Son has racked up huge bill on Amazon purchasing in game transactions

steampowered

powerful_Rogue said:

So why is that the fault of Amazon and not the fault of the child/grandparent and/or parents?

Because Amazon could very easily introduce appropriate systems to prevent or at least flag massive unauthorised purchases by young children, but choose not to.

Aylesbury_Duck

steampowered said:

powerful_Rogue said:

So why is that the fault of Amazon and not the fault of the child/grandparent and/or parents?

Because Amazon could very easily introduce appropriate systems to prevent or at least flag massive unauthorised purchases by young children, but choose not to.

I can't see how they can make it foolproof, though.  Unless the device camera judges the age of the user, which leads to a whole other debate, it's easy for a child to click through the various "are you 18 or over" type prompts, how are they to know that large purchases are a) made by children and b) unauthorised?

Much as you say Amazon have a choice, so do parents/grandparents.  If they don't think Amazon offers enough security to safeguard against this sort of situation, don't use Amazon.  It's not exactly a life essential.

DoaM

How would Amazon know that a young child was using the tablet owned by (and registered to) an adult? (Yes, the game in question may be targeted at children but that doesn't guarantee that it is a child using it). And how would Amazon know the purchases were unauthorised?

I agree in principle with what you're suggesting, but I don't believe that Amazon are (wholly) at fault here ... as much if not more of the blame lies with the game publishers/developers. (Notwithstanding the tablet owner's responsibilities).

Hermione_Granger

steampowered said:

Heaven forbid that you would ever leave your children playing a game for a few minutes without sitting next to them. 

But this wasn't just for a few minutes, it was over a 6 month period.

Hermione_Granger

steampowered said:

 Theoretically, if the Op did want to take this to court (I am not suggesting they do but they could) 

No they couldn't.
The OP has not suffered any direct loss as the payments were not taken from them.

LiGhTfasT

My son did this with a game for £15 lukily we spotted the email receipt straight away and amazon refunded. Amazons 1 click to buy is a nightmare its always trying to reactivate which i think doesnt help if you let a child near a device.

I agree the whole setup is geared towards this sort of stuff happening. I wanted to setup a childs account for a spare iphone and had to input credit card details for the family account incase they want to buy somthing which is madness. The only way around it was creating a virtual debit card in revolut and then freezing it which I might make my default payment method from now on to stop accidental purchases.

Pollycat

steampowered said:

Pollycat said:.

I gave you an example of someone in the UK getting a refund in almost identical circumstances literally less than a month ago. What more evidence can you possibly want?

You stated that "Amazon has been sued successfully multiple times over this. They've been fined and ordered to pay refunds for unauthorised app purchases multiple times."

As I've already pointed out, even in the link you gave the journalist had trouble getting Amazon to refund.

There is no evidence that the OP will be luckier than Anna Tims.

Yes, I am more than capable of using Google.

But I can't find the 'countless examples of people getting refunds out of Amazon for unauthorised purchases by children.' that you allege exist.

In the UK.

I personally don't want any more evidence. But the OP might do if she is going to take your advice.

I think you are giving the OP false hope.

 

elsien

That's what I was going to ask.
I don't use games so this is from a position of complete ignorance, but don't you get an email from Amazon whenever you buy something? Or does that not count for in app purchases? 

Aylesbury_Duck

LiGhTfasT said:

My son did this with a game for £15 lukily we spotted the email receipt straight away and amazon refunded. Amazons 1 click to buy is a nightmare its always trying to reactivate which i think doesnt help if you let a child near a device.

I agree the whole setup is geared towards this sort of stuff happening. I wanted to setup a childs account for a spare iphone and had to input credit card details for the family account incase they want to buy somthing which is madness. The only way around it was creating a virtual debit card in revolut and then freezing it which I might make my default payment method from now on to stop accidental purchases.

Don't use Amazon if you don't trust their set-up.  

powerful_Rogue

elsien said:

That's what I was going to ask.
I don't use games so this is from a position of complete ignorance, but don't you get an email from Amazon whenever you buy something? Or does that not count for in app purchases? 

Don't know about Amazon, however I play a game and make inapp purchases via Google Pay. I always get an email straight after and spot it on my bank statement as well. I imagine it's the same for all systems.