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

powerful_Rogue

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.

They do one even better then that, it's called Parental Controls. Not only that, but they also have an option to turn off all in-app purchases as well.

couriervanman

OP has gone very quiet.......perhaps finally understood she cant blame other people 

LilElvis

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.

Before you download an app which includes in-app purchases it states clearly that there are parental controls to prevent such charges. These aren't in teeny tiny print - it's explicitly stated.

Not only did the grandfather fail to notice the purchases on his bank/ credit card statement he also didn't read the email notifications he would have received for each and every one too.

born_again

babybumpni said:

steampowered said:

Do you know what, I came on here for help and so far you are the first one not to be judgemental. Thank you for that. I was in tears til I read your response  I AM NOT and irresponsible parent who lets their child stare at screens for hours and I WAS NOT aware he was playing games on grandads tablets til this issue arose. I work full time and monitor my childs screen time closely but this situation caught us fully off guard...thank you for not being nasty or judgemental like some of the other responses and of course I will make sure my dad gets the money back in one way or another... thank you. 

OK.
As you child is 7 then they should be refunding. That is what Apple/Google/X-box do, so I would expect Amazon to do the same.
And to anyone else THAT IS IN THE UK.
I see this on a all to regular basis. So please get off the OP's back.
Yes. it should have been picked up sooner, but if OP's dad did not say anything then why would OP know? As with control of device. OP not aware that he was using it.

Sadly young children have no concept that pressing a button in a game means that someone has to pay. Had he been over 11 then it would be a different matter. 
It really is a matter that the game makers need to resolve by removing in game purchases. But they won't as it is how they make their money.

OP I hope you get it sorted with Amazon. But a word with you dad about stopping usage of the device (although I'm sure that's already done)

BTW. That also looks like my Google account spending. I have a £30 limit. You just get a message flashing up you have reached your limit. Nothing that stops you spending any more....

powerful_Rogue

born_again said:

babybumpni said:

steampowered said:

Do you know what, I came on here for help and so far you are the first one not to be judgemental. Thank you for that. I was in tears til I read your response  I AM NOT and irresponsible parent who lets their child stare at screens for hours and I WAS NOT aware he was playing games on grandads tablets til this issue arose. I work full time and monitor my childs screen time closely but this situation caught us fully off guard...thank you for not being nasty or judgemental like some of the other responses and of course I will make sure my dad gets the money back in one way or another... thank you. 

OK.
As you child is 7 then they should be refunding. That is what Apple/Google/X-box do, so I would expect Amazon to do the same.
And to anyone else THAT IS IN THE UK.
I see this on a all to regular basis. So please get off the OP's back.
Yes. it should have been picked up sooner, but if OP's dad did not say anything then why would OP know? As with control of device. OP not aware that he was using it.

Sadly young children have no concept that pressing a button in a game means that someone has to pay. Had he been over 11 then it would be a different matter. 
It really is a matter that the game makers need to resolve by removing in game purchases. But they won't as it is how they make their money.

OP I hope you get it sorted with Amazon. But a word with you dad about stopping usage of the device (although I'm sure that's already done)

BTW. That also looks like my Google account spending. I have a £30 limit. You just get a message flashing up you have reached your limit. Nothing that stops you spending any more....

Why should Amazon be refunding? Anything to back that up? If that's the case, everyone will make inapp purchases and just blame it on a child.

No-one is on the OP's case. She came her asking about her consumer rights. Not our fault she does not like the answers.

born_again

powerful_Rogue
Personal experience of dealing with these.
I would add that they will only do it once and often put restrictions on the device. Certainly X-Box & Playstation do.

Pollycat

born_again said:

powerful_Rogue
Personal experience of dealing with these.
I would add that they will only do it once and often put restrictions on the device. Certainly X-Box & Playstation do.

So maybe the OP has jumped the gun by posting on here and she already has been refunded (but not come back to update).

babybumpni said:

HELP????
My dad rang me last night to say my son has managed to make in-game transactions on his Amazon Account (via his tablet) in excess of £600 since December.  Includes several £99.99 transactions for "Golden Gems vase" and several £37.86 purchases for Minecraft 50.  Amazon is a nightmare.  I've contacted them (via my dads account this afternoon) and have been referred to some team.  Is there any challenging this???  My son was clearly repeatedly clicking in game and my dad didn't realise....any advice genuinely appreciated even if can get some of this back.  Dad is 72 and in poor health (and isolated due to Covid 19) and this has stressed both him and me out...as if we didn't have enough to deal with...

babybumpni

OP went quiet because life got in the way (tbh I'm not even sure what OP means).  I'm not even going to try and explain myself as it doesn't seem to matter what anyone says on this - people are always keen to judge and knives tend to come out (I wish my life were so simple).  

I asked for help... I got a lot of grief, accusations of BAD PARENTING and being a negligent daughter (!!!!!!) but also some understanding and signposting (which I naievely thought this forum was for).  

I would thank  "steampowered" in particular who signposted me to an article which had been printed in the Guardian/Observer in March).  I contacted the author and she/her team helped me by contacted Amazon on my behalf and got all of the purchases refunded (although we later found out the £99.99 had been refunded on day of purchase).  Many of the £1.99 purchases were duplicates which should NEVER have been taken out of my dads account and hadn't been picked up by Amazon.  

Thank you all for your interest in this thread.  I did get this sorted and will be eternally gratefully for getting the help I asked for but I would ask you all to consider your responses and #bekind in future.  I'm pretty sure that's why Martin Lewis started this in the first place.  I will put all the safeguards in place once I SEE MY PARENTS again and certainly it has been a lesson learned in humanity as well as technology.  

Just FYI, I've managed 19 years of parenting so far and my kids are polite, well-adjusted and managing really well through this crisis. SO thanks to those who defended me and ~ "have a deep think" to the nasty keyboard warriors...I just hope you never inadvertently find yourself in a situation like I did! 

And finally, for ANYONE who finds themselves in this situation (and reads this thread), don't beat yourself up or let others do so.  There are good people out there and people (including 7 year olds and 46 year olds make mistakes)! And yes, you can get help and get it refunded because (again) there are people out there willing to help...

 #SIGNING OFF#

babybumpni

born_again said:

babybumpni said:

steampowered said:

Do you know what, I came on here for help and so far you are the first one not to be judgemental. Thank you for that. I was in tears til I read your response  I AM NOT and irresponsible parent who lets their child stare at screens for hours and I WAS NOT aware he was playing games on grandads tablets til this issue arose. I work full time and monitor my childs screen time closely but this situation caught us fully off guard...thank you for not being nasty or judgemental like some of the other responses and of course I will make sure my dad gets the money back in one way or another... thank you. 

OK.
As you child is 7 then they should be refunding. That is what Apple/Google/X-box do, so I would expect Amazon to do the same.
And to anyone else THAT IS IN THE UK.
I see this on a all to regular basis. So please get off the OP's back.
Yes. it should have been picked up sooner, but if OP's dad did not say anything then why would OP know? As with control of device. OP not aware that he was using it.

Sadly young children have no concept that pressing a button in a game means that someone has to pay. Had he been over 11 then it would be a different matter. 
It really is a matter that the game makers need to resolve by removing in game purchases. But they won't as it is how they make their money.

OP I hope you get it sorted with Amazon. But a word with you dad about stopping usage of the device (although I'm sure that's already done)

BTW. That also looks like my Google account spending. I have a £30 limit. You just get a message flashing up you have reached your limit. Nothing that stops you spending any more....

Thank you.

stragglebod

Great, so I and every other Amazon customer have paid for your lack of parenting skills.