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Inadvertent $1500 in app purchase Tap Zoo - warning!

My young cousin played some free games on my girlfriend's iPhone and somehow managed to purchase Tap Zoo (it must have logged in beforehand). Within this game, players can buy gold coins which I understand buys animals.

My cousin who is 8yrs old proceeded to make nearly AUD$1500 worth of purchases of these gold coins within the app, without any need for password or any warnings. Remember this game is designed for children.

I checked the developer's website and it appears they have acknowledged they have done the wrong thing and have supported people to seek refunds.

We have emailed iTunes support OVER 48 hours ago and no response. Can someone recommend what we can do as this is a lot of money and our credit card has been cancelled because the bank thought it was a suspicious purchase.

I have posted link to Streetview Labs - please be careful and don't let your kids play this till the developer fixes the problem which is over 10 days old and doesn't seem to be fixed yet.

*Any advice on how to get iTunes to respond all we have is an email and it has been 3 days since the first email we sent.*

iMac 21.5, Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on Sep 22, 2010 6:08 AM

Reply
477 replies

Dec 20, 2010 7:01 PM in response to Tamara

We just experienced a similar issue where my son inadvertantly made a $99.99 purchase through this app. So, there is not a limit. You can make a single purchase of up to $500 in the version I just looked at... No $20 limit.

The application website mentions turning off "1-Click" option in iTunes store, but the ability to turn that off went away somewhere prior to version 9 (they are on 10.1 now...).

Shame on Apple and the developer for this. We have disputed the charge the Amex and based on our history with them, expect good chance of ending in our favor (fingers crossed...)

Dec 29, 2010 1:53 AM in response to mazstar

wow this app is certainly laughing all the way to the bank. I think it is a bit harsh to call people irresponsible parents over something that has been done quite innocently. Kids are having fun playing the app without any knowledge that they are spending mom and dads hard earned money. The app is quite clearly a wolf in sheep clothing, however the app does state inapp purchases for real money. A bit more observation from parents I agree with but to call them irresponsible for letting their kids play a game and having fun is harsh.

Jan 8, 2011 8:42 AM in response to jane billingham1

This is 200% Apple's fault, because they've created the system that allows purchases to be made in-apps without entering the password. This is not accidental; it's a deliberate policy decision on Apple's part.

That's it. I've been a Mac user for years, but this is waay too low and creepy. No way I'm buying into their walled garden anymore if they're pulling tricks like this. Apple have totally lost it on this one.

My recommendation: Log-in to your iTunes account, and remove your credit card details.

Jan 8, 2011 10:59 AM in response to Rooptag

My recommendation: read the manual and understand how you can control the use of the iPhone. Don't give unsupervised use of five or six hundred pounds worth of glass-constructed electronics to a child. Read the description of any app that you download, to see exactly what you are offering to the unsupervised child.

Jan 9, 2011 10:58 PM in response to mazstar

Dear all self-satisfied, time to read the entire manual, above-average intelligence and reverent users of the iPhone: get off your high horse. It is a) not easy to find how to disable in app purchases or b) to actually know that it needs to be done. Not that many hours in the day. The $99 charge was my wake-up call. Glad I caught it. Yes, she is banned from further iPhone use and I disabled everything (it's in Settings/General)
Sure, don't give it to a kid, don't do it w/out reading the instructions, don't...blah blah. So self-righteous, where instead this forum could be helpful in telling you how to disable the function and possibly what other apps allow in-app purchases so to raise more awareness from us dolts who aren't quite as good as you are. 🙂

Jan 15, 2011 7:51 PM in response to mazstar

This just happened to us. My 8 yr old son asked my wife if he could download the "free" applications from Pocket Gems. Once in their game, he didn't realize he was spending real money!. This is so misleading and wrong.

I submitted my "email" to Apple and am awaiting word back. I'm surprised some a consumer advocate reporter hasn't picked this one up yet. I can assure you that I'll be yelling from the highest mountain about it if we don't get the $200 plus charges reversed! I'd like to believe that Apple would cut off this type of "bait and switch" game.

Jan 16, 2011 4:37 AM in response to mazstar

Honestly iTunes doesn't have to refund you unless the app is defective. To those that were refunded you should take the time to send them a big thank you because no matter what the phone is your responsibility and so is your child.

Take time read atleast the app page info if you see charges question it. Check other apps not all have charges. Think why? Research until you understand.

I'm a stay at home mom of 2 girls. An 11 yr old and an 8 yr old who is borderline severely autistic. Here are questions and tips you should be checking out when getting something for your child:

1) TIP: treat your password like a credit card or bank card Don't give it out It's your responibility not iTunes.

2) TIP: remember iTunes can't see who's using the phone it's not their responibility if charges get racked up. It's the card owner who must be atleast 18 to have it and if lost or stolen the card owner is responsible to shutdown their account

3) TIP: at a store you can't return cd's/dvd's/games/software if opened. They may let you exchange the item for the same item if its ONLY defective.

4) QUESTION: would you let your child surf the net unsupervised? Search the word toys...I'll leave you that as homework

I let my autistic daughter play with my phone all the time with an app that has instore apps. Which I questioned before downloading since I didn't undertstand so I checked out other apps found both common sense sewt in and I tried the instore app feature and got the answer I already figured out.

REMEMBER A PERSON UNDER THE AGE OF 18 ARE MINORS AND THEREFORE MUST HAVE THEIR PARENTS OR LEGAL GUARDIANS UNTIL THEY ARE 18.

No I'm not a lawyer I just use google to search you can get a lot of information searching.

Jan 16, 2011 11:01 AM in response to alejandrogazmuri@gmail.com

Translation: dear, I'm from Chile and the same thing happened to us, you have had any response in this situation really is uncomfortable and disturbing, because it effectively are children who play and we need not know the costs if you see that it's free

My last post translated:

Estimado a **i@**.com Yo soy originario de Chile yo ahora vivo en Canadá. Esta es mi respuesta a todos traducidos para usted:

iTunes Honestamente no está obligado a reembolso a menos que la aplicación está defectuoso. Para aquellos que se habían devuelto debe tomar el tiempo para enviarles un gran agradecimiento porque no importa lo que el teléfono es su responsabilidad y también lo es su hijo.

Tómese su tiempo leer atleast la información de la página de la aplicación si usted ve los cargos que se trate. Compruebe otras aplicaciones no tienen cargos. Piense por qué? La investigación hasta que entienda.

Soy un ama de casa de 2 niñas. Un año de 11 años y un año de 8 años que está al borde de autismo severo. Aquí están las preguntas y consejos que usted debe comprobar hacia fuera al conseguir algo para su hijo:

1) Consejo: el tratamiento de la contraseña como una tarjeta de crédito o tarjeta bancaria No dé hacia fuera Es tu no responibility iTunes.

2) SUGERENCIA: recuerde iTunes no puede ver quién está utilizando el teléfono no es su responibility si cargas se acumuló. Es el dueño de la tarjeta que debe tener una antigüedad de 18 a tenerlo y en caso de pérdida o robo de la titular de la tarjeta es responsable de apagar su cuenta

3) NOTA: en una tienda que no pueda regresar cd's / dvd's / juegos / software si se abre. Es posible que le permiten cambiar el artí**** por el mismo artí**** si es defectuoso.

4) Pregunta: ¿Dejarías que tu hijo navegar la red sin supervisión? Buscar en los juguetes de la palabra ... te voy a dejar que a medida que las tareas

Dejo que mi hija autista jugar con mi teléfono todo el tiempo con una aplicación que tiene aplicaciones dentro de la tienda. ¿Qué le pregunté antes de descargar ya que no tenía undertstand lo he comprobado otras aplicaciones que se encuentran tanto sewt sentido común y he intentado la función de aplicación dentro de la tienda y obtuve la respuesta que ya está resuelto.

RECUERDE QUE UNA PERSONA EN LA EDAD DE 18 AÑOS SON MENORES DE EDAD Y POR LO TANTO DEBE TENER SUS PADRES O TUTORES LEGALES hasta los 18 años.

No, yo no soy un abogado que sólo tiene que utilizar Google para la búsqueda que usted puede obtener una gran cantidad de búsqueda de información.

Karen alias now 333AutismNews

Message was edited by: BratAngel333

Jan 29, 2011 5:44 AM in response to JoeBouza

Your first two posts just to criticize others for how many times they post? Did you check the date that they joined before you wasted your time with these? Calculate the number of days since Tamara joined and divide it into the number of posts and you will see it is not that many.

She also has been awarded enough points buy users looking for actual help that she has attained Level 4. That is a lot of people who came here looking for assistance and solved their problem with Tamara's excellent assistance, and the same thing goes for Julian. They both enjoy helping others.

So how many people did your first 2 posts help today?

Inadvertent $1500 in app purchase Tap Zoo - warning!

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