Dog buys 5000 MS Points (no, really) [update]
by Richard Mitchell 
{ Oct 30th 2009 at 4:15PM }
Update: Turns out Microsoft refunded Strope's money after all. The company even set the dog up with his own Xbox Live account. Read about it here.
While most Xbox owners are patently aware of the dangers of late night, impulse Microsoft Point purchases, we imagine no one ever worried about their dog doing the same thing. And yet Greg Strope of Richmond, Virginia tells Fox News that his dog, Oscar, purchased 5000 Microsoft Points, adding up to a total of $62.50. Strope says he received an email while he was sleeping and discovered it was a purchase confirmation from Microsoft. When he went to check his Xbox 360, he found that his controller had been chewed by his dog, and he presumed the animal had not only managed to turn on the console, but subsequently purchased the points.Strope noted that Microsoft has a no refund policy and he wishes the company make it more difficult to purchase points. Our suggestion to Strope: Don't leave your controllers (or your Xbox, for that matter) within reach of the dog. Also, don't drink and play Rock Band. See Strope's interview after the break.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Samuel Vimes @ Oct 30th 2009 4:20PM
I say press charges.
Jake @ Oct 30th 2009 4:24PM
"he received an email while he was sleeping... "
Cool, I want a device like that. Does he have to wear special head-gear for that?
jak33 @ Oct 30th 2009 5:19PM
yea its called a cell phone with email notifications
Access Granted [No one can stop Mr. Domino!] @ Oct 30th 2009 4:24PM
All I have to say is LOL!
Josh Handrich @ Oct 30th 2009 4:34PM
This happened to me about 2 years ago when my 1 and a half year old son bought me 5000 ms points, I had the console on and he was just messing with the controller and then I got the email and I was like what the crap, it was him. I ended up buying the Oblivion Expansion that was $30.
Divine Dirtclod @ Oct 30th 2009 5:21PM
I had almost the exact same thing happen. My two year old son was messing around with the controller and accidentally bought the XBLA game that had come out that week. At least Defense Grid wasn't completely terrible.
Nate @ Oct 30th 2009 5:44PM
A couple months ago my 16 month old daughter bought me a Call of Duty: Modern War map pack... maybe I'll have to rent the game and give it a try.
hfm @ Oct 30th 2009 6:29PM
I need to find a way to buy a bunch of shit off XBL and blame the cats when the wife wonders what happened.. perfect!
Jake @ Oct 30th 2009 4:26PM
And finally, that developer at Microsoft who insisted on a secret dog-treat hidden inside every controller is vindicated.
the_pop @ Oct 30th 2009 4:27PM
This is not fox or news.
jason panick @ Oct 30th 2009 4:29PM
"I wish Microsoft would make it harder to buy points" .... Hey dude, dont save your credit card info next time... DUH! He even says he saves it to make it easier to buy things, then he whines about how it should be harder.... ummm... get a clue?
And why am I NOT surprised to see this NON NEWS story on FOX NEWS, and why am I also not surprised that no one at fox news knows what MICROSOFT POINTS are.
And really is $60 that big of a deal? His girlfriend could just skip a few meals to make up for the $60 :P
DjDATZ @ Oct 30th 2009 4:38PM
+1
Or he could just have taught his dog not to chew his controllers. My dogs never did. Even when they were 2 month old pups!
And it's $60. Who the f*** cares?! Just spend it over time!
The Novemberist @ Oct 30th 2009 4:29PM
"Nerd buys 5,000 microsoft points. Girlfriend gets angry. He blames the dog."
Tonight on Fox news at 11!
DjDATZ @ Oct 30th 2009 4:38PM
Likely what happened. The email probably went to the gf and that's how she found out! LOL n00b
whylekat @ Oct 30th 2009 4:42PM
That's a much more likely scenerio.
Samuel Vimes @ Oct 30th 2009 4:42PM
Does that mean the guy chewed up the controller? Talk about unsanitary.
Shaun @ Oct 30th 2009 6:42PM
I accidentally bought 5000 MS points when I was putting on a controller skin...
Needless to say I was good on points for a while -_-
aHortz @ Oct 30th 2009 4:35PM
My 14 month old son purchased Grand Theft Auto IV for me last week. All he had to do was press the power button on the controller, press A and then B and Bam! I'm stuck with a a game that I already own (and can't even download because my drive is full). $40?! Really?
ytilanigiroon @ Oct 30th 2009 5:28PM
Let me get this straight; your 14 month old:
grabs a controller,
turns on your xbox,
no one notices the sound of the system turning on,
your son presses the a button on the spotlight "channel",
another screen pops up,
your son presses the b button to cancel whatever was on the screen...
Either you're full of it, which I don't doubt in the least, or it's your own fault for A) leaving your controllers where your 14 month old can get to, and B) not paying enough attention to your kid.
For shame, aHortz... if that /is/ your real name!
aHortz @ Oct 30th 2009 5:38PM
The TV was off, he was just mashing buttons on my xbox controller. At the time the GTA IV ad would appear on the main screen after boot up (I checked this). I ran through what he would have had to do and it was: power button, a button, b button, purchased. I wasn't complaining, just sharing a story. I was in the room, so please don't question my parenting.
mynk @ Oct 30th 2009 8:10PM
okay how does a button b button do purchase.
it should be a button a button no?
aHortz @ Oct 30th 2009 8:17PM
Could've been; it was only a few button pushes though.
ark_keeper @ Oct 30th 2009 4:45PM
Password your live account! When my son was 1 he bought a theme just pushing buttons on the controller. From then on, I've had a password on my live account.
pibs @ Oct 30th 2009 4:57PM
I wouldn't like a dog that can spend points, I'd like one that can pick up the tab. At least the dog wasn't ordering porn on his cable box, imagine explaining "bitches gone wild doggy style" to his wife or girlfriend.
Dan_C @ Oct 30th 2009 4:57PM
ahhh Fox News, always reporting the hard hitting stories.
Jake @ Oct 30th 2009 5:13PM
They don't do soft, humorous pieces on other news programs?
Perhaps Fox should forge some documents to make Obama look bad and then run a story about them a few weeks before the next election???
Philip (Fernando Rocker Defence Force) @ Oct 31st 2009 12:09AM
Jake, CBS already tried that and it didn't work our to well.
kooda @ Oct 30th 2009 6:04PM
Tonight on fox news dog purchases 5000 MS points kid gets mad and assaults his dog with a taco!
yolarrydabomb @ Oct 30th 2009 6:19PM
and this is why I buy gift cards at wal-mart
yolarrydabomb @ Oct 30th 2009 6:20PM
the points card I mean.
That One Guy With The Hat @ Oct 30th 2009 8:23PM
Slow news day?
I wonder what the average Fox News watcher thinks of this... are they thinking the dog manually punched in the credit card info?
or do they know that if the console starts up on a advertised game that it's only a two button push away from being bought?
Reddrive @ Oct 30th 2009 9:01PM
I agree with Ark_keeper. Put a password on your Live access. It would be very hard for a dog or child to hit the buttons in the exact sequence. Also a lesson on why not to tie your credit card to your Live account. There are lots of other options out that to include Paypal and the temporary card they offer, prepaid cards, gift card visas.
That and it's not like he can't use the points
Anemos @ Oct 31st 2009 12:17AM
Bill Gates does NOT get up to Fox News every morning. He gets up to my angelic singing every morning.
elvor0 @ Oct 31st 2009 7:35AM
I was expecting this to be a story about some guy sending his dog down the shop to buy a points card or something, oh well.
skfireboy @ Oct 31st 2009 1:46PM
Oh man, it's funny to hear that other people have had their kids buy stuff over Marketplace. Same thing happened to me once. I had just turned on my 360 and then went to the bathroom. Once I came back, my 2 year old son had the controller in his hand and I looked at the screen and it said download in progress for Fallout 3 DLC Broken Steel. I was like NOOOOOOOOOOOO, since I don't even own that game and he had spent my last 800 points that I got from a discounted MS points card. Needless to say, I set up my 360 to now have to manually sign in to Live. Funny now that I think about it.
ChomskyKnows @ Oct 31st 2009 6:56PM
i downloaded a premium skin or theme or something for some kind of pinball game once because i fell asleep with the controller in my hand...
good times...
Jarlino @ Oct 31st 2009 7:54PM
Because nobody made the obvious joke yet...
"Man's best friend huh? HAH!"
Linebacker J @ Nov 2nd 2009 5:10PM
MS makes it WAAAY to easy to spend points when random button mashing can trigger a purchase. To me this is a flaw and I am guessing it was intentionally set this way when new dashboard came out. Here is an example. I was doing some button mashing with my new wireless tekken stick on the XBL SoulCaliber demo/trail and all of a sudden WHAM I had bought it with about 3 or 4 random button presses. MS can easily remedy this by making the default to no when it asks if you want to purchase something but it hasn't in how many updates and why would they when they have a no refund policy. One simple change would fix everything
PS: I also have my xbox to manually log into live after my son bought SSF2HD with the TV of and some random button pushes on my controller that was on the table.