We all make a few bad choices when we're kids, but Brendan Jordan's bad choices have left his mom with one hefty Xbox Live bill. After he racked up £1082.52 (about $1,700 USD) in XBL charges over the course of several months, his mother is asking Microsoft to help reverse some of the damage.
Dawn Matthews, the mother in question, works two jobs, and hence isn't able to supervise her son constantly. Apparently she didn't realize that her credit card information would be stored after purchasing her son's Xbox Live Gold account.
"I thought it was just for his membership to play online with his friends," she said. "When I showed him [the bill] he burst into tears. He unplugged the Xbox and said he didn't want it anymore."
Matthews is trying to make the case that Microsoft doesn't offer enough protection for children capable of racking up charges with abandon. The console does have parental controls and requires an authorized account to log in before a purchase is made, which Microsoft has pointed out. That's not enough, according to Matthews.
"When he is in gaming mode he can’t be thinking about the money. You can’t put all that responsibility on a young boy," she said, adding, "It is impossible to monitor everything your children do. These companies should take some responsibility. They take advantage of vulnerable people."
What do you think? Should Microsoft reverse the charges, or is the responsibility for Brendan's actions on him and his mom? And did he really not know what he was doing when he approved purchases for 126,364 Microsoft Points?
[Source:Daily Mailvia Eurogamer]
Feb 8, 2011
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