In-app purchase: $106.99 Thanks son

[hoosierdoc]

My wife downloaded a shooting game for my son called "showdown". Somehow he found where he can buy more guns or ammo or something. Anyway, she gets an email invoice for the $106.99.

It's absurd that an app has a $107 in-app upgrade available that you can authorize without password approval. I recommend shutting down in-app purchases if you have kids. Apple is refunding the fee at least as a one-time courtesy.

Steps on iPhone/iPad:

1) Tap Settings on your device's home screen.

2) Tap General.

3) Tap Restrictions.

4) If necessary, tap Enable Restrictions and enter a passcode. This passcode will prevent restrictions from being disabled without your permission.

5) Scroll down to the Allowed Content section. Switch the In-App Purchases option to OFF. Enter your Restrictions passcode if prompted.

 

[SmileDocHill]

Is he buying these guns across state lines without a background check?!?!?!

 

[Bennettjh]

It could be worse. They could have stuck ya with the bill. I'm assuming it wont happen again.

 

[pmorriso]

You used to be able to call and cancel out apps within 24 hours of purchase for a refund. Glad Apple is helping you out on this. I had $200 in Korean apps downloaded from my account. Once they found out I couldn't pronounce the app names they were happy to refund the purchase.

 

[Double T]

Yep, it also has this setting on the kindle, and I'm sure on droid store stuff also.

 

[nucular]

That's kind of their bag. They used to take a hard stance and not offer any refunds. Glad they are now because it is a racket. I learned my lesson cheaply - it was only about $20.

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

I had that kind of problem with XBOX live charges showing up on my bank account. I even went so far as to cancel the card and get a new one, but it happened again. Found out the bank hadn't actually canceled the old one Fixed it for real now. One time he snuck on my computer while I was in the bathroom and bought a controller on ebay, then he found out you need a password to pay for it. The seller was kind enough to cancel the sale.

 

[hoosierdoc]

My son is 4 though, can't read and no sneaky intent

 

[Harmi01]

Thanks for the heads up. Two of my grandsons (age 4 and 2) are very adept at using my iPhone and I've now protected myself from their exploring!!

 

[sumphead]

At six, my son purchased $300 worth of zombie brains in-ap for zombie farm. Apple was not so nice to me because it was several purchases. But he actually just saw me type in my password (Caps and numbers included) and remembered it. There was no malicious intent, just, "that's what daddy does," whenever I installed games. lesson-learned.

 

[hoosierdoc]

I was wrong, they gave us a credit to use on other things, not a refund

 

[cagilber]

Just when you thought it was cheaper to let your kids play on your iPhone rather than buying them a separate Nintendo DS...then bam you get charged with a $300 bill...that would suck

 

[92ThoStro]

My 4 year old nephew can use an iPone or iPad just as good as anyone else. It is very interesting to watch. He can click on youtube, and type in his favorite show or a word like "trains" or something, and watch videos. At that age, we barely knew how to do anything. It's for sure, a new age. He racked up a few hundred in charges in the app store, and in the games. Apple refunded everything to them.

 

[perry]

I don't keep a credit card tied to my account, just buy iTunes cards on sale at Xmas time. I have had one unauthorized purchase and it was a pain to get a refund and they wouldn't remove the game from my history. I was less than impressed with Apples customer service and glad I didn't have a card tied to the account.

 

[bwframe]

Just wait 'till them younguns discover porn...

 

[hoosierdoc]

Five-year-old runs up £1,700 iPad bill in ten minutes - Telegraph

Well... a few things on this.

1) Apple refunded their money but did not refund mine. Dang it.

2) Shame on the parents for doing this to him. He had no idea what he did, the parents set him up for a situation and it happened. The fault is solely on the parents on this. They need a good talking to for shaming and harming this poor kid's self-esteem.

Mrs Kitchen, a mother-of-five, said: "I realised what happened and told Danny he'd better get ready for bed and run and hide before daddy got home.
"He was crying, as the rest of the children were telling him we could have bought a house with the amount he had spent.

 

[MikeDVB]

Are you running the latest version of iOS on the device? This is a common (older) issue that they revised in newer versions by requiring the password for *all* in-app purchases regardless of when the password was last entered.

Apple received a lot of bad PR on this, which is why it was changed I presume.