Son racked up huge PlayStation costs

Madge162

Apologies if this is the wrong Forum to post but right now I don’t know where to turn. My son works part time in a supermarket, he is 18 so adult and ‘vulnerable’ I won’t go into details. He got paid on Friday, today I find out that he has 28p left and that about £500 of his money has gone to buy PlayStation FIFA packs, £79 each plus smaller denominations totalling up. Can this money be claimed back, or am I resigned to accepting its lost. At wits end here, it’s almost like a gambling addiction? PlayStation are closed until tomorrow now. Any help appreciated. Many thanks. 

Chris_English

You’ll need to speak to PlayStation, explain the issue, and ask (not demand) that they give a refund.

Going forward, are you able to take control of your son’s finances for him, and get a power of attorney to try to keep him from getting into problems again?

Madge162

Thank you & yes, we’re looking into that now although we also want him to be independent and is usually quite sensible. This was only his 2nd proper wage packet so glad to nip it in the bud early on. I’m still in shock so will see what PS say about but reading some other similar experiences I’m not holding my breath. 

MattMattMattUK

Madge162 said:

Apologies if this is the wrong Forum to post but right now I don’t know where to turn. My son works part time in a supermarket, he is 18 so adult and ‘vulnerable’ I won’t go into details. He got paid on Friday, today I find out that he has 28p left and that about £500 of his money has gone to buy PlayStation FIFA packs, £79 each plus smaller denominations totalling up. Can this money be claimed back, or am I resigned to accepting its lost.

Very occasionally yes, but likely not in this case. Is your son legally competent or should/do you have power of attorney over his financial matters? 

Madge162 said:

At wits end here, it’s almost like a gambling addiction? 

There are ongoing investigations as to whether the "loot box" concept is gambling, some countries are already treating it as such. The issue is that, as he is over 18 and has access to the card and finances, it is legally his choice whether to spend that money.

Madge162 said:

PlayStation are closed until tomorrow now. Any help appreciated. Many thanks. 

They will almost certainly respond no, you can then try and take that further, but unfortunately I don't think you will get anywhere. 

It will likely have to be taken on the chin as an expensive learning exercise, and if possible with restrictions put in place to stop it occurring again. 

elsien

Chris_English said:

You’ll need to speak to PlayStation, explain the issue, and ask (not demand) that they give a refund.

Going forward, are you able to take control of your son’s finances for him, and get a power of attorney to try to keep him from getting into problems again?

You can't "get" power of attorney, the person has to freely agree to give it. If he has capacity then he can still tell people to do one if they try to step in, even if there is an LPA in place. Or he could revoke it. 

There are many people who make very unwise decisions about their spending, as evidenced by the large numbers of people on here who are finding ways to deal with debt of varying degrees. It doesn't  mean they lack capacity and should have all control removed from them.

We all learn by taking risks and making poor choices and accepting the consequences. Even people who are vulnerable in some way.

You need to consider your son's capacity around his finances. Does he manage his own finances completely, and have there ever been any concerns before about his ability to do so? The starting point is that you presume capacity and this is his decision to make. Is he on any benefits (PIP?) and how does he manage those?

Does your son understand budgetting and the impact of having no money - ie he may now need to walk to work rather than get the bus. Or he will now have no money till next pay day? 
Have the conversation with him but let him experience the consequences. He's a teenager. It's what they do. 

Chris_English

elsien said:

Chris_English said:

You’ll need to speak to PlayStation, explain the issue, and ask (not demand) that they give a refund.

Going forward, are you able to take control of your son’s finances for him, and get a power of attorney to try to keep him from getting into problems again?

You can't "get" power of attorney, the person has to freely agree to give it. If he has capacity then he can still tell people to do one if they try to step in, even if there is an LPA in place. Or he could revoke it. 

Yes, you get it through the son agreeing to it, so of course you “get” it. Get is a synonym for acquire.

Do you also try to pick people’s English up if they say they got a new scarf for Christmas?

”You can’t “get” a scarf, a person has to freely give it to you…”

GingerTim

Put password (or change the password) on your son's PS account to one that only you know, and change the setting to require it to be entered with each purchase.

elsien

Chris_English said:

elsien said:

Chris_English said:

You’ll need to speak to PlayStation, explain the issue, and ask (not demand) that they give a refund.

Going forward, are you able to take control of your son’s finances for him, and get a power of attorney to try to keep him from getting into problems again?

You can't "get" power of attorney, the person has to freely agree to give it. If he has capacity then he can still tell people to do one if they try to step in, even if there is an LPA in place. Or he could revoke it. 

Yes, you get it through the son agreeing to it, so of course you “get” it. Get is a synonym for acquire.

Do you also try to pick people’s English up if they say they got a new scarf for Christmas?

”You can’t “get” a scarf, a person has to freely give it to you…”

It's more than just semantics.  There have been any number of people on this forum who have suggested that LPA should just be acquired without the person themselves having any real say in the matter which is why I query it when I see that terminology used. 
Plus a kneejerk reaction of removing control of spending from the person as the first option rather than the last resort once everything else has been tried isn't particularly helpful either.
As I said, he's a teenager and it's a learning curve. 

Madge162

Thank you for all your comments. I’ve had no reply from PS and have resigned myself to the lost money, lesson learned & just glad I nipped it in the bud early on. There is now a £7 a week cap on his spending though the PS5 and we’ve had a talk. I won’t need to control his spending; just give more guidance and warnings about giving out card details and permissions. He knew he was clicking on £79 packs and that he was paying for them but just couldn’t stop himself. Also, I was naive in thinking he was having innocent fun on his football game in his room. Live & learn.

MattMattMattUK

He was enjoying a football game in his room, he was just enjoying it in a very expensive way!

We all have to learn to control our spending and about debt, I had an amazing couple of years from 18-22, no bills (living with parents), earning ok money, credit cards as "free" money, at 22 I ran out of free money, was saddled with paying huge minimums every month and paying off almost nothing as most of the minimum was paying interest, I learned my lesson and since I paid it off (which took two years of working a 9-5 Mon-Fri and five evenings a week in a pub on top), but it taught me a valuable lesson and I have never had any debt since, apart from a mortgage.

Hopefully he will learn from this, as many of us do from our mistakes. 

Vectis

I've never understood the notion that someone would ask to have their expenditure (or someone else's expenditure in this instance) 'refunded' because they has spend too much in a month. Is it because it's something online that you would even consider asking? If your son had, for instance, bought lottery tickets or spent the money on something consumable (food, cigarettes etc) would you also ask for a refund?

Surely this is one of life's lessons and sometimes the person has to learn by their mistakes. I've done silly things like this in my past - we probably all have - but I have never considered going back to the vendor and asking for a refund because I had overspent that month.

I'm not having a go at the OP but honestly just don't understand the concept of asking for a refund because I had spend more than I should have.