I still feel Apple takes advantage of people in these situations and should offer some leniency in obvious abuse cases. Thanks
Apple only takes a share of the payments as the payment facilitator. From Apple's share come the processor fees. The game publisher takes the largest portion, which serves as their funding for server operation, further development, recoupment of expenses already incurred, and profits.
The game publishers certainly do take advantage! They take advantage of a known situation in which lazy parents (who should certainly know by now about these predatory games) hand their child a phone or tablet and say "knock yourself out!"
Well over 90% of the games geared directly toward children in mobile marketplaces are "free to play" games which allow, and even encourage, purchase of enhancements. The entire idea behind making a game too difficult and/or complicated for a small child to play, yet marketing the game to that child, is to either get the child to hound Mom and Dad until they agree to pay for upgrades, or worse, get Mom and Dad to give the kid the password so they can make purchases at will. You did exactly what they wanted you to do.
Apple, while complicit (along with Google, Amazon, Facebook, and other game/payment platforms), gets to stand by and say "hey, we just facilitate payments". They have many defenses at their disposal: your child controlling your account is against the TOS of any of these companies, not only due to the limitations on password sharing, but due to her age as well. She should never have had control over the account at all. While all these companies rake in massive profits off their game/payment scam systems, they do so only when people do stupid things like let their kids have their password (or spend hundreds of dollars trying to pass levels in Candy Crush when a good quality game could be purchased outright for $4.99 or so).
So, you've violated Apple's TOS, and the game TOS (because while the game is clearly geared toward children, I guarantee there's a disclaimer that you have to be 18 to make purchases). You failed to parent responsibly and your uneducated (or downright malicious) child spent more money on a pointless game than she'll likely earn in her first year of part-time work. Hopefully you learned a lesson from this endeavor.
If you want to drag this through court (and spend more in legal fees than you're contesting), cite the fact that your 8-year-old child is unable to legally enter into a purchase agreement. The fact that you authorized her use of the device and account will work strongly against you, but I've seen that hurdle overcome.
At least Apple is requiring a password now; once you add your Paypal account to Facebook, all you have to do is click "buy" and off you go! I'm waiting for Amazon to sue them over patent infringement for that one.
My advice? Buy the kid a book and a bicycle. Better yet, make her buy them herself after she works off the money she owes.
