very big app bill

lonestarfan

Not sure if this is the right place to post but would appreciate any help. I bought a free app on my itouch yesterday called Dragonvale. I've now received a bill today for £87.99 for Trunk of Gems described as in app purchase. I definitely didn't get prompted that I was making any in app purchases. I entered my password once to buy the free game but didn't enter it again. To make matters worse I have no idea how to get in touch with itunes to ask them to look in to it and refund my money. Has this happened to anyone else? How likely am I to get the money back? has anyone used this game and actually bought some truncks of gems and been very clear that they were making purchases? Is it likely that my account details have been compromised and malicious purchases made or have I been watching too much Spooks!

Yolina

Sorry, no idea on how to go about trying to get a refund, but on the iTunes page for the game http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/dragonvale/id440045374?mt=8 it says:

"Description
PLEASE NOTE! DragonVale is completely free to play, but it contains items which can be purchased for real money. If you do not wish to use this feature, please disable in-app purchases"

so it looks like in-app purchases are on by default, you might want to change that to make sure that it doesn't happen again.

lonestarfan

Thanks very much for that as I will make sure we change the settings. It doesn't seem right that it doesn't tell you how much you are spending as you go along. I don't recall me buying anything!
Tomorrows job will be trying to work out how to contact itunes!

Lion_Ohhh

As a new user I can't post links but if you search 'refund from apple app store' in google there is an link to site called knowyourmobile which gives a pretty good description on how to report an issue from the app store.

burnsguitarman

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1933 You can use this link to report issues with purchases. If you think your account has been hacked, you will be prompted to give certain information, and will probably get a refund, but if it turns out that it was you fault ( and I do agree that the default should not allow in app purchases) you may not be so lucky as to get a refund. Hope this helps.

movilogo

Get your credit card info deleted from your iTunes account then you can't rake up charges . The free apps are usually good enough.

Babiesmummy_2

My kids have done this, I have put the password in to get a free app and then days/weeks later checked my iTunes account and find charges on there for other games. I think you put the password in and it stays active for ??minutes and allows you to download more apps without re-requesting your password, but it does obviously advise you the cost, unfortunately my kids are young and didn't understand that but they do now.

lonestarfan

I have achieved a refund and i have removed my account details as suggested. I think it could be as one person suggests, possibly the password stays active but I think it would still prompt you. I definitely did not get a prompt or make any purchases so it may be a glitch or my account has been compromised somehow. I don't think it should have the default set to allow in app purchases. There was an interuption to my purchase (free) download twice as it had timed out and there was also an update to the game at the same time which I did and I think it could also have been a fault with the programme. There are too many things it could be and not enough answers. itunes won't tell me what has happened. I'm keeping an eye regularly on my online accounts for a while as I don't trust all this now.Thanks so much to everyone as it all helped.

jenniewb

You can call Apple and they can be helpful so I'd advice that but they are only mon-fri 9-5 sort of thing (not sure on exact hours but know its only week days).

You can get the number from the itunes website via the normal contact-us options but its not so easy to find, once the help pages have loaded you need to make sure your on the UK rather then US pages and then look for the phone number for the right department...you can send them an email but its quicker to talk to them. When someone stole £15 from my account by downloading themselves an app (no idea how on Earth they managed that!) the money was refunded when I called them.

Humphrey10

OP, this is probably what happened:
You entered your password to download a free app. You stay signed in for 15 minutes every time you enter your password, this means you can download things/buy IAP without having to re-enter your password.

Then before the 15 mins were up, you (or someone else with access to your phone) went in the app, which displays a big popup stating it contains IAP the first time you open it, went to the Marketplace, selected Treasure, and were presented with a selection of items, all with the cost clearly displayed in £ beneath them. You (or someone else etc) then tapped on one of these items to buy them.

There's no mystery.

robt_2

Humphrey10 wrote: »

OP, this is probably what happened:
You entered your password to download a free app. You stay signed in for 15 minutes every time you enter your password, this means you can download things/buy IAP without having to re-enter your password.

Then before the 15 mins were up, you (or someone else with access to your phone) went in the app, which displays a big popup stating it contains IAP the first time you open it, went to the Marketplace, selected Treasure, and were presented with a selection of items, all with the cost clearly displayed in £ beneath them. You (or someone else etc) then tapped on one of these items to buy them.

There's no mystery.

Totally agree. I don't buy this 'I didn't know' business, it is clearly displayed.

Well done for getting a refund though.