UK Boy Leaves Family With £2000 iTunes Bill
Talk about bill shock.
A family in the United Kingdom was shocked to receive a massive iTunes bill after their six-year-old grandson went on an in-app buying spree. The Telegraph reports that Will had been playing Monster Island on his grandfather's iPad and, unbeknownst to the iPad's owner, had been making tons of purchases for virtual food and coins.
Speaking to the Daily Mirror, Will's grandfather Barry Smith explained that his grandson was just pressing buttons and buying baskets of food and coins for his monsters. While he did admit that he 'must have synced [his] credit card up with the App Store,' he said he couldn't believe how easy it is to make in-app purchases.
Luckily, this story has a happy ending, at least on the financial side. Will's grandparents, who noticed the mistake when his grandmother's credit card was declined at the supermarket, said they explained the situation to Apple and the company gave them a refund. Sadly, things didn't work out so well for Will. His mother said he was sad when he was told he couldn't play the game anymore because he was about to reach level 26 and fight the Dark Monster.
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Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.
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officeguy Replymother said he was sad when he was told he couldn't play the game anymore because he was about to reach level 26 and fight the Dark Monster.
I would be pissed if I got up to lvl 26 and couldn't fight the Dark Monster. I would swipe the Ipad when no one is looking and find another credit card just to beat the Dark Monster and then I would be done :) -
tolham "he was sad when he was told he couldn't play the game anymore because he was about to reach level 26 and fight the Dark Monster."Reply
was this game developed by Pierce's dad from community? -
steve360 Don't blame the kid - youngsters have absolutely no comprehension of the consequences of their actions. The onus is on the parents/grandparents to unlink or remove their credit card information so it would not be misused like that.Reply -
Au_equus I think there's more cases of kids buying movies, in game materiel and such using a mode of unprotected payment than parents would like to realize. That being said I think the surprise here is not the 2000GBP spent, but the fact that apple gave them back the money!Reply -
Hspito and they didn't know?Reply
when you do an in-app purchase there is a window that pops up asking you "CONFIRM YOUR IN-APP PURCHASE do you want to buy xxxxx for $x.xx?" and you need to input the password at least one time then you can buy all you want whitin a few minutes without typing the password again. so either they gave the password to the kid or they where typing the password for him. -
d_kuhn Those mobile games are just a stupid tax... but since kids don't understand they occasionally will put a spotlight on the idiocy. The fact that a kid COULD spend 3 grand in-game... in ANY game... is proof positive that P.T. Barnum was a genius.Reply -
alidan dood, these games are made specificly to exploit kids, i honestly think crap like this should be banned.Reply -
memadmax This is why I don't buy anything that doesn't come on a cd/dvd and will continue to work offline >_>Reply -
halcyon Will...oh, he would suffer in some slightly inappropriate (by today's politically-correct losers standards) way.Reply