WHOA...Market refund window being reduced to 15 minutes?

[Quis89]

This is an excellent point I just read on the Android Market support forums,

If people can't test the apps properly, they'll just look for pirated versions, and nobody wants that.

App trial periods are all about testing conflicts with existing applications, compatibility with specific models and battery usage. Apple doesn't need this because they only support four devices at any given time.

Not to mention, I fear the upcoming flood of faulty apps specifically designed to cheat customers within 15 minutes. They don't even need to work properly beyond that period. iTunes prevents this because they have an obtuse approval method, but GOOGLE DOES NOT. That's why we love Android.

If developers are whining about people asking for refunds, what they need is to make better apps, not ask Google to protect them.

I'm sorry, but if you're going to do this silly thing, you need to balance it with another measure. Time limited trial versions that expire in 12 hours, compulsory demos for very paid app, something. All Google does here is discourage me from buying ANY app.

 

[bkrodgers]

Tweet from @levelupstudio, aka touiteur and Beautiful Widgets:

levelupstudio LevelUp Studio
15min refund policy seems a bit short for me, sometime you need a bit more to know if an app is worth keeping

 

[bnob99]

Yeah its nice to see one developer that gets it. His apps are great so he knows he has nothing to worry about.

 

[bkrodgers]

You know, one other point for anyone thinking this is all great for devs -- most people who develop for Android are Android users too. So maybe they'll make a little more money off whatever they've written (or maybe they won't), but they may be stuck with some apps they don't want as well!

 

[Chris Kerrigan]

There needs to be some sort of balance here. If Google really follows through with this, then they need to start monitoring what goes into the Android Market more. Now, before people run me up the wall for saying they need to start having some sort of ridiculous approval process -- hold off. I'm not saying Google should even come close to how ridiculous Apple's procedure is at times, but the whole point of a refund period is to help determine if the app is worth what you just paid for it. 15 minutes doesn't allow for this, not adequately anyway.

God forbid we start seeing apps pop up in the Market to take advantage of this when they're really garbage.

 

[bkrodgers]

God forbid we start seeing apps pop up in the Market to take advantage of this when they're really garbage.

ProgressDialog.show(context, "Downloading", "Please wait, downloading content...", true, false);
Thread.sleep(1000*60*15 + 1);

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

ProgressDialog.show(context, "Downloading", "Please wait, downloading content...", true, false);
Thread.sleep(1000*60*15 + 1);

lol. I'm not even gonna mod that out. Anyone who knows what that should do, should have a chance to read it and chuckle.

Edit: Drop that on the beginners Android coders Google group to see SHTF

 

[ls377]

lol. I'm not even gonna mod that out. Anyone who knows what that should do, should have a chance to read it and chuckle.

I think I chuckled more at the fact that I knew what it meant.

I bet Google changes it to something more in the middle (I bet they go to an hour), considering everyone on the consumer end seems to be against this, and it hasn't even taken effect yet.

 

[bkrodgers]

lol. I'm not even gonna mod that out. Anyone who knows what that should do, should have a chance to read it and chuckle.

Edit: Drop that on the beginners Android coders Google group to see SHTF

Sarcasm and humor was my only intention here.

Sadly, I'm sure we'll see apps that aren't too far off from that.

 

[Ricky Babalu]

How many of you that are upset over this have actually asked for a refund?

I know that if I plan on purchasing an app, I have done extensive homework. So more often than not I limit the chances of me being dissatisfied with my purchase. Bottom line if you do your homework this change in policy should not adversely affect you.

 

[EvilMonkey]

It hasn't even been 12 hours since I convinced someone to go Android specifically because of the 24 hour policy. Now i have to go back and tell them 'never mind about that'

Although it's still better than Apple's no-refund policy.

 

[bkrodgers]

How many of you that are upset over this have actually asked for a refund?

I know that if I plan on purchasing an app, I have done extensive homework. So more often than not I limit the chances of me being dissatisfied with my purchase. Bottom line if you do your homework this change in policy should not adversely affect you.

I haven't needed to yet, but that's not the point. Return policies loosen wallets. If they didn't, stores wouldn't have them. There are a lot of things I buy that I'm not sure of, but I pick them up because I know I have an opportunity to return them if they don't work out. 9 out of 10 times, I keep the item. But many of those items are things I wouldn't have bought in the first place if all sales were final.

My experience on the market is similar. Often there really isn't much to research. A short description and 2 screenshots isn't much to go on. Reviews help, but they're pretty short too. A new paid app won't always have many, and you have to take some of those with a grain of salt anyway. Sure, there can be external sources of info (dev site, the forums, etc), but not always. But the 24 hour return window means I can try it out against *my* needs, not someone else's. That means I'm much more willing to try a paid app out on a whim, rather than over-analyze it before I hit "buy." And frankly, any developer with a quality app should be happy to let their app speak for itself with a 24 hour trial.

 

[Chris Kerrigan]

Not to mention the fact that like I said previously, what happens if I purchase an app and get a phone call or something important that distracts me? Suddenly I haven't even been able to test the app out against my own needs and preferences because of this. Even some of the developers I've talked to don't agree with this decsion. Surely this doesn't reflect all of them, and I'm quite sure this decision was based off of developer input, but regardless.

 

[ls377]

Anyone know when this is supposed to take effect? It doesn't seem to be reliant on having the new market.

 

[grajasekar]

I kinda read about this only this morning. And I think it's a bit too much of "lets please the devs even if we piss off the customers" from Google. I mean, come on, 15 minutes.. atleast half a day, or 2 hours. This is just crap.

Sucks to be unable to try. I think this will make people think a lot before buying and it'll have quite the reverse effect.. not quite the "dev-aid" they intended it to be. Still, I think people should always wait a while and read reviews before buying any app from the Market, rather than sport a "Oh i have a day to try it out, why bother reading" attitude.

 

[Brett]

I do agree with ask of you because I liked having a day to see if I liked the app our not with a day trial run. If I bought an app while I was at work, I could just use it later when I got home.

Though we do still have a refund policy which its not as good as it was, we still are able to get our money back. Iphones don't even have that. I guess what I'm trying to say is, it could be worse, we could have an iphone haha

Sent from my Droid Incredible because I'm too lazy to walk over to my computer.

 

[DenverRalphy]

How many of you that are upset over this have actually asked for a refund?

I know that if I plan on purchasing an app, I have done extensive homework. So more often than not I limit the chances of me being dissatisfied with my purchase. Bottom line if you do your homework this change in policy should not adversely affect you.

I have refunded apps more than a few times. Most notably because for whatever reason, despite great reviews or popular feedback, the app would not function properly on my device.

I've had apps that simply did not work properly on my device. I've installed apps that simply did not provide what was advertised. I've installed apps that despite being a paid app, also had ads.

Yes, there is a lot to be said about researching before purchasing. However sometimes it just doesn't work out. I don't refund an app simply because I realize later I just don't have a use for it (I chock that up to buyer beware), I refund it simply because it doesn't work as it should.

I'm all for reducing the time limit, as I will know within the first hour or two whether there's a problem with it. However 15 Minutes forces the user to race the clock and not provide an adequate amount of time to give it an honest trial.

 

[JustLeft]

I agree about it making you think more before buying an app. I have requested refunds in the past, although it is not frequent occurrence. When on the fence about a piece of software, I would buy it knowing that I had 24 hours to return it. That will stop if I only have a 15 minute window. Net affect is that I will likely buy less software.

I kinda read about this only this morning. And I think it's a bit too much of "lets please the devs even if we piss off the customers" from Google. I mean, come on, 15 minutes.. atleast half a day, or 2 hours. This is just crap.

Sucks to be unable to try. I think this will make people think a lot before buying and it'll have quite the reverse effect.. not quite the "dev-aid" they intended it to be. Still, I think people should always wait a while and read reviews before buying any app from the Market, rather than sport a "Oh i have a day to try it out, why bother reading" attitude.

 

[onixblack]

I understand that this is a way to protect the devs from scam but come on 15 mins is to small. I believe that Google should have done the open thing and asked its devs and end users.

 

[know1]

It's a little short, but I've only asked for one refund previously and that's because I accidentally bought the wrong app.

Most apps are so cheap, it's not really a big deal.