Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Ipod PSA

We got the kids refurbished Ipod touches for Christmas this year. They have been a total hit. Sometime in January Andrew's started acting weird. None of the apps would work. We thought we had gotten a bummer pod but Paul got ahold of tech support and got it up and running. Something he did in the process of fixing the Ipod required a credit card.

See where I am going with this?

Last Friday the kids did not have school. By 11:00 am they were Boooooooo-red. (yes they made it a two syllable word) It was a loooooong day for all of us.

When Saturday rolled around I was very willing to do all the Superbowl grocery shopping, ALONE! I left and headed for Wal Mart first. I checked in while at the store to ask Paul's preference on something and all was still right in the world. I called again when I was done and I could tell something bad had happened. I knew something was seriously wrong. I could just hear it in Paul's voice. He was beyond pissed.

I asked what had happened and he told me that Andrew decided to buy a really expensive app just for fun, not realizing that it would charge a credit card. Emma was there the whole time and said he could do it because it would just say that there weren't sufficient funds. (That is what it did to her since she didn't have a card linked) I asked how much and he said Andrew thought it was $400 dollars. Holy S-word!

Paul could not get through to a real person at Apple. Everything had to be done by email and all over the website warnings were posted,
"All Sales Final"
On his account he could see another charge for $150. Oh good grief! Seriously? 
$550 on crap apps? 
Oh this was not good. I suggested he call the credit card company to see about disputing the charge. I hurried home without going to the other store that was on my list.

When I got home Paul had calmed down, a little. The credit card company said they would work with us but not until Wed. when the charge posted. He also realized that it was only one download and it was the $150 one he could see on the account. 

It took a while, and some lunch, before Paul could relax enough to almost laugh about it. We removed the credit card, disabled his wireless so it wouldn't down load the app, and talked to the kids about what had happened. We found out yesterday that Apple would give us a credit and everything would be okay.

Now do you want to know what the app was? It was a navigation app, for Europe
written in 
GERMAN.

10 comments:

lchiggs said...

Maybe he is getting ready for a mission in Germany? hahaha! Good thing they will credit you. :)

rlg said...

Holy H***! Bruce and I can't stop laughing. Glad it was fixed o.k.

MamaBug said...

Wow. You just barely dodged that bullet! Sure is funny after the fact though. :)

wholarmor said...

Wow! That's an expensive app! Glad they got it taken care of!

Mary said...

You didn't keep the German mapquest? You must have already had that one, huh??

Glad you got it worked out. I would have crapped my pants.

Debbie said...

That is one of the funniest stories I have heard! Maybe I'm glad my kids didn't have these "toys" when they were young. Glad everything worked out in the end.

Heidi said...

That is just priceless! Great story and so glad it worked out!

CarrieAnn said...

Kids are so funny, but much more funny after you get your money back.

One time, when Jackson was around eight, he got on the computer and ordered $700 of Lego Bionicles.

Luckily, he didn't have my credit card number. He had put it as a COD as the payment. When I called the company, they canceled it for me with no arguments.

Another time, around the same time, he ordered free diabetic supplies online. Why? I asked him. Because it was free.

He also requested information from a university. I got a message on my phone from someone who wanted to talk to Jackson about their electrical engineering program he was interested in. Later, when he called back, I told him that Jackson was only EIGHT. He said he'd call back in a decade or so.

That was about the time that he lost his internet privileges...

mreay said...

So funny...thanks for the laugh. However...I'm sure you guys weren't laughing at all. I would be all sorts of "p" at my kids if they did that. But these little mishaps are what make good stories :D

Wingnut said...

Oh man oh man! That must have made for some *tense* moments of conversation for a time!!! Glad you got it worked out.