A federal judge has ordered Amazon to refund parents for their children's unauthorized purchases from 2011 to 2014 using the site's app. The decision follows a long-standing complaint that had the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lodged in July 2014, citing Amazon for its failure to secure in-app purchases from children.
According to Reuters, Amazon's online store app didn't have any security feature that would prevent children from playing and purchasing items while accessing games like "Pet Shop Story" and "Ice Age Village." These are popular among families with Amazon's Kindle Fire device.
With no such preventive measure, over $86 million charges have been made by children from 2011 to 2014, and unsuspecting parents have been raking up bills on their Amazon accounts. The federal judge ruled that Amazon refunds the amount to the parents in April 2016.
Yet it was only recently that the courts was able to outline the process for setting up the Amazon refunds. The court denied the FTC's request for a lump sum payment of $26.5 million to parents.
Instead, Amazon refunds will start trickling down in 2017 and the federal court explicitly orders the e-commerce company to pay back in cash and not via gift cards. The judge ruled that Amazon would only profit from gift card Amazon refunds yet some terms to its notice process were approved. According to the Consumerist, eligible Amazon subscribers or parents should expect to get notifications about the Amazon refunds via their accounts within the next 90 days.
Amazon has to actually refund parents whose kids racked up in-app purchases, not give them Amazon gift cards. https://t.co/EEwqKnnaJB
— consumerist (@consumerist) November 12, 2016
Since the lawsuit, Amazon has already improved its in-app services for Kindle Fire, especially from unauthorized purchases. "We look forward to making a case for full refunds to consumers as a result of Amazon's actions," FTC's head Edith Ramirez said, according to Engadget.
Are you one of the parents eligible for getting an Amazon refund? Have you also done personal measures to prevent your kids from making unauthorized store purchases? Share your story in the comments!
