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[Manmademan]

Mobile gaming is full of this kind of pay to win, endless transaction BS.

I don't think we'll ever see the end of these kinds of articles tbh

 

[Beefy]

Is it even possible to get so many failed transactions so many times over two months, two weeks or two days?

They could mean 2 months, yet is was only a month in recieving a bank statement? So say Jan 17th it happened, then it happened again before Feb 17th. Both could fall in a monthly statement, depending when your account was opened.

 

[Dennis]

You know what's blowing my mind? That there are people here saying it's not the mother's fault.

It was a technical glitch. Google is more at fault than the mother.

Even if the mother had done the actual purchasing herself instead of giving the kid the credit card the outcome would likely have been the same: she would repeatedly trying to get the payment through not realising she was wrongly charged each time.

 

[Deleted member 20920]

So 3k Bucks disappeared into nothing, and Google is like "k, just have some happy thoughts"?

Wow. I'm happy that i rarely buy stuff on the Playstore then.

I'm inclined to think that Google support didn't tell them that but then I remember EA's superb customer service lol

They could mean 2 months, yet is was only a month in recieving a bank statement? So say Jan 17th it happened, then it happened on Feb 12th. Both could fall in a monthly statement, depending when your account was opened.

The number of failed transactions that was mentioned in the article can't possibly add up to 3K. Unless this has been going on for a long time.

 

[Scipio]

The mom gave permission to her 11 yo son to use her credit card. Altough, one couldn't reasonably expect that she gave permission for a payment of 3000$. The boy is 11 yo, minor and thus unable to make payments (certainly this kind) without permissions of the legal guardians.

If she makes it a legal battle, it's gonna be very hard to prove she didn't permit her kid to do all of this. Maybe if she can prove that the app made it not clear that a lot of money was spent. Certainly apps like this, catered to young audiences.

It's lacklustre parenting but surely some justice could be rendered.

 

[Akhe]

That's why you should NEVER save your CC info on a console, phone etc..NEVER. Even if you live alone.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

Unfortunately Nick represents the kind of whale all publishers and developers of F2P games wish they could hook.

 

[Beefy]

The number of failed transactions that was mentioned in the article can't possibly add up to 3K. Unless this has been going on for a long time.

And how would you know that? You can't simply say it couldn't happen. 3k is probably the rounded up number anyways. It would only take the child clicking the £7.99 amount around 400 times. That is easily to do in a couple of days, a couple can always be more then 2.

 

[SolidusDave]

Should be easy prove if the timestamps of the charges are within seconds of each other?


Though ~300-400 per week over the course of two months sounds more like a general behavior and not a bug? Unless he thought the solution was to repeatedly hit the buy button every time.
This should have been noticed earlier, though. How long can you go w/o checking your bank account especially if you're not well-off.


The other thing is that the game/sever probably has some sort of history if he really got so many credits? In which case the kid can't be that oblivious. Though I don't know how fast you can spend digital things with that kind of money, I would have guessed it takes a while before the need arises to spend again money?



I think banks are legally required to charge back any credit card transactions of the last 6-8 weeks that you claim to be false/fraudulent. Could have gone that route if their google accounts doesn't have much else of worth as they will surely ban it afterwards I guess.

 

[Chunky]

There really needs to be a limit on how much f2p games can take from you in total; £3000 over two months is obscene and this story is all too common.
I know with that f2p Pokemon game it limits what you can spend a month, which could hopefully be another step by the EU against these gross business practices.

 

[crazepharmacist]

Just do a charge back.

 

[Enosh]

does he have 3k worth of ingame currency? from what i read he didn't actually get the currency so he kept pressing the buy button again until he got it, if he didn't get it then they must refund it, if he did get it and kept buying more because he thought he could get away with it, well that's his fault then

 

[Cleve]

How many times is this going to happen? I know people that don't, but come on folks, watch your credit card/debit balance like a hawk. Set up alerts.

I hope she won't be held accountable for the full sum, that could easily break the bank for some families, but shit, why are people so careless with their money?

 

[shiyrley]

- Step 1: set Google Play to ask for password on every credit card purchase
- Step 2: do NOT give the password to him
- Setp 3: Buy him Google Play money cards instead of using a credit card for his purchases

Done.

However I think they should get a refund.

 

[eFKac]

It was a technical glitch. Google is more at fault than the mother.

Even if the mother had done the actual purchasing herself instead of giving the kid the credit card the outcome would likely have been the same: she would repeatedly trying to get the payment through not realising she was wrongly charged each time.

This makes me think of Vaas and his famous quote.

We don't know whether it was a glitch, I think they are lying so they get their (well not their anymore) money back.

If you throw a quarter to a slot machine and it eats it up, you throw another one cause maybe it was stuck right? When it eats the second one, what do you do? You go to the owner of the bar, or throw in another 400 quarters?

Kid was getting a clear notification that he was being charged each time.

Tell me, do you know the definition of insanity?

 

[thesurfshop19]

The mother shouldn't have given her card to her son, but I'm surprised that it appears the majority of people on GAF think that there's no middle ground resolution possible here. "Sucks to be you" wouldn't be my personal approach here, even if all of the transactions were completely legit.

 

[Trojan X]

"In fact Nick had simply been trying – and seemingly failing – to buy credits to play football management game Top Eleven 2015 and strategy game Clash of Clans among others. Rather than the expected small number of payments of between £1.49 and £7.99 going out of Penny’s account, it would appear that after making a purchase the credits never reached Nick, causing him to click and click in vain to make them appear."


This aspect is very easy for the developers to determine if the correct object codes were in place. So I don't believe that he didn't get the credits or rather I have my doubts.

 

[kswiston]

Google play sends me an email every time I make a purchase. Everyone should have that option turned on, as it would prevent this sort of thing dragging on for months. If the mom ignored the emails swarming her inbox, that's a different story.

 

[ArtHands]

You know what's blowing my mind? That there are people here saying it's not the mother's fault.

And it seems there's an agenda here. Making Google look bad, and then making mobile gaming look bad by association.

There really needs to be a limit on how much f2p games can take from you in total; £3000 over two months is obscene and this story is all too common.
I know with that f2p Pokemon game it limits what you can spend a month, which could hopefully be another step by the EU against these gross business practices.

And you are limiting the spending of those rich guys who don't care about throwing that kind of money for their games over 2 months. Unless we're just talking about a optional gate then I see you point a little. On the other hand, there are already lots of gates in placed. Such as not giving them the card number, parents setting notification (email) whenever they spend a money, adding password prompt before every transaction, having the bank ring them up if the spending exceeded their monthly limit etc.

 

[NinjaBoiX]

I'm definitely in the "kid is making shit up to cover his arse" camp. We've all been 11 before.

The issue here is that the kid hasn't got what he paid for, or at least claims thus. He "didn't realise" he was spending the money because he wasn't getting what he was supposedly paying for and so assumed he wasn't being charged.

If that's the legit truth, I don't see any issue with the parenting. Anyone would click again if they thought a transaction hadn't gone through, child or not.

I absolutely would not, this is dumb as fuck.

If I'm buying something online and the transaction glitches or whatever, I check and double check before reclicking.

 

[The Boat]

If his version is true, it's definitely not the mother's fault.
I don't know what world you guys live in where eleven year olds you can trust to be reasonable simply can't exist.

It was a technical glitch. Google is more at fault than the mother.

Even if the mother had done the actual purchasing herself instead of giving the kid the credit card the outcome would likely have been the same: she would repeatedly trying to get the payment through not realising she was wrongly charged each time.

You don't give your card details to an 11 year old, it's that simple. Chances are, a parent overestimates how smart and responsible he really is. The fact that this happened is proof enough, in two months he made several purchases dozens or hundreds of times! Even if (and this is a big if) it's true that the credits didn't show up, someone who has the intelligence and responsibility to handle credit card purchases online wouldn't repeat those purchases over and over and over without realizing something's wrong.

But in the end it's simple: you don't give a kid access to something that allows you to spend large ammounts of money easily, especially in an environment that not only makes it super easy to buy things, but also creates addiction that leads to spending more money.

 

[BadWolf]

I'm sorry but you have to be pretty dumb to give an 11 year old full access to your bank account.

 

[Beefy]

And it seems there's an agenda here. Making Google look bad, and then making mobile gaming look bad by association.

Or innocent until proven guilty?

 

[Deleted member 20920]

And how would you know that? You can't simply say it couldn't happen. 3k is probably the rounded up number anyways. It would only take the child clicking the £7.99 amount around 400 times. That is easily to do in a couple of days, a couple can always be more then 2.

I'm saying this based on on the number of failed transactions mentioned in the article, which adds up to a total of 75 failed transactions. Given that the most expensive one costs £6.99, it wouldn't add up to 3k's worth of failed transactions. Like I said, maybe this happened before,many times over 2 months. It's just that the mother never noticed it and the article failed to mention just how many transactions were failed transactions beyond the ones mentioned in that 2 week period.

The numbers don't quite add up. Either the failed transactions add up to a maximum of £525 or so (and not the 3K as claimed by the mother) or this has been going on for a long time.

Either way, Google really needs to apologise if they really told him to think happy thoughts. The "ask for password before purchase confirmation" should also be switched on by default.

 

[Duster]

Bad timing because the Sale Of Goods Act doesn't quite cover digital content properly, you barely have any rights when buying digitally.

That's why a new law is going through at the moment.
http://www.businesscompanion.info/e...-2015#Whattheconsumercanexpectstatutoryrights

 

[Cthulhu_Steev]

First name 'Penny'.

Lol.

at least the mother was left with a Penny to her name.

 

[SillyEskimo]

100% the parents fault. I wouldn't refund them either.

I straight up do not believe the child's account of the story. He's a child that got caught red handed and he is in some serious shit because of it. He's just saying what any child would to defer blame.

 

[NinjaBoiX]

The more of these stories that come out, the harder it gets to sympathise with the parents.

Like, do you not read the news?

 

[nowarning]

The cynic in me think it's more likely that the kid just kept buying stuff, not that it didn't go through so he kept clicking. I know if I was in the parents shoes I would have a password that only I knew on the account for every purchase and I would check what my child was attempting to purchase before allowing it.

 

[Stare-Bear]

I see it happen all the time. Parents giving their children tablets, phones and never ever check what they are doing on there.

 

[Copenap]

If his version is true, it's definitely not the mother's fault.
I don't know what world you guys live in where eleven year olds you can trust to be reasonable simply can't exist.

The sons story clearly is bullshit. It haopened over several weeks so why did he do it again, he must have gotten the credits eventually. And if he never received the credits it's a totally different story but we all know that's not what happened here. It's definitely the mothers fault.

 

[TheSeks]

I don't know what world you guys live in where eleven year olds you can trust to be reasonable simply can't exist.

It's not a matter of "trust worthy eleven year old." It's a matter of "who the hell leaves their account details for their KIDS to use on an unrestricted account?" Why no password confirmation? Why no REMOVING the card information once the things she authorized as buying is bought? "Because that takes longer." Yeah, and she's paying the price now with having to foot this bill that her kid racked up due to not taking the time to PREVENT that.

 

[Qvoth]

Nick knows that these credits are bought, and are not free

lol does she think her son is a genius or something?

 

[jesu]

That's why you should NEVER save your CC info on a console, phone etc..NEVER. Even if you live alone.

In case a child breaks into your house and buys dlc?

 

[travisbickle]

Any other business where a quick succession of purchases occur on the same account there's a call to the card owners to make sure it's valid. With mobile games, a bell rings at the studio and there's high-fives all round for hooking another "whale".

 

[Slayven]

Who doesn't check their account over 2 months?

a common theme with these stories.

 

[mackattk]

If they never actually got the credits then they should get a refund right?

And yeah, don't give your kids access to your credit card information.

I assume never getting the credit was something that came from an 11 year old. In a F2P game that can use those said credits within a few short minutes.

 

[ArtHands]

Or innocent until proven guilty?

Perhaps Google is the innocent one here.

Considering the fact that she handed over her debit card details to her son and Google Play Store has got password system too... There's no smoke without fire.

In case a child breaks into your house and buys dlc?

Its better to be safe than sorry. There's nothing to say some hacker will steal your (and many others) credit card data by hacking into a company, rather than stealing your credit card data from you directly.

 

[The Boat]

In case a child breaks into your house and buys dlc?

Candy Crush is a hell of a drug.

 

[Beefy]

Perhaps Google is the innocent one here.

It's why I haven't blamed either (yet).

 

[TheSeks]

In case a child breaks into your house and buys dlc?

Not just physical. Digital security: If someone breaks into your account, they have your card information at the ready to use.

 

[StrongBlackVine]

Yeah I don't believe this story at all. Kid went buck wild and has his mother fooled. Of course she was rather foolish in the first place to give him virtually unsupervised access to her bank account.

 

[jesu]

Its better to be safe than sorry. There's nothing to say some hacker will steal your (and many others) credit card data by hacking into a company, rather than stealing your credit card data from you directly.

Not just physical. Digital security: If someone breaks into your account, they have your card information at the ready to use.

The guy I quoted wasn't talking about hackers.

 

[Copenap]

Not just physical. Digital security: If someone breaks into your account, they have your card information at the ready to use.

This is incorrect. They would have the last 4 digets at most. And if you mean they could use the stored info for purchases within that account it would still not be that big of a deal as this would be an unauthorized payment and the cc company would have to refund (that is unless it's totally your fault and you posted you account pw only or something).

 

[ArtHands]

The guy I quoted wasn't talking about hackers.

How do you know? He didn't say about getting card detail stolen from just a break-in or having your physical items (with your credit card info stored in it) getting stolen either.

 

[Harlock]

That must be the worst nightmare situation for nintendo too.

 

[jwk94]

So the credits didn't even appear in the game which prompted him to keep trying? They deserve a refund here of that is true.

This is what bothers me the most. Otherwise, I still think the kid would keep buying the credits once he needs more.

 

[Diablohead]

My nephew who is 8 managed to guess his mothers password and spent £500~ on IAP just the other month, thankfully apple support refunded it all after checking transaction history.

You can say "use a password, dummy!" but sometimes it's not enough, the whole online structure for IAP sales needs to be limited in a time frame.

 

[Iorv3th]

Why was the mom not checking her e-mail? Shouldn't she get a new e-mail every time a charge went through?

If his version is true, it's definitely not the mother's fault.
I don't know what world you guys live in where eleven year olds you can trust to be reasonable simply can't exist.

They can exist, but they are still kids. They can be influenced to do things they shouldn't. Happens to good reasonable kids all the time.

 

[Diablohead]

Quoting myself from the bottom of the last page:

My nephew who is 8 managed to guess his mothers password and spent £500~ on IAP just the other month, thankfully apple support refunded it all after checking transaction history.

You can say "use a password, dummy!" but sometimes it's not enough, the whole online structure for IAP sales needs to be limited in a time frame.

This is why these exist

Yes this is the best way to go about giving your kids credit to buy something.