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Original poster

my ds 7 spend £700 on squirrel nuts

101 replies

Jellybeanz1 · 26/09/2013 07:02

We had massive shock when the bills kept coming in on an free ipad game for virtual squirrel nuts. Im delighted to see that on the news this morning that the gaming industry are going to put protection in place by law. We challenged this amount being taken from our account and it was eventually fully recovered ( 2 separate attempts to get it all back). I talked to my db recently and found out his ds had done something similar at young age and he hadn't challenged it. Just wanted to make sure everyone was querying this if it happens to them.

OP posts:
MrsLouisTheroux · 26/09/2013 07:04

Block in app purchases in settings?

Crowler · 26/09/2013 07:05

So, were the nuts advertised as free but then they charged for them?

FannyMcNally · 26/09/2013 07:08

How did the bills keep coming in? After the first one you should have put a stop to it then!

SavoyCabbage · 26/09/2013 07:09

I imagine the game was free.

Games that you pay for are better I I have found as they are not trying to sell you stuff in the game.

saintmerryweather · 26/09/2013 07:11

i really dont understand why parents arent more careful about monitoring app purchases, there have been plenty of stories about this in the media already

ThePuffyShirt · 26/09/2013 07:11

My ds spent about £200 on virtual doughnuts on The Simpsons Tapped Out game.

SoupDragon · 26/09/2013 07:12

How did the bills keep coming in? After the first one you should have put a stop to it then!

This.

Block in app purchases in settings?

And this.

sheldor · 26/09/2013 07:14

This why i have in app purchase password.Google use your email and password now to make it harder to crack.

NicknameIncomplete · 26/09/2013 07:17

I think you were very lucky to get it refunded because it was your own fault that this happened in the first place.

TantrumsAndBalloons · 26/09/2013 07:19

How do people not know by now that if your DCs are playing these games you need to turn off in app purchases?

It's been on the news etc for months, there's no excuse not to know this by now.

kim147 · 26/09/2013 07:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

meditrina · 26/09/2013 07:24

There are threads like this from time to time.

I hope that knowledge of the need to block inapp purchases is increasing, but it's clear people are still unaware. There's a BBC Breakfast item about this today.

This is an issue with the user, not the game designer/manufacturer (beyond complying with major retailer policy - eg App Store will bar games which do not make it clear in a child's game when you're buying something with real money).

If you think the game breaches those rules, report it as unfit for sale. If however it does make it clear, but as you haven't set the device restrictions to prevent inapp purchases and you're leaving a small child unattended with a game, then it's no-one's fault but your own.

This might be a good time to ask if you update your anti-virus software, and whether you have parental control filters on each device.

SimplyRedHead · 26/09/2013 07:28

Sorry - how do you block in app purchases? I've looked in settings but can't see anything.

I've got an iPhone / iPad.

EmmelineGoulden · 26/09/2013 07:33

Simply In Settings>General>Restrictions

Champlan · 26/09/2013 07:34

I was careful to block in app purchases , but when
I upgraded the iOS on the iPad, it reverted the block without me being aware, until I got the bill.

beachyhead · 26/09/2013 07:35

In settings, general and then restrictions... I've only just found it!

Original poster
Jellybeanz1 · 26/09/2013 07:37

I posted as it was relevant to this mornings news/ I wanted to highlight it. Bills came in all at once in separate updates, Squirrel nut purchase £1.50 etc ... My dh was at work and caught up with his messages at work. He then phoned me. This was over 2 years ago and we have since learned how to block! We did feel relieved to have it refunded but the change in the law this morning is there because of incidents like this. I was just shocked my db didn't try to challenge his bill and wondered if others out there had this happen to them. Anyone who thinks they will watch continuously over a 7 year old playing a game isn't in my world.

OP posts:
ClayDavis · 26/09/2013 07:47

I'd imagine he must have been left unsupervised for a considerable amount of time to run up a £700 bill £1.50 at a time. I'd consider myself lucky it's just money because potentially there are far worse outcomes than that.

Another poster asked, but I'll ask again, do you have an appropriate level of security on all your devices that are internet connected?

Rooners · 26/09/2013 07:50

It isn't that simple so please stop having a go at her.

My child managed to buy several things the other week through Google Wallet which I had NOT activated on his tablet.

I had used it once online about 6 months previously, to pay for something on a website that didn't accept anything else.

They transposed my card details onto the tablet without my permission (I checked settings - it said I had not activated google wallet on ANY device) and also, even though it is password protected to the max, I had not realised that in the small print (where do you even FIND that) is a clause allowing purchases without a password for 30 minutes after the password is put in.

These things are a learning curve. Children are less likely to understand how clicking on certain things is not going to achieve exactly what they think it will (ds clicked on 'buy' to see the prices, not realising it would actually go ahead and buy this crap)

he told me immediately, it was a genuine error and made very easy by the app design. I do believe that some are designed to trick you.

They were using my debit card details though to ask him if he wanted to buy things, and I had never entered them onto the device...it's because it was set up using my gmail account.

I had no idea they could take this info and enable purchases with it on a device you had never used it with.

diddl · 26/09/2013 07:51

Does this only happen with ipads?

I always assumedBlush that a cc number would be asked for at some point-is this not so?

Rooners · 26/09/2013 07:54

Oh and yes it is protected to the max, I am nervous of these things and had done everything I could think of to avoid this scenario - he only buys things using googleplay vouchers, normally.

And the amount he spent was under £10, thankfully.

It is NOT easy to prevent these things from happening, my son is 10 and was in tears at the thought he had done something terrible.

Anyone who is familiar with Facebook's constant changing of policy so that your setting become un-private every so often, without your consent, will know the sort of thing I'm on about.

Google make it very very hard indeed to keep on top of what they are doing.

QuintessentialShadows · 26/09/2013 07:57

"I always assumed that a cc number would be asked for at some point-is this not so?" No, it is stored in App store.

We just dont let the kids know the Apple password, which is required to download stuff.

Rooners · 26/09/2013 07:57

Btw the games are shit anyway, I didn't really want him to have the tablet in the first place (Diddl - ours is a Nexus) but there is a lot of peer pressure, they all seem to have ipod touch and that sort of thing. My parents got it for him.

I swear at/about it daily.

I let him have it for an hour a day and even that is too much imo. I'd not trust a 7yo with it - well it's not the 7yo that's the issue. These are adult devices complete with all the tricks they usually try on adults.

Now much more limited than he was...we were lucky.

fortyplus · 26/09/2013 07:58

If you're prepared to let a 7 year old have unsupervised access to an iPad then you're either irresponsible or naive. There's loads in the news re: grooming and cyber bullying of children as young as 8.

Be thankful that you have learned this lesson without even having to pick up a £700 bill, and be wiser about protecting your child in future.

Take some advice about parental controls and insist that your child is only using the device where you can look over their shoulder from time to time. Get her used to this at 7 and it won't be a problem when she's 13.

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