Hailing from the UK, we have Dawn Matthews and her 11 year old son Brendan Jordan.  Brendan Jordan recently went on a spending spree and spent a total of  $1,743.49 on XBL all while using his mother’s credit card.  His mother, 37 year old Dawn Matthews is blaming Microsoft despite the little fact that she provided information to her son’s account.

Matthews, who’s son claimed he did not know that the charges were going to his mother’s bank account had the following to say regarding her son’s expenses.

“When I put my card details in 18 months ago I thought it was just for his membership to play online with his friends.

I work two jobs just to look after my family and pay the bills so I cannot afford all these extortionate charges.

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.”

Microsoft has responded by saying, “With over 30M Xbox LIVE members across the world customer complaints of this nature are extremely rare.

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.

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.

It should also be noted that LIVE accounts registered for children’s use have online activity automatically defaulted to off, these can be enabled by the parent should they wish in the Family Settings section.”

Acording to the mother, Jordan, the 11 year old big spender told his mother that when he found out about the charges that occurred over a time period of six months, he did not want his Xbox anymore.

“Brendan is 11 and knows his times tables but it was only when I explained to him that he realised how much money he had spent.

When I showed him he burst into tears. He unplugged the Xbox and said he didn’t want it anymore.

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.

It is impossible to monitor everything your children do. These companies should take some responsibility. They take advantage of vulnerable people.”

Next time before you sign up your child for an Xbox Live account, fully read and understand the parental controls before placing blame on the easiest target.  This is not a case of “Microsoft you suck, you are to blame for everything going wrong in my life”, this is a case of parent stupidity and dumbassery.  For that very reason, you Dawn Matthews are receiving the Dumbass of the Day.

via Daily Mail

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Yup,I posted about this already and she is most DEFINITELY a dumbass!

I like how she said she wasn't going to punish him. Way to parent there mommy! Let your kid rack up money, blame Microsoft, and all is right with the world. If my kids would ever do that, well they wouldn't in the first place because I understand parental controls and things, but the Xbox would be gone, they would be grounded, and mandatory chores for weeks to pay back for the money. Plus no allowance and whatever else I could think of, lol.

and mandatory chores for weeks to pay back for the money.

Heck yes, and I'd make them shovel driveways/mow yards for extra cash also.

I wouldn't even let the kind have access to my credit card in the first place...

Yeah, rightly deserved DAOTD title. Working two jobs to pay the bills and she doesn't notice the charges accruing until after six months?

Hell, I'm 31 and the wife bitches at me if I spend $5 on a Steam game. And that usually within minutes of it showing up on the account, not MONTHS. Why can't parents, y'know, actually do their freaking jobs?

"It is impossible to monitor everything your children do. These companies should take some responsibility. They take advantage of vulnerable people.”

I think that quote there from her got me the most. I mean, come on. Why does Microsoft have to take responsibility for something that her kid did? Oh and this one....

"When I put my card details in 18 months ago I thought it was just for his membership to play online with his friends."

Seems to me like she's just another parent who knows absolutely nothing about what her son is doing when it comes to video games or else she would have taken the time to learn about his account. Dumbass...

"It is impossible to monitor everything your children do. These companies should take some responsibility. They take advantage of vulnerable people.”

I think that quote there from her got me the most. I mean, come on. Why does Microsoft have to take responsibility for something that her kid did? Oh and this one....

That, and the fact that when it comes to parental controls on a gaming system, it is QUITE possible to monitor everything your child does. Or at least, make sure the controls are enabled so your kid can't do whatever they want.

Dumbass...

how the hell do you notice 1,7k$ after 6 months?

thats an average of 300$ every month...

any dumbass that checks his accounts will notice that freaking 300$ every month...

dumbasses.

I will commend her on one thing. She has the console out in the front room. It's not in his room, so he can close the door and spew out terrible things over LIVE.

I wish more parents would do that. I honestly do.

I will commend her on one thing. She has the console out in the front room. It's not in his room, so he can close the door and spew out terrible things over LIVE.

I wish more parents would do that. I honestly do.

This one good thing does not make up for her other stupidity. lol

Hey, my console is in my game room, which is essentially my second bedroom. Lol. I close the door when I'm on Live. That doesn't mean my parents are bad parents. Lol, I get your point though. I really wish some of the younger kids on Live had their Xbox downstairs, or somewhere their parents can monitor their playing.

We have Granite's 360 in his room, but he's four, not hooked up to XBL, and the worst that he does is say "you little booger" when playing Lego Indiana Jones, lol. However, when he starts Kindergarten in the fall it's coming out.

I wish more parents were actively involved in their child's gaming habits. Half of them don't even know what their kids are playing, let alone saying. It's sad when parents can't take time to get to know what their kids are doing when it comes to video games...well anything for that matter.