Roblox - money lost

[Sarahr22]

Hello,
I am sat in tears. not knowing where to turn. I realised today that my 8 year old has been playing Roblox (which I signed her up to do and put all safety blocks on) but has been making in-app purchases which over the last few weeks amount to nearly £2600. She didn't realise it was real money and I consider myself at fault for not checking - with all the child safety blocks on I didn't realise this would happen. I have hardly any money in my account and am not working at present. I have tried Roblox (no way of calling them just have to fill in a form), Apple (as it was on an iPad and they refused to help) and discussed with my bank that suspicious activity should have been picked up - they refused to help and suggested reporting my child for fraud. I appreciate I should have been more vigilant but any ideas or experiences as I simply don't know where to turn. Thank you

Thank you. Had not heard of Chargeback before - will look into that tomorrow. It seems to be for faulty goods and services though do not sure if would apply.

Sorry I've only just read the thread and noticed our comment regarding email notifications

Your*

I don’t think chargeback would apply either

Never heard of chargeback before so don’t really understand it but may throw it in to my discussions with bank.

I was refunded £181 that my daughter had inadvertently spent on subscriptions for apps on the iPad. She had my permission to download free, age appropriate apps. When I noticed that my credit card was showing a lot more Apple charges than expected I contacted them. I wasn’t looking for a refund, I just wanted everything that I was now subscribed to cancelled.

They were really good with me and I was surprised to be offered the refund,

I wouldn’t honestly.

There’s 2 types of chargebacks, disputes & section 75 claims (credit card specific). Both are similar to PayPal claims. You can file one if the goods aren’t as described or not received etc and some other reasons but nothing fits this situation in.

uk.verifi.com/faqs/chargeback-reason-codes/

Threatening your bank with a chargeback won’t go well because you don’t have a basis for your claim. Just the same way you don’t have a legal basis for your claim. If you lie & say the transactions were fraudulent or unauthorised they have evidence to dispute that.

Thanks for clarifying appreciate it. The whole basis of my discussions with Apple etc are that the payments were unauthorised though. I don’t however want to make the situation worse so will not go down that route. Thank you

But the charges were made on a tablet you admit your family own, linked to a debit card your husband owns and with an email address that you didnt delete. The in-app purchase were not turned off.
Thats why they can say it isnt unauthorised. Debit card wasnt stolen, tablet wasnt stolen. Its negligence on your part; thats why companies dont have to refund.

They usually do when it goes public purely for PR. So go to social media, or hope that a consumer journalist will respond to you.

Thank you again - your input is very valuable and much appreciated.

I'm confused about them refusing to speak to you and saying it's against their policy. I can't find the policy online just instructions on how to request one. If you read it, does anything ring a bell?

Has your husband asked for refunds before?

I think it's shit that this happens. There's a case against Amazon and minors making online purchases which was interesting - ages, times of day etc.

OP just wanted to say I am so sorry this has happened. Total nightmare for you .
I hope that you get a gesture of goodwill even if it’s just a partial credit .

It’s ok to say you should have noticed but we all take our eye off the ball sometimes in life ..

Good luck

So I’ve just learnt a bit more about charge backs, thank you. Sorry for throwing in a red herring. It was just a thought.

Hanging up on you, refusing to engage on even a partial refund really isnt good service. It's also just totally heartless. Seriously give social media a try.

Is your husband a Ltd company? Or a sole trader? If he is a sole trader then it doesnt matter as the money belongs to him, not the business.

You need to spend more time with Apple discussing why the new email address, that you say they know about, is not the email address they’ve been sending app purchase receipts to.

Don't have any experience or input regarding refunds for this kind of thing sorry.

Is there any chance you could sell your story to a newspaper(s)? Idk how realistic this is but worth a thought. With a professional writer it could be an interesting story with a big headline.

Other than that I'd just take to social media and give us the link so we can share it and hype it up so the company are pressured into refunding...

Good luck!

PP posted an article for £600. Maybe go to someone other than the guardian e.g. sun and tell them your story, it's clearly way bigger

I would agree with pp that you need to have a serious talk with dc about money. At 8 years old I think they should know they're spending real money. Tbh I suspect they knew they were spending your money and are lying and pretending it was an accident

Yep, agree that you need a Frank conversation with your daughter

With these free to play games, the content can be played in full but is locked behind a hamper to progression - whether that’s a lack of lives or in-game currency or the game might require stage replays (grinding) etc. They offer a pay to win option which is essentially a fast track, but you’d still be able to progress if you don’t buy anything and just be patient or put effort in. So realistically your daughter was v impatient

I am a journalist. There’s no way you can sell the story as a PP suggested. At some point you may be able to flog it to a woman’s magazine but tbh they’ll make you look like a bit of a dick, most likely won’t even contact Apple and will give you about £100 for the pleasure.

Contact your local newspaper. The nationals are inundated with stuff like this and it might take weeks to get on their radar. Your local paper will most likely pick the story up straight away and the nationals may pick it up from them. Apple or Roblox are more likely to refund with adverse publicity.

Not sure how I can therefore start afresh?

I mean don’t specifically mention you’ve spoken about it to them before. For what it’s worth I do hope you get the money back.

It's also just totally heartless.

BobbieDraper They’re a business, not a charity, and they haven’t done anything wrong here.

You need to spend more time with Apple discussing why the new email address, that you say they know about, is not the email address they’ve been sending app purchase receipts to.

VeganCow It’s irrelevant, and it isn’t Apple’s fault. Adding a new email address hasn’t stopped the old one being the default they send emails to. The onus is on OP/her husband to delete the old email so the new one becomes default.

@heartsonacake

I specifically said they havent done anything wrong, but businesses dont just run on black and white. It's called PR.

Try resolver.

My Aunty is mentally disabled and she once spent £20k in a single day by pressing buttons on an iPad. She isn’t capable of reading or understanding what she’s doing. The owner of the iPad didn't even know she was looking at it. The money was refunded fairly easily. I’m surprised OP has found it so difficult because they’re usually fairly good with refunds when it’s obviously a ridiculously large amount in a short period.

I'd def speak to the local press and try to get them to run the story, it might snowball from there.