Eight-Year-Old Girl Blows $1400 on Smurfberries

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

This is bullshit, I think it should be a law that you should have to enter the last four digits of your credit card for verification into a game before it lets you buy things if that game is marketed to children

Considering the fact that the bill came from email, the mother NEVER gave the game itself her card, and it is made for 5 year olds means this was not the mothers fault but the game's

The fact that it charges $99 FUCKING DOLLARS for "smurfberries" lead me to believe that the game was created solely to make things like this happen, I agree with her when she says it preys on children.

yeah this. 99 dollars for smurfberries? that shit better solve world hunger at that rate.

 

[higgs20]

wow, those parents are fucking morons.

 

[GenericAmerican]

$99 for an intangible item?

In a CHILD'S game?!

Methinks there be some evil men in a dim lit rooms making finger triangles going "mweh, mweh, we will prey on the little children!."

 

[TilMorrow]

$99 for a single smurfberry? Moneygrabbers I tell you. And I thought Zombie cafe was bad...

 

[MazeMinion]

I was going to write "Stupid parents are stupid", but this is one of the few times that I will blame the company.

Charging so much for items in a children's game, and making it so you don't even have to put in your credit card number is ridiculous.

 

[SimuLord]

Representative Ed Markey (D-MA) is the Congressman from my home district (not where I live now, my hometown.) He's been running effectively unopposed for...what's this, his 14th term? 15th? And he never met a bribe he didn't like. The man is a walking argument in favor of term limits.

What does this have to do with Smurfberries? Not a damn thing. Just sayin' that Mr. Markey's a corrupt political weasel even by US Congress standards.

 

[Solo-Wing]

"She was given a one-time refund when she brought it to Apple's attention"

This part impressed me. I bought GTA Chinatown Wars on my iPod Touch, but first had the Lite version, then upgraded it, when it still showed the "Lite" banner on the pic, I thought I thought i had to go downnload the full version, which i did. But i accidentally paid twice. After an email explaining what happened, Apple actually refunded me $12. But this is... a LOT more.

Apple's customer service here should really be commended.

That is because Apple is not a big a dick as Microsoft is. I remember this one story where they branded this dyslectic(Proper spelling?) as a cheater on Xbox Live. Took all his gamerscore away and had his username end in cheater. This is why I like apple. They are just nice. How do I know? My buddy walked into a new Apple store in our local mall and he won a free Ipad and 100 Itunes bucks just by being the 1000th person to enter the store.

 

[Artina89]

"I thought the app preyed on children," Kay said.

And yet she still allowed her child to play the game completely unsupervised without bothering to utilize the system's fail safes. Yeah, she gets no sympathy from me. It's just one more parent teaching kids they shouldn't be held accountable for their actions or inactions through the process known as example.

When you buy a game made for 4 year olds and don't enter your credit card into it, it's pretty safe to assume it won't let your four year old rack up over a thousand dollars in charges.

This isn't like the Xbox lady who ENTERED HER CREDIT CARD and then didn't check her statements for 18 months, this is someone who didn't give the game a credit card, and the game is made for people around the age of Kindergarten.

At some point it's no longer the parents fault, there was NOTHING that would lead her to believe anything like this could have happened, she can't be watching the kid 24/7

True, but would it have really been so hard not to tell her children what her password was? I don't go around telling people what the password to my email or bank account is.

Aren't Iphones and Ipads bound to an account? Meaning they are basically always logged in?

I don't think she needed a password at time of purchase.

If I recall, one of the security measures is that you are required to input an account password in order to purchase things, at least you can set it up that way if you choose to do so. The article also seems to suggest you do, though perhaps I'm misreading it.

I don't really know how it works on an iPad, but on iTunes you have to input a password everytime you buy something, unless you are buying things one after the other.

OT: I must admit that if I bought a smurf's game, I wouldn't have thought that any in game transactions would hit my credit card. If there was a disclaimer of some kind or a contract stating that transactions would actually cost you money then the mother has no excuse really, but if they didn't then the company has to shoulder at least some of the blame. Then again, I don't think I would let any kid touch my iPad (if I had one) those things are too damned expensive as it is...

 

[Outcast107]

"She was given a one-time refund when she brought it to Apple's attention"

This part impressed me. I bought GTA Chinatown Wars on my iPod Touch, but first had the Lite version, then upgraded it, when it still showed the "Lite" banner on the pic, I thought I thought i had to go downnload the full version, which i did. But i accidentally paid twice. After an email explaining what happened, Apple actually refunded me $12. But this is... a LOT more.

Apple's customer service here should really be commended.

That is because Apple is not a big a dick as Microsoft is. I remember this one story where they branded this dyslectic(Proper spelling?) as a cheater on Xbox Live. Took all his gamerscore away and had his username end in cheater. This is why I like apple. They are just nice. How do I know? My buddy walked into a new Apple store in our local mall and he won a free Ipad and 100 Itunes bucks just by being the 1000th person to enter the store.

You do know he did cheated right, and that Microsoft actually gave him another gamertag to use. Perhaps you should read more info before labeling people as dicks.

 

[Zom-B]

"I thought the app preyed on children," Kay said.

And yet she still allowed her child to play the game completely unsupervised without bothering to utilize the system's fail safes. Yeah, she gets no sympathy from me. It's just one more parent teaching kids they shouldn't be held accountable for their actions or inactions through the process known as example.

if i read it correctly, this is the mother's feeling after receiving the huge bill.

 

[EHKOS]

Hmmmm...When I moved computers I lost $500 worth of music. I still have the account but I have noticed you can't re-download old purchases....APPPPPPPPLE~!

 

[Zom-B]

You do know he did cheated right, and that Microsoft actually gave him another gamertag to use. Perhaps you should read more info before labeling people as dicks.

you do know the only "proof" that he cheated was a tweet from some microsoft lackey? i realize that autistic kids can sometimes have the idiot/savant component to their illness, but watching the news vid and reading the articles, it's really hard to say one way or the other if the kid was capable or had the tools (i.e. a pc) to perform any hacks. on the other hand, he might just be a naturally gifted gamer in a way that looks like he's cheating. maybe he's really fast or has some other strange benefit granted by his autism. there's really no proof at all, either way.

 

[Outcast107]

You do know he did cheated right, and that Microsoft actually gave him another gamertag to use. Perhaps you should read more info before labeling people as dicks.

you do know the only "proof" that he cheated was a tweet from some microsoft lackey? i realize that autistic kids can sometimes have the idiot/savant component to their illness, but watching the news vid and reading the articles, it's really hard to say one way or the other if the kid was capable or had the tools (i.e. a pc) to perform any hacks. on the other hand, he might just be a naturally gifted gamer in a way that looks like he's cheating. maybe he's really fast or has some other strange benefit granted by his autism. there's really no proof at all, either way.

The mother came out and said that he did.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.260268-Autistic-Xbox-Players-Mother-Admits-He-Cheated?page=1

 

[Zom-B]

The mother came out and said that he did.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.260268-Autistic-Xbox-Players-Mother-Admits-He-Cheated?page=1

well, i stand corrected. however, in reading the article, i don't know if it's as cut and dry as the kid "cheated". sounds to me like another player simply gave him the recon armour (what the kid gave in return, i don't know), but it's hard to call that cheating. i'd put it more in the vein of a child's mistake, rather than malicious cheating to gain some sort of advantage.

the mother was definitely in the wrong for playing the innocent autistic boy card, but MS still looks pretty heartless in branding an 11 year old autistic boy as "cheater". in my opinion, it would have been better if MS had just wiped his gamer score and left off the cheater label.

 

[martyrdrebel27]

EDIT: EDIT: It is cut an dry. the kid gave his account to someone (against TOS) in order to get achievements in an illegitimate way. its not that the other kid actually earned them, that wouldn't be an issue, its that the other kid hacked for them. the kid cheated, plain and simple.

microsoft didn't owe that kid a damn thing.

 

[ARKSgtAlpha]

if this is the story I'm thinking of, this was on the local news ages ago. heres a question: wasn't that her iPhone? why was she letting her 8 year old play on her cellphone? and 1400 dollars? how long was she on the game that that much money was used and she didn't know?. and why would you like your credit card to itunes any way? just buy the itunes cards, then you never have the problem.

 

[Auxiliary]

Even though you can argue that this is a case where the parent isn´t paying proper attention to what their kid is actually up to. I believe everyone should be able to agree that a game designed to please 4-8 year old kids should not have elements which require you to pay nearly a hundred dollars.

I do hope the company which is responsible for this tricking of children goes bankrupt quite soon. The very thought of giving a four year old a game to play with for free and then after a few minutes saying that they need to pay for certain elements of the game is simply not acceptable. Such a concept is a bit too much to understand for the average 4-8 year old.

Obviously I do think the mother was quite foolish for letting her daughter play a game with such a business model. But would you honestly expect to be charged for 1400 dollar because your kid is playing a smurfs game?

The fact that she didn't approve of the actual purchase at any given time, but was charged based on her itunes account says quite a lot about the gaming company involved. Even though Apple refunded the woman her money, I am surprised that they continue to do business with a company like this.