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Apple Offering 7-Day Refund Policy on App Store Apps in Taiwan

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macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Over the past several days, a number of reports have been coming out about Apple and Google being pressured by the Taiwanese government to modify their app sales policies to comply with a law requiring a one-week return and refund window on all purchases. The first mention came on Saturday from WantChinaTimes, which reported that Apple will be complying with the order.
At the request of Taipei City Hall, Apple agreed to let their phone users have a trial period of seven days, within which a user can return the app for a full refund.
Click to expand...
Until now, Apple has not allowed any trial period for paid apps, although refunds have been available on a case by case basis through iTunes support.

iphone_4_taiwan_apps.jpg



A new report from The Economic Times of India offers additional information on the situation, confirming that Apple has indeed complied with the requirement while Google has been fined $34,600 over its continued refusal to offer a 7-day refund period. That report and another one from the Taipei Times reveal that Google has gone as far as to completely withdraw its paid app marketplace in Taiwan rather than comply with the regulations. The suspension is said to continue while discussions to resolve the impasse are underway.

It is unclear what changes were made by Apple in order to comply with the refund law, and we have received no word of obvious changes in the handling of purchases made through the App Store. Consequently, it is possible that Apple is simply addressing it through its usual iTunes support procedures and simply granting refunds upon request rather than building any specific refund functionality into the purchasing system. Also unknown is whether Apple will be extending the policy to other countries.

Article Link: Apple Offering 7-Day Refund Policy on App Store Apps in Taiwan
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/06/27/apple-offering-7-day-refund-policy-on-app-store-apps-in-taiwan/
Last edited by a moderator:
roland.g

roland.g

macrumors 604
Apr 11, 2005
7,414
3,152
Screenshots and reviews are not enough. It would be nice to see iTunes show video previews from the developer showing the App in action so the customer can get a better sense on purchasing.

Not to mention whether it be iTunes categories, etc. or even sites like AppShopper, there really needs to be better information and organization when it comes to finding good Apps.

For example, I was looking last night for Apps for my kid for our upcoming trip and everything is lumped into education with no real breakdown by type, age, etc. So unless you want to go through trial and error, search through tons of apps, etc., it's like trying to sift through a mountain to find what would be useful.
 
Mlrollin91

Mlrollin91

macrumors G5
Nov 20, 2008
14,120
10,106
I agree with the above poster, screen shots are just not enough. I think that we should have at least a 48hour window to use the app and decide if we want to keep it and it does everything that it says that it will do. There are many apps that I have purchased that don't work as advertised.
 
Piggie

Piggie

macrumors G3
Feb 23, 2010
9,117
4,016
I am 100% for this, and think we should demand it here.

Many times I've read the reviews of a game, downloaded it, and found out it had a horrible control system so apart from the 1st two minutes I have never loaded the app again. total waste of money and happened to me quite a few times.

I would like a refund system even if it's only for half a hour after purchase, so that if you pay and think OMG it's rubbish or it crashes, you can straight away get a refund.

To be honest, for me, even 1 hour would be plenty, 1 day a real real max. I don't see why you should need days to decide if it's any good.
 
C

chameleon81

macrumors 6502
May 16, 2006
434
0
Good to hear. I really don't like how apple destroyed the trial,demo concept and they created a consumer base who expect to buy applications for 0.99 cents and would write bad reviews if that 0.99 cent app doesn't work excellent .
 
I

intelliot

macrumors member
Jul 18, 2006
95
1
I don't understand: hasn't Google been offering refunds for app purchases from the Android Market since nearly the beginning?
 
Surely

Surely

Guest
Oct 27, 2007
15,042
11
Los Angeles, CA
Benjy91 said:
Man this system screams of abuse :D

Download a paid app, get what you want out of it, return it.
Click to expand...

Agreed. So much abuse. I don't blame Google for withdrawing paid apps.

I wonder if people in Taiwan are able to go to a brick and mortar store, buy some DVDs or software, watch, rip, or install them, and then return them for a full refund. If they're able to return downloaded applications, I would guess they'd be able to do the same with CD-ROMs/DVDs.

A better solution would be for Apple to make free trial versions of apps mandatory.
 
cwedl

cwedl

macrumors 65816
Jun 5, 2003
1,401
30
All joking aside.. the amount of times i have bought and app and it's turned out to be rubbish.. I would love this policy..
 
arn

arn

macrumors god
Staff member
Apr 9, 2001
16,363
5,795
intelliot said:
I don't understand: hasn't Google been offering refunds for app purchases from the Android Market since nearly the beginning?
Click to expand...

Google now offers a 15 minute window to return/refund. Looks like they are not agreeing to the 7-day window.

arn
 
jayducharme

jayducharme

macrumors 601
Jun 22, 2006
4,529
5,973
The thick of it
lilcosco08 said:
This is what the store over in the states needs

Bring it over here!
Click to expand...

A majority of apps have free versions anyway. I can see the refund policy being useful for really expensive apps that don't live up to their promise. Since Apple likes keeping customers happy, they'd most likely issue a refund in that case. I don't get what the problem is.
 
richard4339

richard4339

macrumors 6502a
Sep 6, 2006
891
108
Illinois
arn said:
Google now offers a 15 minute window to return/refund. Looks like they are not agreeing to the 7-day window.
Click to expand...

I'll agree with some of the above posts. I think a return period in the App store should be implemented. I think the 15 minutes Google does it too little, but the 7 days is too much. But either way, this should be a standard feature worldwide.
 
O

outphase

macrumors 65816
Jun 13, 2009
1,291
32
Parts Unknown
Android Market's current 15 minutes is too little for customers, and the previous 24 hours was too much for developers. I wonder if Apple would strike a balance with this to make it more consumer friendly.
 
arn

arn

macrumors god
Staff member
Apr 9, 2001
16,363
5,795
richard4339 said:
I'll agree with some of the above posts. I think a return period in the App store should be implemented. I think the 15 minutes Google does it too little, but the 7 days is too much. But either way, this should be a standard feature worldwide.
Click to expand...

The main problem with this is that for most games, you can complete them within 24 hours. So, it's not particularly fair for developers that people will be able to refund games after playing them through.

arn
 
0098386

0098386

Suspended
Jan 18, 2005
21,574
2,908
I'd welcome a system like this in Europe. There are so many apps that have received glowing reviews on various sites, only to find it to be rubbish or written by people with an agenda/in the pockets of the developers.

7 days is awfully long. If it was up to me I'd give 12-24 hour returns, no questions asked.
 
roland.g

roland.g

macrumors 604
Apr 11, 2005
7,414
3,152
There's a fine line here between protecting the consumer and giving the consumer a system to abuse. Agreed that a week is ridiculous, but that hours would be better.

Apple could simply integrate a system where all paid apps are automatically 1 hour trials. A popup notification comes up within an hour asking you if you want to refund/cancel your purchase. Your account would track it so you can't trial an App twice. And if you don't want to wait the 1 hour for the notification, you could simply hit the delete X to remove it from the device, with iOS recognizing that the notification had not arrived yet, and prompting you "Are you sure you want to cancel this purchase and delete this App?". All apps that were either not deleted manually and therefore refunded or you did not opt out of when the 1 hour notification came in, would be automatically charged and be non-refundable. As in sorry you had your chance. You wouldn't have to wait for the notification and it would be the users onus to try the app and cancel the purchase if they didn't like it. Simple.

But it would also prevent people from buying apps for a day or several days, playing/using them, and then not paying for it.

You need to protect the consumer but at the same time not have a system in place that lets people scam the developers. See arn's quote below.

arn said:
The main problem with this is that for most games, you can complete them within 24 hours. So, it's not particularly fair for developers that people will be able to refund games after playing them through.

arn
Click to expand...
 
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