iTunes Store Customer Support
Recently i had to contact iTunes Support because i wasn’t able to purchase a In-App Add-on for an App called Groundwire.
I have an US iTunes account since 2008 even though i haven’t lived in the US since 2004, but because of better content and availability i decided to do so. It has obviously a real address and phone number.
I always paid for content with iTunes credit aka. gift cards, and never had any kind of trouble. Not even buying iTunes Match, which is a yearly renewable membership.
It was a nightmare to have this problems, because IP-based my request was sent to Apple-EMEA Support and got response from one of the support employee responsible for the EMEA-region.
Needless to say the girl wasn’t a bit helpful.
She just replied to me that i wasn’t allowed to buy content from the US iTunes Store.
Well i bought the App, and one In-app purchase, plus 3 more apps after this problem, i have real name, address and phone number.
I also changed payment method and put a US Credit Card.
Why can’t i buy this Add-on?
She replied again, i can’t give you further information.
Well great, you are supposed to be customer support?
Guess what, you’re doing it WRONG!!!
Then i thought to contact iTunes Support but in the US, so just switched my VPN to have an US IP so my Ticket would be sent to the right iTunes Store customer support people, and not to the off-shore curry gang.
Quite shocking, i never got an answer from them.
So i decided to try my luck calling Support. FAIL!
iTunes Support doesn’t have a phone number.
I called Apple Support, the guy was really nice, tried to help me but failed, because he said that he doesn’t have access to that kind of information regarding iTunes accounts.
He forwarded my call to AppleCare support, also nice and help oriented, but he also failed.
I was getting pissed off, because nobody seemed to care, and i still wasn’t able to buy this add-on i really needed, it’s for ZRTP encrypted calls, and that’s for my work. So i was unable to communicate with my business partner thru a secure line. And all because iTunes people seem to have a different standard than Apple for Customer Support!
So then i decided to call Apple Inc.
I tried my luck, explained my problem and got forwarded to the “right department”.
Well, Mr. Right Guy was not helpful nor did he understood my problem, even after i explained him 20 times that the iTunes account was a US account, he just heard that i was calling from Germany at the moment, mambo jumbo started to come out of his mouth.
At that moment i imagined the guy probably looked like the Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons.
Told me to change my payment method from an US CC to a German one because i was trying to buy the Add-On from Germany, even after i told him that my account was US, and in order to do that, i’d need to change the country from the account. I’m sitting right now in Germany, account is US, this was about the Gazillionth time i told him that.
Well he probably got pissed off and hung up.
Customer service? Bitch please, i’ve seen nicer people working cleaning toilets!
I realized that it was going to be impossible to solve the problem, and after spending 18 dollars in an app that worked half-ways, i decided to try to buy everything again, but from the German as good as unused App Store account i’ve had for almost 3 years.
I bought the App, tried to buy the Add-on and Oh Sweet Mother of God, it didn’t work!!!
I was already in touch with the App developer, but they checked and tried everything and told me it was definitely a problem with iTunes.
So i decided to try my luck with the less oriented customer service people I’ve ever seen: The Germans.
Got to the apple.com/de website searched for iTunes support, filled in everything, explained my problem just like i did the every time.
3 times to EMEA, 4 times to the US support.
After less than 12 hours a guy named Tobias from iTunes Customer Support answered me, telling me he had to make some adjustments to my account, and that i should be able to buy the Add-on in 30 minutes.
I was extremely shocked.
So i thought, why not ask this nice guy, what the problem is with my US account, so i replied to the email he sent me with the first good news, telling him i was having the same problem with a second iTunes account, also told him it was a US one.
I was sort of expecting a negative answer, something like, “contact the US iTunes Support i can’t give you any further information”, just like iTunes EMEA Support gave me that stupid unhelpful and retarded answer.
Same day in the afternoon i get an email from Tobias telling me that my account should be now OK, to wait 30 minutes before buying something.
I couldn’t believe it.
I thanked Tobias for being so helpful.
He even replied that email and thanked me for the kind words, and wished me a nice weekend.
I couldn’t believe what i was reading.
After all this sending emails and calling, i really couldn’t understand how the German iTunes Customer Support fixed my 2 accounts in less than 2 days, with just 2 emails. I’m always mocking and teasing and ranting about how awful customer service in Germany is, but i have to say this time they Pwned it!
This guy Tobias Rohde from iTunes Store Customer Support really nailed it. This country and every Co. need people like him in their Customer Service Departments.
Service oriented people.
Not just someone answering questions and complains, without offering any help or at least try.