Lost over £2000 in one month used by my 8-year-old

My 8-year-old has spent over £2000 in one month on Xbox games such as Roblox. I only discovered this last night and appealed immediately. I would have noticed but I was not a Microsoft mail user and only signed up with Microsoft account due to Windows/store
policy when I bought latest computer. So I did not see the order coming in. Last night appealed. This morning I found that all but 2 of my appeals, giving about £50 back have failed. I'm 67, looking after three kids by myself. My financial advisor lost my
private pension, and I cannot work because I am looking after three kids by myself. I have now taken them all off the computers but that is a bit like the horse has bolted. Is there anything I can do. Does Microsoft have a heart? I expect some 'you
[Mod Removed – Profanity] [Mod Removed – Profanity]
replies' but an ideas would be appreciated.

:)

 

I Got a consle that can play all games at 1080p 60fps.

[quote user="Alex2751"]

I personally got tired of upgrading my PC. Every few months have to dump $300 into new graphic card, HDD or whatever gets too old. I had a PC worth about $2000 that got old in two years. Xbox 360 is now old 8 years and can play same game as newest PC. CoD
Ghost, try playing that on 8 years old PC without any upgrade.

[/quote]

Dump $300 on a new graphics card every 3 months? Say again? HUH?

.

A 2 year old $2000 gaming Pc can no longer play good games? Huh WHAT?

.

An xbox 360 can play games as good as the newest PC... Say again!?... Even though the Xbox 360 can only run Crysis 3 on low settings.

.

You never gamed on a PC, troll somewhere else buddy!

.

 

Hacked there fifa 12

logged on just now seen fifa 12 in my played game lost over 2000 msp only have 10 now I want something done ! payed for 9 years and this crap happens!

 

sorry to hear that but if the refuubds are declined there is nothing you can do.

 

Oh my. I'm sorry to hear that.

First of all, you should make sure that you follow the steps on
this website to prevent your kids from unauthorized purchases in the future. Never let the kids use your own (adult) account!!!

Then you should try to contact the official support again, and explain the situation via
Contact Us | Xbox Support

Also, you should try to
contact Roblox via this contact form. The website mentions a spending limit, but it could be, that this limit is only enforced on the PC version of Roblox, not for purchases through the Xbox store.

If the kids bought the stuff via your credit card, it might also be worth a try to contact your credit card company and report these unauthorized purchases. Or contact your bank about these unauthorized purchases.

 

Hey there,

Try to have a chat or phone call with a microsoft support agent. It's a very tricky situation and not easy to fix.

You can chat with a support agent via this link: Contact Us | Xbox Support

Please note that your son bought in-game credits, these are probably already spent. In this cases it's super hard to give a refund.

You should really enable parental control for your kids, so next time this won't happen, even by mistake.



I really hope you can sort this out. I wouldn't get my hopes too high, again, it's a tricky situation.

 

Hi,

Try to contact support team and make sure you enable parent control so your kids can't make any purchases again otherwise high chance your kids go on a spending spree again

 

Hi, I am sorry to hear that.

And no, you are not [Mod Removed – Profanity].

You can try
ask for refunds, but in general I'd suggest you to set your kids some
child accounts.

 

Well I have spent four days now with Microsoft Xbox Support trying to get a refund on the £2000 my eight year old spent in a matter of a few days in November. Endless repeating order numbers and dates on purchases on Roblox, Paladin Crystals, Fortnite,
Overwatch, 3on3 etc. The only refund I got was under £20 from 3on3. In Microsoft Chat they were seemingly very helpful, but undoubtedly they knew they were sending me on path with false hopes. Unfortunately I cannot work, or even go to the pub for that matter,
because I am raising 3 kids, 6,8, and 11. It was startlingly obvious from the pattern of wild orders that this was not authorised behaviour. Despite my pleas, and my own personal record of helping people all my life, Microsoft could do nothing. The last Support
woman who was very sympathetic (she had just lost her husband) said that even as a supervisor the £2000 was near her ANNUAL allowance on refunds. Clearly Microsoft does not have a heart. Or does anybody? I have just returned to the UK after 30 years in the
Orient and I am shocked at the hustlers (Payday Loans, tidy up before you go and pay for your funeral gambling ads on TV - all directed at people with no money. Incidentally Roblox did get back to me today asking for more details, but I am not hopeful. Can
I appeal independently to Paladin Crystal etc I asked, of would Microsoft block it. No answer apart from 'I have tried every way to get you a refund but I am blocked!'. Microsoft heart is purely a promotional gimmick. It does not have one. Is everybody in
the west complacent about this? Ideas? Suggestions? The lady said I should tell the bank they were unauthorised. Don't hold out much help there. Finally - in the process of applying it was suggested I close the particular account. I agreed. Now whatever
my eight year old has bought has done as well.

 

Has done as well should re'has gone as well'.

 

Hiya Andrew,

Thank you for contacting forum support!

It is stated within our Microsoft Service
Agreement the following information regarding refunds:

Refund Policy. Unless otherwise provided by law or by a particular Service offer, all purchases are final and non-refundable. If you believe that Microsoft has charged you in error, you must contact
us within 90 days of such charge. No refunds will be given for any charges more than 90 days old. We reserve the right to issue refunds or credits at our sole discretion. If we issue a refund or credit, we are under no obligation to issue the same or similar
refund in the future. This refund policy does not affect any statutory rights that may apply. For more refund information, please visit our help
topic.



Our only current suggestion entails the use of the refund
request webform as this is our way of having our team review the purchase, the reason in asking for the refund, and then of course the decision given.

The form can be completed multiple times, so we suggest trying it again in your attempt to get a refund.

Hope this helps.

 

I have tried and tried but the situation gets worse. The last Microsoft rep suggested that by way of helping it might by an idea to close down my X Box account, which I agreed, because my eight year old has no longer had access to the account and I do
not want him to use any more of what he has bought. By everything is linked to my email an including Microsoft Office so she said that needed to be closed as well. So I lost Microsoft Office and his X box account and my request for refund was then turned down.
Now I have had a request t pay Office again, which of course I have had to do because I used it every day - and of course I no longer have the £2000 worth of games. A double whammy. It is abundantly clear from'chat' conversations that there are rules governing
how much supervisors can refund on an annual basis, which makes the Microsoft work ethic highly questionable.

 

Please, as much as I sympathize with your situation, be aware that Microsoft has tools to prevent this kind of unauthorized spending, however it was up to you to utilize these tools BEFOREHAND, so your kids would have been unable to do these purchases in
the first place.

By allowing your kids on your adult account, it's like letting your credit card lying around unattended. It was basically your responsibility to either give kids a restricted account, or supervise your kids during their play session, so they couldn't have
done these purchases in the first place.

The trouble with digital purchases is:

If a kid goes into a store, and drops candy, toys and whatnot on the cashiers desk
worth 2000 Pound, and tries to pay with a credit card, this will raise the eyebrow of the cashier, and they will demand that their parents come to the desk and confirm that the kid is allowed to spend that much money.

By allowing your kids to play on your own account, it's like an actual grown up person did the purchases, and therefore they were all "legitimately" bought for the system.

That's why you have such a hard time to convince everyone to refund you the stuff.

And why do you allow someone to close your account, when you have your own work related software like Office on that?

To make a "car analogy": Your kid bought a car without your consent, and now by deleting your account, you destroyed the vehicle registration that proved ownership of the car, and now you try to refund the car, without an account or proof of ownership. Good
luck with that! :-(

So in your situation: Don't act too quickly and without thinking.

Have your bank or credit card institution bill back these unauthorized purchases, if Microsoft is unable to refund you that stuff.

Microsoft also has trouble to get the money back, if the kids already spent these bought items.

To get back to the sweets analogy: Let's assume a cartoon-like scenario where your three kids stand on top of each others shoulder and put on a Trenchcoat, and go to the candy store with your credit card.

Since they "appear" as an adult person, they are allowed to buy sweets worth 2000Pounds. Now they return home, eat up all these candy canes, lollypops and bubblegum.

Now try to get back to the store with all the empty wrapper paper and demanding a refund.

So in order to get this resolved: If Microsoft can't refund you the digital purchases, go to your bank and credit card company, and report these transactions as unauthorized. Have them bill the money back, and since your Microsoft account is now closed anyways,
they can then lock it as there would now be unpaid transactions on it, but that wouldn't matter now.

So talk to your bank to get this resolved, and let that be a lesson to keep your account(s) to yourself in the future and to NOT let anyone play on your account ever.

 

To add to what everyone else has said the only way to close an account is to go through the account.microsoft.com website and you would have I believe 60 days to change your mind to reopen the account before MS completely closes the account out and you
would no longer have access to the account and anything that was purchased on it.

 

That game is so dangerous as it's easy to buy things and they always throw that in your face. Luckily it's preventable. Just have a look

here.