http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4423776/Son-notches-up-1150-bill-playing-his-Xbox.html
A DAD was shocked to discover his 12-year-old son had racked up a £1,150 bill on his credit card — by playing XBOX.
Sam Ghera, 48, had registered his card details on the console to cover a £5.99 monthly subscription so son Nik could play online with school friends using Xbox Live.
But when his credit card was rejected at the bank he was horrified to discover a sky-high bill.
It turned out that Nik was able to use the stored details to buy “Microsoft Points” — an online currency used to buy extras and unlock features in games.
The youngster from Wolverhampton, West Mids, thought he was using points that he had won for achievements playing games such as Fifa and Call Of Duty.
But each time he upgraded his characters he was unwittingly taking money from his dad’s account.
And in one marathon Call of Duty gaming session with buddies Nik spent £100 in a single DAY on weapons and extra features.
Now Sam has warned parents to be aware of the hidden costs — and slammed Microsoft for not making its charging policy clearer for parents.
He said: “I went to the bank to take some money out with my credit card but the machine said I had insufficient funds.
“I was standing there thinking that I’d been hacked, but the bank came back saying they were legitimate charges.
“When I went through my statement I saw that they were charges for Xbox Live.
“I didn’t even know that it was storing my information, and even if that thought had entered my head I would have thought there would be something in place so it wasn’t so easy to spend money.
“With sites like eBay and iTunes it always asks you for a password before you make a purchase.
“But with Xbox Live you just press a button and then your money’s gone.
“I contacted Microsoft but six months down the line they’re still saying they’re looking into it.”
Council worker Sam, is now warning other parents to monitor their kids’ Xbox Live accounts.
He said: “Nik didn’t realise he was using money, he thought he was using points he’d won in games.
“He didn’t realise it was costing real money.
“An apology would be nice but I’m more interested in having this problem stopped so that we as parents can stop our kids from making payments on our cards.
“I think it’s a big problem, I’ve spoken to other parents and parents online who’ve had the same happen to them.
“I would have thought they’d be a bit more helpful with parents but once they’ve got the money they just say, ’It’s not our problem’.”
Microsoft yesterday admitted parents getting stung with high charges is a “regular occurrence”.
A spokesman said: “This is a regular occurrence, it’s not unusual for this to happen but usually on the Fifa game.
“We can only investigate when we get the customer’s account details.”
