Xbox have taken £4000 pounds from our account

Robgilkes

Hi im desperate for some help and advice.
My step son has his xbox linked to a bank account in my wifes name. We have just found out that £4000 has come out of this account on xbox transactions. The bank have not taken responsibility saying it was outlr account and we are not getting much help from xbox, we are distraught and don't know where to turn too.

Has anyone advice on best place to start with or any experiance?

And help would be appreciated.

NectarCollector

I'd start by talking to your step-son, he has obviously been downloading expensive games/apps etc without any consideration for whose account the money was actually going out of. (There have been several similar cases of children playing games on tablets, pressing buttons and racking up huge bills on Farmville etc, as parents fail to put password checks on in-app purchases)

Secondly, put a password on the xbox account so that no further purchases can be made without this password!

zagfles

If the box didn't even require a password, the retailer hasn't got a leg to stand on. Demand a chargeback from your bank, simply state you did not authorise the charges. The retailer will have to provide proof of authorisation from the cardholder. If the box allows purchases to be made with stored card details without asking for a password, or a CV2 number, it's the retailer's risk. If the box did need a password and you gave it to your stepson then the retailer may have a case to dispute a chargeback (but even then not a strong one).

See also this thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4866661 ignoring all the sanctimonious parenting lectures.

System

And the bank will reply that you allowed somebody else access to your card details with your knowledge and therefore the you are responsible

Biggles

Your heading, 'Xbox have taken £4000 pounds from our account' is misleading. It should read 'My stepson has taken £4,000 from our account' and it is with him you need to be having a conversation.

securityguy

"My step son has his xbox linked to a bank account in my wifes name."

How's that working out for you?

Next time, link it to a pre-pay debit card or his own bank account.

DCFC79

Biggles wrote: »

Your heading, 'Xbox have taken £4000 pounds from our account' is misleading. It should read 'My stepson has taken £4,000 from our account' and it is with him you need to be having a conversation.

I agree, the Xbox can't physically take the money, it needs a human interaction to buy products.

DCFC79

Robgilkes wrote: »

Hi im desperate for some help and advice.
My step son has his xbox linked to a bank account in my wifes name. We have just found out that £4000 has come out of this account on xbox transactions. The bank have not taken responsibility saying it was outlr account and we are not getting much help from xbox, we are distraught and don't know where to turn too.

Has anyone advice on best place to start with or any experiance?

And help would be appreciated.

Why would the bank take responsibility for this ?

The bank weren't the once who clicked buy. Does your step son by any chnace play fifa 15/16 ? Might explain some of it if he does.

I take it the money was debited in dribs and drabs, if so why did you not notice the money leaving the account ?

Why is the Xbox account linked to a bank account, use top up cards.

A chat with your step son is needed.

eskbanker

DCFC79 wrote: »

Does your step son by any chnace play fifa 15/16 ? Might explain some of it if he does.

Sounds like he's been taking FIFA a bit too literally if a large sum of money has mysteriously gone missing....

Robgilkes

Yes he foes play fifa

Flobberchops

IIRC an Xbox Live Gold subscription costs £40 a year, so if the amount is exactly £4000, I suppose there's the slim chance that Microsoft have made a decimal point error when it came to billing you.

The much more likely explanation is that your stepson has been downloading stuff left right and centre. Downloadable games can cost up to £50 each, and particularly pricey DLC items can potentially cost even more. Then there are "freemium" items that are only a few pence each but which you can burn through at a rate of knots - think of the extra lives and power-ups you can buy in Candy Crush, Farm Heroes, etc.

If it's an Xbox One, there are options to restrict purchasing privileges. The older Xbox 360 can be funded by prepaid card rather than credit/debit card details. Therefore, I think it's very unlikely that either Microsoft or your card issuer will accept liability - ultimate responsibility will lie either with your wife or her son, depending on the son's age. It's probably worth approaching both Microsoft and the card issuer to ask for some of the sum to be written off, which they *may* do as an exception. My feeling though is that your wife is up the creek without a leg to stand on.

The real question is... how many week's pocket money does £4000 equate to? Time for Junior to feel the squeeze.