Universal In-app Lifetime subscription lasted less than 3 months.

[HailAlistair]

Hi,
About a year ago I bought a lifetime in-app subscription (for 45 USD). After less than 3 months the dev pulled support and announced that the app would shut down completely in 1 year.

I immediately contacted Apple asking for a refund. They denied it (by email).

Should I insist? Some time has passed since then, but this continues to bother me. I paid for something, and not even 1% of that something was delivered. I don't like this.

Every time I see a lifetime subscription now I just wonder if the dev will pull support in just a few months and I am much more inclined to pay for the monthly or yearly cost. (which can be much more expensive in the long run)

PS
The app is Weather Line, if that is relevant to you.

 

[DarthVader!]

I bought a lifetime in-app subscription

That sucks - sorry to see that happen.

Technically, they fulfilled their end of the agreement, as the developer end of lifed the app. Yeah, it seems more like a cash grab, its horrible, but that's the risks of life time guarantees

 

[sparksd]

Ouch! That really sucks. You're probably out the $ but hopefully Apple blacklists the dev.

 

[NoBoMac]

Some context to what happened.

Weather Line App – Weather Line Is Being Acquired

Weather Line is shutting down on April 1, 2022. No personal data has been sold. All active subscriptions have been extended for free. Weather Line has been beloved by so many people across its near-decade long life on the App Store. First and foremost, thank you to everyone that has su

weatherlineapp.com

 

[Puonti]

Unless specifically stated otherwise I tend to assume that "lifetime" refers to the lifetime of the application in the form it's sold in, potentially covering just the current major version. But there's definitely variance in where the line is drawn.

 

[Jessica Lares]

You should have tried again then and there. It's not a good argument to make more than a month after the service has stopped working, especially for a weather app.

 

[HailAlistair]

You should have tried again then and there. It's not a good argument to make more than a month after the service has stopped working, especially for a weather app.

I did.

 

[ackmondual]

Sorry to hear this! As much as I hate to say this, lifetime subscriptions are sometimes too good to be true. Even in better circumstances, you gotta assume that they've crunched some numbers to determine that the figures will work out in their favor anyways.

I did.

FWIW, try contacting the company. They're in a rut, but I guess, what have you got to lose at this point [shrug]. If you paid by credit card, see if they're willing to issue you a refund. Even if a partial one.

 

[HailAlistair]

FWIW, try contacting the company. They're in a rut, but I guess, what have you got to lose at this point [shrug]. If you paid by credit card, see if they're willing to issue you a refund. Even if a partial one.

Did that. No reply.
I guess they are in the fiji, chilling out on a beach, and paying with my money. ??‍♂️

 

[ackmondual]

Did that. No reply.
I guess they are in the fiji, chilling out on a beach, and paying with my money. ??‍♂️

While we're not unsympathetic to what's happened to you, malice isn't always part of the equation. I know many shops would like to get bought up b/c otherwise, they hemorrhage money at some point

 

[HailAlistair]

While we're not unsympathetic to what's happened to you, malice isn't always part of the equation. I know many shops would like to get bought up b/c otherwise, they hemorrhage money at some point

Sorry, I probably did not communicate clearly enough. I was joking about the Fiji part.

I don't blame the developer; I don't think that he has a way to refund purchases made through Apple's system. (He could send a refund through other means, like Paypal, but I guess that gets messy fast. How does he verify my purchase?)
Though not replying to emails inquiring about this issue is a bit damning.

It's Apple I blame. The 60 days refund limit is bulls**t, and just an excuse to deny refunds. They run the store, they take their 30%, they vet the devs, pester them with limitations and strange policies, they police the store constantly, they say that it's all to maintain the app store as a beautiful and safe walled garden... (again, all bulls**it to keep the money) ...all this sh*t and then: they don't even take responsibility for this kind of stuff?