Report a Problem in iTunes

It’s frustrating to see that Apple hasn’t updated the interface for reporting a problem in iTunes. The worst part is that the more content a person has purchased the more difficult it becomes to find a transaction and report it. There aren’t many instances where Amazon could teach Apple about interface design – but this is one of them.

If you go into your account in iTunes and look at your purchase history there’s a link to Report a Problem. If you know what month you made your purchase you’re all set. Otherwise prepare for frustration.

The interface lets you search by month and year. I can’t tell you the month and year when I purchased most of my music. That leaves you to page through the transactions a page at a time, eleven transactions per page. The worst part is the noticeable delay every time you click ‘Next’ and wait for the next page to populate. No exaggeration, 5-10 seconds per click. Further, every time you update an app you’re building more line items, creating page after page to sift through.

Customer service departments have been setting up obstacle courses in their phone systems for years. Now Apple is doing the same thing with their application’s interface. Amazon offers a search field that makes finding an order near instantaneous. They even let me run customized order reports.

I’m not naive, I know Amazon has something to gain by letting me search my orders: re-orders. But Apple doesn’t. I’m not going to buy a song or an app again, so why should Apple make it easy to find my order?

Apple is renowned for its expertise in interface design – making it obvious this lack of customer service is intentional. There’s no excuse for wasting people’s time intentionally.

Want to see for yourself? Visit the store in iTunes. Under your account name at the top right click Account. Then next to Purchases click on See All. You’ll see a button to report a problem.