Fuck Apple, the iPhone, and iTunes

About two weeks ago, I tried to update the apps on my iPhone. I got an error message that said the update failed because my “account had been disabled.”

Great.

The Apple support site offered little help. There was no way to talk to anyone about this problem, and the discussion forums just directed you to the email forms on the Apple support site. So I sent off a message and waited. I got a reply the next day from a person named “Trish” who basically told me, “Too bad, but someone else will get back to you on this.” Of course, no one ever did. I replied 3 times to Trish’s email, all to no avail. I then called a so-called “Apple Expert” who actually tried to help. However, all he could do was to eventually tell me that the reason my account was disabled was because there had been repeated attempts to log in, in order to purchase gift cards.

Great.

It would have been nice to have received an email message that my account was disabled. Better yet, it would have been nice to be able to talk to someone who could fix it, or at least go to a web page where I could fix it myself.

But no, not even the stupid form of communication they have set up will work. I have had this iTunes account for years, since the release of the first gen of the iPod. And now I’m locked out and can’t even get anyone to help me. This is no way to treat someone who has paid hundreds and hundreds of dollars for his music.

So I give up. As soon as I can, I am going to just ditch my iPhone and iTunes, and find another solution. This whole episode has me thoroughly disgusted with Apple. As the chief technology officer for the organization I work for, I’m also going to make sure no more Apple products find their way into our organization. We’ve spent thousands of dollars on Mac Pros and Macbooks, that comes to an end effective today.

Assholes.