George Jhonson, 6, Connecticut, an iPad and Sonic Forces. At first glance, this equation may seem harmless. Who would have thought that a child could become so addicted to a game that he would spend thousands of dollars on it? Obviously any developer who fills these tempting pastimes with stimuli. The amount amounts to 16 thousand dollars that the child paid from his mother’s Apple account. Now, the American company refuses to reimburse such an amount.
George Johnson is a six-year-old boy who lives with his parents in Connecticut. Like most of his friends, he too is hooked on the Sonic Forces. So far so good. One day he got curious and went into the deep universe of game setting. Unfortunately for his mother, the little boy found himself with an infinite number of products to improve the productivity of the video game.
One sunny day, when nothing could go wrong, Jessica Johnson, the boy’s mother, began to see strange movements in her bank account. Immediately, she contacted her bank to try to solve the monumental problem. Thus, she filed a complaint for suspected fraud. At this point in the story, it became clear that the mother had never suspected the hidden perversions of Sonic Forces, nor of her son.
Four months later, the bank discovered that the charges came from her Apple account, specifically the game app. Jessica soon glimpsed a solution: she would contact the American giant and claim her money. What did she find? By this time, Apple’s 60-day refund policy had passed, which meant that they were not responsible and would not issue a refund.
“They told me that because I didn’t call within 60 days of the charges, they can’t do anything,” said Jessica to the press. “The reason I didn’t call within 60 days is because Chase told me it was likely fraud that PayPal and Apple.com are top fraud charges.” An Apple rep told Jessica that there were parental controls on her device that she should have set. “Obviously, if I had known there was a setting for that, I wouldn’t have allowed my 6-year-old to run up nearly $20,000 in charges for virtual gold rings,” she explained. “These games are designed to be completely predatory and get kids to buy things. What grown-up would spend $100 on a chest of virtual gold coins?”
George, I think you’re out of Christmas presents this year.
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