My 8yr old Daughter racks up $2500 bill on her grandmothers iPhone/iTunes Account

[Apex10]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? We live in Colorado. Well the title pretty much says it all. We just found out my Daughter racked up about $2500 in various iTunes charges on her Grandmothers phone. Mostly playing the game Dragonvale ,Apparently their are these expensive "tools" to help get the players to the next level. These tools cost $25 to $52.00 a pop. The bulk of the charges are from May 2014 until last week. What makes it even worse is her Grandma is from the Philipinnes and sometimes has a hard time understanding certain issues. Honestly I feel like Apple/iTunes really took advantage of us. Would I have any recourse in this Matter? Thanks for listening.

 

[RRevak]

How exactly does an 8yr old have enough access to a cell phone to rack up $2500 in charges for a game?

 

[RRevak]

Btw, the only person being taken advantage of is poor grandma. Itunes isn't a babysitter. Your child, your responsibility to monitor said child so they aren't able to rack up giant debts on cell phones.

 

[Apex10]

That's for that. Anyone else?

 

[Ohiogal]

That's for that. Anyone else?

You owe grandma $2500 ... iTunes and Apple are not taking advantage of you. Hopefully your child is grounded for this behavior. Pay what you owe.

 

[I'mTheFather]

Have you even tried contacting Apple? They can be pretty reasonable in situations like yours, though I doubt they'll refund the whole amount. After all, there have been credit card charges, likely requiring a password, for 6 months.

 

[RRevak]

Have you even tried contacting Apple? They can be pretty reasonable in situations like yours, though I doubt they'll refund the whole amount. After all, there have been credit card charges, likely requiring a password, for 6 months.

I've been there and done that. Itunes doesn't care a whit WHO bought the items unless it was by pure theft. Someones child being unsupervised enough and long enough as to incur $2500 in charges isn't theft and Itunes will basically say oh well.


And yes, there is a password required for purchase every time the account is accessed along with a current credit card. Person opens account but to make a purchase someone needs to enter a password and the apple ID for the account which is the main email in which receipts are sent. Emails are sent for ALL purchases so whichever email the account is linked to would have been able to see each and every purchase within the day of or within several days of them being made. If grandma is the email account linked then she would have known every time kiddo bought a new item and either didn't care or did and someone ignored it. If one of the childs parents email is linked then they would have known and either ignored them or didn't care. Either way, kiddo and mom owe grandma some serious cash, not Itunes.

 

[Proserpina]

Using your logic, OP, you would agree that Little Johnny from down the street would be forgiven for swiping your credit card to feed his Farmville obsession...right?

Didn't think so.

 

[tranquility]

Because of this:
http://www.networkworld.com/article/2173433/mobile-apps/apple-will-pay-out--32-5m-to-settle-ftc-itunes-complaints.html
http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2014/01/apple-inc-will-provide-full-consumer-refunds-least-325-million

Apple did this:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4213
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT201084
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT201089

So, today, it would be far more difficult to claim the charges were "unauthorized". You can call and try and there are some stories of a single batch of such usage can be dealt with. But, it is not the law.

 

[RRevak]

Using your logic, OP, you would agree that Little Johnny from down the street would be forgiven for swiping your credit card to feed his Farmville obsession...right?

Didn't think so.

Funny thing: Apparently my 11yr old also plays Dragonvale on my mothers Ipad and just explained to me how buying things works. Knowing that, I now reiterate my stance that there is NO way NOBODY knew kiddo was buying crazy expensive items during a 6 month time span. Really, OP is definitely on the hook here and is just being obtuse about thinking its on Apple.

 

[Zigner]

Funny thing: Apparently my 11yr old also plays Dragonvale and just explained to me how buying things works. Knowing that, I now reiterate my stance that there is NO way NOBODY knew kiddo was buying crazy expensive items during a 6 month time span. Really, OP is definitely on the hook here and is just being obtuse about thinking its on Apple.

Grandma is on the hook to Apple. Anything else is a family matter IMO.

 

[RRevak]

Grandma is on the hook to Apple. Anything else is a family matter IMO.

Technically that's very true.

 

[Zigner]

I was going to add that Grandma *could* sue the parents, but, as I think about it more, I don't believe the parents would be responsible at all. Grandma gave the phone to an 8 year old and failed to supervise the usage. An 8 year old doesn't know any better, and any failure of supervision is on Grandma's part, not the parents.

 

[RRevak]

I was going to add that Grandma *could* sue the parents, but, as I think about it more, I don't believe the parents would be responsible at all. Grandma gave the phone to an 8 year old and failed to supervise the usage. An 8 year old doesn't know any better, and any failure of supervision is on Grandma's part, not the parents.

Then there is the email thing. If grandmas information is the accounts link then she knew every single time kiddo made a purchase. She either didn't care or is so horrible with money that it took her 6 months to figure out what receipts for purchase meant. I suspect she knew all along.

 

[Apex10]

Thanks for the input or scolding or whatever it was. Just for the Record, I never said I wasnt responsible for the Charges. I preach personal responsibility to my kids, and the bill has already been paid. I still feel Apple takes advantage of people in these situations and should offer some leniency in obvious abuse cases. Thanks