App Store, iTunes Denying Purchases To Some Users?
February 19, 2011
The iTunes Store went online a decade ago selling music for iPods. Since then, Apple has added movies, television shows, podcasts, and of course apps, to its arsenal of products. Today, it offers media for an array of products including the iPhone/iPod touch and iPad.
For much of the past 10 years, I’ve been a loyal and heavy iTunes user. In a small way, I’ve helped Apple with its bottom line, just like millions of other loyal customers do each day.
Until last week.
As if by random, certain purchases I attempted to make were being denied. It wasn’t the credit card I had on file that was the problem; Apple proved that by gladly charging me for those purchases the company did approve.
The problems began when I attempted to download specific songs. It spread to the App Store, where one or two purchases went through just fine, while another was denied. Each denial came with this strange message:
Naturally, I emailed iTunes customer support. After two days of nothing, I finally received this canned message.
"Dear Bryan, Thank you for contacting us with regards on whenever you attempt to purchase certain songs, you are getting a message to contact iTunes support. I am sorry for the inconvenience it has caused you. But, please don't worry, I am more than willing to help you. Kindly be advised that finding a solution for you is important to me, so I have requested assistance with the issue you reported. You will receive an email after the matter has been investigated and further information is available. Thank you for your great patience and cooperation. Apple wants your iTunes experience to be as enjoyable as possible. Have a nice day. Take care! Sincerely, iTunes Store Customer Support"Days later, and with a solution nowhere in sight, the problem got worse. Except for free downloads, I could no longer make any purchase in iTunes; not music, nor App Store purchases. Even attempts to purchase a movie resulted in the message mentioned earlier. Frankly, at this point, I got mad. My decade-long relationship with Apple was in tatters and the folks in Cupertino, California didn’t seem to care. Then I began checking on Google, and noticed that this error was popping up for other iTunes users as well. The Apple Discussion boards themselves noted angry customers who, for whatever reason, got the same error and received the same useless message from Apple. As I searched for a solution, I noticed there was none. Each Google hint or discussion ended the same way: Users were asked to contact iTunes support and wait for an answer. And, forget about making new purchases. As I waited for a reply from Apple (one that actually said something useful), I came up with my own solution: I created a new Apple ID. This new account used the same credit card as the previous ID. This time, my purchases went through just fine. Then yesterday, I tried to make a purchase using my old Apple ID. The problem was gone, and purchases went through successfully. I am still awaiting a “resolution” email from Apple. At this point, I'd be surprised to receive one. While I'm happy my account is now working properly, being unable to make purchases for almost one week was unacceptable. Apple customer service, at least on this issue, also proved unacceptable. The sad fact is that when iTunes problems happen, the only recourse is to send an email to Apple and wait. The company doesn't provide a phone number for iTunes support. Perhaps in the future, I'll begin buying my music and movies from Amazon.com and forget about using iTunes. Is anyone else receiving this error? Leave your comments below.