Supercell

mode500

Hi all

Okay a bit of a long one (and slightly complicated) I'm afraid but this has been going on for over two weeks now and I would like to try and get some help and advice on the issue.

I'll start with a basic description of what has happened so far and then post the on going saga emails between myself, Apple, and Supercell. So basically my son can no longer purchase any in app purchases on Clash Royale as everything is greyed out. We have the iOS Family Sharing/ Parental settings set up on his iPad so that he has to request any purchases via myself and I can either ignore, decline or give the go ahead (this is all done via a pop up within iOS) and I think that I either ignored or declined a transaction as there is an old pending transaction within my sons Clash Royale and that is why he cannot purchase any new items from within the app. But unfortunately due to over two weeks of pure frustration with Supercell it has now become a case of poor customer service as well as the app issue itself. Here is the story so far:

mode500

This is the original message that I sent to them via their online form:

My son (username) has an old pending transaction on his account that is linked to my AppleID via iOS Family Sharing that I would like cancelled please as he cannot not make any new purchases due to everything being 'greyed out' due to the old pending transaction, thank you.

And their first original reply :

Hi,


I am terribly sorry to hear you have been experiencing these problems.


If you get a pop-up asking you to contact iTunes support, your gem icons are greyed out in the in-game shop or you need help with your Apple ID or Game Center account, you will need to contact iTunes support to solve your issue.


I would be happy to help you, but unfortunately Supercell does not have access to your purchase logs or Apple ID and Game Center account information. For direct assistance, please contact iTunes support at link.


I understand that this involves another step until your issue is resolved. However, I will gladly assist you with any query that you may have. Please do not hesitate to let me know.

I then spent over half an hour on Apple online chat system and replied to Supercell with this:

Hi,


I have already been in contact with Apple and they have clearly stated that this is your problem 'server side' for the record there is no pop up asking for us to contact iTunes support, just all gem icons are greyed out and that there is still a pending transaction. Furthermore due to online research I understand that this is a common problem that many others have had so we have thought that there was a solution to this by now which I would like resolved instead of being passed back and forth between yourselves and Apple.

Regards,
Mr. S. M. Smith

To which I received no reply or response from Supercell at all.


I then called Apple/iTunes support and spent over an hour on the phone to them trying to get the issues resolved and then sent this email to Supercell:

Hi again Brody,


After being in contact with Apple Support for the third time and speaking to someone of authority who has chased my case to the engineers it has been established that this is in fact a problem with Supercell and not Apple or the iTunes Store.


Please see the (copy and pasted) reply that I have received from Apple :


Dear S,


Laura here from iTunes. i received word back from the Engineers and they have informed me that they have reviewed this particular issue numerous times and only the developer can resolve the error.
It lies with the programming of the game itself and how it responds to the Ask to Buy feature.


Please forward this email to the developers of this game as proof you reached out to Apple and the issue remains on their end.


Laura
iTunes Store Senior Advisor
1-877-416-4271 EXT 69561
laura_sexton@apple.com
End time 6 PM EST. Varied days off.


Now I would like to get this matter cleared up please as soon as possible otherwise I would like to close both my sons and my own Supercell accounts and have a full refund of all the money that we have spent on your games in the past as this is clearly not good enough as we are not being able to use the app as intended due to this problem.
Thank you,


Mr. S. M. Smith

I then received this reply back from Supercell:

Hi Sh,


Thanks for contacting us, and sorry to hear about the issue with your order.


This is Tatiana, if you are still having trouble purchasing your order, please double check that all your following settings are in order:


1. Make sure that in-app purchases are enabled on your device at Settings > General > Restrictions.
2. Close the game from the background and restart it.
3. Check that you have the correct time/date settings on your device.
4. Check that the payment method for your Apple ID is valid and that your credit card's verification code (if any) has been entered.
5. Use the same Apple ID to purchase gems as you used to download the game.
6. Make sure that you have accepted the new iTunes terms and conditions. To do so, log out of iTunes and log back in (Settings > iTunes & App Store > Log out, then log back in)


If you get a pop-up asking you to contact iTunes support, please follow the instructions and contact iTunes support at react-text: 527 link] /react-text . I would be happy to help you, but if you get this pop-up it means you need Apple's help to solve the problem.


You can also contact your credit card company and check whether your card might have any restrictions on in-app purchases.


Please let me know if you need more assistance with this.


Best Regards!!!

So then I replied back to Supercell:

Hi,


Okay this is beginning to get extremely frustrating for me as all I appear to be receiving from your company is a standard reply email without anyone properly dealing with and looking into the problem seriously!


For the record I have already done everything explained in your email as well as deleting the app and re-installing it. I would also like to add that I am not getting any kind of pop-up asking me to contact iTunes support and that, as originally stated in my first email, there is an old pending transaction on my sons Supercell account.


As well as spending over 30 minutes on a web chat with Apple customer support via their web site I also spent another hour on the telephone to Apple support where the majority of the conversation was held with one of their senior advisors whom got the engineers at Apple to look into my case and the problem and then got back to me the following day.


May I suggest the you re-read my previous email with the reply that I received back from Apple.


To me Apple has spent a lot of time on this issue with myself and it has gone as far as me speaking to senior personnel and having Apple’s engineers involved where as your company has only so far sent me the same generated email response twice in a row and has not given me any real confidence that they are taking the matter seriously. From my experience on this matter Apple has bent over backwards to try and help resolve my issue where as your company haven’t really gone beyond sending me the same email twice. With this in mind and from what I have researched on the internet I am more inclined to believe what Apple have told me that it is an issue with the programming of the game itself and how it responds to the 'ask to buy' feature.


May I suggest that you start to look into this issue for me instead of ignoring the actual issue, trying to send me the same generated email every time which addresses an entirely different issue and trying to put the blame onto Apple! If you cannot resolve this issue then it may help if your engineers actually talk to Apple’s engineers to try and get this issue resolved as from the research that I have under taken I believe that this is a common problem and that there are plenty of other people that have come across this issue yet it appears to still be unresolved.


I ask you to look into this matter seriously and I will not accept another generated email response to this.
Regards,
Mr. S. M. Smith

mode500

I then received the following back from Supercell:

Hi Challenger,


Thanks for writing back to us!!!


This is Tatiana, I understand your concern and I would like to let you know we don't have the legal action to talk directly with the Apple Support. In future, we may have it, therefore, I request you to contact Apple support in order to resolve the issue.


Should you have any further questions or comments, do not hesitate to get in touch with us again.


Best Regards!!!

I then decided to call Apple again as I clearly was not getting anywhere with Supercell and was also curious in regards to the legalities that Supercell mentioned concerning them contacting Apple. After another long discussion with Apple that lasted over an hour again I asked them to send me the main points of the discussion in an email that I could sen to Supercell.


So I then sent Supercell this email:

Hello again,


Okay after being in contact with Apple yet again it my understanding that you do have the legal action to talk directly with Apple support and they engineers as clearly stated in my reply that I have just received from Apple. Here is their latest response to the issue:


Hi Mr. Smith,


I am very sorry to hear you’re still having this same issue! I was truly hoping that the developers could have solved this issue for you by now. I have personally gone back and reviewed the case completely.


I have made certain there aren’t any technical difficulties on our side at all, and after a discussion with our engineers they have pointed out that the developer of the app has a way to directly contact Apple for assistance with trying to help clear up that kind of error within their application, which they may need to take advantage of here. The key to that, however, is that the error is happening within their application, and is not at all related to anything Apple has either done or can control.


I really really wish I could give you some more useful information, but the entirety of the actual issue here lies with the developer of the app, and we can’t fix it for them I’m afraid. I truly hope they can work with you to resolve this problem, but there’s just not any actions we can take, it has to be resolved by the developer. However, please feel free to let me know if you have any questions or concerns I can assist with, and definitely let me know if they are able to finally help you resolve this situation.


The best of luck,


Laura
iTunes Store Senior Advisor
1-877-416-4271 EXT 69561
laura_sexton@apple.com
End time 6 PM EST. Varied days off.




The email clearly confirms that Supercell has a way to directly contact Apple for assistance with trying to clear up an error within their app which I thought would of been the case in any case.


I await your response,
Regards,


Mr. S. M. Smith

I then received the following email back from Supercell and actually felt like I was getting somewhere at long last:

Hi again Smith,


Greetings from the Clash Royale Player Support Team!


As you may know, we do not possess the rights to interfere with the transactions made through the channels used by the iOS customers, we never are in touch with the disputed transactions made through iOS devices, if any. This leads to the fact that only Apple support would be able to provide you with an actual resolution and I really would appreciate your genuine perception for the same.
Moreover, our server responses within time to such purchases and is very secure to process them, at the same point. This keeps our beloved players to encounter such instances, to a minimum.
Hence, I would urge you to take this context with a generous gesture towards us and try contacting Apple support only, using the same link, we have provided you with, in our previous responses.


If you have any other questions in the future, please don’t hesitate to write in.
Sincere Regards,

mode500

I then called Apple yet again and spent another hour on the phone to them, and again asked them to email me the main points of the conversation to me which I then forwarded to Supercell:

Hello again,


After being in contact again for another hour with Apple it is my understanding that this issue has nothing to do with transactions on Apple's side as there are no transactions regarding this issue showing on Apple/iTunes side and their servers, according to Apple there is nothing in the system as the transaction was either ignored or declined at the time by myself therefore nothing shows on Apple's side, yet all the purchase options are greyed out within 'your' game as there is an old pending transaction (which was never ok'd by myself for my son) still on hold within the game itself. After speaking with Apple on the telephone for over three hours now in total I understand what the issue is and have explained it to you to the best of my ability above. Apple have spent a lot of time on this issue with me and have even had their engineers involved on the case and it is my understanding that they have come across this issue with Supercell on numerous occasions previously from other users of your apps and therefore have an understanding of the issue.


For your information here is the latest email response that I have received from Apple :




I am sorry that you cannot make purchases in "Clash Royale“ as you get an "Pending Transaction“ error. Apple has no record at all of your purchase attempt within Apple's system concerning the fact that no purchase's can be initiated within Clash Royale unfortunately.


This is a well known issue with apps from Supercell.


Apple Engineering has confirmed on multiple occasions that these "Pending Transaction" errors with Supercell are generated by the developer (i.e. generated by the application itself) not by iTunes or iOS in any way.


Please get back to Supercell and hopefully they can resolve the issue within the app.


kind regards,


Jan Witzmann


iTunes Store Senior Customer Support
Apple Inc., on behalf of Apple Distribution International




Regards,


Mr. S. M. Smith

And yet again I had no response from supercell in two days until I finally received this from them after sending them a reminder:

Hello Smith,


Thanks for the reply and your patience.


We would like to help, but cannot do anymore with regard to this request regarding the disputed purchase we have met with and we seriously apologize for the same. We try working very hard to avoid such payment failures from our side, and if it is our server, thousands of players, globally, are utilizing it to make purchases successfully, without fail.


Try contacting Apple only, as we have discussed earlier. Please let us know while this issue is resolved.


Keep battling!

mode500

As you may see Supercell are blaming Apple, and Apple are blaming Supercell, however after being on the phone to Apple for over three hours in total having everything explained properly to me, and only receiving extremely short worded emails from Supercell I am tending to believe Apple's side as Supercell appear to be avoiding the issue and anything that I ask them in my emails.

I have spent £70 (along with my son) on Clash Royale in total to date and I feel like I am being unfairly treated and that the issue is not being taken seriously.

I find it incredibly disrespectful how they have ended an email with 'Keep Battling!' after being told that there is an issue but it's okay as it doesn't effect thousands of other player. I know that the 'Keep Battling!' was meant to be fun and in reference to the game but this is a serious issue.

Not only that but I have signed off the majority of my emails correctly with my name 'Mr. S. M. Smith' and they just address me as 'Smith' which I find a little insulting. That's when they do actually get my name right as you may be able to see I have also been called just 'Sh' and in another email 'Challenger' when this is not even my username.

Thoughts/help/ideas please.

Thanks!

thescouselander

Sounds fairly standard for IT. There's some sort of compatibility problem between the game and iTunes so both parties will have a sand-off blaming each other. Perhaps you should ditch iOS and get an Android device.

Haffiana

thescouselander wrote: »

Sounds fairly standard for IT. There's some sort of compatibility problem between the game and iTunes so both parties will have a sand-off blaming each other. Perhaps you should ditch iOS and get an Android device.

Sounds fairly standard reply from a Scouser. There is some sort of built-in antipathy to iOS which prevents them from actually reading properly any posts which mention Apple. Perhaps you should only take advice from someone from other parts of the British isles.

esuhl

This thread got weird quickly!

At the end of the day, I don't think there's anything you can do to force a developer to fix a game (or the OS or API or whatever).

If you've paid money for a promised service or feature that hasn't been delivered, then maybe you could pursue a partial refund (although I think you'd struggle).

I wouldn't spend £70 on a game, but there must be some other games out there that you could play for less money.

jshm2

i think both parties are at it and making the developer the scapegoat

Have you done a clearout of the game data after you uninstalled?

AndyPix

Please take this as an oppertinity to rid yourself of these horrible "pay to win" mobile leach games.


You have spent £70 so far and got what ?
A "bag full of gems" you will never phsically hold ?
An upgrade to your character that puts you infront of one person but still behind the many many thousands of people who pour money into crap like this ?


I know i sound ranty, but i really hate this stuff, do you know that they have pshycologists designing the interfaces of these games to basically hypnotise you into feeling like you HAVE to spend that little bit more to get ahead ?


Count this as a blessing - as you can see the company obviously doesnt value your custom, and there is theoretically no end to the amount of money you could spend on this.


£70 could have got you the latest bang up to date console game and once thats bought, its yours forever to play.


I know people who spend £300+ per month on this garbage and it just staggers me


/rant

DoaM

Raise a chargeback claim on your bank/card provider for the "stuck" transaction?