That’s ridiculous!! Every time I make a purchase of a new app I get an email. I don’t know how in app purchases work though but wouldn’t you knife of NOTICE that hundreds of dollars are being charged to your credit card?? What kind of idiot doesn’t check purchases against charges if they don’t recognize them.
How can someone miss tracking that much spending? I certainly feel sorry for the mother, though. Or she is so wealthy that chalking up $16k on her credit card is not something you spend attention to.
I can imagine not being educated in the the routine of monitoring your financial health.
Although the mother is in part to blame, there really should be upper limits-maybe a monthly limit-on the amount an app is allowed to collect for virtual currency. We shouldn’t have games in the store that encourages spending $100s in IAP virtual currency anyway.
100% Mom's fault. At first, I was a little sympathetic and started to think maybe Apple should give her a partial break. Then I read what she said. Apple should double the amount of the charges the kid wracked up.
She has got to have two pretty big ones to blame Apple for her complete failure to stay one step ahead of a six-year old. A SIX-YEAR OLD child!
Apple has and provides more tools for parental control than anyone else and they promote the tools and are constantly refining and publicizing them.
The kid is a lot smarter than the mother.
Wilton, CT is a very affluent and well-off town in Fairfield County. It takes significant money to live there and it's a place a lot of very well-off NYC people are flocking to these towns. Popular place if you have a lot of money and want out of NYC.
Although the mother is in part to blame, there really should be upper limits on the amount an app is allowed to collect for virtual currency.
Limits or lack thereof have nothing to do with this. She should not get some of the blame as you say. She should get 100% of the blame. The idea Apple or the developer is responsible is almost offensive.
She left a six year old unattended for months on end and it took months for her to pay attention to the credit card charges. She must have some load of money to not notice until it got well over $10k. $2500 in one day.Who did she think was running up the bills? The husband/partner? Seriously.
"I think the mother should petition Tim Apple to gift her the money lost... has really put her in dire straights."
Well I think the mother should petition Fiona Apple to gift her a song...perhaps one with Dire Straits. That way they don't have to give her money for nothing cause that chicks free!
Interesting, she blame anyone but herself. She said her husband stay at home all time due to COVID. But no one care to take a look what their son was doing all these months? Of course a 6 year old will not fully understand the concept of money, unless he is from a less fortunate family. But as an adult, they should understand there is no free lunch/play. They really think the kid can play for free the whole time?
Also, she knows the charge is from apple but not even care to make a single phone call to Apple to try to find out what happened. I can get connected to a real person from apple within 3 minutes unlike other big companies. Is her time that valuable?
I bet she another Karen that want to use public pressure to make apple take the blame. Ironically seems no one take her side.
What a surprise. Another adult failing to take responsibility.
I have zero sympathy for her. That being said, I made an attempt about 8 months ago to try playing some iOS games after a years-long drought, and I was disgusted at how all the games kept pushing to pay money to get ahead. It was really in your face kind of tactics.
I stopped playing them. I can certainly understand the temptations that six-year-old children would have.
Although the mother is in part to blame, there really should be upper limits on the amount an app is allowed to collect for virtual currency.
Limits or lack thereof have nothing to do with this. She should not get some of the blame as you say. She should get 100% of the blame. The idea Apple or the developer is responsible is almost offensive.
It's not offensive in the least to suggest the developer is responsible when they designed the game - a game aimed at children - with a bottomless pit of disposable and overpriced purchase options that are tied in with the gameplay.
"Sonic Forces: Speed Battle is a pay-to-win game. The game has in-app purchases that cost anywhere from $0.99 to $99. These allow you to skip the cool down timer on the loot box you get for winning a race. These loot boxes contain in-game currency and power-ups that increase your performance during PvP battles. Since the more powerful player tends to win and gain even more currency and power-ups, you can see how this could be a problem."
Sega is involved in the gambling industry, they have made similar revenue from actual gambling machines as they do from games. It's a dangerous combination to have a gambling company producing games for a large scale global audience of children with direct payment options:
Apple is a middleman but they share some responsibility as they are aware of the size of the transactions. There's no reasonable justification that anyone, adult or child, would pay $16k on a game in such a short period of time. Even people who spend $2k per month on Candy Crush are considered to have addiction issues. The gambling industry has regulations for this reason.
She left a six year old unattended for months on end and it took months for her to pay attention to the credit card charges. She must have some load of money to not notice until it got well over $10k. $2500 in one day.Who did she think was running up the bills? The husband/partner? Seriously.
I get what you are saying ... Wow.
As the linked article says, she claims the bank told her they were likely fraudulent charges originally - that could come from stolen card details:
"The reason I didn’t call within 60 days is because Chase told me it was likely fraud — that PayPal and Apple.com are top fraud charges."
She also assumed the charges could have been a mistake, there have been times companies bill people incorrectly and fix the error. If it was mistaken billing, there would be no reason to cancel the card. The bank rejected her fraud report after finding they were legitimate purchases.
Sometimes there turns out to be more to these stories but there's absolutely no downside in having responsible measures in place to protect customers from this as a default and that's what the parent suggests. I can't see any legitimate reason why people would prefer there to be no protections in place, Apple could easily remove them on request.
I will not side with Apple on this one. The store is curated, so everything on it carries their seal of approval. I don’t see how a game that allows charging so much in in-game purchases can not be considered for what it is: a complete scam. And Apple should set much stronger rules and caps on in-app spending for games. This is ridiculous.
It’s the job of the parent to monitor and regulate the activity of their kid. Don’t give a kid an open credit card to be used on games.
Frankly, I don’t think we have any real clarity on whether this is even a real story or just someone attempting to get suckers to send her free money.
I will not side with Apple on this one. The store is curated, so everything on it carries their seal of approval. I don’t see how a game that allows charging so much in in-game purchases can not be considered for what it is: a complete scam. And Apple should set much stronger rules and caps on in-app spending for games. This is ridiculous.
Have you ever used the App store? Every purchase sends an email within seconds of purchase, claiming ignorance for not checking her email is her fault.
To rake up 16k in charges means thousands of email receipts. Maybe the first week or month you give the mother a pass for not catching it right away 2+ monthss of receipts and not doing anything is just bad parenting. I believe all boxes/in game upgrades should be banned unless is for levels or expansion backs (real value), and for advanced features that some Pro Apps have (again real monetary value), butt since in game purchasing is available, Apple has parental cortols and makes them well known.
as an aside, if you log in to Chase.com and look at your purchased Apple Store comes up all itemized, so I don't buy her Chase excuse either. Marvin said:
Although the mother is in part to blame, there really should be upper limits on the amount an app is allowed to collect for virtual currency.
Limits or lack thereof have nothing to do with this. She should not get some of the blame as you say. She should get 100% of the blame. The idea Apple or the developer is responsible is almost offensive.
It's not offensive in the least to suggest the developer is responsible when they designed the game - a game aimed at children - with a bottomless pit of disposable and overpriced purchase options that are tied in with the gameplay.
"Sonic Forces: Speed Battle is a pay-to-win game. The game has in-app purchases that cost anywhere from $0.99 to $99. These allow you to skip the cool down timer on the loot box you get for winning a race. These loot boxes contain in-game currency and power-ups that increase your performance during PvP battles. Since the more powerful player tends to win and gain even more currency and power-ups, you can see how this could be a problem."
Sega is involved in the gambling industry, they have made similar revenue from actual gambling machines as they do from games. It's a dangerous combination to have a gambling company producing games for a large scale global audience of children with direct payment options:
Apple is a middleman but they share some responsibility as they are aware of the size of the transactions. There's no reasonable justification that anyone, adult or child, would pay $16k on a game in such a short period of time. Even people who spend $2k per month on Candy Crush are considered to have addiction issues. The gambling industry has regulations for this reason.
She left a six year old unattended for months on end and it took months for her to pay attention to the credit card charges. She must have some load of money to not notice until it got well over $10k. $2500 in one day.Who did she think was running up the bills? The husband/partner? Seriously.
I get what you are saying ... Wow.
As the linked article says, she claims the bank told her they were likely fraudulent charges originally - that could come from stolen card details:
"The reason I didn’t call within 60 days is because Chase told me it was likely fraud — that PayPal and Apple.com are top fraud charges."
She also assumed the charges could have been a mistake, there have been times companies bill people incorrectly and fix the error. If it was mistaken billing, there would be no reason to cancel the card. The bank rejected her fraud report after finding they were legitimate purchases.
Sometimes there turns out to be more to these stories but there's absolutely no downside in having responsible measures in place to protect customers from this as a default and that's what the parent suggests. I can't see any legitimate reason why people would prefer there to be no protections in place, Apple could easily remove them on request.
This is completely 100% HER FAULT! Apple should not be responsible for her irresponsibility. Who the hell gets alerts for those charges and waits months to find out why. If even $5 is taken off my card that I dont know of I check. And shes worried about xmas really?! If it was my kids I wouldnt worry about xmas for the next five years!! My kids did this and it only happened once and I knew the second he purchased because of the many alerts I set. Playstation network quickly refunded me even after I said it was my child that charged it and if they hadnt I wouldnt have been upset bcuz it was my child and my responsibility. This is a crazy story on the moms part and I hope she punished her son which from her comments I highly doubt it.
I think the mother should petition Tim Apple to gift her the money lost back from his personal account in the spirit of Christmas. He should empathize with her for this unfortunate technology related mistake which has really put her in dire straights.
This isnt a technology related mistake this is just plain irresponsibility on her part. She ignored the charges using the excuse she thought it was fraud so then wouldnt that make u jump on the phone to get to the bottom of it immediately?! Also I really dont think christmas should be a reason to give back $16,000. She obviously has plenty of money cuz only someone with money would ignore thousands of dollars being charged on their account. And lets not forget he was using her ipad so i dont know how she didnt notice unless her son isnt as innocent as she claims and hid the alerts. In my opinion this is her fault and her sons. She should explain to him what he did and hold him accountable. No more $4. To clean his room that money should go towards the bill he racked up not that she should be paying him to clean his own room to begin with but thats just me.
This arguement is 10 years old. This is why there are parental controls in the settings. There was a rash of this about 10 years ago when droves of parents were giving their children devices with their appleid signed in along with not protecting their password. It’s the same as giving your child your credit card. Apple ended up refunding a lot of those charges and that’s when parental controls was created.
Plus she should have signed out of her Appleid anytime she downloaded anything with it. If her child already knows the login, she should change her password.
Like others have said, I don’t know how you can miss that many charges on your statement if you pay attention.
I feel for her, but it’s not Apple’s or Sega’s fault.
You can get into the same trouble using Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft and Android.
Chase could be on the hook because they informed her it was probably fraud and with that information she didn’t contact Apple within time.
I like the last line! Apple attempted to educate people... I love it! It shows today’s view of the world, and especially the views from a blog called well... AppleInsider. Instead of renouncing a bit of profit after making only billions every month, after sending a letter to developers to switch from a paid app model to an in-app purchase model, Apple tried to educate... Let’s put it like it is: in-app are a scam using the most tricky and dark ways in order to trick human mind into spending. It’s like gambling, it creates addiction and should be forbidden on games targeted to under 16’s as gambling is. Game developers know this and build games around this, pushing people more and more and more. Oh yes, sure! It’s people will! Well remember that day when you came home tired or simply sad or upset and that rush generated by your favourite game made you fell better. Well, now you understand. Game developer use tons of psy to understand and push that feeling. And Apple is an accomplice as it is well aware. But money is money. Oh, i forgot! It is mother’s fault. True. Under the most terrific pandemic ever, after working her ass off and getting home tired she had to obviously check and spank the boy that she left in company of what she thought to be safe: an Apple device. Where is Tim Cook, so ready to cancel shows he does not agree of in the name of a Better World, or donate to causes he thinks will Improve the Workd and the better understanding and equality of People? Will he stand up against a business model that under the name “services” just grew 20 per cent last quarter and is taxed at 2 per cent in a far remote tax heaven?
Comments
She has got to have two pretty big ones to blame Apple for her complete failure to stay one step ahead of a six-year old. A SIX-YEAR OLD child!
Apple has and provides more tools for parental control than anyone else and they promote the tools and are constantly refining and publicizing them.
The kid is a lot smarter than the mother.
Wilton, CT is a very affluent and well-off town in Fairfield County. It takes significant money to live there and it's a place a lot of very well-off NYC people are flocking to these towns. Popular place if you have a lot of money and want out of NYC.
She left a six year old unattended for months on end and it took months for her to pay attention to the credit card charges. She must have some load of money to not notice until it got well over $10k. $2500 in one day.Who did she think was running up the bills? The husband/partner? Seriously.
I get what you are saying ... Wow.
Do you know anything about the town she lives in? Her means? How much she has in the bank? What her house is worth?
She said her husband stay at home all time due to COVID. But no one care to take a look what their son was doing all these months? Of course a 6 year old will not fully understand the concept of money, unless he is from a less fortunate family. But as an adult, they should understand there is no free lunch/play. They really think the kid can play for free the whole time?
I bet she another Karen that want to use public pressure to make apple take the blame. Ironically seems no one take her side.
https://www.androidauthority.com/sonic-forces-speed-battle-android-800455/
"Sonic Forces: Speed Battle is a pay-to-win game. The game has in-app purchases that cost anywhere from $0.99 to $99. These allow you to skip the cool down timer on the loot box you get for winning a race. These loot boxes contain in-game currency and power-ups that increase your performance during PvP battles. Since the more powerful player tends to win and gain even more currency and power-ups, you can see how this could be a problem."
Sega is involved in the gambling industry, they have made similar revenue from actual gambling machines as they do from games. It's a dangerous combination to have a gambling company producing games for a large scale global audience of children with direct payment options:
https://www.tweaktown.com/news/69459/sega-merge-pachinko-game-dev-branches-together/index.html
Apple is a middleman but they share some responsibility as they are aware of the size of the transactions. There's no reasonable justification that anyone, adult or child, would pay $16k on a game in such a short period of time. Even people who spend $2k per month on Candy Crush are considered to have addiction issues. The gambling industry has regulations for this reason. As the linked article says, she claims the bank told her they were likely fraudulent charges originally - that could come from stolen card details:
"The reason I didn’t call within 60 days is because Chase told me it was likely fraud — that PayPal and Apple.com are top fraud charges."
She also assumed the charges could have been a mistake, there have been times companies bill people incorrectly and fix the error. If it was mistaken billing, there would be no reason to cancel the card. The bank rejected her fraud report after finding they were legitimate purchases. Sometimes there turns out to be more to these stories but there's absolutely no downside in having responsible measures in place to protect customers from this as a default and that's what the parent suggests. I can't see any legitimate reason why people would prefer there to be no protections in place, Apple could easily remove them on request.
Frankly, I don’t think we have any real clarity on whether this is even a real story or just someone attempting to get suckers to send her free money.
ething Apple heavily encouraged.
scolding the parent from tech support? Really!
you’re better than this Apple. Just do the right thing.
Plus she should have signed out of her Appleid anytime she downloaded anything with it. If her child already knows the login, she should change her password.
I feel for her, but it’s not Apple’s or Sega’s fault.