Apple is introducing a new Apple Watch Pride Edition Braided Solo Loop, matching watch face, and dynamic iOS and iPadOS wallpapers as a way to champion global movements to protect and advance equality for LGBTQ+ communities. Learn more >
Apple is introducing a new Apple Watch Pride Edition Braided Solo Loop, matching watch face, and dynamic iOS and iPadOS wallpapers as a way to champion global movements to protect and advance equality for LGBTQ+ communities. Learn more >
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Introducing the iPad Pro with Apple M4 chip, the redesigned iPad Air in two sizes, and the all‑new Apple Pencil Pro. Watch the event >
Introducing the iPad Pro with Apple M4 chip, the redesigned iPad Air in two sizes, and the all‑new Apple Pencil Pro. Watch the event >
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I purchased the free "smurfs app" from Itunes. I then saw where I was charges $60 without my authorization for this app. Has this happened to anyone else? How do I get some help with resolving this fraudulent charge. It does not seem that the app company should be able to charge my bank account wit bout my approval. Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks to some of the more polite posts here I have now found out about the In App restrictions that can be placed and switched them on.
*This restriction should be the default*, requesting you to override each time you play the game.
I have yet to hear back from Apple, and since my previous post, I've had 2 more bills through totalling 110 GBP !!
I have disputed the transactions directly to my credit card company and made clear to them that I did not authorise the payment and I will not pay it, as I am entitled to under the UK Consumer Credit act. This then makes the dispute between Mastercard and Apple.
This was this morning when I had not even logged into iTunes at all. I am tech savvy and use this stuff all the time.
Regarding your comment about the 15mins cache.
Firstly, it doesn't make any difference as I describe above,
Secondly, even that sentence does not make it clear that these purchases will be made
Thirdly, How many people read all of the terms and conditions of an app advertised as suitable for 4+ and finally, Terms and Conditions are NOT law and can be challenged.
So, I did not authorise it to take a payment, therefore it was not authorised as far as the law is concerned.
people also need to start complaining to the companies that make games like smurfs village, we rule, we city because they are rated 4+ for their age range which is just stupid. No 4yr year old's interest will be held with these type of games. you plop down some land/building whatever and wait an hour or more to collect your reward...
In other words, you didn't go to Settings - Restrictions and turn off in app purchases. Things like this are covered in the manual and it's well worth taking an hour to read the manual.
What is stupid is people who don't understand the rating system. 4+ does not mean that the game is geared to 4 year olds. 4+ means that there is no objectionable material in the app.
Do us all a favor - Go into the app store and leave a nasty rating and your specific comment so that future people looking at the review will see the hazard. That is about our only weapon that might affect how the developer does business.
Its one thing to make these types of apps for adults. I do not have a problem with that. But when you make them geared towards children, that's like marketing cigarettes to kids. Extremely shady.
I found this app when looking through the free kids games section. Come on, its Smurfs not World of Warcraft.
The same goes with that other game Train Conductor. It charged me $50 and i`m still trying to figure out how and why.
I`m waiting to hear back from Apple to see if I can get my money back. I immediately deleted these 2 apps from my ipod.
I did not give my child the ipod to download freely.
I downloaded the app myself. I download all the apps as I do have it restricted and must ask for my password before very purchase or download.
This was listed as a free app. I did not see anywhere where it says it will charge you a fee for planting blueberries or whatever it was.
My son sat with me and we tried to figure it out and within 5 minutes (probably actually less), I noticed this was too complicated for him to play. So I deleted it.
Within that time, I was charged a total of $79 for a Smurfs game.
This other game I downloaded "Train Conductor" did the same thing. I only downloaded these 2 free games last night. Train Conductor ended up charging me $50! We played this game together for a total of 10 minutes. We did not "buy" anything. We just made this little train go from one track to the next and made it stop. That was it!
I think the point "Pro manual reader people" are missing is it does not matter if you have your app purchases on or off. Mine was off and I was still charged to my credit card $60, without my authorization. And by the way I have read the manual and a book on my IPAD. If you are not going to be polite in helping people figure out answers to their questions, then you should not be on this board, it really reflects badly on you, and you are not helping you are being immature and petty!!!!!
I understand how you might get the impression that this is a cause of parents allowing their children to do whatever they want; however, as indicated in the CNET UK article about this matter, the store is indistinguishable from the game that even a responsible parent who is supervising may take a second glance to see it's real money that was clicked away. Why? Because this has never happened before in an app.
We are also talking about an action that can take seconds to accomplish, where you are prompted to go to the store to purchase smurfberries each time you click on something appealing. I have purchased apps for three years, and I cannot recall another app that appears to blatantly exploit the ios feature. And they are also blaming this feature, saying it's not their fault.
Play most other free apps, if not all, such as Megajump, and you will see the store and game are completely different styles and you are not prompted to go there. Most of the time, you have to find the store. I have a smart 5-year-old who purchased $60 of smurfberries when I sat right next to her within seconds. I asked her what she did and she said they told her to go there. Also, this is the Smurfs, not a violent game. If she was unsupervised, my account would have presumably been charged thousands of dollars.
It's no coincidence this is the top grossing app, beating Angry Birds in US and UK, even though it's free. Because this has never happened before. It appears that a programmer for the first time exploited the 15 minute ios feature, either willingly or not, because I have never seen an app that makes it easier to purchase vapor before you can say, wait, stop. I sign out whenever I hand her the iPad, this is the one time I let my guard down because again I was sitting next to her, knowing she was not going to go into the store. Also, until now, I have never had a reason to set restrictions. If that's Apple's defense for not issuing a refund, and they stand to make tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars on this app, then I will be sorely disappointed and feel they condone this type of manipulation, especially when the app designer is saying Apple left this loophole in, we just thought we could use it to our advantage and did. By the way, that disclaimer is new.
I should make it clear that I have not heard Apple's decision regarding a refund, but I fully anticipate they will do the right thing for this rare incident and at least allow a credit to our iTunes account. I hope because I heard deleting the app will remove any purchases, so you are left with nothing.
Hey guys, I'm one of the developers of Train Conductor, and I hope I'm not de-railing the discussion here. But I just wanted to be clear - we do NOT have in-app purchases in our game.
