Q: In July 2011, my 13-year-old daughter was off school sick for a few days and played on her iPad while recovering.
In a week she spent $803 on game purchases without my authorisation. I'd set up the account a few months earlier. She emptied my salary account but we were not billed for the purchases on our bank statement until after the fact. The iPad account was linked to her email account so I did not find verification of the transactions until I tried to use my card at a store and checked my account.
Am I entitled to a refund?
A: Paul Brislen, chief executive of the Telecommunications Users Assocation, said Apple should offer the same settlement in New Zealand as it had in the US, where it has paid out more than US$100 million in iTunes credits to parents whose children racked up bills on their mobile devices.
An Apple representative said cases such as this were dealt with on a case-by-case basis in New Zealand. When there was a genuine mistake, Apple would provide a refund. After checking over the records, it was revealed the money was refunded 14 days after the payments were made.
