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The father of a Pembroke, Ont., teen is warning parents to keep a close eye on their children's gaming habits after his son racked up nearly $8,000 in Xbox charges.
On Dec. 23, Lance Perkins got a credit card bill for $7,625.88 after his 17-year-old son used his credit card to make in-game purchases for one of the FIFA series of soccer games.
The father of a Pembroke, Ont., teen is warning parents to keep a close eye on their children's gaming habits after his son racked up nearly $8,000 in Xbox charges.
On Dec. 23, Lance Perkins got a credit card bill for $7,625.88 after his 17-year-old son used his credit card to make in-game purchases for one of the FIFA series of soccer games.
Looks like someone needs to get a summer job. And someone else needs to check their credit card transactions more regularly. I feel sorry for them. I'm glad they're ditching the xbox.
Actually if you read the article the kid DIDN'T know. He thought there was a one time charge and didnt realize it would keep charging.
It's a little confusing as I have bought upgrades to video games and didn't know there could be a recurring charge. Then again, since the whole Sony hack I only use pre paid cards and never my own debit/credit card. I just can't see the huge bill. Even if he paid to "upgrade" a player it wouldnt cost more than a couple hundred dollars to make the player have a perfect ranking.
Actually if you read the article the kid DIDN'T know. He thought there was a one time charge and didnt realize it would keep charging.
Actually I did read the article... and I still cannot believe a 17 year old screwed up that badly.
Thinking there is a one-time charge? Didn't realize?
Anytime I spend money like that, it is clear that you are being charged each and every time.
I'm not familiar with an xBox but for the phone and computer, I get an email any time something is charged. And the article points out there were settings the parents could have used where they had to approve purchases, and probably there are settings for notifications as well. Plus how much could the kid have been playing to rack up that much in a month?? It had to have been just a month or he would have seen these charges on his credit card before this.
I think that along with whatever else happened, there was some lazy parenting involved as well.
Actually if you read the article the kid DIDN'T know. He thought there was a one time charge and didnt realize it would keep charging.
It's a little confusing as I have bought upgrades to video games and didn't know there could be a recurring charge. Then again, since the whole Sony hack I only use pre paid cards and never my own debit/credit card. I just can't see the huge bill. Even if he paid to "upgrade" a player it wouldnt cost more than a couple hundred dollars to make the player have a perfect ranking.
For $7,600 the kid could probably have traveled to the next World Cup and got a great seat at the final.
As the article stated, there is a way to put parental controls in place for charges. I also know that I get e-mails whenever my kids charge something. I also require them to ask first before I give permission for anything like this, and if they don't ask, they don't get.
Something similar happened with us and an Ipod game. It was about $500, but Apple was kind enough to reverse the charges. Still we grounded the "convicted".
But in this case, I agree with the summer job sentiment.
cd :O)
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