Dad angered after son spends £691 on Fortnite in three days

[WYP]

Be careful where you leave your credit card details.



Read more about the Dad whose son spent £691 on Fortnite in three days.

Special thanks to Dicehunter for the help with this article.

 

[AlienALX]

Rawr his dad proper looks like Sean out of Corrie lmao

 

[MiNo]

The construction around payments for digital services are so complex, that assuming the parents have other things to do besides making sure they understand *all* publishers terms and conditions - they can be expected to make mistakes.



The real issue here, is allowing any game to cost more than a standard AAA title without being locked down for further purchases.



There. Solved it for you.


Also : Because of this complexity, I've turned 'everything' off on all consoles and the kids phones and the tablets around the house. It's the only way I can feel safe, even if it means we don't get to do some purchases we'd like to do - but it's just not worth the hassle. Some systems pre-selects 'save my credit card' so if you fail to notice this, you are screwed. Just one example.



If you don't understand what I'm on about, then I wish I had your simple and easy life

 

[Bartacus]

Weak parent that can't even protect his own credit card number. He deserves the bill IMO, maybe that will teach the fool.

 

[fadingfool]

There is a fairly serious conversation the father needs to have with his son about using a credit card fraudulently. If that was a child of mine his console would now be being sold to help pay for the bill.

 

[Daiyus]

This is why my parents never bought me a PC or console. I had to earn and save the money to buy the system and games. It gave me an understanding of this kind of thing from a young age. Sure it was a different time back in late 90's and early 2000's. We didn't really have "online", "DLC" or "microtransactions" back then; certainly not in the console space where I started. By the time those came around I was already well established and aware of how much my gaming cost.

Still, even with this new tech you need to teach kids the right way. If they want to buy things with a card online then open a children's bank account with them and get a debit card (I've had one since I was 9). They won't be able to spend what they don't have then. Certainly don't put your own card on their account!

 

[Warchild]

What on earth is there in the game worth spending that amount on?

 

[demonking]

I can't believe he tried to get his money back from the bank, Did he honestly think they'd pay out? He authorised it, he saved his card details on the console its no different from giving your card to someone to get money out for you and then they clean you out.
If one of mine did this though, my god I'd...…… wait a minute mine wouldn't, I have taught them right from wrong. And if they did they would be so punished, all pocket money, birthday money, gifts literally everything they own, Charity shop until they're old enough to leave home or until I forgot about it haha

 

[AngryGoldfish]

There's a little bit of a 'Burn it with fire' or 'She got what she deserved' or 'If this happened to my kid...' or 'My kid would never do that' attitude going on here, and it's not justified. People lambaste others for making mistakes too much these days without ever knowing the facts. People think they'd know what to do if they were in that situation, or it would never happen to them because they're perfect—ironically, that's not an attitude I would want to teach my children.

Parents aren't infallible. They have a responsibility to raise and educate their children, but they screw up from time to time. He was buying his son a gift on Xbox Live and forgot to redact his details. To call him a "weak parent" for that is taking it too far. Or saying the kid doesn't know right from wrong is again taking it too far. It's a mistake that has happened to multiple parents and children who are doing their best.

 

[Daiyus]

There's a little bit of a 'Burn it with fire' or 'She got what she deserved' or 'If this happened to my kid...' or 'My kid would never do that' attitude going on here, and it's not justified. People lambaste others for making mistakes too much these days without ever knowing the facts. People think they'd know what to do if they were in that situation, or it would never happen to them because they're perfect—ironically, that's not an attitude I would want to teach my children.

Parents aren't infallible. They have a responsibility to raise and educate their children, but they screw up from time to time. He was buying his son a gift on Xbox Live and forgot to redact his details. To call him a "weak parent" for that is taking it too far. Or saying the kid doesn't know right from wrong is again taking it too far. It's a mistake that has happened to multiple parents and children who are doing their best.

You're right. We're all fallible. I guess my parents went the route of being removed from the finances of my gaming completely to ensure I never did anything stupid (and couldn't ruin them financially).

Hindsight is well known to be b***h and I'm taking this opportunity to remind myself of how it was for me growing up and how I should handle these kinds of situations when my own daughter is ready to enter the world of gaming/digital entertainment.

Of course having re-read my previous comment I fully understand the tone was a little unsympathetic. I didn't really mean it that way. It was meant more as a kick up my own ass to never directly pay for something like this for my daughter and instead gift her the money and teach her how to manage it.

 

[Bartacus]

We're all fallible, but that doesn't make this parent any less stupid. Dumba$$ should have known better. No sympathy from me, and it certainly isn't the games fault.

 

[demonking]

If it weren't for the fact that my news feed shows me some story every day about how some parent blames fortnight for something. Perhaps I'd be more sympathetic. My kid can't concentrate, my kid spends all his time on it, my kid is spending all of my money on it my kid refuses to do anything other than play the game.
I went through some of this with Minecraft, so I took it away until he learnt. Fool for ringing the bank and asking for his money back, they told him the truth, watch what u do with your card details and watch what your kids are doing

 

[AngryGoldfish]

You're right. We're all fallible. I guess my parents went the route of being removed from the finances of my gaming completely to ensure I never did anything stupid (and couldn't ruin them financially).

Hindsight is well known to be b***h and I'm taking this opportunity to remind myself of how it was for me growing up and how I should handle these kinds of situations when my own daughter is ready to enter the world of gaming/digital entertainment.

Of course having re-read my previous comment I fully understand the tone was a little unsympathetic. I didn't really mean it that way. It was meant more as a kick up my own ass to never directly pay for something like this for my daughter and instead gift her the money and teach her how to manage it.

I thought your comment was bang-on the money (as they always are).


To be honest, this whole thing just sparked a reoccurring frustration I have—people complain too much. Like, I know I'm complaining right now (duh!), but to me, for example, those that moan and chastise the feminists are almost as loud and irritating as the actual feminists.

'Feminists are destroying the world with their overly-sensitive, unfounded nonsense!!' *proceeds to list a bunch of reasons until blue in the face*

'Vegans are ruining food! We're supposed to eat meat!' *proceeds to list a bunch of reasons until blue in the face*

'SJW make me want to punch the wall because of how stupid they are!!' *proceeds to list a bunch of reasons until blue in the face*

'Religious people are clueless fools trying to brainwash children!!' *proceeds to list a bunch of reasons until blue in the face*

Etc etc. To me, it's all just noise with little sense of direction; which is exactly what feminazis and Westboro Baptists Church members are—angry and directionless.


Ultimately, I just wish folks would just stop being so judgemental and whiny (including myself) and let others do their thang. Yeah, the father here was being too vocal—attacking the developers and trying to prevent the payment through his bank, that's a little silly in my eyes. Not that I wouldn't try and phone my bank to see whether anything could be done, but I wouldn't moan about my mistakes publicly or knowingly blame others for it. But I wouldn't go as far as to call the guy a dumb***. He's no more of a dope than the rest of us. I'm not saying we should sympathise or empathise with the guy—that's a personal thing. But calling someone out and insulting them without knowing them, when we all make mistakes, that makes YOU look like (almost) as big of a fool (or jerk) to me as him.

 

[Warchild]

I thought your comment was bang-on the money (as they always are).


To be honest, this whole thing just sparked a reoccurring frustration I have—people complain too much. Like, I know I'm complaining right now (duh!), but to me, for example, those that moan and chastise the feminists are almost as loud and irritating as the actual feminists.

'Feminists are destroying the world with their overly-sensitive, unfounded nonsense!!' *proceeds to list a bunch of reasons until blue in the face*

'Vegans are ruining food! We're supposed to eat meat!' *proceeds to list a bunch of reasons until blue in the face*

'SJW make me want to punch the wall because of how stupid they are!!' *proceeds to list a bunch of reasons until blue in the face*

'Religious people are clueless fools trying to brainwash children!!' *proceeds to list a bunch of reasons until blue in the face*

Etc etc. To me, it's all just noise with little sense of direction; which is exactly what feminazis and Westboro Baptists Church members are—angry and directionless.


Ultimately, I just wish folks would just stop being so judgemental and whiny (including myself) and let others do their thang. Yeah, the father here was being too vocal—attacking the developers and trying to prevent the payment through his bank, that's a little silly in my eyes. Not that I wouldn't try and phone my bank to see whether anything could be done, but I wouldn't moan about my mistakes publicly or knowingly blame others for it. But I wouldn't go as far as to call the guy a dumb***. He's no more of a dope than the rest of us. I'm not saying we should sympathise or empathise with the guy—that's a personal thing. But calling someone out and insulting them without knowing them, when we all make mistakes, that makes YOU look like (almost) as big of a fool (or jerk) to me as him.

I think I had this discussion before with Dicehunter who agreed. British culture and upbringing has come to the point where is day to day life of them to moan and whine about anything. It's how many even start conversations now. Those who throw down the whole "its a free country" talk just make it worse. If anything I just find that phrase disgustingly disrespectful to others. We all have our own opinions so I don't need anothers view thrown in my face. Debates and educated discussions are great. "I'm right and you're wrong so here is my middle finger and go F yourself" is not necessary. I love the saying "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

Back on topic. I don't think people realise that This generation are far wiser and smarter with todays technology. While parents slowly come to grasp with the digital age, the younger generation are raised on it. It literally is their everyday life.

I bet 50% of children aged 12 could tap into their parents accounts without their parents even knowing. It would be so easy now to create an account somewhere, borrow the dads card for 60sec to write the card details down and bang. You could easily stay anonymous.

Schools here in Norway are even ditching the traditional books in favour of ipads for learning. It's just the direction we are going. I don't think it's right to trash talk his parents. If anything, they have done a good job that he is indoors safe and gaming than out on the streets. That is my 2cents anyway.