An Ontario father says Microsoft has given him a refund for $8,206.43, after his 17-year-old son racked up thousands of dollars in Xbox online gaming charges.

Lance Perkins said he was stunned to discover the charges on his credit card bill in December, and criticized the company for what he called a misleading business scheme.

"When you have someone telling you that you can play for free, and then all of the sudden they just want your credit card number, a little kid or a youth would not realize what a credit card number is," he told CTV Ottawa at the time.

Perkins complained to Microsoft and the company agreed to look into the charges.

He says Microsoft initially told him it couldn't refund the money. But when the company learned Perkins' son was a minor, it agreed to refund the full amount.

"Microsoft may occasionally choose to provide a one-time refund in cases of minors making purchases without parental permission," the company said in a statement to CTV Ottawa. "These refunds are for a very small number of users in exceptional cases, and they will only be granted once in a lifetime."

Perkins said he was surprised by the response but grateful for the gesture, and that he hopes his story will warn other parents about how easily online gaming charges can add up.

"I'm actually quite shocked that they returned the whole amount of money. The total was $8,206.43," he said. "It's going to be much better to have it in my bank account than somewhere where it shouldn't have gone."

With files from CTV Ottawa