Inadvertent $1500 in app purchase Tap Zoo - warning!

I am not a lawyer so you may be right about the fact that it should not be called a fraud. You may be an employee of this company so I dont want to get into legal issues here.
You seem to think that it is fair to show an application for FREE with Santa s image and to ask for a password to download it but allow afterwards to purchase expensive items to play the game without having to give the password.

Thats how people take advantage of clients today. They have all the arguments to show it is legal so it makes things right.

If an application with Santa s face is advertised as FREE it should be FREE with no twist or warning in the text to say "this could cost you a fortune" because chances are the ones who will use it will be children.

And if kids should stay away from these devises, Itunes should not offer kids stuff in Apps Store.

And yes there are many legal reasons why Tap Zoo like applications will continue to exist. but it does make it right.

And again legally you are right in saying it is not a fraud. I wont fight this with a laywer so let me say then that I dont find it ethical for Itunes to let these things happen.

I am not neither a lawyer nor an employee of Apple. Just an ordinary person who would read the description of an app as far as the third line if I were going to let my children play with them (if they were not all around forty years old).

The application is completely free, and may be played for no additional cost. It also (read it) warns that parental responsibility is required, and tells you how (at least in this case) to achieve this.

Rant as much as you like. Apple is not responsible for the parenting of your children. You are.

Just learned the hard way that iTunes password isn't enough, that there is a setting for "in-app" purchases that defaults to "on"! (To turn it off, Settings/General/Restrictions/create pass code/Enable Restrictions/In-app Purchases/"OFF")

I discovered this morning that my 8 year old daughter unknowingly purchased a $99.99 “Trunk of Coins” in the stupid "Free" 'Tap Zoo' app on her iTouch.

I feel Apple has allowed rip off artists to take advantage of their system to the severe detriment of Apples reputation and the trust customers have in them.

Right now I feel like bringing my families two iTouches, three iPods, and iPad to the apple store, snapping them into pieces and leaving them there on the counter.

I am going to call customer support right now and if they don’t resolve this they will have lost a customer for life. I’ll write again with the results.

34 mintes and 37 seconds later, 95% of which on hold, and I'm told that the amount will be refunded in full and that I should see it within 3-5 days.

Didn't have a confirmation number for me, just a case number. The rep was fine, very helpful and polite, did the best he could with the system they have. Nearly all of the hold time was him waiting for iTunes support to respond to him.

So here I am having to hassle with it further, I have to check to make sure the refund comes through some time next week. If it doesn't, I get to have more of my time evaporated.

Lame Apple, extremely lame! I want my time back. Allowing crap applications to do this is badly damaging your reputation. Believe me, all of my friends will know about this crap. Next stop - facebook and twitter.

Just learned the hard way

It's all covered in the User Guide... of course, being a responsible parent, you would've read the User Guide, and made any required Settings changes to suit your parenting before giving an 8 year old child an internet enabled device with online purchasing facility?

In-App Purchases are a legitimate way for third party developers to provide extra features, add-ons etc. for games and other Apps and receive some income for their development work. It may surprise you to learn that software developers, just like you and I, need to make a living and charging for products is how they do it.

Offering a free (usually feature limited) version of their game allows you to try it out *at no charge*. If you like the game, and wish to get extra levels or enhance it in some way, you can make these optional in-app purchases. Or you can just continue to play the free version, still at no cost.

Obviously, as a parent, you do need to spend a few minutes evaluating the suitability of things you give to your child. That's where the Product Descriptions and Reviews in the AppStore come in. Also, like many parents do with kids movies, you can assess the suitability by viewing it yourself before letting your child see it.

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...)

The game is advertised as FREE and aimed at kids. Every other purchase option we have run into on the iPhone or iPod Touch requires entering a password to confirm the purchase. What normal-minded developer puts the ability to make a $100 (or greater purchase) on a kids app...???????!!!!!!!

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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.

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.

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.

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. 🙂

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.

In the meantime you have gone to restrictions and turned off inapp purchases?

P.S. If you let your 8 year old use the iPhone, and along with downloading a game he dials a number in China and leaves it connected for a while, who will complain to about those charges?

Message was edited by: deggie

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.

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