iTunes: Please contact iTunes Support to Complete Purchase

[CraigM26]

Seem to be in vicious circle with Apple support so I thought I'd try to post this here. My daughter has her Apple ID for iTunes tied back to my Mastercard. For some reason, a purchase made a few weeks back got declined. I tried to update the billing on my iTunes account to the Mastercard so I could have all the iTunes accounts pointing to one source and got the message: "Please contact iTunes support to complete transaction." Did an Express Lane ticket and the first person told me changing my payment method on my daughter's account would process the purchase and solve the problem. It didn't and I got the "contact" message again. Strike One.

Did a follow up and the next person said purchasing a gift card online for the iTunes store and applying it to the account to settle the difference and I'd be able to change the payment method. Unfortunately, trying to buy a gift certificate online from Apple for email points you right back to the iTunes store and once again, I got the "contact" message. Strike Two.

Got back into Express Lane and did a third follow up. This person seemed a little more receptive to the problem and wanted to resolve it. In the end, after about 30 minutes of chatting, I was once again told to buy an iTunes gift card to resolve this.

I purchased an iTunes gift card at Walmart and loaded onto my daughter's account. It immediately paid for the past due purchase but now her account has a credit balance of $13.71 and if i try to purchase any new items, it tells me i need to verify the form of payment which of course I can't because i get the "contact" message. Strike Three.

Has anyone gotten around this issue? What surprises me is that I never got an email from Apple stating the purchase was declined. I could've sworn they did this in the past. What's equally confusing is the denial in the first place as the credit card has plenty of room available.

Any ideas?

 

[GoCubsGo]

Have you tried a different card?

 

[CraigM26]

Have you tried a different card?

Yes, I did that as part of the first round of help from Apple.

Oddly enough, it began working again this morning as I was able to get in and download a purchase on both accounts. I am still unable to put the MasterCard on my primary account without getting the message but the MasterCard is still showing as the valid method of payment on my daughters account.

 

[GoCubsGo]

So here is the deal. One night I went to buy a 99 cent app from iTunes (from my desktop) and my card was declined. Having just been paid I panicked, checked balances etc. Tried 4 cards in total, all declined. The next morning I went to call my bank and CC companies but before I did, I tried again and it worked. I think their payment processing has issues every so often so if you give it a day it may turn out okay. There's never a reason why iTunes stops working really but it seems to just sort of work itself out. At least from where we stand.

 

[Pecheneg]

I'm getting this same message for two days now, when trying to purchase "The Walking Dead: Assault" game. Send ticket to support, got this nonsense

Dear ____,

Thank you for contacting iTunes Store Support. My name is Aby and I'm your iTunes Store advisor today.

I understand you're unable to make purchases from the iTunes Store. I can only imagine the inconvenience this issue has caused you and I'm glad you contacted us.

I did an investigation and regrettably, you are not authorized to obtain content from the US iTunes Store. There appears to be activity on your account which is in conflict with the Terms and we are unable to provide further information regarding this situation. I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.

For more information on Apple's requirements for using the iTunes Store, please refer to the iTunes Store Terms and Conditions:

Terms of Sale
http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/us/sales.html

Terms of Service
http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/us/service.html

Thank you for being an iTunes store customer. Apple appreciates your business.

Sincerely,

Abegael
iTunes Store Customer Support


I am able however to purchase any other game or app. I have US account for more than 10 years by now. This is the first time i see this error. Using AppStore Gift Cards. Very weird, plus that reply from support is so lame...

 

[huulk]

Same 'can't tell you' response from apple

Craig, I had the same thing happen recently. It wouldn't let me purchase for awhile, wouldn't let me change my CC information, then it would. It would allow some purchases and not others. Still doing it. I was also trying (and still can't) purchase Walking Dead: Assault. That was 2 weeks ago.

Here's an exerpt from my interaction with an apple employee trying to fix the error:

Jade:
I'm very sorry but we are not able to make modification on the account.

Jade:
Because unauthorized activity has been associated with this account we aren't able to resolve the error you're experiencing.

Erick:
What does that mean?


Erick:
Like what unauthorized activity?


Jade:
I'm very sorry, but we can't provide any information on the issue or why we can't resolve it. This is for security reasons. I will have to direct you to our Terms of Sale: http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/us/terms.html

Erick:
What are you talking about, can you direct me to someone who can resolve this? Are you telling me that you're locking out an account where I've literally spent thousands of dollars on apple products?


Erick:
Without telling me why?


Erick:
Is there a phone number I can call?


Erick:
What's the point of the terms of sale if I don't know what happened? Is someone else accessing my account?


Jade:
I'm very sorry for this. There is no other department that I can transfer you to that can give you a different answer.

Erick:
Do you have a supervisor?


Jade:
I want to let you know that my supervisor will not be able to give you more information on this as well.​

I don't jailbreak or download any strange or illegal content. I did recently have a hard drive failure and had to reinstall itunes, but everything seems to be working fine. All my credit cards work and I've received no notice from my bank. I have access to all of my Itunes purchases and I can still make purchases, just certain purchases tell me to contact Itunes again.

Incidentally, I emailed Itunes twice before the interaction above and while she couldn't find a supervisor, apparently, she said they would email me and they never did.

Please let me know if anyone finds a solution to this, particularly strange since this may be connected to the WD app.