Grandmother shocked by $1,400 in video games charges on her credit card that won't be refunded

UrbanPoet wrote: ↑

Its one of those cases of “blame everyone but yourself”.

That's harsh. I don't think that's a fair or accurate assessment of grandma or that situation.

Why does being a grandmother make it somehow more sympathetic?

So you pop out a kid, who also pops out a kid and therefore you're absolved of all debts because of your stupidity. As a senior/boomer, this sort of story line makes me sad.

"he thought it was all free" LOL yeah right..

In the old days video games cost a fixed amount, you didn't pay unlimited amounts of money for them.
This micro payment model is designed to fleece people and fleece it did

Quentin5 wrote: ↑In the old days video games cost a fixed amount, you didn't pay unlimited amounts of money for them.
This micro payment model is designed to fleece people and fleece it did

Had something similar happen to a family member whose kid linked the bank account to one of the popular video games and was wiped out thousands.

Kid denied it all saying that he never made those purchases to the parent. The parent at the end of day should know better than to give carte blanche to a kid.

Quentin5 wrote: ↑ In the old days video games cost a fixed amount, you didn't pay unlimited amounts of money for them.
This micro payment model is designed to fleece people and fleece it did

Yep... all these "free" games and apps. Gotta pay to win and get that good ingame fashion.

I think that sadder part is that a lot of school boards use a lot of freemium games for math and other stuff. All the basics are free, but if you kids wants to level up faster, or get access to the other 80% of content, etc etc, you better fork over some good money.

I feel bad for the grandma, but those are legit charges so...she needs to pay for them. However, I feel Sony should have at least throw her a bone and say give her a 25-50% discount.

This was her fault for giving the kid the info and not supervising, there's no way she should get a refund. I'm glad she isn't getting a refund.

Bet the kid is lying about thinking stuff was free. Kid knew the stuff cost money but wasn't really paying attention or thinking about the total cost. Clicked yes to a bunch of things without realizing it was $1400 worth, then plays dumb when the bill comes.

Hope she makes some sacrifices and pays the bill or makes the kid get a job to pay the bill like they're mentioning. People should not get refunds for poor decisions and bad judgement. Hope they both learn a lesson about money.

LOL Sony doesnt care or will bend to media pressure... i mean what are you going to do boycott Sony? LOL

Duh...never link a credit card to anything that doesn't require your authorization... let alone one that a kid can get access to. Not just games but Amazon, Video on Demand, etc.

Grandma probably owns a 2 million dollar bungelow... she'll be fine

Is not Sony's fault and is not the grandma's fault. Just make the grandson work and pay for it.

Take the grandson's PlayStation and sell it to help pay for the bill.

"I'm just heartbroken and Visa said they can't do anything, because I’m the one that put the credit card into the system," Liscoumb said

Her beef is with her credit card issuer (Scotiabank, RBC, TD, CIBC...), not with Visa (the payment network). I'm amazed at the number of people who confuse them both.

P.S. I used to confuse them too... but that was before I got my first credit card.

No disrespect to Pat Foran, but why is this crap making headlines and not the thread in automotive about downtown hyundai? I'm sure a dumb kid might have actually thought it was free, but no excuses for an adult with a fully developed brain to trust a kid with a credit card. I wouldn't trust a kid with a $50 bill.

CanadianConsumerYEG wrote: ↑ No disrespect to Pat Foran, but why is this crap making headlines and not the thread in automotive about downtown hyundai? I'm sure a dumb kid might have actually thought it was free, but no excuses for an adult with a fully developed brain to trust a kid with a credit card. I wouldn't trust a kid with a $50 bill.

Simple answer. They’re playing two cards here: grandma and kid. Downtown Hyundai doesn’t have any key cards like this.

pbluescript wrote: ↑ Is not Sony's fault and is not the grandma's fault. Just make the grandson work and pay for it.

Of course it’s grandma’s fault for giving access to her credit card to a kid.

CanadianConsumerYEG wrote: ↑ No disrespect to Pat Foran, but why is this crap making headlines and not the thread in automotive about downtown hyundai? I'm sure a dumb kid might have actually thought it was free, but no excuses for an adult with a fully developed brain to trust a kid with a credit card. I wouldn't trust a kid with a $50 bill.

I'd have alot more sympathy if the grandson was like 5 years old. The age limit for criminal prosecution for a child in Canada is 12 I think. This person is 13, he should know better. Get his dad or mother to pay for the bill.

Don't give children unfettered access to credit cards.