Microsoft refunds $8000

This is entirely plausible though. You're just mad because it's positive for MS.

did you even read what i wrote? lol i'm not mad at MS, i don't care whether it's positive for MS or not. i even stated that Sony does the same marketing technique. here is an example:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3377089/Little-boy-9-gets-rude-awakening-Christmas-opens-PS4-gift-finds-wooden-block-obscene-message.html

this "news" is just an ad for the ps4. youre just a blind fanboy lmfao. but you're the living proof that viral marketing actually works. and lol there is a reason why the source of such kind of "News" are mostly not on gaming websites. use your brain and you know why. maybe then you'll be enlightened.

Yet you've provided NO proof. You're not a blind fanboy, you're an idiot posting without a shred of proof.

Again provide proof or keep quiet.

haha prove me that this news is real (but but but there are pics!!!, there are real names!!!!) lol by the way, why so offended? i'm just trying to show you how ads work. but i guess saying something negative about MS or Sony just makes you mad. if 90% of people believe this shit and pass this news along....WIN. the fact that you insulting me just shows your fanboy mentality.

What is there to prove it's not real?

and if microsoft didn't refund the 8k cows would have said they should be ashamed of themselves for not wanting to help out the poor family.

Spending only $8000 on good PR is dirt dirt dirt cheap for a company on Microsoft. Usually a promotional article would cost much much more.

It was a smart PR move. They would have still been in the right to charge them, but it would have blown up in the media. At the end of the day, it was the better move.

No, Microsoft haven't started any precedent. Apple does it, too, it happened to a friend of mine's daughter (16 years old) who spent lots of money to buy Candy Crush extra life's (or whatever you call them). When her dad noticed that a pretty cospicious amount of money was gone from the credit card, he called Apple and they refunded the whole amount to him.

You make an accusation and you want ME to prove it? Sorry dude but burden of proof is on YOU, the accuser. I have the news story which in no way states that it's false. You on the other hand have this.

Fits you perfect.

Twist Ending:

The Dad is the one who spent $8000 on his addiction for the game. After realizing this, he decides to lie to microsoft/credit card places that his kid did it.

He used his own kid to get out of paying his bill. LOL

I would not be shocked at all if that is the real truth.

That seems to be another intelligent father doing his utmost to teach and raise his genius level 17 year old prodigy son. It's fantastic to read they bought an Xbox! They are not entitled morons. We should be so lucky to read such a marvelous and inspiring story.

I'm thankful of the many family trees that I read about daily that surround us on the planet. I'm mindful and reminded of the beauty of life every day in rush hour traffic, standing in line with people, or just reading the news (like this piece).

LOL...you think it's Microsoft's job to teach people lessons?

Microsoft Employee #1: "You know, $8000 is nothing to us. If we just give them $8000 back, the good publicity it'll generate will be worth more than the amount of money that we spent."

Microsoft Employee #2: "NO! Unacceptable! Regardless of if doing that is in our best interests, we are in the business of teaching people lessons!"

Seriously, wtf? Do you really think that Microsoft gives half a flying **** about whether or not the family deserves to get the money back or if they learn a lesson?

EDIT: Also this...

"Thats why they shouldn't have given it back. They did it strictly for PR reasons. No 17 year old doesn't know what a credit card is...not any that have a current gen console anyway. Thats a bullshit exscuse....they didn't deserve the money back."

What planet do you guys live on? How does "deserve" even come into play here? Since when has it been Microsoft's job to dispense justice?

To a company with a market cap of 416 billion dollars, you need those MIT mathematicians to find out what pocket change equals

'Seems that M$ is just as gullible'

Really? just how much do you think bad publicity from this would have cost them, Microsoft where smart they didn't wait for everyone to label them as the bad guys they turned what could have been a negative publicity moment into a positive PR moment.

How do Do you think Microsoft got to be worth 18 times what SONY is.

The problem is with you fanboys is you cannot be objective about anything, you will find a way to spin MS in a bad light.

most people in the real world reading this would be thinking 'wow. that was really nice of MS they didn't have to do that but they did' and believe ti or not moves like this actually earn peoples respect.

Maybe SONY would be worth 350 billion like MS and not 20 billion if they did things like this more often themselves.

Only fanboys could be so negative at what is actually a feel good story that has a happy ending For Microsoft (try giving them bad publicity over this now) and the family Concerned who didn't end up loaded with 8 Grand of debt.

Guys guys guys you aren't thinking cynically enough. The kid said he has no idea how these charges appeared. CLEARLY Microsoft, the big bad company they are, made up the charges to get some Xbox press (any news is good news!), then they swooped down to save the day and removed the charges to build up good press.

You Sony supporters really need to work on your Microsoft hating if you couldn't even figure this one out!

Dude do you even know how the 'law' works ? Not that it has anything to do with this, necessarily. But if you use that mentality of yours... you'll end up being a joke.

Excellent PR for MS good on them for that.

However. A 17 year old Xbox gamer (in Fifa no less) know's EXACTLY what he's doing with this and has played dumb to his/her parents which in turn makes them dumb for believing that dumb kid or they really are just that dumb. A whole lot of dumb in that house either way that MS got a good marketing article out of and for that I applaud them.

If you're stupid enough to lose it.....you deserve it.

You KNOW that EA will never refund anybody anything. MS was the only one who could help.

Nice ! Please use a prepaid card next time.

Wow, clearly you never owned or earned $8,000 before to even make up that statement, probably not even half of that.

Wow what an incredibly stupid thing to say. Probably have more money in my pocket than you've earned your entire life.

@XenogearsMaster: as you see by the stupid comment after, the man has no debating skills or anything to add to the thread, ignore him.

Debating skills? If you consider what he did as a debate than I can't see any point in conversing with you. Just because I feel no sympathy for fools does not in any way imaginable say anything about my money situation. But hey congrats on the two of you for demonstrating ad hominem fallacies in your repertoire.

@LJS9502_basic: both of us already laid a case out as to why some of us acknowledge $8k is a lot to many families, your reasoning is "yeah screw that family, hope they learn their lesson!"

Don't worry about ad hominem, you wouldn't feel bad about yourself that we said it, as you said, you don't have sympathy for fools.

I don't give a **** what both of you laid out....I wasn't involved in that discussion. He stuck his nose in to a comment I made. And whether or not it's a lot of money to some.....apparently to both you and your buddy here......has nothing to do with people being damn stupid. If you are that stupid with your money and lose it due to your actions....don't expect sympathy. I'd feel bad if say someone stole your money.....but if you hand it over.....shame on you. Period.

And if you want to jump on your high horse and act holier than thou and actually THINK you two are debating a point when all you're doing is insults then I have some bad news for you. NEITHER OF YOU CAN DEBATE. But considering SW is your forum....that stands to reason.

You want to debate stick to a topic. And here's some free debating advice.....you CANNOT debate against someone's opinion. You can disagree with it. But in the end you're just flailing in the wind. You debate points......duh.

It wasn't HIS money, it was his parents money. The kid probably knew what he was doing but probably didn't realize how fast online purchases add up. 8k is 8k and unless you're filthy rich, no one deserves to lose that much because of your kid made a huge mistake. Oh I'm sure you'd be singing a different tune if it were a Sony customer.

Whining again? My comments have nothing to do with any brand.....stop projecting your bias. I don't feel bad for the brat....or his idiotic parents that apparently aren't parenting the brat.

Pointing out your stupidity as usual.

Guess you're not a parent nor do you understand how kids can do things WITHOUT the parents knowing. It's in no way a reflection of ones parenting skills. Dude you're such a tool.

Yes I am a parent. And I know what my child is doing. Shame those parents don't have any clue. You're the tool with all your childish insults day after day because others don't worship your console.

Then your child must be young because trust me, if you had a 17 year old you wouldn't know half the stuff they do. 17 is not a child.

What I'm saying has nothing to do with the X1. A tool comes into every pro MS thread and makes anything positive said a negative.....yeah pretty much describes you right down to a T. If I'm a MS worshiper then you're my polar opposite because you condemn anything MS.

Stupid teenagers are stupid teenagers and all too often are not given an escape rope like this, whether it was accidental or he racked up $8,000+ knowingly.

I'm not anywhere close to having children in my life yet, so I won't even comment on how the parents should watch their kids. I was a damn stupid kid and that wasn't because of my parents. :P I'm still damn stupid, but eh.

@kingtito:

Just continue to spout off what you have absolutely no knowledge about...another day for you in SW.

If you really believe that a parent knows EVERYTHING their 17 year old is doing then you're very naive.

hahaha, took MS getting PR pressure to do the right thing, otherwise they would iof said lol-oh well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Right because they don't know where their money is either.

I didn't know you get instant quotes the moment your credit card is used. Like I said, you're very naive AND a MS hater.

In this discussion the only idiot I see is someone trying to make this discussion about brand which it isn't.

And yet you're the one that brought it up saying I'm some MS crusader or something. I said it was good that MS refunded the money and YOU chime in with it isn't and how dumb the parents are for not knowing what their 17 year old is doing 24/7. So yeah I stand by what I said.......

Liar. YOU brought MS up in this discussion. Not me.

This thread IS about MS dude. You're the one that called ME some MS drone or that I worship them. What I said has NOTHING to do with any of that and ONLY pertained to the topic, it was good of MS to refund dudes money. You're the one that came in here spouting off about how it's not so great and how dumb the parents are. That's NOT even the point but YOU just had to come in a say something negative in a pro MS thread. That's YOUR MO dude and you know it.

Now go cry to someone else. I'm tired of discussing this with such a naive anti-MS hater.

Are you really having difficulty understanding the posts or deliberately pretending you don't get it. I didn't mention MS in this thread. I addressed the stupid parents and their stupid spoiled brat. And yes YOU are an MS fan boy. And you brought up MS first by implying I hated MS. Which is how MS came into the discussion. FROM YOU. Stop being disingenuous.

You're a MS hater, as much as I'm a MS fanboy if that's what you say. You're in a MS thread, no point in you posting anything negative but that's your mo. You post negative crap in MS threads and respond negatively to MS fanboys. Not to any other fanboys though so yeah I'm going to say something. You're just as bad as the MS fanboys you dislike.

You need to read. I said nothing about MS in this thread. Like I've said several times now.....stop the lies.

I said you posted in a MS thread, a negative post. That's what YOU do. Stop the crying. You're a MS hater as much as I'm a MS supporter.