Windows Phone: Users pay (without knowing it) for a free app


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Hi there. I'm a Windows Phone developer. Through time, I've used the Windows Phone Dev Center a lot. It's been great for me, and I have a lot of apps going.

 

Now however, there's a critical bug out there. I released a Danish radio app called "Dansk Radio" (meaning Danish Radio). It has been released as a paid app with a trial.

 

If you go to the U.S. store below, you can clearly see that.

 

http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/dansk-radio/03f90845-bc1d-4ff3-99d6-5abc5049293e (or a direct screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/4KyqIHg.png)

 

Now, the funny thing is that it should also be paid in Denmark. If you go to the Danish marketplace however, it says the following (showing up as a free app: http://i.imgur.com/aXadmC4.png). The link for the app on the Danish store is located below.

 

http://www.windowsphone.com/da-dk/store/app/dansk-radio/03f90845-bc1d-4ff3-99d6-5abc5049293e

 

But it gets weirder than that!

 

If I go to the "Top paid apps category" in the Danish store, it shows as free (http://i.imgur.com/xvCU27V.png)! Here's a link:

 

http://www.windowsphone.com/da-dk/store/top-paid-apps

 

So in other words, it's a paid app, but it shows up as free? It does that in the official Windows Phone store as well (here in Denmark). Here's the screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/QAUyceS.png

 

If I go to my Dev Center account, I get the following details when I try to display the amount of paid downloads there has been for the app for the past 3 days: http://i.imgur.com/83mxoCN.png

 

Now, if I go to the free category, here are the number of downloads for the past 3 days (none): http://i.imgur.com/Oh68EiL.png

 

The same happens for trial downloads: http://i.imgur.com/xfDV97Z.png

 

So let me summarize the issue. The app shows as free in the store (even under "best paid apps"). It hasn't had any free or trial downloads, but it had "paid" downloads. Does that mean that users who download the app for free get charged? Theoretically, it is possible! Many people have their credit card info stored on their live account. I am still working on confirming this, but never the less, the error is weird!

 

It should be noted that it has been like this for 3 days. I waited it out to see what would happen. I have contacted Microsoft to try and resolve the issue, and I did nothing on purpose to try to invoke this effect.

 

Edit: What?! It has now been resolved on my PC as well. If anybody can delete this post, that would be great. I don't know why it appeared as free on my end.

Edited by ffMathy
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I wish that was so. However, I was not signed in on that web page. Friends can confirm too, and so can you, by following the link.

Is it not just showing as free simply because your account already owns the app, meaning you can re-download it for free?

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I wish that was so. However, I was not signed in on that web page. Friends can confirm too, and so can you, by following the link.

 

If I go to the link you provided is shows the price as kr. 10,00, not free. 

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I provided 2 links. A Danish one and a U.S. one. Did you go to the Danish one? Does it say "da-dk" in the URL bar? If not, change it manually. Do you see everything in Danish? Or else you did something wrong.

If I go to the link you provided is shows the price as kr. 10,00, not free. 

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Yes, same here, "kr 10,00".  I wouldn't be surprised it's a bug in the Login control at the top (it says you're not logged on but the rest of the site knows who you are)

 

 JOB6ZM4.png

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You might be right. It's just weird that my friends could confirm as well. I am waiting for them to come online again and see if they can still confirm.

Yes, same here, "kr 10,00".  I wouldn't be surprised it's a bug in the Login control at the top (it says you're not logged on but the rest of the site knows who you are)

 

 JOB6ZM4.png

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What the hell? I edited the post. You are definitely right! However, it didn't show like that a few minutes back. This is sorcery.

 

Actually, yeah, there definitely does seem to be some kind of bug with the store. If I continuously refresh the page sometimes your app shows up as free. 

 

Example: http://videobam.com/AuOud

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