[occy]

The family of a five-year-old boy who spent £1,700 of his parents' cash on iTunes has received a full refund.

Danny Kitchen, from Bristol, was using the family's iPad when father Greg put in a pass code, believing his son was downloading a free game.

The next day the Kitchens received emails which itemised successive £69.99 purchases, but they were believed to be sent in error and dismissed.

Sharon Kitchen said Apple had been "fantastic" in helping with the refund.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-21629210

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I wonder how many more refunds these companies having to give for Apps?

[ballybally]

These 'micro-transactions' aren't very micro any more are they?

[SimonB79]

Yep! It's easily done (that's why I have the wifi disabled when anyone other then me uses my ipad or kindle fire HD)

[GARETH197901]

Apple and other companies should have Passwords on Micro transactions as standard,its then up to the person using the device if they want to turn them off,that way things like this wont happen and if they do then its down to the owner,afterall it takes a few seconds to put a password in

[Ladyxxmacbeth]

why do they have to store your details?

[Matt D]

Originally Posted by GARETH197901

Apple and other companies should have Passwords on Micro transactions as standard,its then up to the person using the device if they want to turn them off,that way things like this wont happen and if they do then its down to the owner,afterall it takes a few seconds to put a password in

It did ask for a password...

From the quote in the OP:

Danny Kitchen, from Bristol, was using the family's iPad when father Greg put in a pass code, believing his son was downloading a free game.

[gillyallan]

We've been caught before too. Son made 4 purchases of coins from draw something. Was about 30 pounds and apple refunded. They also told me to disable in-app purchases. I did that and made sure my card was removed.

[GARETH197901]

Originally Posted by Matt D

It did ask for a password...

From the quote in the OP:

i mean every time not just the first time(it asks for the password when you purchase the free app,but not again for a while when you do the micro transactions),i know you can switch it on to do this but this should be on as default and its up to the user if they want to switch the safeguard off

[mred2000]

Originally Posted by GARETH197901

i mean every time not just the first time(it asks for the password when you purchase the free app,but not again for a while when you do the micro transactions),i know you can switch it on to do this but this should be on as default and its up to the user if they want to switch the safeguard off

As default your password is asked for and is then stored for 15 minutes, which I think can be altered.

The dad put his password in and then, within 15 minutes, this kid had downloaded the free game and spanked the money up the wall.

When buying anything in app it also flags up a window warning/confirming that you know how much the transaction is going to cost. This has to be clicked to proceed so the kid must have known he'd gone beyond what he'd told his dad he was doing.

It was the Daily Mail who first ran this story which also says a lot...

[GARETH197901]

Originally Posted by mred2000

As default your password is asked for and is then stored for 15 minutes, which I think can be altered.

The dad put his password in and then, within 15 minutes, this kid had downloaded the free game and spanked the money up the wall.

When buying anything in app it also flags up a window warning/confirming that you know how much the transaction is going to cost. This has to be clicked to proceed so the kid must have known he'd gone beyond what he'd told his dad he was doing.

It was the Daily Mail who first ran this story which also says a lot...

If the average person doesn't read the itunes Terms and Conditions when it installs the average young kid wont pay any attention to a pop up if you say its free in the first place

at the end of the day turning off the 15 minute storage of password by default would stop this over night as the kid would have to go to their parent to buy anything so it wouldn't even get passed the password stage

if anything it stops Apple looking like the ogre in articles like this

[PinSarla]

I can see how it could be done, but I do think that some parents are a bit naive when it comes to setting up Xbox LIVE, smart phones, tablets etc and then monitoring the usage of said services/machines.

[ballybally]

Ultimately it's down to the device owner but it isn't clear how its set up out of the box, especially to the average user.

My son is 3 and can't read yet the user interface is pretty intuitive and many times I've found him on an in app purchase page (which I've disabled!). In fact most games he likes to use are set up so that parts of the game are locked yet its the same button to unlock that part as it is to play on the open part so kids just tap away normally and they don't even realise. Maybe some developers should also have the responsibility to differentiate between the two a bit more clearly.

[XxBlaKOuTZxX]

We use prepaid cards for any downloads we get for the iPad. No chance of a huge and unexpected bill. We also use prepaid points/money cards for our Xbox360 or Ps3.