Holy shit my kid is 9 and while I think he could probably figure out how to do something like this (if I was that oblivious), I cannot imagine him ever doing something with that level of lying/deceit (even though I probably would’ve done something like that at his age). Think I’m going to go give him a hug and buy him ice cream tonight.
Yeah but do you even LET your kid have access to purchase shit without your consent? That's the first thing I block on anything TV/games/phones. They want to spend my money they need to ask, imo.
Mistakes were made. In my defense, when I got him the Xbox for Christmas in 2017, the only online gaming he did was Minecraft and that game did not have in-app purchases. All other games he had were games where we physically purchased the media. I also have very little gaming knowledge/experience as I’ve never been much of a gamer. In fact, even when we set up the Xbox I just kept the automatically generated gamer tag assigned to us because I never really thought it would matter since he only needed it for Minecraft. And as I said before, because purchases were linked to my PayPal account and I get push notifications on those, I never really revisited the controls when he started playing Fortnite in 2019. In fact, looking at the purchase history this scheme did not start until the last two days in June of this year.
Definitely not on his tablet and I only let him have a 360 with NCAA and a few other games. It’s online for Netflix and stuff but I don’t let him play any console games online (he has Roblox on his tablet and at Grandmas). I have a PS4 in the main room connected to my card but I haven’t let him download Fortnite on it yet (though I know and don’t really care that he plays it at friends houses all the time). I’m pretty sure he understands it’s not worth whatever hell I would bring in him if I got any notifications like that let alone caught him trying to delete one. Which I’m sure has been covered but it’s not like he knows my phone code/has figured out how to make a mask of my face so there’s no way he could delete something like that off my phone anyway.
So would he wait to make the purchases at night, then run up to your room to delete the notifications right after?
Either that, or ask to use my phone for an otherwise legit reason (like talking to his friend) and do it then.
If you aren't a person that plays video games, all these in game purchases and microtransactions are likely something new to you. I have a PS4 but no online account setup on it. My kid has a Switch and I bought a Nintendo Pass so he could play Mario Kart online but I've blocked any further purchases. Sucks it happens but you aren't the first person it's happened to and you won't be the last. You live you learn. Kids do stupid crap. Hopefully, he learns his lesson. My kid is 7. He's gotten a bunch of money over the years. He has $2,000 sitting in a bank account. When he breaks stuff out of his own stupidity or buys stuff it comes out of his money. He used to buy movies on Amazon until I took him to the bank and made him withdraw the money to pay me back. That shit stopped real quick at that point.
Nah, my kid has the same. Just years of birthday money, Christmas money, and occasional small deposits my wife and I put in there to build some savings.
Have to admit I’m impressed at Fortnite’s staying power. Figured the kids would find a new one about a year or so ago.
They have been smart by adding new “seasons” to keep kids’ attention. It’s like Netflix dropping new seasons for adults for great shows. One other update. I’m now finding conflicting information about putting in a dispute with Amex. I read somewhere that Microsoft does not have a policy of perma-banning accounts for filing disputes. Unfortunately, unless you’re Bill Gates himself you’ll have no luck getting any sort of official position or statement from MS. I did find a link on their site (very hard to find) that allows you to submit an application to request arbitration and even informs you that you can file a small claims action in local courts. So there are options there, but if I can get them to refund even the last 14 days of purchases per their open stated policies, I’d be happy to leave it at that.
1)Make a post about it on facebook 2) Get it to go viral 3) Sell the story to some shitty tabloid 4) Profit
Same. We established an investment trust account for all three of our kids back when they were young and getting money from grandparents that they were too young to spend. For one of them, I decided to buy some GE stock back in 2007 because I thought they were in a good position to profit from increased LNG transport. Didn't take into account GE's exposure to shitty home loans. Thirteen years later his GE holding is 35% of what it was when I bought it. Shoulda just bought S&P500 fund shares like we did for their education IRAs
One of my friends who is 36 spent over $1000 on his madden ultimate team last year. This guy sucks camel dicks at madden. I have often told him that people that are actually good don't have to buy a team to win. His excuse was that he did not think he would be alive to pay for it. That is sad because it is true. He was clinically depressed and I thought he would commit suicide many times, but then he met his now wife and things turned around for him. Unsurprisingly, he is terrible financially even with a 6 figure income. He consistently makes terrible choices and in less than a year went from debt free completely after selling his previous house to more than 10k in credit card debt. He managed all of this in a low cost of living area with a top ten percent job for the area. I guess when you don't think you will be alive to pay the bill that tenth pair of headphones on amazon is too good to pass up. This actually makes me look forward to old age and spending freely (which I won't do because I want to leave my theoretical children as much as possible).
My at the time one year old daughter used to love playing with the DirecTv remote and bought The Meg for $20. I didn’t dispute it, I also have still never seen that movie.
He asks for money for his birthday. Sells lemonade on the street all the time. Goes to my in-laws almost every weekend and does yard work for cash.
My dad grounded me from electricity in high school. Literally took the damn light bulbs out of the room. Anything that plugged into the wall was gone. I was not allowed to go to my room until I went to bed. I damn sure did not make flyers for a fake keg party again.
Don’t take away the Xbox forever what’s that accomplish if anything make him work it back by doing chores at minimum wage until he “pays it back”
I know most tmbers assume I've always been an upstanding citizen but shockingly the truth is I was a fuck up as a teenager. My mom kept a notebook of the $ they had to pay for my transgressions. I was a grown ass man with a wife & kid and was still sending my parents a check every month or so. She finally told me to forget about it and I never learned my lesson
I'd rather pay $2k than face the embarrassment of one of my friends finding out I was litigating in small claims court -- "where the pathetic sue the desperate over the mundane."
I recall the days of being flabbergasted at friends spending $20 on clash of clans we’ve come a long way
Not to be a dick, but I’m Not sure why you expect or feel you should receive a refund. It wasn’t exactly fraud from a hack and your Xbox account received the benefits of said purchases. Also isn’t it your responsibility to monitor and control those accounts? I feel for you and sympathize, but it sounds to me like you owe it. Proper question is how to punish your kid now. I like the idea of working it off and earning his games back. Even if takes months
Sorry man I wasn't trying to rub salt in the wound. That's good point about not being aware/prepared for this since not being a gamer. I can share a similar story... my ex-wife (well, she was my wife when this occurred, we've since divorced for multiple reasons) ran up a few thousands dollars in charges playing online games. The charges went to a shared credit card but one she mainly used, it wasn't one I typically checked statements on. I didn't know about it for around a year that all the charges occurred. Since then I've been more alert of shit like that and when my daughter got a phone, it's pretty locked down.
well he's already facing the embarrassment that his friends find out his 9 year old scammed him out of $2k
A couple of things with this: There are two categories of charges at issue, all of which were unauthorized. Half were made within the 14 days before I requested the refund and the other half are older than 14 days. Under Microsoft’s own terms of service you should be entitled to any refunds requested within 14 days of purchase. In fact, they agreed with me on one charge. But as an example, my kid bought an $80 game the morning of the day I discovered this whole fiasco and I immediately requested a refund, which was denied. That’s kind of bullshit. It’s not like I get to keep the game, it gets deleted from the account when the refund processed. As for the older charges, it’s really just worth a shot to ask.
I got you. I mean there is no harm in you asking and if within their policy then by all means get some back.
"When I was kid I snuck into my father's bedroom, he was sleeping on the bed, he had been drinking all night. Skin was glistening. I snuck up behind him, and slipped my fingers...into his nightstand. And hid the notification on his iPhone of the money I stole. It was a weeks pay. I really fucked him over. And that's how I got the name Father Fucker Jones"
Do you have to pay for "finishing moves"..the slow-mo/cinematic melees?. They look cool but I've never looked at changing our acquiring them.
Ngl I would rather get $2000 in fortnite bucks charged to my card than get lectured like this on the-mainboard dot com
You can buy various packs with themes. Some of them weapon blueprints, skins, and other cosmetic stuff. I would assume some of them have finishing moves. If you buy the season battle pass then you can unlock certain things as you progress and some finishing moves are probably in that.
Don't hate him at all. He is a perpetually negative person by nature and his negativity has not always had positive long term effects. He was the one person most opposed to me buying a business. As a result, I rarely miss chances to remind him of the success of that decision in a subtle way. The things I admire about my dad were evident in that punishment. He established clear line and standards and would not budge from them in any circumstance. He is a staunch rule follower, I am not. That said, being almost 40 is a much different perspective than 18. At 18, did not really like him very much. At 36, I love spending time with him. At 36, I have learned to manage the things I do not like about him and to accept that he will be critical for no reason at all.