7 year old daughter accidentally run up £250 bill for itunes app? *Now updated*

mae

Update on Page 3.....Our 7 year old daughter thought she had downloaded a free app 'Treasure Story' onto to my husbands Ipad. She has been happily playing it until I received an email saying thank you for your purchase for £39.99...we don't purchase anything so obviously I checked what was going on and it seems this game has been charging her to buy 'gems' (?) to continue playing the game and the bill is up to £250 :eek: Our daughter has been crying because she thinks she has done something wrong and she is so good and sensitive its really not her fault which we have explained to her, we thought we were checking what she was doing but we are obviously not clued up enough we had no idea it could take money without asking or warning us!!??

Does anyone know if there is anything we can do to get a refund?

robt_2

How does the seven year old know the password for the iTunes account in order to make any purchases?

mae

:o We thought she needed it to get the free apps....I know I know totally our fault but we really thought it was safe and that it would tell her/us if it needed to take payment, she is very bright and would not make purchases knowingly she would always ask us.

Obviously I take full responsibility for being so dumb :cool: and I know its unlikely we will be able to get a refund but I thought we would try

Believe me its a huge lesson and one that will never be repeated, imagine getting a bill like that straight after christmas :mad: I'm so annoyed at myself and OH..

robt_2

Ahh right. I'm not sure about "in app purchases" - which is what the gems would be, but I know in the App Store you only need to put it in once per session - for example you put it in once and then don't need to again for ten or so minutes regardless of how many items you buy.

I seriously doubt you can get a refund though - the iTunes account holder is responsible for purchases and security of the account (ie the password). What is your billing method for iTunes - direct from the bank or a credit card etc? At least if you change it to a credit card you will be able to pay it off over a few months instead of all in one go. Not ideal I know

davester

A lot of people have fallen for this, It was on watchdog where a boy racked up over £500 buying shells. The simplest way of stopping is to not have any payment details stored with your account. So anything that requires money you just get refused. You can then buy itunes voucher codes to add credit to your account.

Email Itunes about it, because they was meant to be stopping apps that do that. Well thats what they told watchdog 6 months ago

mae

robt wrote: »

Ahh right. I'm not sure about "in app purchases" - which is what the gems would be, but I know in the App Store you only need to put it in once per session - for example you put it in once and then don't need to again for ten or so minutes regardless of how many items you buy.

I seriously doubt you can get a refund though - the iTunes account holder is responsible for purchases and security of the account (ie the password). What is your billing method for iTunes - direct from the bank or a credit card etc? At least if you change it to a credit card you will be able to pay it off over a few months instead of all in one go. Not ideal I know

Thanks we didn't realise this, I think you are right about the refund I don't hold out much hope as how can I prove it was my daughter anyway rahter than a responsible adult and like you say we will be responsible amyway.

mae

davester wrote: »

A lot of people have fallen for this, It was on watchdog where a boy racked up over £500 buying shells. The simplest way of stopping is to not have any payment details stored with your account. So anything that requires money you just get refused. You can then buy itunes voucher codes to add credit to your account.

Email Itunes about it, because they was meant to be stopping apps that do that. Well thats what they told watchdog 6 months ago

Thanks I might do a bit of a google search see if I can find any info to strengthen my (weak) case.

Thanks

vikki_louise

mae wrote: »

Our 7 year old daughter thought she had downloaded a free app 'Treasure Story' onto to my husbands Ipad. She has been happily playing it until I received an email saying thank you for your purchase for £39.99...we don't purchase anything so obviously I checked what was going on and it seems this game has been charging her to buy 'gems' (?) to continue playing the game and the bill is up to £250 :eek: Our daughter has been crying because she thinks she has done something wrong and she is so good and sensitive its really not her fault which we have explained to her, we thought we were checking what she was doing but we are obviously not clued up enough we had no idea it could take money without asking or warning us!!??

Does anyone know if there is anything we can do to get a refund?

I was readingo n facebook the other day a lady whose son spent £250 on coins on coindozer. I just looked up the shell story,it says apple refunded them but of course helps with watchdog is covering it http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/watchdog/2010/09/iphone_apps.html

globalds

This is getting more and more common.
I have seen another post about kids being able to download stuff to easy.

I haven't got any advice but this looks like a problem that lots of these companies that pride themselves on being family or customer friendly need to look at how they do business.

Instant access should not mean unauthorised users get to spend hundreds before anyone knows.

mae

vikki_louise wrote: »

I was readingo n facebook the other day a lady whose son spent £250 on coins on coindozer. I just looked up the shell story,it says apple refunded them but of course helps with watchdog is covering it http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/watchdog/2010/09/iphone_apps.html

Thank you I have bookmarked it and will read through and then compile an email and see what happens. I won't hold my breath but I really can't let that amount of money go without at least trying :cool:

mae

Thank you all for being so nice and understanding about it, I thought we might get slated for being too niave and clueless (which is how I feel at the moment!).