a different email address entered?

If a different address (for the card holder, on a child account) was entered then I'd agree that MS may be somewhat remiss in their actions.

Yes, they have an email address for me as account holder. They also have an an email address for my son - their phrase for it is that it's an associated account but it's linked to mine. Hence my frustration.

Pelatage

bluenoseam wrote: »

I had written something but it sounded extremely harsh, so here's a much calmer, nicer version.

TO AVOID THIS HAPPENING IN THE FUTURE HERE ARE THE WAYS IN WHICH TO REMOVE YOUR CARD DETAILS FROM THE XBOX 360 SYSTEM.

1. switch on console
2. using the bumper buttons atop the controller go to the "Settings" tab. (furthest right)
3. Select "Account"
4. Select "Manage Payment Options"
5. Select "Remove Payment Option"

That will remove any stored payment options on your console, this will not affect any "credit" on your Microsoft account (i.e. the top up cards bought at retail). That will avoid any purchases being able to be made without buying extra credit available at all good retailers.

Thnak you - good advice that we'll be following. I'd suggest anyone else reading this does the same.