Technology is all very well, but….or the diary of a very angry mother…
A few months ago my son bought himself an X-Box games consul. To say I was against this would be to understate the issue, but he had vouchers and money from his birthday and made all sorts of promises about how little he would use it, how school grades wouldn’t suffer….you get the picture. I can’t be a totally mean mummy all the time.
In setting the wretched thing up he somehow managed to convince my husband to give him his credit card number and by mistake he took out a so called ‘gold membership’. Silver membership is free, gold most certainly isn’t….and involves monthly charges….you can see where this is going, can’t you…?
Last month said lad’s dad had a go at stopping the subscription…he thought he had it sussed, he thought it was sorted….until a charge cropped up on the credit card bill again.
At that point he called in the cavalry.
Yes, that’s me.
I have terrier tendencies. I don’t give up. But as it turns out, I do get very, very annoyed!
So yesterday at 4.30 after a nice cup of tea I set to: Found the website, aha…we need to sign in…for some reason this was done using the boy’s sister’s email account. Ok done that. Oh, we need a code…only the sister knows the code and she has disappeared without a trace and isn’t answering her phone….call round all said daughter’s friends to get the code….she says she will message it to me….only she makes an error in the code. It takes me half an hour to figure out that the code might be wrong. Start again with correct code. The website should now send a code to daughter’s email which will allow me to access the membership details and alter them. Try multiple times. No code is received through the ether. Spend half an hour finding out that that particular part of the website isn’t working today.
Decide to try the phone. Ask for a service call. Am pleasantly amazed when the phone rings within 30 seconds. Somewhat less amazed when the person on the other end isn’t a person at all, but an automated voice asking me to punch in numbers which it then fails to recognize and we are finally cut off. Realize that I need to speak to a person. A real human being. In English would be nice as we are dealing with technology here that I don’t understand in any language.
Discover that none of the phone numbers on the X-Box site can be connected to by anyone living outside the USA. Spend 15 minutes going through the website looking for something European. Finally manage to get onto a site for Switzerland and ring the phone number.
A person answers. Hallelujah.
A whispering German speaking at the speed of light and talking about things that I don’t understand.
Can I identify myself. Yes I can. Can I provide the last 4 digits of my husband’s credit card? Whaaaaat?
Send boy on a mission. Successful 10 minutes later.
Am then given 3 different options of how we can sort out the problem. Opt for the first. Boy is shouting at me when he realizes what I’m asking for. At the same time the automated call back thingumajig is calling on the same line again and won’t hang up . Can’t work out how to shut the ringing up without losing the whispering German who I now am unable to hear due to the constant ringing in my ear and boy shouting at me.
(At this point dear reader I have reached the point of being somewhat flustered)
Finally crack. Scream at the boy. The German may have got screamed at a bit too as I have asked him several times to speak slower and louder and he does not manage to oblige on either front and I do not understand what he is saying mainly because I can not hear what he is saying.
Finally give the phone to boy and tell him to sort out his own b***** problem. X-Box privileges are withdrawn for the foreseeable future…read forever…
Reach for the gin.
Boy has done the trick. The problem has been sorted. I even receive an email confirming the fact.
I am a wet dishcloth. I have spent 2 1/2 hours of my life on this. My blood pressure has reached the stars.
Boy says he will never do anything like this again ever, even though it was all a mistake in the first place.
My question to you is whether you think these companies make it well nigh impossible to sort these problems out for a reason? Personally I think they do.
Sorry for my rant, but think yourselves lucky that I didn’t blog yesterday. Today you are getting the calmed down version 🙂
Aaaaargh. Who would have kids? Or kids with X-Boxes at least.
Have a nice weekend folks.
Helen
August 18th, 2012 at 11:44 am
lol, I knew exactly what you were going to say, heheh I can just picture the scene, we have a very active 8 year old computer nerd/game player here (like his dad and uncle) luckily dad and uncle know how xbox, wii, computers work to encourage the kids to sign up and have disabled all the options, ebay purchases have to be authorised by us and his amazon account has no card attached so he can browse books, games etc but no possibility of purchasing…the arguements and can i use your card, ebay etc have begun already, I’m even surprised you spoke to a German and not an indian….or an indian with an american accent because they learn’t english from american films lol… hope you have a better weekend 🙂
August 18th, 2012 at 12:44 pm
I remember reading how someone recently had bought a new game for their small child on their iPad, and hadn’t closed the connection for the credit card, and said small child managed to purchase several hundred pounds worth of game credits and features (completely oblivious to the fact that it actually cost real money) That was a somewhat anguished post too…
Glad you got sorted, and hope it didn’t take an entire bottle of gin to get over 😉
August 18th, 2012 at 1:51 pm
ooooooooooo I am taking this as a good warning of things to avoid for the future – there will be no X-boxes in this house (she says!!)…… Crack open that gin x
August 18th, 2012 at 1:52 pm
Oh dear 🙁 I do think these companies make it look very appealing for young people to sign up to goodness knows what, and make it look as if they are doing them a terrific favour rather than fleecing them for every penny they have. At least your son won’t be making that mistake again! Better that he learns it in his teens. Although you are very mild mannered I can imagine you wheeling out some no-nonsense Geordie Rage when you need to!
August 18th, 2012 at 1:52 pm
This is the very reason why I have avoided i-thingys, apps, istagram etc etc, because I just don’t know what I’m signing up for! Thank heavens I don’t have kids – it must be impossible to stay one step ahead!
August 18th, 2012 at 3:10 pm
I feel your pain! I remember I finally succumbed to allowing my 16 year old son to stay at home while I went out with friends. Came home all seemed fine, he was up watching movies & went off to bed no worries.
It was a few weeks later & the phone bill came in, I never worry cause I am not a big home user. Imagine my shock when I opened it days later to find the bill that was normally only around $30 was, wait for it, ten years ago remember, $680!!!!
He had rung an adult chatline!!!
There was nothing polite about what I said. Like a fool I paid it & later found out I could have challenged it as he was under 18 & they should not have kept him on the line.
Go the gin I say.
Lush xox
August 18th, 2012 at 3:37 pm
You absolutely did the right thing Helen, even though it was almost impossible getting it done. Very good mother you are. I keep reading/hearing about how children who play any kind of video game on the computer or on TV have learning and concentration difficulties. One website says the games “hijack the brain.” Tea, knitting, strolling your garden, naps…treat yourself well as you recover. 🙂 xxoo
August 18th, 2012 at 4:09 pm
wow! What a mess. I do think these companies make it next to impossible to get out of a subscription. It should be illegal.
August 18th, 2012 at 5:58 pm
Dear Helen, I had the same problem with the sell phone contracts of my kids – after month of complaining to the lady in the store (You can try to contact by phone, WWW, mail or in person in the store) she told me that it is purposely by the company that you have all the trouble – because it is likely that you give up. Finally you stay in this contract and you pay until you have the nerves to go through it… just like you! So it is not your fault!
August 18th, 2012 at 6:01 pm
aaaahhh, I meant certainly “cell phones”…
August 18th, 2012 at 6:02 pm
aaaahhh, I meant certainly “cell phones”….
August 18th, 2012 at 9:10 pm
Helen, I can completely relate. My problem is that I do not have a child to cause the problem — it’s all me.
And yes, I do believe that all the companies outsource their call centers so that they do not have to really address problems.
I had a situation with my mortgage company not paying my homeowner’s insurance (it was as escrow process) and I got a cancellation from the insurance company. I was able to speak to anyone in India, Phillippines, Mexico and any other off-shore country I wanted to . . . . . but I could not get through to someone in America that could go “off script” to get my problem solved.
After “losing it” in several different languages I finally —- and no idea how I did it —- got through to someone in the US that could help me.
I was hope with laryngitis (sp?). . . .by the time I got done I had absolutely no voice for 3 more days.
It all makes me want to be a cave woman again!!
August 18th, 2012 at 10:35 pm
Don’t you hate it when kids yell at you when you are on the phone? It starts when they are babies and never seems to stop, as they grow. Glad you got it sorted. My kids are so careful with my charge cards and technology, I am suspicious that a friend of theirs got into terrible trouble about it all.
August 19th, 2012 at 7:37 am
Bummer. I LOVE our xBox. We have the Gold Membership too, but there are different ways of going about it. Paying month to month is more expensive than the once per year fee, which we do.
August 19th, 2012 at 9:46 am
go for the gin!! sorry, i had to laugh a bit (ok quite a bit..) reading your fabulous rant, although i know it is certainly not very funny being in these situations. but the thought of the wispering, fast talking German.. ha! Sorry again!! 🙂
I am glad you solved the problem!!
And i totally blame my laughs on your funny writing, just so you know!
August 19th, 2012 at 10:29 am
I agree with Floh, the offshore & difficult to resolve thing may not be intentional (I think it is) but the result is still the same. Pissed off customers who can’t get out of a contract & end up paying too much money.
Its why I hardly ever sign up to these things. I may miss some things but there is always quilting. LOL
August 20th, 2012 at 2:55 pm
You hear of these things again and again and I think these companies do set things up so kids want to spend the money and getting out of it is so difficult that parents resign themselves to it rather than do battle. My two girls have been denied things again and again if it depends on direct debit for on going memberships, etc. But I am sure we will have a day in the future where I will do a similar post.
August 22nd, 2012 at 5:14 pm
Can I just say that in some games (which I banned here totally)(do not EVER let the world of warcraft cross your doorstep) you can go to a store and buy Pay as you Go cards. Nightmare time, and very hard lessons learned re honesty with one angry, addicted to the ******* game teen. Thank God those days are past.
August 20th, 2013 at 2:04 am
Well of course they make it impossible for a reason. Many people would give up before going through all that. When you wrote, “Reached for the gin,” I read “Reached for the gun.” just as I was trying to decide whether you were about to shoot the boy, the phone with the whispering German, or yourself, I realized my error. I can surely relate to the teenage nightmares, but at least mine didn’t have Internet, just log-distance telephone. I think I’m still paying off the girl’s phone bill from 1983.