Boy runs up $2550 iPad bill playing zombie game

[JamesD]

What I hate about these games.

 

http://www.dvice.com/2013-3-6/video-day-boy-runs-2550-ipad-bill-playing-zombie-game

[+Gemintronic]

Is this that loophole where your entered password gets five minutes of leeway time before needing the password to approve purchases again?

[onlysublime]

they should implement more features to block this sort of action. if you can't have multiple user accounts, then do something like Windows Phone 8 which has "Kid's Corner" so that the kid can play with the phone but cannot make any changes to the phone, cannot enter the parent's private areas like email, calendar, etc. and cannot make any kind of purchases. dictate what apps the kids has access to.

[CPUWIZ]

Real story...

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-21629210

[Catsmasher]

Serves them right.

Watch the kid closer next time.

a $500 ipad on the internet is not a toy for a 5 yr old.

[DesertJets]

There probably are controls to restrict this. I remember a story on the Daily Show a few years back where a couple of kids ran up huge charges on their parents' iTunes account with Playfish. Now whether such a setting is easy to find and turn on, well that is another story. But talking with your kids about this stuff before they run up a $2550 bill would be smarter.

[CPUWIZ]

Serves them right.

Watch the kid closer next time.

a $500 ipad on the internet is not a toy for a 5 yr old.

 

What serves them right? Apple refunded the money.

[Karyyk]

And everyone talks about how these casual games are inexpensive...

[Cebus Capucinis]

What serves them right? Apple refunded the money.

 

Exactly. Now you can be a bad parent, ignore your kids, and be completely scott-free! No consequences!

 

[JamesD]

The threat of bad publicity always wins out over bad parenting... or is it good parenting?

Edited March 7, 2013 by JamesD

[Tickled_Pink]

Serves them right.

Watch the kid closer next time.

a $500 ipad on the internet is not a toy for a 5 yr old.

Good point. Couldn't believe it when an aunt bought an iPad Mini for each for her two granddaughters - aged 3 and 5! I suggested the Blackberry Playbook to her because a) they are fairly cheap and b) they are solid. Unfortunately their snob of a mother insisted that they wanted an iPad each. A few weeks ago, one dropped hers and cracked the digitiser ... crap ... just remembered that my aunt asked me how much a replacement was.

 

iPads aren't toys.

[Tickled_Pink]

Exactly. Now you can be a bad parent, ignore your kids, and be completely scott-free! No consequences!

 

Shock and embarassment is a consequence. Like having your toddler daughter call the police TWICE . It's enough to make you more careful in the future.

[SoulBlazer]

Shock and embarassment is a consequence. Like having your toddler daughter call the police TWICE . It's enough to make you more careful in the future.

 

Did that happen to you? I sence a story behind this.

[Tickled_Pink]

Did that happen to you? I sence a story behind this.

Yep. It happened. After the first time we moved the phone to somewhere higher. She still got it.

 

To make it worse the police traced the calls both times and sent someone round to check. To add to the embarassment factor, she was naked both times. She hated clothes up till the age of about 4 or 5 and would regularly strip off when in the house.

 

I'm telling you ... 911 is a much better number than 999.

[+HammR25]

Apple has already settled a lawsuit over "free" to play games targetted at children.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2...game-settlement

[almightytodd]

There are plenty of tablet devices made just for kids:

Tabeo

Polaroid

Meep

Kurio

LeapPad2

 

But doesn't your child deserve the very best mobile computing experience that can only come from a genuine Apple product?

[98PaceCar]

they should implement more features to block this sort of action. if you can't have multiple user accounts, then do something like Windows Phone 8 which has "Kid's Corner" so that the kid can play with the phone but cannot make any changes to the phone, cannot enter the parent's private areas like email, calendar, etc. and cannot make any kind of purchases. dictate what apps the kids has access to.

 

Part of this already exists on iOS. It's simple to lock out in app purchases. There's a switch on the Settings\General\Restrictions page.

 

I do like the idea of being able to lock out making calls and even going so far as picking which apps can be used though. But it would require that people actually learn about the devices they are giving to their kids and that would be too much like parenting for most of the people walking this planet. Far easier to just be ignorant and cry for assistance after the fact. Call it harsh, but they should have been stuck with the bill for this.

[godslabrat]

 

Good point. Couldn't believe it when an aunt bought an iPad Mini for each for her two granddaughters - aged 3 and 5! I suggested the Blackberry Playbook to her because a) they are fairly cheap and b) they are solid. Unfortunately their snob of a mother insisted that they wanted an iPad each. A few weeks ago, one dropped hers and cracked the digitiser ... crap ... just remembered that my aunt asked me how much a replacement was.

 

iPads aren't toys.

 

I do not understand this at all. Kids who do not read yet do not need iPads. Period. I realize we're giving them tech at earlier ages than ever, but this is the point of absurdity. At that age, it should be blocks, dolls, action figures, plushies, cars... Maybe even the occasional Nintendo under close supervision. But there's no reason to spend half a grand on something they're just going to barf on.

[+Gemintronic]

Kids need cheap, rugged tablets. That be Android right now.

 

Wait, scratch that. Kids need those kiddy LCD "laptops" that had BASIC on them in the 80s and 90ss. Fudge clicking on micro-transactions. MAKE YOUR OWN GAME!

[jetset]

Sure are a lot of perfect parents in here.

[Cebus Capucinis]

Sure are a lot of perfect parents in here.

 

I'm a perfect parent because I know I'd be bad at it, so I don't have any kids!

[godslabrat]

Sure are a lot of perfect parents in here.

 

You don't need to make the little stick turn blue in order to recognize a really dumbass idea.

[onlysublime]

with all these stories of people accidentally racking up huge bills due to purchases, if I was a parent, I'd buy everything in sight and blame the kid and get the refund...

[+Gemintronic]

You don't need to make the little stick turn blue in order to recognize a really dumbass idea.

 

I didn't understand your post so I ran it through babblefish a few times and got this.

 

You don't need to strangle your kid in order to realize it was really dumbass idea to let them touch your $300+ toy.

[jetset]

You don't need to make the little stick turn blue in order to recognize a really dumbass idea.

 

Why exactly? Kids get into trouble. That's what they do. The fact that you think at age five all a kid will do to an ipad is barf on it proves you don't know a thing about kids. My five (just shy of six) year old knows his alphabet, and can read well above his age level. He learned in pre-K at age 4. In addition to traditional books guess what they used? Ipads.

And really, so what if it's spoiling them? My kids deserve it and all the things I couldn't have as a kid make me want to give them even more. Does that make me a dumbass or a bad parent? Let me know and I'll tell you whether or not I care.