iMac 27", Mac OS X (10.6.4)
there have been a couple posters recently with complaints about service in the UK.
If this might help, it is contact info for the US but you might be able to lodge a complaint through that avenue.
Could someone help or offer some advice? My son (9 years old) was £0.03 short of credit on his account to buy a £0.69 app for his iPod. I tried to transfer some of the credit from my account to his by way of "gifting" him the app, was told I couldn't do that so (probably foolishly) put my bank card details in for him.
It then looks as if within a couple of days he had unwittingly downloaded over £318.00 worth of apps. I appreciate my responsibility here in handing over my card details but why is there no resposibility on the app provider to limit what they do or flag it. some of these individual transactions were for £50 or more!. If my bank hadn't picked up on it heaven knows how much would have gone west.
Anyone come across a similar problem and any advice on how to stop other people falling into the same trap? I deliberatly had never put my card details in to iTunes and always relied on pre-paid iTunes cards before. I didnt for one minute think a nine year old could run up such a bill so quickly. This is not a dishonest kid either - I think he is one who has made a genuine mistake at the hands of one very greedy provider (Dragonvale I think were the software people) with no compuntion that £300+ taken in a matter of hours when it was obvious soemthing was wrong.
I've changed pretty much every setting on the itunes account now so he cant even get into it, but where's the morality in this?
Gooner, this, or similar, has come up a number of time recently. Not uncommon around the holidays when parents give their children iDevices for Christmas and then the kids start having fun. And not malicious fun, just things like not being aware that many game apps "offer" additions, and other things that end up costing money.
You do bring up a valid point, when would a reasonable person or supplier realize they need to flash an alert that this action will result in charges...what you are about to do is not FREE.
I don't think anyone on here has a definitive answer, the app store is very clear that all sales are final, no refunds, and they do not accept responsibility for policing customers, but there should be an alert given so the customer knows they are about to make a purchase. Of course, some of the cases cited on here involve children who probably would not fully understand what that means...ages are too young.
The bottom-line comes down to don't give anyone, even a child, credit card access if you don't want them charging to the credit card.
Try giving apple customer service a call, and also register your concern:
I'm not sure I understand this question so my apologies. Is it the case that your son was purchasing apps or was he making in-app purchases?
In the former scenario each app is clearly labelled in the App store as either free or with a price. When I click on install I am asked to confirm my decision. The confirmation prompt doesn't show the price but then the price is there next to the install button. If you can't trust someone to read the price and understand the financial consequence of installing an app then it's still too early to hand over card details
However - if it's the latter then this is new territory for me. I have disabled in-app purchases on my iPhone and iPad. Can this be done on a Mac?
One other question for the gurus would be this: Can you set accounts for iTunes and the App Store to authorise downloads of zero value only?
Andy
Andy, I don't see any way to restrict downloads to only free apps. There are a number of restrictions one can invoke on iDevices, but that is not one of them.
Why don't you give Apple feedback on that suggestion? If users start asking for something like that Apple may get the idea and add the feature.
Ralph
I may be wrong but I recently purchased an ipod touch for my class at school and on set-up you can create a free account which means you can access the app store without having to hand over any card details. When under that login, my pupils can download any app as long as it is free. I know this means having a new account but it's worth thinking about if you want to prevent one of the shockers described above!
I think that the issue is that this is not a one visit problem. We are upset at the lack of a complaints service because one is available for every other company that I have EVER dealt with. Apple's lack of a complaints line annoys me also. I purchased an iPad 2 on launch day last year. I found the functionality of my home button was faltering. I took my iPad into the only Apple store in Perth at great expense as parking cost me a fortune. I went to the genius bar and swapped my iPad for a "new" one. We couldn't test it there and then because I needed to restore from a backup. The Apple technician told me that my issue was a "rare" one and I took his word for it. I then went to JBHIFI and purchased a set of 3 screen protectors for $32. Went home and started the restore process. I then applied the screen protector carefully. After an hour of waiting my ipad was finally ready for use. First thing I do is go to wake it up and suprise! The home button is COMPLETELY non-functional on this iPad. Wow I managed to get a "rare" hardware issue on both my iPads... sounds likely. Anyway I restored it to factory settings incase it was my backup that affected the iPad... no change. So then I reset the settings and erased it just to be sure... no change.
I would really like to know details of an online complaints dept.
I signed up on a 2 year contract with vodafone on a 32g ipad 2 in December, my toddler dropped it (so not from a great height) and I read on various forums of people going to the shop and getting free replacements because theyre not very robust etc and they make people travel so far.
I drove 90 mins to my nearest Apple Store to be told they wanted £300, now i understand accidental damage is not covered...but i wish this would be across the board and i am pretty peed off after reading hundreds of people got theirs replaced online.
So now, I don't have £300 going spare and I have to pay £30 a month for the next 22 months...for sweet F.A.
I will NEVER buy apple again...i like their products, but they are made so crap and break far more easily than any other i have owned, for some reason they get away with selling badly made products for extortionate prices.
Really really unhappy was loyal customer 😟
Apple Stores sometimes replace free of charge just for goodwill, and against the terms of every warranty on the planet. No warranty for any product covers you against accidental damage. Judging from your post, I suspect you went in with the wrong attitude for a demonstration of goodwill.
@gemski, I sympathise with your situation, when something costs so much, for it to break is rather upsetting. However, as tonefox suggests, it is not the responsibility of a manufacturer to repair 'accidental damaged' goods for free under their warranty. The responsiblitydoes lie with you I'm afraid and I'm sure you will find that most companies will take this same line. Perhaps you should check if your ipad can be claimed on your household insurance. Failing that, if you bought your ipad on a credit card then it may be insured through them!
Having 2 young children myself, I know they can be very accident prone but as a parent you need to take responsibility for you childs actions, you cannot expect apple to pick up a bill for a mistake that you have made! I hope you manage to find a way of restoring your ipad to its former glory.
I totally get that part of it...but I really didn't expect a product that cost me £600 to not work anymore after being dropped 2 feet. I was also advised by Apple Care to take it to the store and they could repair it...so i did so, to be told ipads don't get repaired if they won't switch on.
It looks like i won't get it returned to it's 'glory' and I have learned a lesson regarding Apple products...was advised by a few people not to bother because of the rubbish quality of them and even Vodafone told me they don't offer insurance on them because they cost too much to repair and break too often!!
My best friend loves Apple, cos she has had 4 or 5 iphones replaced with liquid damage, cracked screens etc...lucky for her!
Thanks for your responses anyway 🙂 x
And trust me i never went in with any attitude guys.....i have worked in customer service for many years to know I don't wanna help someone who comes to me with a rude or bad attitude 🙂 x
@Gemski81 as @dekkeruk mentioned, have you checked the terms of your home and contents insurance to see if your iPad would be covered for acidental damage. If it is there will probably be an excess to pay, and any claim will no doubt have an impact on your next years premium, but combind that may be less than the £300 quoted by the Apple Store for a repair.
Whatever happens I hope you manage to get something sorted soon.
Cheers
AF
I am also looking for the complaints department so if you are able to find out where to complain please tell me
See my step by step explanation of how to log a complaint in a previous post in this thread. If you want an online complaints department feel free to ask either of the two people I pointed out in my prior step by step explanation
Andy
Do Apple have a complaints department in the UK?
