Sounds like the refund came from Microsoft's pocket, not EA's. So not sure what you're getting at here.
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Xbox bill refunded after teen racks up $8K in charges
- Thread starter King_Richard
- Start date
Sounds like the refund came from Microsoft's pocket, not EA's. So not sure what you're getting at here.
AyaisMUsikWhore
Member
Publicity and nothing more. This is far to common with companies. Not applauding something that I feel they've always had the power to do.
flatearthpandas
Member
Good. It's disgusting that is even possible to spend that much money.
Unknown Soldier
Member
It would be hilarious if it happened again and the second time they were like "Nope you're not getting refunded this time"
semiconscious
Member
yeah, that's usually what happens when you get away with something the first time
...BluenoseGames
Member
17 years old ... what.
dragonyeuw
Member
By who's determinarion? Yours? You're mixing morality and legality here. 8k worth of legal transactions occured from an individual old enough to understand what he was doing. MS is under no legal obligation to refund money under the circumstances. You can piss up a tree with the morality argument if you like.
dragonyeuw
Member
Precisely. Lets for a moment take the spotlight off MS and the individuals in question: how on earth could that many transactions go through without an alert going off?
This, but oh well.
Waylon Drums
Member
Total bullshit that it was refunded but not surprising.
you want them to cough up $8k for digital microtransactions?
Thats's just inhumane....
Holundrian
Unconfirmed Member
Sure I am, as a human I think that legality should not be devoid of morality or else we wouldn't need judges and we could just have computers figure it out for us.
One should not exist separate from the other.
And in this case I just see a stupid teenager having made a really bad mistake(that didn't kill/physically hurt anyone). Wow how insane is that.... /s.
Hardly worth ruining anyone's life over.
Transactions go through Microsoft so they would be the one to refund any purchases on XBL. I'm sure they have agreements with the developers where they pay out the money owed to the developer at some unknown time to us, presumably after 2 months or something like that. Maybe after 30 days -- it's definitely not an instantaneous thing though, that much is certain. No one lost any actual money on this, just perceived money.
joeygreco1985
Member
The squeaky wheel gets the grease!
I'm surprised no one has brought up the idea that buying the card packs might have gave the 17 year old a gambling addiction.
He didn't get the cards he wanted so he spent more
and or
He became at awe with the cards he bought, so that the instant gratification was releasing dopamine in his brain which chemically made him feel happy and more compelled to spend more money on the game even though he knew it was wrong.
He didn't get the cards he wanted so he spent more
and or
He became at awe with the cards he bought, so that the instant gratification was releasing dopamine in his brain which chemically made him feel happy and more compelled to spend more money on the game even though he knew it was wrong.
RomanticHeroX
Member
The real right move is to change platform policies to prevent the kind of disgusting slot machine microtransactions that allows this to happen in the first place.
Kid likely isn't mentally challenged. Kid's thought process probably went like this.. Oh I'll buy some of this dad will never notice the small charges and I'll get something I want scot-free. Kid gets involved with either the gambling or just really wants something he doesn't get so keeps at it. Dad approaches kid about. Yeah I spent some but I hought it was a one time fee. Dad says an 8k one time fee really junior? Kid goes oh shit not realizing he spent that much and goes into full on CYA mode. Dad probably doesn't really believe him but would like his money back...
joecanada
Member
probably true and now he'll likely do it again too, what a little liar he was "sick about it" my ass.
either a liar or a moron , pick one or two. I would have known the difference when I was literally 5 years old. that's not a joke.
I don't actually think he's developmentally disabled or anything. It's actually super hard to even spend this much money. You gotta be sitting there pressing a like over and over again.
Keyser Soze
Member
Oops
User 479360
Banned
Good PR for Microsoft, but it wasn't their fault. The kid would've known what he was doing, I'm sure - it's made pretty obvious.
He could be.
I have an autistic step-son, and he intently watched me using PSN one day. I told him "If you ever use the PSN Store, you're never allowed to touch the PS3 again" (even though it was password protected.) He said, in response, "I was thinking of it."
Yeah, 17 is... man...
Even though I have a hard time swallowing this as accidental, I do think it's great that MS or EA (whoever) went ahead and refunded like they ended up doing. I mean, it's all just digital stuff. Just take away his access. I mean when someone spends like 8K GWmonies on stuff like this, it should raise some flags like this isn't normal behavior.
Part of me is just like "this is all on him. He's 17 he should know" or "Dad shuldda put some safeguards/passcodes/not saved cc info..." but the other part of me thinks it's just gotta be relieving as all hell for the family. Maybe he really wasn't aware of what he was doing, or maybe he was just being a shithead.
Either way I'm happy it's working out for his family.
Even though I have a hard time swallowing this as accidental, I do think it's great that MS or EA (whoever) went ahead and refunded like they ended up doing. I mean, it's all just digital stuff. Just take away his access. I mean when someone spends like 8K GWmonies on stuff like this, it should raise some flags like this isn't normal behavior.
Part of me is just like "this is all on him. He's 17 he should know" or "Dad shuldda put some safeguards/passcodes/not saved cc info..." but the other part of me thinks it's just gotta be relieving as all hell for the family. Maybe he really wasn't aware of what he was doing, or maybe he was just being a shithead.
Either way I'm happy it's working out for his family.
I honestly don't think he should have been refunded.
At 17 he should be more than able to understand when he's spending money, I don't play FIFA, but other purchases on Xbox One come up with an entire screen wide message, showing cost and the card its billing, no way he didn't know he was spending money.
When I was 8 or so, Xbox LIVE still required a credit card to use, and even I knew those new Halo 2 maps cost money at that age and its far less apparent back then as it is now.
At 17 he should be more than able to understand when he's spending money, I don't play FIFA, but other purchases on Xbox One come up with an entire screen wide message, showing cost and the card its billing, no way he didn't know he was spending money.
When I was 8 or so, Xbox LIVE still required a credit card to use, and even I knew those new Halo 2 maps cost money at that age and its far less apparent back then as it is now.
Goodacre0081
Member
Wowfunhappy
Member
Good on MS for refunding them. Teenager was stupid, obviously, but anyone who spends $8,000 clearly wasn't thinking straight when they made the purchase.
Because refunding $8,000 is less expensive than having all of your IAPs (not just FIFA) subject to federal gambling regulations.
Pathfinder
Member
It has nothing at all to do with that.
It's a pure PR boost. Nothing more, nothing less. Refunding $8,000 is chump change for Microsoft and makes them out to be the good guys.
Unfortunately, it teaches the kid and his dad absolutely no valuable lessons and they'll just be stupid again at some point in the future.
BigTnaples
Todd Howard's Secret GAF Account
While this is fair, the father is still blaming the console and has not put any of the actual blame on his son. His son will learn nothing from this.
dragonyeuw
Member
Nothing reported about this incident points to MS having to do anything to relieve either the stupidity or irresponsibility of those in question. How do you even know this person's life would be ruined? Have they disclosed the state of their finances to make that determination? Make that kid go out and get a job to pay off the debt. I don't care if its cutting grass or shoveling snow. That's the 'moral' thing to do, because it's teaching a life lesson about being responsible. Hell, make them liable for half the bill, they catch a break but still bear some level of responsibility. I don't agree with letting them off the hook 100%. Fortunately, as has been stated numerous times, this was pocket-change PR for MS which is probably why it was resolved in this manner.
Demoskinos
Member
Yeah sorry still don't buy that this kid is innocent. Fuck that. Microsoft should have stood their ground.
DeepEnigma
Gold Member
Because of below. The timeline of events and the pretending to be ignorant to what was going on is pure bullshit. It is a cherry picked PR move with a 'simplified' backstory.
You also can't spend that much money in an instant as there isn't an $8,000 purchase on the store.
And if he was opening packs after purchasing each one, that takes even more time.
This was likely 80 repeated charges of ~$100 each over the course of hours at best or days at most.
Goldenroad
Member
17 years old is old enough to get a job and pay off his debt. I had my first car paid off by that age. This is just going to turn out to be another kid afflicted with "affluenza" isn't he?
HoodWinked
Member
microsoft probably just eats the 8k, digital purchases probably are like ~20% to ms, ~80% to EA, ms would still pay EA around 6k im thinking. going in to the database and resetting that per account seems like alot of effort since ms probably doesnt have direct access to the game it would be controlled by EA.
It was Microsoft and EAS fault for not regulating extreme cases of pointless purchasing. Until they implement some kind of system where account holders can regulate their spending then these companies are responsible for the consequences every time a minor goes nuts.
Casinos have to deal with regulations. It's high time IAP and microtransaction scams were treated as such.
HoodWinked
Member
you might as well put apple, android, sony, every digital marketplace on that list.
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=kid+spends+money+on+app