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Kid spends $1400 on FarmVille items on mom's credit card

  • Thread starter Thread starter Q
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Q

Q

Lifer
According to an article in The Guardian this morning, a 12 year old boy in the UK made more than 900 GBP worth of in-game purchases in FarmVille last month. The child did so without his mother’s knowledge, combining 288 GBP of his own savings with 625 GBP worth of credit on his mother’s credit card to make the purchases. For those of you reading this in the US, that’s nearly $1400 USD.


“The first use of my card was on 14 March,” said the boy’s mother, who wishes to remain anonymous. “I discovered it on the 29th and the card was stopped at that point. Any transactions after that date were already in the system, so what I thought was a 427 GBP spend turned into 625 GBP over the next few days.”

Given that the card was her responsibility, neither Zynga nor her credit card company will refund the money. When confronted about the incident, her son admitted guilt and explained it was because “they had brought out good stuff that I wanted.” HSBC, the mother’s credit card company, said it would consider refunding the balance if she decided to file criminal charges against her son. “Obviously the idea of a stupid farm simulation jeopardising his future earnings is not something that I want to consider,” she said.

Facebook has since removed the child’s account. Whether this was at the behest of the mother or simply because he has violated the age rules of Facebook (13 and older only) remains unclear. Either way, consider this a lesson learned about the dangers of “free” Facebook games and the errant ways of youth.
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http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/plugged-in/child-runs-up-900-gbp-debt-on-farmville/1396145
 
SunSamurai said:
:hmm:
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And?


Why would the company refund her the money?

Unless the son STOLE THE CARD, which mom isn't willing to say that he did, son used CC with mom's permission.

I mean shit, for all we know mom gave son card anyway not realizing he would rack up such ridiculous bills.
 
It's obvious that the maker of "Farmville" needs to refund the money. Heck, actually, they should just nuke themselves from orbit. I rarely go on facebook at all, but when I do, there's 300 million updates about how people found some stupid unicorn, or have a hurt baby llama. What is this shite.
 
I agree with Sun (in the fact that they are greedy). They would 'consider' removing the charges if the mom filed a criminal charge against the son? That's extreme and quite frankly a ridiculous answer.

Zynga makes millions a year on their apps, a partial refund (the part that the mother had to pay) would be a nice gesture of them to return in my opinion.
 
I didn't even know you could buy shit for that stupid game. Just the name sounds incredibly boring. Every time I see something like "X has farmed 3,967,609 plots and has earned a piss yellow ribbon" I get a little bit more depressed.
 
darkxshade said:
I don't see how any of this is the CC companys fault? :hmm:
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Did it cross your primitive mind that I perhaps was not blaming the company for the stupidity of the mother/child?

How about you people thing for a few seconds longer before posting your retardation for all to witness.

I'll try and outline it for you

Mother: Irresponsible/Clueless
12 year old kid: Stupid (shock)
CC company saying they will only refund if mother files criminal charges against 12 year old son: Evil.
 
Ns1 said:
And?


Why would the company refund her the money?

Unless the son STOLE THE CARD, which mom isn't willing to say that he did, son used CC with mom's permission.

I mean shit, for all we know mom gave son card anyway not realizing he would rack up such ridiculous bills.
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Yes, and its your own fault for getting screwed by 'dbag traders' .
Ha ha.
 
The CC company should refund the balance unconditionally IMO, but that still doesn't stop the son being at fault. I don't think it was the mother's fault at all, hiding your credit cards from your children is not something that intuitively comes to mind. And to be fair to her she froze the card when she found out.
 
Modular said:
It's obvious that the maker of "Farmville" needs to refund the money. Heck, actually, they should just nuke themselves from orbit. I rarely go on facebook at all, but when I do, there's 300 million updates about how people found some stupid unicorn, or have a hurt baby llama. What is this shite.
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Why don't you hide farmville from your feed?
 
i like zynga.. i've sold lots of mafia wars item and accounts to about ~$200-$300, not spectacular, but good for some good dinners.

now, if i can get my hands on the item duping glitch, i'd be printing my own money for awhile.
 
SunSamurai said:
Did it cross your primitive mind that I perhaps was not blaming the company for the stupidity of the mother/child?

How about you people thing for a few seconds longer before posting your retardation for all to witness.

I'll try and outline it for you

Mother: Irresponsible/Clueless
12 year old kid: Stupid (shock)
CC company saying they will only refund if mother files criminal charges against 12 year old son: Evil.
Click to expand...

They should have just said no then? Even if there was some circumstance brought about by legality and company policy in which they could refund the money? On the face of it refunding money for purchases made with a stolen card is a good policy. It just begins to sound bad when you consider that the policy also applies to family members and that the only way to establish that the card was stolen is to press charges.
 
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