Headed to Hong Kong tomorrow, advice on Pleco please...

[Paul Duke]

Tried your latest suggestion. No luck! Deleted and redownloaded... same issue.

Actually, I would love to have the flashcard function, but my Palm Pilot version is on a Palm that is back at my place in Los Angeles (and I think it's doubtful whether I could get it going anyway -- haven't used it in years). However, I have some emails re that version going back to 2003 including a serial number starting with OXD...

Well, Wednesday I will be going to Malaysia... who knows, maybe I'll get lucky and this will work there.

By the way, the free version is impressive! The dictionary for my purposes (dictionary on the run when I run into a word I don't know) is quite good. At home I use Wenlin on my laptop anyway. But I'd like to have the full screen handwriting, etc... Plus I want to support you!

And hopefully a few months down the line I'll just switch to the iPhone in order to get the OCR function...

Thanks again... PFD

 

[HLee]

Hi Mike,

Same problem here in Malaysia.

Pleco was introduced in Nov 2010 (free version) but was unable to upgrade to complete version (method of payment declined).

Has been emailing itunes representatives for last 2 weeks.

Still no solution..Very frustrated. No problem buying other apps, only pleco has problem

HLee

 

[mikelove]

Tried your latest suggestion. No luck! Deleted and redownloaded... same issue.

Actually, I would love to have the flashcard function, but my Palm Pilot version is on a Palm that is back at my place in Los Angeles (and I think it's doubtful whether I could get it going anyway -- haven't used it in years). However, I have some emails re that version going back to 2003 including a serial number starting with OXD...

Well, Wednesday I will be going to Malaysia... who knows, maybe I'll get lucky and this will work there.

By the way, the free version is impressive! The dictionary for my purposes (dictionary on the run when I run into a word I don't know) is quite good. At home I use Wenlin on my laptop anyway. But I'd like to have the full screen handwriting, etc... Plus I want to support you!

Thanks! You could certainly try the license transfer steps, then - just need your email, no Palm required; see this page for instructions. So no luck with Apple support?

I think the best single thing about moving to Android is that we'll finally be able to accept orders however and from whoever we feel like again - if you want to pay us with cash in Albanian Leks, as long as it's the right amount and arrives at our office intact we'll probably accept it We'll certainly be able to support things like MoneyGrams and money orders and wire transfers and be less obsessive about rejecting credit cards, anyway...

Same problem here in Malaysia.

Pleco was introduced in Nov 2010 (free version) but was unable to upgrade to complete version (method of payment declined).

Has been emailing itunes representatives for last 2 weeks.

Still no solution..Very frustrated. No problem buying other apps, only pleco has problem

Have you heard back from iTunes yet, or are they completely ignoring you? See if there's another contact email or telephone number you can use, maybe a local one in Malaysia. And is your credit card based out of Malaysia or somewhere else? Can you try making it look like your iPhone is located in the US using a VPN? Or try paying using an iTunes gift certificate? Have you successfully purchased any apps on your device using App Store or have they only worked through iTunes on your desktop?

 

[HLee]

Have you heard back from iTunes yet, or are they completely ignoring you? See if there's another contact email or telephone number you can use, maybe a local one in Malaysia.
Yes, three iTunes staffs from Malaysia have not been able to rectify the problem..

And is your credit card based out of Malaysia or somewhere else? Can you try making it look like your iPhone is located in the US using a VPN? Or try paying using an iTunes gift certificate?
My card is from Malaysia and the iTunes is also from Malaysia. I am unable to change the VPN. There is no iTunes gift certificate here.

Have you successfully purchased any apps on your device using App Store or have they only worked through iTunes on your desktop?
Yes, I can buy new apps via desktop/laptop/iphone4 but only have difficulty when buying using Pleco.

 

[Paul Duke]

Well, I'm in KL now and I'm happy to say that iTunes support got back to me within a day and whatever they did, they made it possible for me to pay for the professional package before I left HK. So now I have it on my iPod Touch and it's working fine.

Just learned from a friend in Beijing I may be able to borrow an iPhone 4 for the 2 weeks I'll be there so now I'll face the issue of trying to transfer my registration temporarily. ;-)

Thanks for all the help!

PFD

 

[mikelove]

Have you heard back from iTunes yet, or are they completely ignoring you? See if there's another contact email or telephone number you can use, maybe a local one in Malaysia.
Yes, three iTunes staffs from Malaysia have not been able to rectify the problem..

So they have no explanation for why your payment was declined? Very odd... and I assume nothing from your credit card company either? Any other card you could temporarily borrow / use for this?

Have you successfully purchased any apps on your device using App Store or have they only worked through iTunes on your desktop?
Yes, I can buy new apps via desktop/laptop/iphone4 but only have difficulty when buying using Pleco.

Perhaps the amount of the purchase is causing problems... one thing you could try would be just buying one or two Pleco add-ons that you're interested in rather than the full bundle; a $15 order might sail through while a $150 one won't.

Well, I'm in KL now and I'm happy to say that iTunes support got back to me within a day and whatever they did, they made it possible for me to pay for the professional package before I left HK. So now I have it on my iPod Touch and it's working fine.

Great! Sorry for the hassle...

 

[keat23]

Hi I came across this issue on a search n asked iTunes customer service about it but they couldn't help me.
I have downloaded and installed pleco dictionary successfully. When I try to purchase other add ons from within pleco dictionary, I get the error message "cannot connect to iTunes"
Any advice pls?
I'm also flying tomorrow so may not be able to reply soon

iTunes reply:
"I understand that you have been unable to purchase In App items, you have been getting a message that says you cannot connect to the iTunes Store. I see that other customers have also gotten this error message. Thank you so much for including that screen shot and the link to the forum.

Because this issue is occurring only from within this application and is also happening to other customers with this application, I trust the issue lays from within the application itself. As an iTunes Store Customer Support representative, I am trained to handle issues related to billing, customer accounts, and the items available on the iTunes Store.

By contacting the developer of this application, I trust they will be able to assist you. If they are unable to, please let me know so I can refund the application for you."

 

[mikelove]

It's definitely happening on their end and not on ours - that "cannot connect to iTunes Store" message is generated by Apple's own code when we contact their server to initiate a purchase. This problem is not confined to Pleco, it affects lots of other In-App Purchases in other apps for people connecting to iTunes from outside the US.

The In-App Purchase system has been very buggy in general lately, actually - last weekend the "restore purchases" function was totally broken for several days due to a major server outage, not just in Pleco but in every single app that uses non-consumable In-App Purchases. In the last few months free-with-IAP-apps have gotten a lot more popular (routinely taking up a big chunk of the iTunes-wide "top grossing" slots), and it may be that their system simply wasn't designed to handle the volume of transactions it's processing now.

Anyway, as far as how to fix this, connecting your iPhone to the internet via a VPN would probably be your best bet; contacting Apple to make sure your account isn't blocked (she may not have checked on that) might also help, as would trying to pay with a gift certificate. A more involved fix that can sometimes help is to wipe your iPhone / reset all of its settings and reinstall everything; probably not something you have time for in this case, but a lot of developers say this can help with IAP issues and we've seen it fix a few problems on our own test devices too.

But we wouldn't be getting this sort of error if the error was on our end rather than Apple's - we'd be getting a different, Pleco-generated error message. (fortunately, since the basic version of Pleco is a free app, we don't have to worry about her offer / threat to "refund the application for you" if we can't fix this )

 

[keat23]

Hi,

For some reason i just tried it again now and it works.
Smells fishy but at least I'm good for now..

Thanks

 

[HLee]

Still no success.
Itunes staffs always reply saying things have been sorted out but they seem to have no idea where the problem is.

Anybody from Malaysia who has successfully bought any extra bundle?

Please share your experience. Thanks

 

[HLee]

Finally, can download in Malaysia. Thanks

 

[mikelove]

Great! Very sorry you had to go through all of that...

 

[GlobalSuit]

Hi Mike, I am in Hong Kong and having the same issue as others had. I can't seem to do an in-app purchase of the OCR Recognition package. When I try to buy it I get the dreaded "Cannot connect to iTunes Store." However, I can purchase in-app items from other programs, I just bought something earlier today. I have not had any success with Pleco and I was wondering why there would be issues with Pleco and no other programs.

Has anyone determined why it does not work for some and for others it works fine.

 

[mikelove]

Could it be that you downloaded Pleco using a different country's app store than the one you downloaded those other apps from? Do you have more than one iTunes account?