PULP INTERNET

Yesterday I was listening to iTunes while I was working on my websites, and I noticed one of the songs had a glitch in it. I have never had a problem before with songs that I downloaded from iTunes and so I was a little puzzled. Also, the song and album title had capitalization errors, but that was an easy fix. I went into the iTunes store, thinking that I could just download the same song again for free, since I have already paid for it and I would be downloading to the same machine, using the same account, and just replacing the damaged file. Well, turns out that I had to pay for the song again, and the fresh copy had the same errors. So, I used the links in the store to request a refund and start up dialogue with a customer service rep about the issue. To their credit, the response was fast:

>  Dear Adrian,
>
> Your request for a refund for “[song name removed]” 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.html
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Amy
> *iTunes Store Customer Support*

Needless to say, I wasn’t very satisfied by the response and so I tried to articulate my grievance without too much frustration but I was not happy:

Then why is there even an option to request a refund, if your policy doesn’t
allow for refunds? Once my credit expires, I won’t make any more iTunes
purchases if your policy prohibits you from taking care of customers when
you deliver a bad product. I will just continue using Napster instead.

By the way, if you all are so concerned about protecting the copyrighted
material, can’t you offer to allow me to download a better copy of the same
song into my itunes? I already paid you twice for the same song, and both
copies suck. Your email is a lame excuse for exploring options to satisfy a
paying customer.

Could I have worded it better? Yes. Can I blame it on beer? No. I had just finished my first Corona and so I have no excuse other than the fact that I can barely resort to anything better than childish name-calling once I am pissed. I pushed away from my computer and went downstairs to watch movies with my wife and forget about the whole thing. The song was only $1.29, and so it wasn’t like I lost a fortune.. but the service received was disappointing.

Well, here I am checking e-mails this evening, and I received a couple of responses back. This first one is in regard to the fact that I bought the song twice:

Dear Adrian,

The order containing this item is currently processing. Your request is flagged for follow-up and I will contact you once I have more information about your order. Please note that processing can take up to 3 days from the date of purchase. Thank you for your patience in this matter.

Sincerely,

Kate
iTunes Store Customer Support

Meh. I wasn’t that impressed since I read that to mean that this Monday I will get an e-mail that says “I have carefully reviewed your situation; however, according to the iTunes Store Terms of Sale, all purchases made in the iTunes Store are ineligible for refund. This policy matches Apple’s refund policies and provides protection for copyrighted materials.”

I kept looking through my emails and I read another message from the folks at iTunes:

Hello Adrian,

I understand your purchase of the song “[song name removed]” had a glitch in the word “wrong”. I’m sorry to learn this. I know that this is disappointing for you, Adrian and apologize for any misunderstanding. My name is Cheryl and I would be more than happy to assist you today.

When there is an issue with the content on the iTunes Store, we are happy to correct the issue or provide a refund if possible.

I have gone ahead and reversed the charge for “The Man I Want to Be” for you. You will see a store credit of $1.36 in three to five business days. You may need to sign out of the iTunes Store and then sign back in before you see the credit in your account.

I have also submitted this item for investigation. Apple takes the quality of the items offered on the iTunes Store seriously and will investigate the issue with this item, but I can’t say when or if the issue will be resolved. Please try again in a few weeks.

Please also accept the three song credits that I have issued to your “[my account]” iTunes Store account. You can use these to buy the individual songs of your choice from the iTunes Store.

When you next sign in with this account, the song credits will appear by your account name (in the upper-right section of the iTunes Store).  The next individual song you buy from the iTunes Store will use one of your song credits instead of your primary form of payment (until all credits have been used or have expired). Please note that song credits cannot be used for purchasing songs that are listed as “Album Only.”

If you don’t see your credits, refresh your account information by signing out and back in to the iTunes Store.  You can find both “Sign Out” and “Sign In” within the pull-down “Store” menu. If you don’t see this menu, you should need only download the latest version of iTunes from our website for free:

http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

Thank you for your understanding, Adrian and for choosing iTunes. You are a valued iTunes Store customer.

Sincerely,

Cheryl
iTunes Customer Support
Please Note: I work Monday, Thursday – Saturday 10:30 AM – 9:00 PM EST

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to assist you. You may receive an AppleCare survey email; any feedback you provide would be greatly appreciated.

Wow. I will be honest: tonight when I saw new messages from iTunes in my inbox, I was expecting a subtly snide combination of words that would remind me that my money was gone and that they didn’t really care… but thank you and please come again anyway. Instead, I got someone who actually made me happy. Why am I happy? It is simple:

1. Cheryl started by letting me know she was actually listening.
2. She let me know that iTunes cared about putting out quality products.
3. She refunded the money for one of the downloads, which means I only paid for the song once, rather than twice.
4. She assured me that the song would be listened to, which leads me to believe that if there is an actual issue with the file that they want to keep others from experiencing the same dissatisfaction.
5. She gave me something… the three free songs.

Customer Service 101 teaches that unhappy customers 1) want to be heard, 2) they want to hear a plan-of-action to fix, and 3) they want you to give them something.

Last night when I walked out of my office I knew that I wanted to be heard and I wanted to know how they were going to fix it, but I didn’t really put much value into them giving me anything — until they actually gave me something. I can’t say that I made out like a bandit because I still have the original issue: the song I downloaded sounds less than perfect to me. However, iTunes gave me three free songs as a show of good faith. So if one of those freebies wipes out the track that I paid for, I still have two songs that I am getting for free and I have been happy with the quality of iTunes music up until now so I am certain I can put those two freebies to good use. But most importantly, I don’t feel like I just finished talking with Microsoft’s overseas customer service cadre about the X-Box 360 that stopped working after 2 months… don’t even get me started about that issue…