Getting a refund on apps past the refund period.

[someguy01234]

I don't know if anyone realized this, but if you logged into the PlayStore, if you click on the "Gear" icon and click on "My orders". It will list all your PlayStore purchases, if you click on the "3 dots" button next to an app, it will let you "Report a problem". Click on that and it will give you a choice to request for a refund. You have to type in the reason why you want a refund.

Google will send you an email in about 24 hours letting you know if your refund request is accepted or denied. I tried to get a refund for more than a dozen apps and I got refunded for about half of them, the other were denied. I don't really know what you have to do to qualify for a refund and if it's a real person who review each case, but I guess it help if your reasons are legitimate.

It looks like it's Google that is refunding you, I don't think the app developer lost any money in the process.

There is one unfortunate fact which is in-app purchases are not refundable. I bought a $8 in-app purchase to remove ads for Talkatone and it stopped working.

I know someone is going to reply asking why I would want a refund and that it's cheating the system. I spent about $500 on app purchases on the PlayStore so far, there are lots of legitimate reasons:
-App does not work at all or stopped working
-Dev refusing to refund you when you emailed them
-Dev made a promise and lied (didn't fix a feature, fail to implement something).
-Broken features or lied about functionality (ie. fake antivirus apps)
-The old switcheroo. example: A themer would release a new version of the theme, but instead of updating the new version to the current existing one, they release the new version in a new app that you have to purchase again if you want that update.
-Paid apps that you found out come with adwares or spywares.
-App abandoned and no longer updated

All of these were the reasons in my refund, I am not sure exactly which reasons were accepted and denied, it's was a mix of reasons that were denied for me. I guess if it was like Amazon where you can choose from a list of predefined reasons it would be easier.

 

[cgardnervt]

When buying apps I would read the reviews. Most of the time you will see if the dev team is active and how often they update. When a dev says they wanna add certain features its not a promise. And sadly sometimes I'm sure they are not able to do certain things with how things change. Most of that can be out of their control. I know as a consumer you don't think of this but something as simple as a core OS update can screw things up. Its just something you need to consider when buying apps.

Now I'm not saying you don't have a complaint here I'm just saying there is a lot of information that can be taken into account for these issues. I too have bought some apps and used them for both short and long periods of time. Some support disappeared while other apps have been replaced by whatever Google or another Dev has set in place. Sense I enjoyed the app I don't ask for a refund. But thats just me. Some apps have lasted longer than others sure. But my rule is I won't spend over $5 on an app unless its a game or something that supported by a major company.

In any case sorry to hear about the issues. I Hope you are able to work them out!