Tags
Apple, Apps, family, Frustrating, iPod, itunes, Kids, Life, Pets, Pocket Gems, technology, virtual world
Please accept my sincere apologies for the disruption in service at the front desk. I had to fire the last concierge when I took over managing the hotel several weeks ago. –
Squirrel Circus (Taps Pets Hotel, Central PA)
One of the boys’ favorite games to play on their iPods is Taps Pet Hotel.
The day that they got the game (which is FREE), they asked if they could buy some “treats” for their pets, and pay me back with their own money.
BONUS: A gold star to any reader who can already see where this is headed, and I’m sure many of you can!
I approved the $4.99 purchase and entered my iTunes password. When Will approached me an hour later with another $10, saying he’d already bought something else, I deleted my credit card from the account and asked Will if it had asked for the password again, and it hadn’t. The boys got a lecture on buying more than we said they could and wasting money.
Fast forward a month, and the bill arrived this week.
I’m sure that this comes as no surprise to those sharp readers who “got” the bonus above!
Further discussion with the boys revealed that they DID receive a bunch of treats, coins, etc., but didn’t think they “bought” anything else. That’s when I did some research and found THIS…..
What?! I’m just glad I removed the credit card almost immediately. In two hours, they spent $145 — and I honestly believe that they thought they hadn’t bought anything because they didn’t have to have me enter my password. Am I a sucker? Maybe – but only to the tune of $145, thankfully. I do feel like I now OWN their hotels, hence the message from management.
The funny part (if there is one) was Scott and I actually worrying that they were going to have to watch their animals die or move out. It wouldn’t have changed anything we did, but I think we were a little sad. The kids finally assured us that it wouldn’t go down like that.
PHEW! I can’t afford to have unhappy customers. My AAA rating could suffer.
squirrel circus 
I just… Wow! If I were you I think I’d be in touch with the game devs. At the least, maybe some extra dog poop patrol is in order? I know the boys wouldn’t have done it maliciously, but maybe on the level of “There’s no such thing as a free lunch!” lesson?
::checks to make sure the cats don’t have access to an IDevice::
Yeah, you’d better watch those two!! I have my suspicions about Loki…. 🙂
I think we ALL learned the “no free lunch” lesson. I have a hard time taking it any further with the kids, when Scott and I really had no idea how a credit card attached to the account would function — we’d always used iTunes cards before. So, I feel like we pretty much “handed them the gun” and hadn’t established that they needed our explicit approval for anything — in other words, I was pretty free and easy with the password that evening.
Wow, I am glad I read this and will be more careful now.
Aw, see? If we could just save ONE gamer…. seriously — thanks for stopping by the blog!! 🙂
I was clueless until Wes got to YouTube videos via Angry Birds – and while he didn’t buy anything, I put the iPhone on Airplane Setting before he uses it (he doesn’t yet pay attention to it).
Good god, that’s a lot of money. My kids would have done it too!
That’s a great idea. We’ve since re-added the credit info, but I am protecting my password like my life (read: bank account) depends on it!
Geez, I thought they were putting some sort of legislation in place to prevent this because it’s become a really common problem. Suck those kids in & then the bill hits. You’re lucky you were able to shut it down at “just” $145.
Tell me about it! In a way, I’m glad it happened now, when we’re still pretty much aware of what they’re doing (see how much credit I give us? ha ha) and not in high school or college, when the damage could be MUCH greater.
By the way — if I dare say something ELSE humorous came out of this, it was explaining to my completely dumbfounded mother that millions of people (kids, teens, and adults alike) spend REAL money for VIRTUAL advantages, points, coins, prizes, skills, weapons, etc. Then I tucked her back in…nice and cozy under her rock 🙂
Ha! I want to go under that rock with her- 145 spent inadvertently on nothing!? What is this world coming to?
Look for me to post some articles later on what this world is coming to….