I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Brendan’s mom Dawn is probably not in the running for mother of the year. Dawn is complaining that her son managed to accrue around $1,700 in debt after she used her debit card to pay for a game.
From the Daily Mail:
She entered her debit card details into the family Xbox to pay for Brendan’s subscription to his favourite game.
However, Brendan repeatedly clicked on additions and extensions – racking up a £1082.52 debt to her account over six months.
But Dawn wants her experience to be a lesson to other parents and blames Microsoft for making it ‘too easy’ for her son to spend the money.
She said: ‘Brendan is 11 and knows his times tables but it was only when I explained to him that he realised how much money he had spent.
‘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.
‘It is impossible to monitor everything your children do. These companies should take some responsibility. They take advantage of vulnerable people.’
A spokesman for Microsoft claimed that a parental control setting would have prevented Brendan from spending Dawn’s money.
He said: ‘With over 30M Xbox LIVE members across the world customer complaints of this nature are extremely rare.
Of course, the other way to deal with this whole situation would be to teach little Brendan a tough lesson about life… when you tell him that he has just enjoyed downloading a decade worth of combined Christmas and birthday presents. [Geekologie]
