Advice on X-box Microsoft unauthorized charges?

[SEA333]

So, passwords have been changed, and child in question has been talked to about the importance of NOT downloading his account passwords onto other people's x-box consoles, but the nitty gritty of it is, I am currently out over $200 in charges and overdraft fees for games on DS14's x-box account that we did not buy.

As far as we can figure, DS loaded some type of information into his best friend's from-out-of-state (DS was invited to stay for a week this past summer) x-box. This past weekend, I received an email confirming charges for a Lego Batman game. None of my kids downloaded the game, and we have never had a problem with the account. My kids know that if they would like to purchase something, it must go through me first - not even DH can give permission because the account that is linked to the account is our household bills account that only I really know what is going on with on a daily basis.

So, when I saw the charge, I immediately went to the kids, who didn't know anything about it. Then DS14 said that he uploaded his info to best friends' x-box this summer so they could play DS's games while he was visiting. He called BF to see if BF accidentally downloaded the games under our account, and BF said that he had left the console in question at another friends house a few weeks ago. A little more digging, and it seems as though BF also has some mysterious x-box charges. As of now, it looks like this "friend" of BF's has been charging games under the two different accounts.

So, now what??!! Do I take this up with Microsoft, or do I go to this kids' parents? We moved away from the area 5 years ago, so I do not know this kid very well. I don't think that it is right to involve DS's best friends parents (whom we are very good friends with), or hold them responsible as they are facing the same issue as I am. I feel bad, also, having them have to be the intermediary when it was DS that was irresponsible to upload information that ultimately granted MY banking info to some random kid. We also have been told by our friends, and believe, that the kid in question is a good kid and likely does not realize that he is charging other people's accounts. We believe this, but also need him to stop! My theory is that he received Microsoft points for Christmas and thinks that he is using those to purchase new games but is logged onto the wrong accounts.

We called Microsoft the day we saw the charge, but they said that the only thing they could do at that point is credit the x-box with Microsoft points. Ummm...NO thank you!!! I do NOT want over $100 in x-box points!

Now I am out two x-box charges and three overdraft fees from my bank. I had already paid my bills, and three of them caused overdrafts since I don't keep a whole lot of extra cash in that account, and the transfer I hastily did got caught up in the holidays/weekend and didn't post until after the games and fees were charged.

What a mess. What can I do now?

 

[worm761]

So, passwords have been changed, and child in question has been talked to about the importance of NOT downloading his account passwords onto other people's x-box consoles, but the nitty gritty of it is, I am currently out over $200 in charges and overdraft fees for games on DS14's x-box account that we did not buy.

As far as we can figure, DS loaded some type of information into his best friend's from-out-of-state (DS was invited to stay for a week this past summer) x-box. This past weekend, I received an email confirming charges for a Lego Batman game. None of my kids downloaded the game, and we have never had a problem with the account. My kids know that if they would like to purchase something, it must go through me first - not even DH can give permission because the account that is linked to the account is our household bills account that only I really know what is going on with on a daily basis.

So, when I saw the charge, I immediately went to the kids, who didn't know anything about it. Then DS14 said that he uploaded his info to best friends' x-box this summer so they could play DS's games while he was visiting. He called BF to see if BF accidentally downloaded the games under our account, and BF said that he had left the console in question at another friends house a few weeks ago. A little more digging, and it seems as though BF also has some mysterious x-box charges. As of now, it looks like this "friend" of BF's has been charging games under the two different accounts.

So, now what??!! Do I take this up with Microsoft, or do I go to this kids' parents? We moved away from the area 5 years ago, so I do not know this kid very well. I don't think that it is right to involve DS's best friends parents (whom we are very good friends with), or hold them responsible as they are facing the same issue as I am. I feel bad, also, having them have to be the intermediary when it was DS that was irresponsible to upload information that ultimately granted MY banking info to some random kid. We also have been told by our friends, and believe, that the kid in question is a good kid and likely does not realize that he is charging other people's accounts. We believe this, but also need him to stop! My theory is that he received Microsoft points for Christmas and thinks that he is using those to purchase new games but is logged onto the wrong accounts.

We called Microsoft the day we saw the charge, but they said that the only thing they could do at that point is credit the x-box with Microsoft points. Ummm...NO thank you!!! I do NOT want over $100 in x-box points!

Now I am out two x-box charges and three overdraft fees from my bank. I had already paid my bills, and three of them caused overdrafts since I don't keep a whole lot of extra cash in that account, and the transfer I hastily did got caught up in the holidays/weekend and didn't post until after the games and fees were charged.

What a mess. What can I do now?

The way I see it, you have three options.

1. Suck it up. Accept Microsoft's offer and be out the rest.

2. Contact the boys parents and request that A. he stop purchasing things on your account. B. he erase your DS's info off of the Xbox.

3. Make a very expensive lesson for your son and make him repay you.

Personally, I would start with option 2. For two reasons. 1. I would want the charges to stop. And 2. The other set of parents need to know what their son is doing. Any money I would be out would come from my son.

 

[TravelMommy]

If you remove your payment method from the X-box account, can't charges no longer go through??? or can you cancel the current X-box account and replace with new one?? I would also try working with the issuer of your bank card, perhaps they can help, as you did not authorize these charges??Good luck with resolving the issue.

 

[LJSquishy]

That is terrible! The "friend" of your son's friend doesn't sound very trustworthy. I would try to get in touch with the parents of your son's friend to see if they indeed have mysterious charges and then have them contact the other friend's parents if necessary.

Unfortunately this is not Microsoft's problem at all...it's technically your son's fault so unless the friend-of-the-friend's parents want to reimburse you which is unlikely, you just need to use it as a learning lesson to both you and your son.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Your son needs to change his Xbox Live account password asap (I hope this has already been done!).

You can ask to be reimbursed the charges made by this other kid, but it's unlikely you'll get any money. I don't understand why you didn't take the $100 in Microsoft points. That's like throwing away money.

This is your son's fault. If I were you, I would expect him to pay at least half of the charges, either from his allowance or money he can earn.

 

[sherlock14]

Been there done that. (4 sons) Call Microsoft back and tell them 13 year old did without you knowledge or permission and that you want those charges removed. IF they do not oblige, call your credit card company and tell them unauthorized charges on your card and you want to dispute. The bank handles it from there.

 

[SEA333]

Your son needs to change his Xbox Live account password asap (I hope this has already been done!).

You can ask to be reimbursed the charges made by this other kid, but it's unlikely you'll get any money. I don't understand why you didn't take the $100 in Microsoft points. That's like throwing away money.

This is your son's fault. If I were you, I would expect him to pay at least half of the charges, either from his allowance or money he can earn.

As stated, yes, passwords changed first thing before anything else.

I didn't say to Microsoft that I wouldn't take the points, I said *here* that I don't WANT them! I want my money!!

If it comes down to that being the only choice, of course I will take them, and DS will be working them off or making a withdraw from his bank account to reimburse me as he will be the one ultimately using the credited points, not me.

As with most 14 year old boys, the story came out a little at a time, over several hours of talking, calling friend, waiting for friend to call back, calling Microsoft to see if they could track the purchase before DS remembered that he had uploaded the info on the other console and we had NO idea who had our info, etc. Within the course of the several hours and our contact with the company, Microsoft has said that they couldn't reimburse the charges back to my account because they were still "pending", but would be able to place a credit of points back onto the Microsoft account. They also said that once the actual charges went through, to call back and see if the money could then be deposited back into the bank account, however, she could not guarantee this could be done.

As a FYI to anyone with a teen and/or x-box, apparently there is somewhat of a "glitch" that your account password information gets stored in cloud storage and if you upload your account to another console so you can play your games at a friends house or whatever the reason, even if you change your password for the general account, you also have to change the passwords somewhere else, too, or the other console will have access. I don't know if I am explaining it exactly right or not - DH was on the phone with the CS agent - but she seemed to indicate to DH that this happens enough for her not to be surprised.

Expensive lesson for us for sure.

I guess what I really am interested in knowing is, what is the etiquette for approaching this kid's parents and asking for reimbursement for the charges. I am willing to suck it up for the overdrafts and possibly ask my bank to reverse at least one or two of the three, but is it "right" to ask the parents of this kid to pay for the games their kid has bought and is presumably using?

Thanks

 

[Lilliputian]

I guess what I really am interested in knowing is, what is the etiquette for approaching this kid's parents and asking for reimbursement for the charges. I am willing to suck it up for the overdrafts and possibly ask my bank to reverse at least one or two of the three, but is it "right" to ask the parents of this kid to pay for the games their kid has bought and is presumably using?

I would contact the parents if I needed to, but first I'd have my son contact the kid and see how much he knew and what he was willing to do about it. Like you said, it may be completely accidental, and the kid may be willing to do what needs to be done. However, since he is a kid and may be dealing with having some type of gift card or points rather than cold, hard cash, he might need assistance from his parents to get it all straightened out.

If I did contact them, I'd be sure they realized you thought it was probably accidental and that it was due to a quirk in Microsoft's system and not deliberate theft.

 

[lehmaac]

I had a very similar situation with my son and a Kindle. Amazon refunded the charges. However, I did not tell my son this. I didn't want him to think he didn't have to worry about it because Mom would just get the company to refund the $.

I'd suggest following up with Microsoft, speak to a supervisor if needed. I also agree with the poster who said you should follow-up with the parents of friend-of-BF. I'd hope they'd want to have a talk with their kid about how things work. If it was my kid, they would be required to make you whole. Good Luck!

 

[Tarheel girl 1975]

Were the games added to your son's Xbox account as well? If he hasn't benefited from the transaction, you could contact your bank to report fraud. Be aware that any accounts associated with your card will probably be suspended.

 

[SEA333]

UPDATE:

I talked to my friend (BF's mom) last night, and apparently the "friend" in question is saying that he never took the x-box out to play with once BF left it the first night because the parents of this kid didn't want to be responsible for a replacement if "friend" broke or damaged the system.

However....DS was able to take screenshots of the activity of his BF's account since they are friends on x-box live together. The screenshots prove that not only was *someone* playing as BF's gamertag, but it also gives the dates and last date of log-on, which was the day after we saw the charges. Whoever it was that was logged on under BF's account was also accessing Netflix from the x-box. BF's mom says they have charges as well, but the "friend" is adamantly saying he wasn't allowed to play the x-box while it was at his house the past three weeks.

Further, BF told DS14 that he "traded" the game system to this friend, but not to say anything to the me because neither set of parents knew, and the other parents ultimately banned the system from being played anyway. This leads DH and I to speculate that:

1. this "friend" may have been sneaking playing while his parents were at work during Winter Break and now he cannot come clean about buying any games because he will get caught lying.

2. The friend is telling the truth and hasn't touched the game at all, and BF's gamer tag was hacked, and since DS's info was attached, we are caught up in this as well.

We can't prove anything other than the gamertag was being used in the time period that the friend and the parents of the kid say the system was sitting in a box waiting to be delivered to BF's house again. We just don't know who was using/buying from it - the friend or a hacker. BF's mom made it clear, in a nice way, that she believes the friend's family and that she was not willing to give me this family's contact info.

With this news, I sent BF's parents the screenshots so they can go to Microsoft to file a complaint, and I think that I will go to Microsoft directly as well. We are able to view the said game titles on DS's console, but we did not download them, and are not benefitting from using them. We want then erased from the account altogether.