So today it's December 14th, 2009. It's been 46 days since one of my payments from the iTunes App Store went missing. According to Apple, they wired one of my September payments on October 29th. Eventually I discovered it was my payment from iTunes Japan. So I called my bank to find out where it went, but they said they never received it.
If this was the only issue I've had with getting paid then that would be fine. Stuff happens. But it seems like I'm a bit cursed when it comes to getting paid. I'm actually not faulting anyone for the troubles I've had. It's just a comedy of troubles that have been going on for the past 6 months or so.
The first thing that happened to me was that an iTunes payment was mistakenly deposited into my personal bank account instead of my company bank account. The mistake was made by my bank. Apparently when you receive a wire transfer, there is human interaction nearly throughout the entire process. Geez, you would think that a "wire" transfer means that it happens all electronically. But I guess they have to pay someone to monitor all these transfers. The problem is of course that humans make mistakes. Quite often with my bank it seems.
So to correct the issue with the payment being deposited into the wrong account I contacted the bank and they said they'd take care of it. A few days later I had still not received the money into my business account. In fact, they immediately removed the funds from my personal account, but neglected to credit my business account. It turns out they sent it to a completely different account. I contacted them again about that and they finally fixed it. The other bank account happens to be for the company I have been partners in for the past 10 years or so. But for my iPhone development work, I have my own personal business, ClickSpace Technologies Inc. so that I can keep everything separate.
Ok. So that one was corrected too. Great. It was also only for about $500 CAD, so that wasn't a huge deal. Now, onto the next mistake. A couple of weeks ago I received a strange call from a company in Ontario asking if I had any documentation for the payment I had made to them a few days earlier. The company seemed to be related to Dell somehow. Since I know I hadn't purchased anything from Dell recently, I started to ask more questions about the payment I apparently made. As soon as they told me it was a wire payment, I asked them if it mentioned anything about iTunes in the payment notes. I figured there was probably another mistake made somehow. They said it actually came from iTunes Luxembourg. Aha! That sounds familiar. In fact, it was my iTunes Europe payment that landed in their account! I'm really thankful to the person who called me up and worked to help me figure it out. But honestly, I wonder how often this happens with wire transfers? Why do you need people to get in the way of a perfectly good electronic transmission?
I contacted my bank and they corrected the situation immediately. That was great. It was also for $1700 CAD, so it was a much bigger deal. Problem solved.
Ok, so now back to my iTunes Japan payment for September. I have contacted my bank. I have contacted Apple. My bank and Apple have both been great in trying to track down my missing payment. They have both been getting back to me very quickly whenever I've had a question. Unfortunately however, I have still not received my iTunes Japan payment. Even missing a little money isn't great, but when you're missing almost $7000 CAD, that's a much bigger deal! And nobody seems to know where it is!
So am I the only iPhone app developer who's had these weird problems getting paid? I'm sure there are others out there that have had much worse problems than I have. Fortunately I have a day job and I'm not dependent on the payments I receive for the sale of Tap Forms. But as any iPhone developer would agree that it's certainly nice to get paid relatively on time for the hard work we all put into building our apps. I feel bad for any iPhone app developer who has had a worse time getting paid than I have.
Hopefully it will get resolved soon. It'd be nice to have this money before Christmas.
Thanks for listening to my rant.
Brendan
Thanks for sharing your problems getting paid.
However, on a website entitled “SUPPORT” I expected to find more relevant information regarding how to use your app.
I’m looking for a MANUAL. Where is the User Manual?
Bought it yesterday and set up a totally custom file, went well. Problem is, I cannot get into the file in order to enter the data.
HELP, Peter
Hello Peter,
This is my blog page which I talk about all kinds of things related to Tap Forms. Not necessarily just for support, although I do post helpful topics from time to time here. There is also my Forum which you can post questions to where myself and others will respond.
The form that you added will be available by tapping the + button at the top-right of the Forms tab. Scroll through the forms available there to find the one you created then tap on it. You will then be brought into the New Record screen where you can fill out the information.
Also for a tutorial on how to use Tap Forms, please click on the Screens tab at the top of my website. The first couple of links on that page are my screencasts that show you how to use Tap Forms.
Thanks!
Brendan