Friday, July 22, 2011

PARENTS BEWARE - DO NOT LET YOUR KIDS USE HABBO

Hi all,I am supposed to be making cards right now,but I have some important information that parents need to be aware of.We received our phone bill today and I noticed that there was an extra $72.00 charged to our bill,after checking with my provider I found out that they were information calls,well that wasn't enough for me,I needed to know more.We googled the number and found out that the number is for you to be able to buy Habbo credits,now I know my child was playing this online game and per their rules she was old enough to play.BUT, and here is where it becomes a BIG RIP OFF,your kids can buy the credits online and have it charged to your phone bill,now I had no idea that they could purchase things at all for this game.Now after going through the Habbo website,I find that this is in their terms of use "If you are under 18 years of age, you must obtain the bill payer's permission before you agree to incur any additional charges" now HELLO if all the kids have to do is press a button why the heck would they ask for mum and dads permission,let's face it not all kids at all times do what their parents say and this is where HABBO prays on that.........my child didn't even have to use the phone for it to be charged.Now after looking further I find that there is a little contradiction about the age of the child that can use the 1900 number, here under the home phone submit button it says "Be.interactive. Helpdesk 1800 65 33 44. You must be 14 years of age or older to use this 1900 service and you must have permission from the bill payer before you call".HELLO again Habbo, what happened to the kids having to be older than 18 years of age.Now Habbo will not refund your money because you are supposed to moniter your child,well yes I agree,but we cannot watch them every second they play a game, and come on lets face it, Habbo has made it much too easy to purchase credit on line, so I also believe that some of the responsibility should lie with Habbo too.They apparently will ban your child if this happens,well fabbo but they already have my bloody money and I am sure this is by no means an isolated incidence.So how much money do you think has been scammed from children,any other industry comes under much scrutiny when dealing with children, so why not the internet.After all, our kids now have to use the internet for school and it is as we all know a way of the future and it is not going to go away.Habbo needs to make it a little harder for kids to be able to buy credits,like maybe they need to set up paypal,credit cards,BPay etc there are many ways of being able to purchase things online and Habbo need to have a look at this.Well,this will be it for my child no more Habbo and I recommend that if any of your children are playing stop them now, before you get a surprise phone bill.Remember, all they have to do is enter their id, press one button and hey presto you have been scammed,if you feel the same way, why don't you blog about this to warn other people.Well I think I have said all I want to say,now I am going to make some cards to wind down.Catch you all later and thanks for making it through this post.

NOTE - Here is a link to others having the same problem,they are ripping so many people off.As I find more links I will add them,as I feel people have the right to know. 

Another link here,though this one seems to be when you purchase from your mobile phone. 

Well I found this page interesting,Habbo telling some parents that they need to be a more responsible parent and then they just fail to respond to the parents.So much for customer service and why because it sounds more like a scamming website to me.

Ok there are HEAPS off pages about this,so here is the link to the google page and here is the second page.

10 comments:

Diffirent Shades Of Life said...

Omg like you say how many people has this happened too, hopeful word will get out, and something will be done.
Great that you trying to warn people.
Hugs
Sue xo

Wishcraft said...

Oh these things are so annoying, sorry to hear it's ended up costing you money! Lisa x

Aunty Sue said...

Oh thank god I dont have kids this age and how shameful of them and i agree that something should be done about this. Never heard of this company but have now and wouldnt recommend it.

Anonymous said...

OH WOW, someone is going to be doing lots of chores around the house to pay that one off!

Sorry to hear. Scary that its so easy to get charged for things like that!!!

Merry said...

That is way too easy for kids to obtain credit for a game. Good on you Cheryl for telling everyone.

vicmbee said...

wow!thanks for the warning..

Leigh said...

I haven't even heard of Habbo but when I googled it and got to the site, it said there were 8576 currently playing. Goodness me, that's a lot of money working your surprise of $72 each person.
Hmmmm not good.

cheryl said...

oh gosh hun never heard of these,but blimey you are right hun,they should be held responsible,as you say we cannot keep an eye on our children,24 hours a day,and not on there mobiles,just glad mine are grown up,hugs cheryl xxxxx

Shelly said...

I'm so sorry to hear you got ripped off like this, Cheryl. I totally agree with you that Habbo should be making kids use a form of payment. This is SO WRONG. Big hugs to you.

Unknown said...

I am sorry you had this happen, I can't believe you would have to pay this. Children cannot enter into a purchase agreement, or at least I didn't think they could. Thanks for sharing this though, so everyone can have a heads up. Hugs, Pam at http://craftycards4u2.blogspot.com/

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