Apple refuse to refund subscriptions I didn't purchase

brann123

Can anyone advise please? This situation is starting to affect my mental health

I don't know how but apparently (unconfirmed) my 7yr old appears to be clicking things somewhere, somehow. I end up with subscriptions showing on my iPhone for skins and stuff. 

Some of these, however have happened when my son is at school or in the middle of the night when he is asleep. As soon as I spot it, I immediately cancel the subscription and request a refund but apple continually refuse to refund

I spoke to apple but they said they can not do anything to stop this

I spoke to my bank (Barclays) and they said they cannot stop it either but they said they would put a block on my card to prevent any payments going to apple.

The block did nothing, it continued!!!

I tried removing my bank and card details from my apple account but it won't allow me to remove them, it says I have subscriptions open which require payment details to be attached.....I have cancelled every single subscription but it still won't let me delete my bank details.

So I emptied my bank whilst I figured out what to do and strangely it suddenly stopped!

Some money was then deposited into my bank on Saturday but almost immediately it started again taking every penny and by early Sunday morning it had all gone  .....This has cost me £100s 

Can anyone tell me what I am to do please and how to stop this? It is actually making me ill and I'm panicking that I won't be able to pay my bills or have any money for Xmas

DullGreyGuy

First of all, stop the rot. Cancel all the subscriptions. Ensure biometrics are only set to your face/finger. Set the AppStore to require passcode or biometrics on every purchase. Change the passcode to something your kid doesn't know and never tell them. 

Open a Starling account or similar that strictly doesn't allow an overdraft etc. Change the payment method to the Starling card and this will allow you to remove other payment methods. 

It'll be hard to get the money spent to date back, especially given the uncertainty. The time the payment shows can be materially different to the time it was authorised. You shouldn't just approach apple but also the app owners, They too can refund purchases and are arguably less conflicted than Apple are who predominately are taking money away from small businesses. As said at the start, its more about stopping it continuing than clawing back the money.

brann123

DullGreyGuy said:

First of all, stop the rot. Cancel all the subscriptions. Ensure biometrics are only set to your face/finger. Set the AppStore to require passcode or biometrics on every purchase. Change the passcode to something your kid doesn't know and never tell them. 

Open a Starling account or similar that strictly doesn't allow an overdraft etc. Change the payment method to the Starling card and this will allow you to remove other payment methods. 

It'll be hard to get the money spent to date back, especially given the uncertainty. The time the payment shows can be materially different to the time it was authorised. You shouldn't just approach apple but also the app owners, They too can refund purchases and are arguably less conflicted than Apple are who predominately are taking money away from small businesses. As said at the start, its more about stopping it continuing than clawing back the money.

Thanks for replying, I have cancelled all subscriptions but it won't allow me to remove my payment details, because apple took the payment, the subscriptions still have a year and I can't delete or remove them. I've also got 2 step verification and Face ID but it makes no difference whatsoever, I asked my bank to send me a verification prior to any purchase but they said they can't do that. I'm starting to think that it is not actually my son because how could he verify the purchase without my Face ID. At the moment I just want it stop and I'm less concerned about getting the money back. I have shifted my money into a monzo account but still need to find a way to stop this....it's seems very odd that it only happens when there is actually money in my account

PHK

First of all, you need to get your phone setup so that any payments or subscriptions can only be made by entering a password or biometrics. 

Secondly, stop giving your phone to a child. If they absolutely.must have use of a phone then buy them a phone that has a child account on it such that either they can't make payments or need your authorisation as account manager. Keep your phone as secure as if it was your wallet.

Thirdly, changing your card number won't stop subscriptions because they use a different mechanism. So you need to attack this at source. Speak to your bank, if they have been setup as a continuous payment authority then the bank CAN cancel them. If they are a subscription through premium messages then contact the phone-paid services authority with details of each and they will direct you to the originator to cancel. If they are paid through your phone bill then speak to you network for advice. 

Fourthly, cancelling a subscription means it won't renew at the end of the subscription period not that it will stop immediately. 

comeandgo

Who else is in your household if it’s not your son?

nyermen

Okay - this sounds more serious than perhaps is being indicated.  In short - you need a tech expert to have a look.  Eg. if you can, get an appointment at an apple store genius bar and let them have a look.  I can only explain so much here without causing a lot of confusion. 

The notifications could be misleading - they say when the billing is done, not when the "subscription" was taken out (free trial period... recurring subsription, etc...), and also not which device is doing it.
You should also be receiving emails to your primary email address on your apple account when a subscription is taken out, or when one time (eg. in app) purchases are made.

Since you say they're on your apple account, the following could be happening (IMO - please others, add to or critique this list):
- Someone in the household using your devices
- Someone in the household using another device that you've logged on to
- Someone outside the household using another device that you've logged on to (Maybe you sold an old phone without wiping it?)
- Someone has your login details somehow and has logged on to a device you've not ever been aware of.

I'd hope that someone (like an apple genius bar person) can check where the charges are really coming from and block that source.

Peter.

born_again

brann123 said:

Can anyone advise please? This situation is starting to affect my mental health

I don't know how but apparently (unconfirmed) my 7yr old appears to be clicking things somewhere, somehow. I end up with subscriptions showing on my iPhone for skins and stuff. 

Some of these, however have happened when my son is at school or in the middle of the night when he is asleep. As soon as I spot it, I immediately cancel the subscription and request a refund but apple continually refuse to refund

I spoke to apple but they said they can not do anything to stop this

I spoke to my bank (Barclays) and they said they cannot stop it either but they said they would put a block on my card to prevent any payments going to apple.

The block did nothing, it continued!!!

I tried removing my bank and card details from my apple account but it won't allow me to remove them, it says I have subscriptions open which require payment details to be attached.....I have cancelled every single subscription but it still won't let me delete my bank details.

So I emptied my bank whilst I figured out what to do and strangely it suddenly stopped!

Some money was then deposited into my bank on Saturday but almost immediately it started again taking every penny and by early Sunday morning it had all gone  .....This has cost me £100s 

Can anyone tell me what I am to do please and how to stop this? It is actually making me ill and I'm panicking that I won't be able to pay my bills or have any money for Xmas

Account updater service. Apple are requesting your new card details. Nothing Barclays can do to stop that. Part of card regulations.

As above. You need to find out the source of the issue.

So block your child from using your phone. Physically stop access is the best way.

If it carries on then it is someone has your details & using the apple ID.
You would need to speak to Apple customer support on the phone about this. As they can see IP's being used for the transactions. Ask for a referral to fraud team.

DullGreyGuy

brann123 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

First of all, stop the rot. Cancel all the subscriptions. Ensure biometrics are only set to your face/finger. Set the AppStore to require passcode or biometrics on every purchase. Change the passcode to something your kid doesn't know and never tell them. 

Open a Starling account or similar that strictly doesn't allow an overdraft etc. Change the payment method to the Starling card and this will allow you to remove other payment methods. 

It'll be hard to get the money spent to date back, especially given the uncertainty. The time the payment shows can be materially different to the time it was authorised. You shouldn't just approach apple but also the app owners, They too can refund purchases and are arguably less conflicted than Apple are who predominately are taking money away from small businesses. As said at the start, its more about stopping it continuing than clawing back the money.

Thanks for replying, I have cancelled all subscriptions but it won't allow me to remove my payment details, because apple took the payment, the subscriptions still have a year and I can't delete or remove them. I've also got 2 step verification and Face ID but it makes no difference whatsoever, I asked my bank to send me a verification prior to any purchase but they said they can't do that. I'm starting to think that it is not actually my son because how could he verify the purchase without my Face ID. At the moment I just want it stop and I'm less concerned about getting the money back. I have shifted my money into a monzo account but still need to find a way to stop this....it's seems very odd that it only happens when there is actually money in my account

You cannot leave the account with no payment details but you can exchange the details with the likes of an empty starling debit card which you can be confident that they'll simply decline any attempted transactions for lack of funds. You'd need to add the new details first, promote them to default, you can then remove the current details. 

2 step isn't an option on AppStore or InApp payments but there are settings you can change if every purchase has to be authorised or if subsequent purchases within X minutes of one being authorised will skip authorisation.

To start a subscription Apple attempts payment once and if it fails it doesn't setup but renewing a subscription they will keep attempting payments. If someone signs up to a free trial the switch from trial to paid subscription is a renewal rather than new subscription. If you have payment notifications on the bank you'll probably get daily failed payments messages until such time as there are funds there and then it will collect. 

jon81uk

Follow the instructions here to ensure the password needs to be entered for every single App Store transaction
Require a password for purchases in the App Store and other Apple services - Apple Support

Ensure your child doesn't know your password

Supervise your child and explain that things cost real money.

Protect your password the same as you do with your debit card.

born_again

If OP is not using Apple Pay, or buying apps. Then you do not need to enter any card details. When setting up ID

jon81uk

born_again said:

If OP is not using Apple Pay, or buying apps. Then you do not need to enter any card details. When setting up ID

Apple Pay is completely separate to the App Store.