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

Go back to Roblox. They can refund it. Don't let them fob you off. Our friend's DC spent fortunes on Roblox and they refunded it all even though the DC had already spent the money in-game.

Agree that the issue is with Roblox and not with Apple.

It would be like challenging a phone bill with O2, and them saying go to Apple.

You have probably reached the end of the appeal process with the customer services people, and they may have a limit on the amount they can refund without going higher?

It's definitely a PR issue for them, but when I mentioned this to DS (12) he said that Roblox have a reputation for having an in app purchasing system that isn't entirely clear, so no wonder your 8 year old found it easy to purchase so many times.

The other idea is to check an Ombudsman Code of Conduct? Would it be gaming/gambling? Is there anything in the Code of Conduct to appeal a decision? You would need to have an email trail.

Personally I think that in lockdown, so many parents are happy to give their children a tablet to keep them occupied, and unless you were standing over them, you wouldn't realise they were making in app purchases, so the once a month statement seems a bit late.

I definitely won't be subscribing to Roblox.

My kids play Roblox. If they try to buy anything it sends a message to my phone asking if I authorize it. If I agree I then have to click through as one would making any purchase. How on earth did your daughter have access to all those details? iTunes log on details: account name and password. Card details including CVS? And then you get a confirmation email for each transaction and an end of month statement showing them all.

I’ll sometimes buy them robux if they’ve been good and helpful but it’s always a hassle that involves logging into iTunes, remembering the password and finding my cash card and inputting the details off it

Are you sure it was your daughter and your card hasn’t been hacked or something?

I've been through this exact thing with my DD a few months ago. She loves Roblox so I let her play it on my Ipad. I had the touch ID set up with just my fingerprint, and I don't know how, but she managed to spend £600 in a few days.
She said it asked for the fingerprint and it registered hers, and it only asked the once for all transactions.
Like you, I called my bank, Apple and emailed Roblox. My bank said they could report my daughter for fraud, Apple said it is Roblox's responsibility because it's their game, and Roblox said it's up to Apple because they aren't responsible for a third-party app.
After a couple of weeks going back and forward, being told the same thing every time, i gave up. My debit card is now removed from everything, I no longer trust the security on these devices at all!

I'm sorry my experience isn't a positive one, I hope you can find a way to get your money back.

I'm amazed people can just let these huge amounts go. I'd be fighting tltill they were sick of me!

@Tiktokgone why are the parents absolved of responsibility though? The companies haven’t actually done anything wrong so what is there to “fight?”

Also to add on to @Handsnotwands post, yes Apple allows parents to authorise purchase requests. But beyond that, Apple also allows parents to turn off purchases on the child’s device completely! It’s clear OP didn’t check the settings properly. Frankly I’d test making a purchase before handing the device over just to ensure everything was set up correctly

[[https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204396
This is how to disable purchases]]

Thought you had 14 days to get any purchase back via Apple

@reinacorriendo that’s a cancellation request which is only valid if the digital content wasn’t used, it has been used here. Also think 14 days has elapsed regardless as there were a lots of transactions made over many days/weeks.

@mnthrowaway2099

[[https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204396 This is how to disable purchases]]

Just taken iPads and phones and done that thanks just as an extra measure even though I don’t have my card linked though but done it anyway I have in the App Store as payment method ‘none’ I have always require password and the kids don’t know the password either that is top secret information

@mnthrowaway2099 ahh I see, usually Apple are pretty good I’ve accidentally subscribed to something and bought stuff with Touch ID and luckily for cash back. Thanks for the guide above I used that for extra protection

My debit card is now removed from everything, I no longer trust the security on these devices at all!

FantasyPanda It’s not about them being untrustworthy, it’s about you not understanding how they work.

Don’t blame your technological incompetence on these devices or companies.

Thank you all again for your comments. I have taken a step back from it today a bit for my own sanity and to ensure my daughter was not having a stressed mum. I will try and fight this as much as I can as we simply can’t let that much money disappear.

I also totally accept all the comments about it being parents responsibility - from the start I have accepted fault and blame for this and have put my head firmly on the responsibility block. I feel so stupid that I let this happen - we had put all child internet safety Measures in place but I never for one moment thought these payments could be made so easily. There has been a lot of press about how these games encourage children to spend. My daughter was allowed on for half an hour in the morning and an hour at night only and as a way to socially engaged with her friends online - we have instances of more than 20 clicks leading to purchase being made in a half an hour slot.

There has been a lot of press about how these games encourage children to spend. My daughter was allowed on for half an hour in the morning and an hour at night only and as a way to socially engaged with her friends online - we have instances of more than 20 clicks leading to purchase being made in a half an hour slot.

I agree - it's way to easy to unintentionally spend money on the internet, or to buy from dodgy dealers.

I think at that age its difficult to believe there was no awareness of it being real money. The game has its own currency, so when buying items not in that currency (ie real money) it would look different and she would have needed to at the least 'confirm' the payment by tapping the screen.

If she is too young to clearly read and comprehend the words on the screen then shes far too young to have any unsupervised device time, whether you think you have it secure or not.

If she was playing with her friends online, then surely one of them would have asked how she had so much stuff. And she just have realised she was getting things much more quickly than her friends.

I really doubt that she didnt know.

I appreciate your comments I really do but I am confident after looking with her at the game and how it works that it was not apparent it was real money. Again my error that at her age she shouldn’t have been playing it which I fully hold my hands up to but the game is not clear at all and encourages purchasing items. Blame is very clearly with me not my daughter but I appreciate your thoughts x

we had put all child internet safety Measures in place

This statement isn’t true though.

You didn’t have all safety measures on/in place as Apple allows you to completely turn off in app purchases, as per the link above. If you had actually followed those instructions this wouldn’t have happened.

I’m not trying to be nasty, but this is where you’re going wrong with your approaches with Apple. There’s no point telling them “all safety measures were on”, as they know that wasn’t true; they know that she wouldn’t have been able to make purchases at all had it been set up correctly as you claim.

I have been absolutely open from the start with Apple and everyone else in terms of saying that we had thought of child internet safety but not the ability to purchase And had thought what we had done was enough but clearly not - again openly state that it’s my lack of understanding that is to blame! I have said the blame is with me and I failed as a parent in this situation - my concern has been how easy this is to overlook and how easy it is for a payment to be made. I have not at any point denied my responsibility with Apple or Roblox or anyone else. Apple and the games platform are I am sure not intending this situation to happen and neither were we as parents. The one positive from this is at least it has alerted others to make sufficient checks on devices.

Or alternatively if you did actually turn in app purchases off yet she was still able to make purchases, prove it. Make a screen recording, show that all the relevant settings are on then try to buy something in Roblox. With that evidence they should refund you.

Can you go after Roblox again? I can understand why you've come up against a brick wall with Apple, but it's Roblox who promote their games to children, it's Roblox who have set up a RoBucks currency, which might not be understood by children, and it's Roblox who now have the £2600, paid in error/through a misunderstanding by your DD. I don't see why the fact the payment was made through Apple, rather than a credit card taken from your purse, or PayPal, means they won't help you, if they would otherwise (which they seem to be implying)?

Epic Games (the makers of Fortnite) couldn't have been more helpful when DS used my credit card to buy £50 of V-bucks. They clearly had standard responses they use in correspondence, telling my that this happens frequently, and I shouldn't feel it makes me a bad parent, or my son a bad child etc!

These games companies know that this happens frequently, and I'm surprised that Roblox haven't been more sympathetic to your plight.

but it's Roblox who promote their games to children

Tarararara Roblox has an age limit of 13, and OP’s daughter is 8, so she shouldn’t have been playing it anyway.

The PEGI age rating is 7+