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iTunes Match endless cellular download glitch makes me go through my data plan's cap. Apple unwilling to help or compensate me.

I recently bought an iPhone 5 and activated iTunes match on it. As I have a small data cap (500MB), I turned off iTunes match over cellular.


I noticed that the spinning wheel indicating that my iPhone is downloading is always there when I open the Music app on LTE, whether I am playing music or not. My iPhone gets hot in my pocket and drains battery super fast, which led me to believe it was constantly downloading. Looking at my data usage confirmed what I thought: I already used 8GB of data, while I usually never go over 500MB.


I tried looking online for people with the same problem, but all I found was people who started downloading songs manually while on Wi-Fi and it would keep downloading over data. That's not my problem. I don't have any song in my download queue. None of my tracks have that circular progress bar with a stop sign next to them. iTunes match is simply downloading hundreds of tracks while I'm on cellular data even though the Music app is not playing anything and I didn't ask to download anything.


What's weird is that that only occurs over 3G/LTE. If I enter a Wi-Fi network, I will get a popup saying "[Track name] could not be downloaded", and the spinning wheel indicating there's a download in the Music app will be gone. However, if I get on 3G/LTE again, the downloading will restart.


I tried turning off iTunes match completely and even logging out of my Apple ID everywhere I could, but the Music app will keep downloading tracks indefinitely for no reason. I tried killing the Music app process in the multitasking taskbar and rebooting my iPhone, but that didn't help either.


Since that problem started to happen, I also noticed that I couldn't download or update any App either. They all get stuck on "Waiting…". There's clearly something wrong with my iPhone.


I already expect the fix for this problem to be the usual "Restore your iPhone as a new device". That will probably fix that bug since it's software-related for sure.


My problem is more with the cellular data overage fees. Even if I could fix the problem right now I'd still be left with around $50 of overage fees because of that iTunes match bug. As I did nothing for this glitch to happen, I obviously don't want to pay those fees. Just out of principle, that would be totally wrong.


I emailed Apple's iTunes customer support about this problem and even after lots of emails exchanged, Apple are not willing to refund me those overage charges, even though they admit this is a software glitch that should not have happened. They say that since they're not the ones charging me for data, they can't refund the overage fees or compensate with anything.


What would you guys suggest to get my money back? Is there any other Apple email address I could contact that could be more likely to compensate me? Do you think my carrier could help (even though it's not their fault) ? An email to Tim Cook/Phil Schiller? Anywhere where I could complain? I'm really frustrated at Apple's poor customer service right now and if I had the time, money and experience I swear I'd sue them. However I'm looking at a more simple and realistic way to get my money back.


Any advice? Thanks.

iPhone 5, iOS 6

Posted on Oct 31, 2012 7:26 PM

Reply
2 replies

Nov 1, 2012 4:09 AM in response to p_giguere1

Hello p_giguere1,


As much as I understand your frustration since I experienced the issue where it continues to download over LTE, your quarrel shouldn't be taken up with Apple. Of course providing them feedback in regards to the issue should be done in a positive and effective manner, but the only team that can "fix" your issue is your provider. Depending on how "nice" they are, they will usually refund/credit your account based on the known "bug" with the phone. Apple has no way to access your phone account, and in order for them to provide you with funds, the phone service would need to be directly offered by them. As stated before, I suggest calling your carrier, explaining the situation, clearly and concisely, and seeing what they can do for you.


However, if the iPhone 5 is not provided subsidized by the carrier and you're using it unlocked on their network, prepare for a battle of the century in getting a refund.

iTunes Match endless cellular download glitch makes me go through my data plan's cap. Apple unwilling to help or compensate me.

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