DD downloaded £174.00 worth of books

[whatonaschoolnight]

I bought my DD (10) a kindle for Christmas and showed her how to download free books. I told her that she couldn't buy any books but for birthday etc she could get amazon vouchers and then get books.

Today I checked my savings account and found out that she has been downloading books for the past 2 weeks and has downloaded £174.00 worth of books. I am fuming.

The kindle has been confiscated and she is grounded for the next week. But I don't know how to discipline her so she never does anything like this again.

I feel like she has gone into my purse and stolen the money, I am totally gutted.

I have had no problem with the Overdrive App and the Kindle. It's just that some books are not offered by the library in the Kindle (mobi) format. You can download them in another format and convert them (it's legal, but a little convoluted).

This happened me! But it was a bit different. I got an email to tell me my Xbox plus Call of Duty was being processed, child in question was 6. 😱. I was on a night out. Total cost £548. I recall it to this day.
My fault entirely - I'd set up one click on the Fire and gone out to dinner.
I contacted Amazon, they cancelled everything. Then had a long involved chat with child re finances, money, accounts, purchasing etc. Message delivered.
It was horrendous then but is hilarious now in a way and has made its way into the family lore, 4 years later.
Don't take the Fire away, it's actually not her fault totally.
Lock down the account, set up passwords and family sharing etc. Chalk it up, don't fret TOO much and move on.

Out of interest what did she download?

For the past two weeks? Doesn't the 14 day cancellation policy apply anyway, for online goods?

Yes to contacting Amazon - I've always had great customer service from them even if they don't pay their taxes.

As PP will no doubt have mentioned, you can get a refund on any kindle purchases within a set time frame (I think it's 14 days but double check on the website) so contact them and ask for this to be done. If doesn't matter if you've read the books or not.

Double checked and it is 14 days. On a practical level, contact Amazon as per above then decide what to do.

But act quickly cos after a certain point they don't let you cancel kindle purchases.

I don't think this is her fault. She's a young child. My dd has a kindle and I set it up so she could not accidentally or deliberately buy anything. I think you are over-reacting and blaming her excessively. Sort it out and then give her back a kindle with appropriate permissions on it.

"I am thinking of selling the kindle as a lesson to her and as a way of getting money back. But I feel sad as she really loves the kindle."
I would sell it.

Am I the only person that thinks it's the OP's fault? Sorry. But how hard is it to put a password on the system and also not to have '1 click' switched on?

Even my 4 yr old has worked out she can't get past the first request for a password.

I did chose to download about 5 apps for her (most were about £2 each) and it's surprisingly easy/quick to do without feeling like you're spending any money tbh.

Sort out your controls. This is minor in comparison to what could have happened surely !

Why hasn't the OP responded to the many many suggestions about cancelling and getting a refund?

It is a bit odd not to even acknowledge the advice but maybe she's just gone and done it?

That said, I remember a similar "help, my child has spent ridiculous amount of money on Amazon, start can I do" thread a couple of months back. Loads of people said cancel the purchase but OP ignored, turned out to be a troll, I think.

*what can I do

I am thinking of selling the kindle as a lesson to her and as a way of getting money back. But I feel sad as she really loves the kindle

Just contact Amazon and they will refund at least some of them.

I don't even know how you can have had your card linked and yet not have noticed the emails for every single book bought?

I'd make her "earn" the money (or at least some of it). So get her doing additional cleaning/dusting/shoe polishing /weeding etc. Decide on an amount per job or maybe pay £4 per 30 mins ( which is above minimum wage). Put a chart up in the kitchen and add to it each time she "earns" some more. It will likely help her to learn as she will realise just how long it takes to earn that amount of money.

We don't keep a card attached to the Amazon ( or any) account just in case of accidental spending , with Amazon I just keep £30/40 in the gift card balance so my daughter can buy books .

Oh no, don't sell it!! She obviously loves reading and has made a mistake. She thought it was prepaid. She's only a kid. Confiscate for maybe a week, then return once you've disabled one click ordering. And once you've had a stern chat about ordering stuff willy-nilly.
Earning the money back is a fab idea. A chart will keep her motivated and keep the target in sight.

Clara the OPs question was how to discipline her daughter, not how to deal with Amazon. Perhaps she already has that sorted.

I wouldn't discipline her at all past telling her to be more careful , if the account is in the OPs name she will have received emails on each occasion anything was purchased so she should have stepped in earlier . It's very easy when buying relatively cheap items for the cost to add up without you realising it . I've just looked at my daughters spending on books since Christmas and she's spent about £180 on Amazon and another £35 in WHSmiths , she always checks it's ok before she buys but until I looked I'd have guessed at about £100 max .