Mac App Store - Changing country of account voids purchased apps

[Madonepro]

Today I have learnt through Apple that if you change the country of your account (apple id) any apps that you bought through the MAS are no longer available.

For me that includes Lion and Aperture.

They offered to reimburse me if I have to redownload them, but stated that they are country specific.

I'm sorry, what a crock of...

First they make the OS available only be download, and then if you move countries, you are meant to pay again. Sure as hell don't have to do that with physical media.

If I get one more blasted email from support with the fake platitudes I will post the entire email conversation to show how pathetic and money grabbing apple have become.

 

[Boris A]

Explain how that is money-grabbing.

 

[lefooey]

Country-specific has more to do with import and export laws as well as sales and value-added tax rates. Apple is forced to make products country-specific because an astounding number of countries have laws that state you can't bring things into the country (even if software and even if previously purchased) without paying some form of tax.

So... if you want to level the money-grabbing pointing finger, that's fine. But you're pointing it at the wrong place.

 

[Madonepro]

Not money grabbing... WTF

When you bought Leopard or SL you bought the OS, it came on a disc, unless you lost that disc it was yours, if you lived in the UK, or the US or even China, you could install the OS.

With the MAS if you buy it in the US and move to the UK to live, and decide to change the app store you use to the country you are in, then hey presto, the OS isn't yours anymore.

So how would that then work if you bought a computer with the OS on it, not attached to any id, would they make you pay for it twice?

I've used Apples since 93, and this is one of the most incredible issues i have seen. None of my apps, movies, tv shows or music is now recognised either, I'd have to buy it all again if I lost it.

 

[Madonepro]

Lot's of negative feedback.

So tell me is it acceptable for a company to charge each time you want to download an OS of theres, that you bought, each time you change countries?

 

[Gav2k]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_5 like Mac OS X; en-gb) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8L1 Safari/6533.18.5)

Didn't they offer to refund you?

 

[Madonepro]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_5 like Mac OS X; en-gb) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8L1 Safari/6533.18.5)

Didn't they offer to refund you?

They won't refund you unless you actually download the software again. Because the countries are different no updates will arrive, meaning if you wish to update, you have to either 1. change the country back to the previous one, download and then change back, or download and pay again.

I have something like £400 of software, and my credit card can't take the hits that is needed to pay first then refund.

I believe this is a flaw, and I have now engaged a lawyer to check the terms and conditions of Apple's own software to ascertain why there software is not able to be simply downloaded where ever you are located.

And going the download route was supposed to be easier. Give me a disc anyday

 

[jmmo20]

yep, it's not a good idea to change countries..

I have an account for each country I've lived in..

US, UK, Spain, Italy and Israel.. it's a bloody mess when you have lots of apps but it's the only way to go. If you need to buy but don't have a credit card anymore, ask a friend to get an itunes gift card for you.

sorry this happened to you, it's moronic, I know.
But so is having 25+ european itunes stores when we're supposedly in a common market and should only have a single European itunes store.