Inadvertent $1500 in app purchase Tap Zoo - warning!

same thing happened to me- ( $99 plus tax) $113 purchase for Tap Zoo- unlike others here i have heard of spohisticated hacking on some of these apps and the apps themselves realize that there are alot of unsuspecting people out there so they put little or no controls- Lesson learned here- Disable any function on your iphone- kids or no kids and ensure you have no vredit card attached- even that may not be enough- Large Cdn credit card company had over 300 unauthorized purchases Itunes/store purchases re-imbursed yet Apple seems not to be doing enough-

FYI, Apple just agreed to provide me a full refund for my kid unauthorized purchase of close to 200 Euro virtual coints in Tap Zoo - I think they know there is something strange with this Free app targeted at unsuspecting kids and then charging US$100 for some virtual tokens.

I sent them an email stating, among other things

Apple should inform in a clear manner everyone - and not just on page 378 of the instructions - that entering the iTunes password leaves any device open for 15 minutes to additional use.

It's really strange that no one can download a free App without the password, but there is this 15-min glitch that allows anyone to do everything unsupervised? This is not usual nor normal and I challenge anyone to say it's what you would normally expect. This has nothing to do with bad parenting or need to control your kids.

This is like a car manufacturer not warning its customers that even if you switch off the car and take the keys with you, the door could still be opened and the engine started for 15 minutes without the need for the keys to be used - it would be mayhem! And a big class action law-suit against the car manufacturer.

Anyhow, Apple did the right think to refund, but should be careful not to leave the door wide open for app developers to take advantage of this.

Very generous, I would have thought, considering the first couple of sentences that one might have read before downloading the app.

My 8 year old daughter just spent $524 on playing these games. I just got the iPad and told her only free games! She was not aware that when she buying stuff that she was using actual money! And to tell you the truth if I was playing I would think it was fake money too. Who in there right mind pay for this stuff. You call yourselves adults? Find something else to spend your money on. And for those people blaming the parents, there is no way you sit there and watch them play a zoo game! This is a total scam! I sent iTunes and email and they better refund me! Has anyone had a problem getting a refund? Is there a phone number I can call?

If you didn't want your 8 year old spending money in apps then you should have disabled in-app purchases through the settings. Do you give your 8 year old your PayPal and online banking information too?

That darn Apple, it's always their fault, and not people who put the app on their device and fail to read the warning in the app description in the very first sentence. How dare they! Apple is so evil.

You're missing the point though. If they don't blame Apple then what will they use as a smokescreen for their awful parrenting and supervision? It's like blaming Ford because you handed your kid your car keys and left him alone, then he got in the car and drove it into the h ouse.

my 5 year old boy just bought 1000 us dollars of coins in two days when we are away for a holiday

and i can see those on my credit card

he does not tell how he has done this but he had

i tried to contact apple its been 48 hours but no answer yet

waiting

Despite all these criticisms on parenting and clever analogies being really cute and all, these tap zoo guys are scammers, no matter how you slice it. Preying on those who 1] are guilty of not reading the description of a free game targeted at kids, and 2] don't know that there's a 15 minute password-free window.

I myself would be inclined to give people who fell for this a break, rather than the developers of tap zoo and similar. To some Apple can do no wrong apparently.

Christopher, for someone who is so into blaming people for not reading - maybe you should go back and read the initial agreement you checked off when signing up for this forum.

Specifically from section 2: submissions...

Be polite. Everyone should feel comfortable reading Submissions and participating in discussions. Apple will not tolerate flames or other inappropriate statements, material, or links. Most often, a "flame" is simply a statement that is taunting and thus arbitrarily inflammatory. However, this also includes those which are libelous, defamatory, indecent, harmful, harassing, intimidating, threatening, hateful, objectionable, discriminatory, abusive, vulgar, obscene, pornographic, sexually explicit, or offensive in a sexual, racial, cultural, or ethnic context.

Go annoy someone on youtube instead please. We already know where you stand, and your continuing remarks are pointless and rude.

it is very simple to set your iphone to restrict in-app purchases.

No app can make charges without user intervention. The user has to tap BUY and enter a password.

Seriously, what is the point of name-calling and passing judgment? I am new to this, but I seriously doubt that is the purpose of an Apple sanctioned forum. I am just looking for support, answers and resolution. If that's not your goal, then get off this forum and go troll elsewhere.

To those seeking to give or get support and help: This happened to us too, and I'd like to know how you got resolution. It is almost impossible to get a live person on the telephone. Any advice on numbers to call or best course of action?

My 7 y/o son has an iTouch (not an iPhone). He knows the rules about downloading games, even when they are free. He asked my permission and showed me the game and explained to me how it worked. I didn't know to explain the purchasing issue to him because (1) he always asks my permission to download, even free items. He thought it was part of the game and didn't realize it was real money so he didn't ask. And, (2) quite honestly I had never heard of in-app purchases before so it was not on my radar to be aware of this possibillity. Just because we are all not as technically savvy or aware as the holier-than-thou "saints" who have deemed us bad parents and idiots, it doesn't mean we deserve to be taken advantage of either. I have not heard back from iTunes yet but hope for a refund as well.

This is a user-to-user forum. All anyone can do here is suggest that you contact Apple to see if they will help and to give you instructions on how to enable restrictions for in-app purchases. It is not unreasonable for anyone here to also suggest that you carefully review the iPhone manual. I am not trying to be unkind but, apparently, you are unware of some very crucial features. It would be in your best interest to read the manual.

All of the contact information for Apple is available at the Contact Us link at the bottom right of every page of the forums. The Terms of Sale of the iTunes Store is that all purchases are final. People have reported that exceptions have been made. However, as Apple has provided a method to prevent such inadvertent purchases and you agreed to the TOS, they are within their rights not to give you a refund. You should be prepared for that possibility.

Best of luck.

Thanks, Meg. I was actually more surprised and offended by the accusations of poor parenting and stupidity. Seemed a bit extreme and personal. Just looking for advice and constructive help.

I know you are not being unkind and that it seems obvious to say it was in the manual, but I actually did read the manual when we bought the touch a couple of years ago (when I got my iphone, my son got my hand-me-down). Since it wasn't something that I ever used or something that had ever come up before (even with my pre-teen daughter), it was one of those things that I proceeded to forget about completely. I still have to get out the instructions for my camera when I want to use a feature I haven't used in a while. And, I have to look in my car's user manual when a random light comes on that I haven't seen in a while. I think that's probably fairly normal for most people. It is pretty unreasonable to expect people to remember every detail of every function. And, in terms of iTunes responsibility, the description says you can use real money within the game. . . it doesn't say anywhere that it will come out of iTunes. I had no expectation that in-app purchases would be connected to my iTunes account. I thought this was a separate function through the game/Pocket Gem. Not trying to be argumentative, but since this obviously keeps happening then it's safe to say that iTunes and/or Pocket Gems is aware of the problem. This is definitely a kids' game, so they know who their audience is and they are preying on kids. They might be within their right according to the terms of sales, but it doesn't make it ethical.

an old lady in the US of A, bought a new Winebago camper w/ a cruise drive... went for a trip ...put the camper in in Auto Cruise... then stood up and went to the back of the camper to fix herself a sandwich.. camper went off the road, damaging the camper beyond repair & causing serious physical injuries to the old lady herself.. BECAUSE SHE READ ON THE MANUAL THE CAMPER CAN BE PUT ON AUTO CRUISE ...