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I just found out that Apple’s policy on iPod games sold at the iTunes Store is basically, SCREW you, re-purchase the same games you already bought for the new iPod you just bought! This is a pretty horrible way to treat customers. Totally crappy policy, especially since they NO LONGER SELL a compatible iPod that can play these games when they discontinued the 5.5 generation iPod video!
In my case, my iPod video has recently gone missing, leaving me with a bunch of games that can not be used with the new iPods I just bought. I wrote Apple this email using this form http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/store/games/. This is what I sent them:
I have bought several titles including Tetris, Mini Golf, Pac-Man, Texas Hold-em and JUST bought Sims Bowling and Sims Pools as you JUST brought them out. My iPod Video was stolen. I purchased two brand new iPods, an 8GB iPod nano and a 160GB iPod classic to replace my iPod video. I now find out the games will not play on my new iPods. You have released a new version of Tetris and are expecting me to re-purchase a game that I already paid for. Since you no longer offer a compatible iPod for these games, I expect either a full refund for all of the games I already purchased or at least a FREE upgrade to the new version that are cross compatible to the iPod video, iPod classic and new iPod nano. This is NOT the way to treat paying customers!
I suggest anyone that feels that Apple has dropped the ball on this issue with their customers follow my lead and do the same. If I do not get an answer, I will call, call, and call again. Think they pissed off the early iPhone owners? In some ways this is worse, especially at $4.99 it is petty! Let’s see the Steve Jobs apology on this one. Will he tell us, well that’s technology?
Apple is trying to stand behind this disclaimer, the weakest one I have ever seen.
Each game sells for $4.99, and no further guarantees of compatibility with other devices, such as a computer, iPhone, or iPod touch, are made by Apple. In no place did I see, that these games would not be made compatible with future models when they DROP the old ones. They have the gall to offer Tetris that is now compatible with the iPod video and the new iPods, and expect us to pay again to play it. What next, will we be told that songs or videos we bought will need to be re-purchased when they decide? Give us a break.
Update: I received a reply from my email. Basically it is more, well sorry Sir, go screw yourself! See here:
Dear Stephen,
I’m sorry to hear that your iPod was stolen and you had purchased several games for that ipOd and now you are unable to add those games to your new iPod Classic and nano. I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused.
Your request for a refund for “Tetris, Mini Golf, Pac-Man, Texas Hold-em, Sims Bowling and Sims Pools ” was carefully considered; however, according to the iTunes Store Terms of Sale, all purchases made on the iTunes Store are ineligible for refund. This policy matches Apple’s refund policies and provides protection for copyrighted materials.
You can review the iTunes Store Terms of Sale for more information:
http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/us/sales.htmlThank you for your patience in this matter, have a good day.
Sincerely,
Dawna
iTunes Store Support
http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/ww
I guess they considered it for about an entire half hour. I responded to Apple email requesting escalation. See my response:
Dawna,
I appreciate the fast response. But all things considered in ths
matter the two SIMS games were only offered for purchase for a few
weeks. As it stands now Apple does NOT even sell a compatible iPod to
play the games that were only available for such a short time. I
already bought the Tetris game and Apple is now offering the same
exact game again!This is the FIRST time Apple has made games that are incompatible with
the new iPod models. This will surely confuse ALL your customers. The
correct thing to do is upgrade the games for use on the new iPods as
they become available or refund. The result to do anything less will
surely lead to a lot of bad PR and loss of business for Apple.I have already seen several websites and the Apple Discussion forums
with many angry customers. This policy of leaving iTunes customers
high and dry is a bad policy.I have purchased probably close to 4000 items that consists of music
tracks, video, TV shows, etc from iTunes. Please check my account. I
have also purchased EVERY iPod included the first one ever offered.
This new found anti-consumer policy leaves a very bad taste in my
mouth. There was nothing ever listed on your website, on iTunes, or
anywhere else that stated that iPod games would be dead as soon as a
new iPod was introduced. If there was I certainly would have NOT
bought a single one of them!If Apple does not make good on this, I will probably stop all my
purchases with iTunes and give the competition a try. I may even
return BOTH of the iPods I just bought.I request that you forward this email to your supervisors to show
them, ONE very unhappy Apple customer with many more to follow I bet.This is an unacceptable answer. Apple is basically saying “Sorry
Stephen, you were STUPID to buy any iPod games from us as we will not
support them on our OWN products! Losing all of my business over such
a petty matter is pitiful.I would appreciate a reply from you or a supervisor ASAP, as I would
like this matter escalated.Stephen
Between the iPhone price cut debacle, the bunch of iPod add-ons that are now useless, forcing customers to but an expensive new $49 cable (only available from Apple) just to get TV out from the new iPods, and now screw us on the games we already purchased, I am starting to think that Apple’s roll-out of the new iPod line was the largest mess at Apple in years!
UPDATE:
I received another email from iTunes Store Support yesterday:
Dear Stephen,
I understand you’re upset about the iPod games not currently being compatible for the new releases of iPods.
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 patience. Apple wants your iTunes experience to be as enjoyable as possible.
Sincerely,
Kiley
iTunes Store Customer Support
I emailed Apple CEO Steve Jobs at an email address I believe he reads:
Steve Jobs
First we find out that many third-party add-ons no longer work
including Apple own branded AV cable and Camera Connector. Now the
penny wise-dollar foolish idea that we should all now re-purchase the
same games again to use them on the new iPods!I am amazed that Apple will not stand behind the iPod games we already
bought.Two SIMS games were only offered for purchase for a few weeks.
As it stands now Apple does NOT even sell a compatible iPod to play
the games that were only available for such a short time. I already
bought the Tetris game and Apple is now offering the same exact game
again and are expecting me to pay for it again.In my case my 5G iPod with video was recently stolen, I bought an iPod
classic and an iPod nano to replace it. But as far as games go, I
guess I am am screwed by having SEVEN games I can do nothing with.In many ways this is worse than the iPhone price drop, as it is so petty.
This is the FIRST time Apple has made games that are incompatible with
the new iPod models. This will surely confuse ALL your customers. The
correct thing to do is upgrade the games for use on the new iPods as
they become available or refund. The result to do anything less will
surely lead to a lot of bad PR and loss of business for Apple.Backwards compatibility was one of the earlier strong points that led
to the worldwide success of the PS2 and the near failure of the N64
and Gamecube. There is a lesson to be learned there.I have already seen several websites and the Apple Discussion forums
with many angry customers. This policy of leaving iTunes customers
high and dry is a bad policy.I have purchased probably close to 4000 items that consists of music
tracks, video, TV shows, etc from iTunes. Please check my account. I
have also purchased EVERY iPod included the first one ever offered.
This new found anti-consumer policy leaves a very bad taste in my
mouth. There was nothing ever listed on your website, on iTunes, or
anywhere else that stated that iPod games would be dead as soon as a
new iPod was introduced. If there was I certainly would have NOT
bought a single one of them!It is like buying a Bob Dylan song from iTunes and finding out I need
to buy the same sone again to play on the new iPod. People want to own
music, not rent it. Same with the games.If Apple does not make good on this, I might give the competition a
try. I may even
return BOTH of the iPods I just bought.Apple is basically saying “Sorry
Stephen, you were STUPID to buy any iPod games from us as we will not
support them on our OWN products!I deal with Mac customers daily. How am I supposed to tell them to
trust Apple with this anti-consumer stance, and keep a straight face.
They are used to being screwed by Microsoft, so why would they switch?–
Thank you,Stephen Antonucci
To my surprise I received a reply which may have come from Steve Jobs himself as it came back as a reply from the Apple email address I used. See below:
Stephen,
Its a technical problem that prevents the old games from playing on
the new iPods, not a desire to make moe money.Sorry,
SteveSent from my iPhone
I replied back to Mr. Jobs:
Steve,
Don’t you think it is owed to customers that free updates be given as
the new reformatted games become available? Or refunds. The posts are
screaming on this issue from angry customers. Douse the flames.
As I greatly appreciate the emails I received from Apple and especially from the CEO (I think). However, I am still waiting for a resolve for this problem. I think Apple should have stepped up and resolved this immediately.
I just want to clarify, this is NOT about the cost of re-purchasing the games. I have bought almost every iPod Apple has ever sold, our home is filled with Macs, we own an iPhone, and many accessories for all these devices. We spend plenty on Apple products, technology, and gadgets in our household.
Although, many of iPod owners that may bought games are kids which may feel $4.99 is a lot of money to throw away. This issue is more about principal and precedent.
When upgrading to a new Mac OS or Windows, many times you are forced to upgrade your software applications. I have never had to pay FULL price for the same exact application on the same platform. All that is usually required is paying for an update, which many times comes with more features. Music and Videos we paid for work on the new iPod, so should games. Paying an upgrade price would have never been an issue. Paying FULL price for the very same game is! All this will lead to is less games sold in the long run. I will never buy one again, nor will many of the people burned by this.
LATEST UPDATE: After several emails back and forth over the last few days and an extended wait, I am happy to report that Apple has made good on the iPod games I can no longer use.
I just received an email from iTunes Support offering me a $30 iTunes Gift Card to compensate me. For this I am grateful. I am happy Apple has stepped up and done the right thing.
It’s fscking US$4.99.
STFU and buy the games again, you cheap bastard.
You can afford fscking iPods, but you can’t shell out US$4.99 for a compatible game?
I repeat: STFU.
Actually, it is SEVEN games at $4.99 each. Which is like $35. This is not about money. The two SIMS games were only available for a few weeks. This is no way to treat good customers! What happens next if they decide the videos you bought are no longer any good? If you thought DRM is bad, this is worse. I have been an Apple avocate for a long time. But I will always point out when they do the wrong thing to customers. On this one they are dead wrong as there was nothing to indicate they would KILL games for each iPod model. All it means is less business for Apple and a possible class-action law suiit that they will lose. They already are getting lots of negative PR. Even the Playstation 1 games work on the Playstation 2 & 3!
I don’t get how you want a refund on games just because your iPod was stolen. Do you also want Apple to replace the price of your stolen iPod?
If you want to play your old games, go to eBay and buy a 5G or 5.5G.
Or you could save a ton of money by simply rebuying all the games for $35 (actually less since some of them aren’t yet available).
By your own admission you buy new iPods every generation and just dropped $550 on new iPods and you’re bitching about $35 worth of games?
Sure, I can re-purchase the EXACT same games over again. Maybe we can ALL re-purchase, at FULL price, the EXACT same videos over, or TV Shows, or even songs over again when Apple decides it wants to make us when they bring out another new iPod model.
No customers should be told to pay FULL price to re-purchase all the games they already bought for the same basic hardware. What if they decide they want you to pay FULL price for other Apple software, when a new Mac comes out?
I bought TWO new iPods to replace the one that was stolen. Why is it good business to leave a bad taste in good customer’s mouths like this? Apple NO LONGER SELLS an iPod that is compatible with these games leaving customers high and dry! Think I would EVER buy games from them again?
What I am requesting is a free download of the SAME game I already bought or at least a 99 cent charge. Mind you this is not an upgrade, it is the same game. It would simply make the game compatible with the new iPod models I paid for.
It is bad enough, that Steve Jobs has touted the add-on compatibility of the iPod dock connector for years. If you are not aware, EVEN Apple branded add-ons are now broken, leaving customers with expensive Apple add-ons that no longer work along with the so-called “Made for Mac” third party devices. You must buy a $49 proprietary cable just to get TV out. Now we are expected to re-purchase games.
Even if you do not agree with me, I bet you can see my point that this is penny-wise and dollar foolish on Apple’s part. It is bad business to use such a petty amount of money to piss off customers!
This is unbelievable. I can think of no time in technology that I was forced to pay full price to have the same product run on the same platform! Bad precedent being set by Apple on this this. Jobs and company should come to their senses or will lose business as a result. After the iPhone price cut after only 33 days, how many people will “line up” again for another Apple product launch? Now this!
I just bought a new iPod classic for my son and had the same problem. Now Apple expects me to re-buy all the games I already bought for his iPod, NO WAY! This will be my last iPod!
First I get and iPhone and less than a month later they drop the price $200. Then I buy an iPod classic and none of my accessories work. I go to the Apple store and they do not even have the $49 cable I need to get the thing to connect to a TV. Now they expect me to pay agin for the same games. I think not!
This is about the stupidest thing Apple has ever done. It goes beyond even the iPhone price cut as this is such a nickel and dime thing to do to good customers. The ONLY customers really affected are ones that have bought at least their second iPod. Wouldn’t that be a good customer Apple? Give us a break, and refund the money or allow for free updates. Or this may be the last iPod for some of your good customers, I am sure you will sell less games.
SAME GAME, SAME PLATFORM, PAY AGAIN! NO! This shows me that Apple is not to be trusted. No more DRM and no more iPod games. I will never pay to reactivate the same game I already paid for. I alreay bought a brand new iPod. Apple is actually still selling games on iTunes right now that no not work on any iPod they still sell. So many people will buy these without reading the tiny print. They must be drinking the M$ water in Cupertino. Is Fake Steve Jobs now running the company? REFUND!
I am still in dis-belief. I have three kids all with iPods and all have purchased games. Are you telling me that they need to re-buy all of this? This is the stupidest thing I ever heard.
I have the same problem. My iPod video died. I bought a new classic and am STUCK with the games I already have in my iTunes Library. Imagine my surprise when I found that none of them will sync to my new iPod? Contacting Apple has not been a pleasant experience on this. If my old iPod was not dead, I would return the classic. I certainly will never buy another game from iTunes. In fact I will now only buy non-DRM tracks, I no longer trust them.
Apple seems to not stand behind its customers. Glad I have not upgraded my iPod, now I won’t.
I think Jobs’ black mock turtleneck must be too tight. No way on this one!
Not “same game,” not “same platform.” iPods of various generations have considerable differences among their operating systems. On the face they look quite similar, but at the core they are not.
Newer games and newer versions of older games can work with older iPods because it’s easy to make software for hardware that exists. But you can’t expect games to work on hardware that didn’t exist when they were made.
The game you bought will continue to work on an iPod current with the one you had. Nobody’s taking that away from you. You still own that game, and it still works on old iPods.
But if you want to run a new game on a new iPod, you gotta buy it. It sucks, but Apple hasn’t misrepresented anything or taken anything from you. The old games just don’t run on the new iPods, and they’re not obliged to give you any money back just because your old iPod is gone.
You can stick with what you have, or you can keep up with the times. You’re trying to mix the two, and as you can see, it doesn’t always work. So do you want your old games, or do you want your new iPod?
deeter,
You sound like a true Apple fanboy. Sorry to disagree, Tetris is the SAME game. The iPod is still an iPod! Just the fact that Apple now makes what you calling a new game, now compatible with the older (now non-existant) 5G iPod video and the newer iPods shows how pretty easy to have the games work on both iPods.
If Sony can make Playstation bacward compatible and NOT charge the FULL price to re-purchase these expensive games, Apple should have either offered an upgrade at a price of maybe a dollar. NOT expect you to pay FULL price for what IS the SAME game.
I am an engineer, Apple developer, Web developer, video engineer and totally understand the platform, the OS, and I have owned EVERY iPod they sold. This is not an excuse to charge FULL price for what amounts to an update! That is simply NOT consumer friendly.
Say and believe what you want, this will not help the company you are defending. Many people will NOT line up so fast for the new Apple product next time and many will NOT buy future games.
If a good customer has bought a 5G iPod at $250-$350, bought games for it, then goes and buys a new iPod classic at $250 -$350, Apple should NOT be charging that GOOD customer FULL price for the same title game, that is essentially the same game. The SIMS games were only available for a few weeks. Now the 5G iPod is dead and Apple no longer sells a compatible iPod for it. Many have downloaded the game for the new iPods as they were not aware they would not work (the fine print is well tiny). Apple offers NO refunds!
Apple has mis-respresented the iPod games completely, most customers are shocked when they are finding out the games are incompatible and Apple is still selling them without refunds.
So going by your standards, I would have to recommend to customers NOT to upgrade their iPods as Apple will screw them on cheap games and expensive add-ons (including Apple’s own brand). Sure this is GOOD for Apple’s business now, is it not?
I was ready to purchase an iPod touch for myself, but decided against it when I heard it writes a hash that it compares on the iPod to see if iTunes was used to sync the device or not (and reports 0 songs if the hash doesn’t match.) From what I’ve heard it’s all the new iPods. This wouldn’t be an issue if I used a Mac or Windows machine as my main computer, but I run almost exclusively on Linux.
I’m sure it’ll get reverse engineered soon enough, but I’m done supporting a company that restricts me from using my own device. I liked the idea of the iPod touch because I would be able to purchase songs directly to it from iTunes (something I’m not currently able to do!) So they would have received extra revenue from me in addition to the iPod sale. I’m sure the reasoning is to stop 3rd party apps used to grab songs off someone elses iPod, but I have a huge music collection ripped to my system. These aren’t downloaded songs, they are my personal collection that I paid for. Apple would have made probably made a lot from me, as they have an excellent variety of what I enjoy and I am more than willing to shell out for my music.
I was ready to make the purchase, too, as my 3rd gen iPod recently bit the dust. Instead I bought a new 4g Zen, and while it may use MTP (Microsoft’s Media Transfer Protocol) for file transfer it still works on my machine. It’s not as smooth and pretty as an iPod, but it sounds great, was a lot cheaper, and doesn’t restrict me from using it with music I already own.
Too many,
I run Linux myself, but OS X is my main OS now-a-days. I can understand your opinion. The iPod touch is a bit to feature neutered for my taste. I will be writing a review for it soon. But I will probably not buy one. They have just taken away too many software features that are available on the iPhone. This atificial separation of products is not consumer friendly.
But the game fiasco, now this is like spitting on customers, over such a small amount of money. Thanks for stopping by.
How is this different from buying a stereo for your car? If you lose the face plate (and the stereo company doesn’t sell that brand or model any longer, do you expect them to replace your stereo?