Microsoft has parental control tools build into its Xbox Live online gaming subscription service so that kids won’t go hog wild charging a bunch of downloadable content on mom or dad’s credit card, but that’s just not good enough for one UK woman.
Single mother of two, Dawn Matthews, neglected to enable said parental controls, and is now reportedly blaming Microsoft for the fact that her 11-year-old son racked up over $1700 in Xbox Live charges after she input her bank card information so he could have access to the service last year.
"When I put my card details in 18 months ago I thought it was just for his membership to play online with his friends," sales executive and part-time singer Matthews told the Daily Mail Online.
"I work two jobs just to look after my family and pay the bills so I cannot afford all these extortionate charges,” she lamented. "A thousand pounds isn't that much to people like Bill Gates, but for a single mum it is a lot of money that I don't have.”
Rather than taking responsibility for her own mistake, Matthews complained to both Microsoft and her bank in hopes of having the charges reversed.
"The bank and Microsoft are blaming each other and no one is helping me. It has taken me ages to permanently get rid of my card details from the website,” she told reporters. “It was only when I made a complaint that they took all my details off."
When contacted by the Mail Online, a spokesman for Microsoft reiterated that the simple parental control setting would have prevented this entire fiasco.
“'Microsoft's goal is to provide parents and caregivers with tools and resources to manage their children's gaming and entertainment experiences so that they can play in ways that are safer, healthy and more balanced,” the spokesman stated. “To accomplish this, we've built-in parental controls in every Xbox 360, work closely with retailers and recently launched the Play Smart, Play Safe website as an online resource for families”
Matthews also apparently believes that 11 is too young of an age to teach your children about fiscal responsibility… or any kind of responsibility for that matter.
“I haven't punished him because he feels bad enough and I know he won't do it again. It is ridiculous to allow someone of his age to make payments without any checks being done. When he is in gaming mode he can't be thinking about the money. You can't put all that responsibility on a young boy,” she contends.
"It is impossible to monitor everything your children do. These companies should take some responsibility. They take advantage of vulnerable people."
No Mrs. Matthews, you should take some responsibility. Microsoft isn’t responsible for monitoring your child’s online activities. That is actually your job as a parent. Do that job so the responsible adults who use Xbox Live won’t have to wade through half a dozen parental security checks every time they want to download a new expansion pack.
