Apple refunds $6,131 iTunes bill for 8-year-old's unauthorized in-app purchases

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 58
    andysolandysol Posts: 2,506member
    While I agreed strongly about the improper usage of in app purchases and felt that both Apple and the developers should have been held accountable for the previous issues- mainly having no mandatory password by default.
    But That's long been fixed and there is absolutely no excuse now. 4 months of charges and he doesn't notice? This guy's a derilect. Don't give him a freakin dime!
  • Reply 22 of 58

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by chadmatic View Post





    No, but if you are an unsupervised, naughty little eight year old you can!


     


    Cool, I'll get my nephew right now!

  • Reply 23 of 58
    koopkoop Posts: 337member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Drealoth View Post


    I feel like they should have some stop loss limit - like, if more than $100 in in app purchases happen in X time, you get an email with a link to approve the transaction. I guess this probably doesn't happen too often, but still it feels like something easy enough to implement.



     


    The Apple ecosystem is often blessed with high income families who spend thousands of dollars on iTunes goodies. Simply put, they couldn't do something like that by default. 


     


    A parental control option built into iTunes that prevents spending over a certain amount in a month would be a better option however. 

  • Reply 24 of 58

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gazoobee View Post


     


    Unsupervised, naughty little eight year old … with a gormless irresponsible whinging father.  



     


    Cool, I'll get my brother-in-law as well!

  • Reply 25 of 58
    andysolandysol Posts: 2,506member
    gazoobee wrote: »
    Actually liberals stand for personal responsibility also, more so than most conservatives by many people's estimation.  

    "Big Business" for example is about shirking personal responsibility.  "Environmentalism" is about taking personal responsibility. 

    Dude- shhh. Do you have to make this political? please for the love of God.

    But since you did- libertarians are by far the party that desires personal responsibility. I'm also not blind enough to think either major party thinks of personal responsibility.

    Disclaimer: I'm not associated with any party (including libertarian). Although my views do line up with that more than the other parties. But my views rarely line up with any party. :)
  • Reply 26 of 58
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Andysol View Post





    Dude- shhh. Do you have to make this political? please for the love of God.



    But since you did- libertarians are by far the party that desires personal responsibility. I'm also not blind enough to think either major party thinks of personal responsibility.



    Disclaimer: I'm not associated with any party (including libertarian). Although my views do line up with that more than the other parties. But my views rarely line up with any party. image


     


    Well I was thinking more liberal vs. conservative as types of people, not actual political parties.  


    As in that old theory that all people can generally be divided into those two general types, and that all the political parties of the world are merely expressions of same.  Which is why we often end up with dualities in politics. 


     


    I never really thought where Libertarians fit in that schema but I strongly suspect that (ironically for them), they would fall on the conservative side.  Sort of "conservative freedomists." 

  • Reply 27 of 58
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    Incredible how many genius parents there are, that give their 8 year old girls with no concept of money unfettered access to their credit cards, then bitch about it later.

    That being said, I still find the practise of eggregious in app-purchases in free games absolutely disgusting.
  • Reply 28 of 58
    Unfortunately, we really do reward idiocy sometimes. 

    This will only encourage more idiocy.

    Yeah, that what you get for ignoring those emails containing your iTunes invoices.
  • Reply 29 of 58
    cyniccynic Posts: 124member


    People should simply start caring about their children more and supervising what they do on those devices, rather than blindly giving them a password in order to allow them to download content by themselves, because this obviously enables them to purchase things.


     


    On the other hand side, obviously developers with extremely high priced in-app purchases should be looked at in more detail.


     


    Just whatever you do, please, please don't ruin the OS with more warnings about some garbage, the last thing we need is a couple of dialog boxes to click away every time we perform an action. ;)

  • Reply 30 of 58
    richlrichl Posts: 2,213member


    Part of me wishes that Apple had never implemented IAP. It feels like the current state of the App Store discourages developers from making high quality, high value, "honest" apps.

  • Reply 31 of 58
    ochymingochyming Posts: 474member


    Blame Apple!


     


    People generally are greedy, and often blame others for their misfortunes.

  • Reply 32 of 58


    yeah, I don't like the idea of 'in app' purchases, they are often masked underneath tricky terminologies and vague information.


     


    I agree with some of the other comments though, just don't give an 8 year old access to credit, simple. One would imagine that this young person had access to M+ and R rated materials as well, right?

  • Reply 33 of 58
    epsicoepsico Posts: 39member


    Asking for more money after you're already paid for the app should be illegal. If the developer wants more money for the app, they should just charge more. I hate hidden fees.


     


    The point of "freemium" is precisely so that you don't pay for the app itself.


     


    One of the factors that has led to the widespread creation of "freemium" apps is the lack of an option to provide demos in the app store.  If you wish to make a demo available you have to either write a "Lite" version and ask your users to buy the full version or provide an in-app purchase which is seamless and doesn't require downloading, installing, and transferring data between apps.  At the moment I am writing an RTS for iOS with a huge tutorial which will ship as a free version with an option to upgrade to the full version that provides extra flexibility in controls, harder levels, more powerful units, GameCenter integration, and network play over Bluetooth, Wi-Fi LAN, and the Internet through GameCenter.  Furthermore, it has long been established that the "fermium" model works best.


     


    Well I was thinking more liberal vs. conservative as types of people, not actual political parties.


     


    It is incorrect to think about socio-economic political views as a one-dimensional axis, because it's perfectly possible (and I can explain why, if needed) to be socially liberal and economically conservative at the same time (I am one such case).  Another axis to consider is religion, and you have a political stance on that axis even if you are a skeptic atheist.

  • Reply 34 of 58
    aaronjaaronj Posts: 1,595member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Peter Windle View Post


    yeah, I don't like the idea of 'in app' purchases, they are often masked underneath tricky terminologies and vague information.


     


    I agree with some of the other comments though, just don't give an 8 year old access to credit, simple. One would imagine that this young person had access to M+ and R rated materials as well, right?



     


    Well, from the article, he didn't "give" his daughter the password.  She saw him enter it, and then did so on her own (which means, to me, that she's either a bright kid, or his PW is something like "1234" or something, but anyways ... ).

  • Reply 35 of 58
    lilgto64lilgto64 Posts: 1,147member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post





    Hmm. Is that why they're generally associated with free food, free cell phones, free housing, and free healthcare, all sponsored by the government and paid for by people who work instead of live on the dole? image;)



    Weird. "Dole" comes from Old English, but every time I hear that phrase (from 1920) I think of someone in ragged clothes sitting in an empty room with a mountain of banana peels behind them. image


     


    I think his name is Bob. 

  • Reply 36 of 58
    herbapouherbapou Posts: 2,228member
    To avoid this and possible frauds i never link my itunes account to a credit card. I load it with itunes gift cards that i buy on sale. Both cheaper and safer.
  • Reply 37 of 58
    pmzpmz Posts: 3,433member
    Some people have some real intellect issues.

    There is nothing wrong with or illegal about in app purchases. There is nothing even remotely undesirable about them. It's brilliant. It is also completely secure.

    You CANNOT make an in app purchase unless you have the password AND IAP is enabled on the device.

    Repeat.

    You CANNOT make an in app purchase unless you have the password AND IAP is enabled on the device.

    Therefor, the only time these 'mistakes' happen, is if you're a complete idiot. IAP should either be turned off altogether on your kid's device, and they should NOT know the password.
  • Reply 38 of 58
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,153member

    That is ONE purchase in the Smurfs game.  Yes, a children's game with a $100 in-app purchase.  There are other games with similarly or more expensive items.

    Whaaat??? If true then perhaps the poster who suggested that Apple not approve games (particularly those targeting pre-teens) that include ridiculously high-priced in-app purchases has a great point. Not likely that any good parent would approve a $100 add-on to a mobile phone game for any child, meaning the developer is hoping that child knows enough about the parents account to do it themselves.

    Having raised two children of my own I can say I was surprised more than once by how observant my kids were.
  • Reply 39 of 58
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by pmz View Post




    You CANNOT make an in app purchase unless you have the password AND IAP is enabled on the device.



    Repeat.



    You CANNOT make an in app purchase unless you have the password AND IAP is enabled on the device.


     


    UNLESS the "Require password" setting is set to 15 minutes (the default) AND someone else entered the password within the last 15 minutes.


     


    Repeat. 


     



    UNLESS the "Require password" setting is set to 15 minutes (the default) AND someone else entered the password within the last 15 minutes.

  • Reply 40 of 58
    realwarderrealwarder Posts: 136member
    maxgraphic wrote: »
    Just in case it isn't clear, this refund didn't cost Apple anything besides some lost income. They simply took it out of funds due the app developer. They also didn't do it from the kindness of their hearts -- the girl's father could just contest the charge and it would be up to Apple to take him to court and prove that he approved the charges (which he didn't).

    So Apple didn't really have much choice here.

    I thought that exact thing when I read "Cupertino company still shelled out more than $6,000".

    I.e. shelled out implies cost. It cost them nothing, rather the devs simply lost a sale.
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