Hello, David. That's just the point. It is not impossible, but it is at least difficult, to find a program on the PC which does not have either a trial or a method through which a user may examine it before purchase. You seem, if I may say so, to be thinking about things as they were 5 years ago rather than as they are now. I have, in the past 5 years at least, never purchased a program I didn't know I could use. The one case where I wrote to a developer before a purchase to ask about accessibility was where the program had to do with tax filing, and the application was, obviously, not suitable for timed trial or return because it had only one use in a limited time. I happen to agree with you that getting Apple to implement a trial system like everyone else (Google, Amazon, etc) is highly unlikely, but this is a problem unique to Apple. Everyone else is offering trials, both on the PC and on mobile platforms. Aman al Message----- From: viphone@googlegroups.com [mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of David Chittenden Sent: Monday, August 5, 2013 12:47 AM To: viphone@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: Bad experience with iTunes Store support regarding app refund
You manage it the same way you manage it with a PC. You contact the developer. If the developer has specifically addressed accessibility, they will tell you. If not, they will say no, or they will not know what you are talking about. You then take the chance, or you don't take the chance. The only difference is, with the PC, you have about a 10% chance that the software will be accessible. If it isn't, you wasted your money, because the software cannot be returned once you open it. I used to give it away as gifts to people I knew would like it. With iOS, unless it's a game, or a very graphically intensive app, you have a 66% chance it will be somewhat accessible. These odds are the best I have had in the computer marketplace, so I do occasionally take chances. And yes, I have lost a couple hundred dollars over the past three years because I have purchased apps that ended up not being accessible. If you don't want to take any chances, use our crowd-sourcing option, applevis. Remember that we have a very small user base, so our crowd-sourcing is quite limited. David Chittenden, MSc, MRCAA Email: dchitten...@gmail.com Mobile: +64 21 2288 288 Sent from my iPhone On 05/08/2013, at 11:44, Maria and Joe Chapman <bubbygirl1...@gmail.com> wrote: HI. if this option is not viable how do we get around this problem? It's quite unreasonable to think that someone is going to buy an app over say $10 and just say "well there's 10 dollars gone down the drain" and never be able to use the app? This list and applevis is wonderful and the only way I can think to partially solve this problem is to contact an app developer and ask them to test their app with voice over. How do you manage the problem if you want to purchase an app that no one else has tried? Cheers Maria sent from mac mini email, & fb bubbygirl1...@gmail.com skype bubbygirl1972 twitter same as skype without the numbers. On 05/08/2013, at 9:34 AM, David Chittenden <dchitten...@gmail.com> wrote: Well, given how few blind people there are, and how few apps we actually buy compared with sighted people, and considering that this model would require a complete rewrite and restructuring of the App Store, I seriously doubt it would happen unless Apple receives a great many requests for such. The shareware model of computer software distribution does something like this. Save for small companies, shareware is not usually used because it does not typically make much money because people readily and easily crack the protection schemes. David Chittenden, MSc, MRCAA Email: dchitten...@gmail.com Mobile: +64 21 2288 288 Sent from my iPhone On 05/08/2013, at 11:12, Maria and Joe Chapman <bubbygirl1...@gmail.com> wrote: Hi. I was thinking more along the lines of the app could be downloaded and is fully functional for a day unless you purchase a key on the mac or do an in app purchase on the iphone. Some apps can be rather expensive, I would not be willing to buy a 10 or 20 dollar app I could not use and probably wouldn't unless I had heard it was at least usable in some way with voice over. How many apps I wonder are not discovered to be accessible because people are afraid to buy them in case they are not usable? regards Maria and crew from australia email: bubbygirl1...@gmail.com check out www.95-the-mix.com <http://www.95-the-mix.com/> where we play lots of great music On 05/08/2013, at 9:01 AM, David Chittenden <dchitten...@gmail.com> wrote: I would rather not give Apple complete access to my phone just so they can occasionally check to ensure I am not pirating apps. David Chittenden, MSc, MRCAA Email: dchitten...@gmail.com Mobile: +64 21 2288 288 Sent from my iPhone On 05/08/2013, at 10:41, Maria and Joe Chapman <bubbygirl1...@gmail.com> wrote: HI. wouldn't it work better if all apps could be downloaded for free and trialled say for a day? There are lots of apps I'd love to try but am hesitant to download due to the fact that there is really no way to tell if they are accessible or not unless someone on list or someone on applevis has tried them. I mean if it's a 99 c app it's not that bad but if it's 5 or 10 bucks? That's going to get expensive. Warm regards and blessings Maria, Joe and FurBabies Email: iMessage:bubbygirl1...@gmail.com <http://gmail.com/> On 03/08/2013, at 6:02 PM, Arnold Schmidt <arno...@mindspring.com> wrote: As I state in another message, I would be much more willing to support a general refund policy, such as Google has, or at least use to have, rather than an it won't work with VoiceOver policy. That is just too open to abuse. Besides, a general refund policy would be an even better way to let developers know if people didn't like their app, a bunch of them all requested refunds. It might even improve accessibility. Arnold Schmidt ----- Original Message ----- From: Cara Quinn <mailto:modelc...@gmail.com> To: viphone@googlegroups.com Sent: Saturday, August 03, 2013 2:58 AM Subject: Re: Bad experience with iTunes Store support regarding app refund Sieghard and All, Let me encourage you and actually everyone on this list to write Apple Accessibility to request that there be reasonable accommodation in place for VoiceOver users to receive app refunds in cases like Sieghard's. I'd also suggest that Sieghard's note be attached to your own. I believe this issue needs to be brought into the forefront in a positive and decisive way. We are almost 2000 people on this list and this is a very good opportunity to make this point heard. This discussion has come up before of being alerted of VO accessibility ahead of time in the App Store and though we've not come to a set conclusion on the best way to do this, having some indication that an app has been found to be accessible to some degree with VoiceOver before we purchase it is a completely reasonable request. If this is not possible, then it is more than reasonable to ask for refunds if we cannot use an app which is not accessible to us with the available Apple universal access paradigm. the email address for Apple Accessibility is: accessibil...@apple.com These are very caring people so please keep this in mind when you write. I've known some of them personally. They want to help though there may not be a clear way of making this happen just yet. Just let them know this is important though. Make your voice heard in a friendly way. they will listen to you even if they do not know the best answer yet. :) Thanks All, for your time. Sincerely, Cara :) On Aug 1, 2013, at 11:09 PM, Sieghard Weitzel <siegh...@live.ca> wrote: Hello List, Requesting a refund for an app which turns out not to work with Voiceover has come up a few times and the iTunes Store support email has been posted in connection with that. So I thought I post my recent experience with contacting iTunes Store support via their email. I had bought a couple of package tracking apps in order to find out which one I liked best. I have been using Track This which is awesome, but I am in Canada and for some reason they don�t support Purolator and CanPar which are both major carriers here. I contacted Track This support twice and never received a reply. Anyhow, back to iTunes Store support. I provided all the information including order numbers, purchase date, my Apple Id etc. I explained how I really enjoyed my iPhone and the fantastic accessibility, but that unfortunately these two apps I purchased were not voiceover friendly and there was no Light version offered which I could have tried first. I also mentioned that I contacted both developers and after almost a week had not received a reply. In short, I was friendly, explained everything and even waited to see if the developers would reply to see if they were willing to make Voiceover improvements. I received a prompt reply in which the agent explained that all app sales are final, but that given the situation they would refund me the $6.72 or whatever it was for the 2 apps. However, she also continued to give me links as to their terms and conditions and said that this was a one-time curtocy and that in the future they could not provide any more refunds and that it was up to me to make sure I didn�t turn on one-click ordering and accidently purchase apps or read the app description to be sure it was what I wanted. It was strange because all of this gave me the impression this person did not at all get the point about Voiceover and all that, but on the other hand she said they would give me a refund given the situation. According to what she said I should see the refund back on my account within 48 hours and since both apps were purchased using store credit it would come back as store credit. This is now 2 weeks ago and I replied twice to the initial message to explain that I still had not received the credit and I am getting no more replies. I guess what I want to say here is that those who have done this and received refunds are lucky, but it appears one should definitely not count on getting a refund even if an app turns out not to work with Voiceover. I certainly will not buy an app again thinking I might as well try it because if it doesn�t work I can always ask for a refund. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google Group. Post a new message to VIPhone by emailing viphone@googlegroups.com. Search and view the VIPhone archives by visiting http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. Reach the VIPhone owner and moderators by emailing viphone+ow...@googlegroups.com. Unsubscribe and leave VIPhone by emailing viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. More VIPhone group options can be found by visiting http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" group. 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