I've always wondered about that. Apple really should have a way for someone to complain and ask for their money back. After all isn't that our basic level of consumer rights in this country. If the item purchased is not as it say, is not fit for purpose, then the consumer can ask for a refund?
Or doesn't that apply to software?

Pretty sure the apps are tested before going up on the store... hope that eventually someone can help out.

Yes, they're tested, as apple have many times disallowed apps due to using illegal coding. (APIs..)

My bad review MAGICALLY DISSAPPEARED and has been replaced by 3 new good ones this may be a scam

I Also raied a Concern and asked Apple if they where sure the app works.

I Think the issue with this App the the Mac App not the iPhone app.

This is the second time I'm posting this BAD REVIEW as the first one MAGICALLY DISSAPPEARED
This app doesn't actually appear to function. The Support is non existent and the forums don't help. I don't know if it's the iPhone app that fails or the Mac app. The latest update of both software have changed nothing.

This has been a complete waste of money for me. Save you pennys

And this app makes you install an app on your PC or mMac, What a good way to distribute a VIRUS... Make people install it.

Interesting thread - I live on the exact opposite side to the OP (as in I have a web / security camera viewing iPhone app published on the App Store and encounter technical issues, customer reviews and refund requests every day of the week).

In response to some queries & thoughts in this thread:

* Yes, applications are tested by Apple, but it's not a guarantee that the application will be 100% perfect when it is released. With our own application we've had rejections from Apple for various bugs (which we fixed before re-submitting), but versions that have sailed through testing have been found to have issues when people start using the app in ways we hadn't planned for. There are millions of iPhones out there, hundreds of different camera models and all sorts of unusual configurations and network arrangements that we can't possibly imagine, let alone test for - so sadly sometimes an app we think is bug-free turns out to have a show-stopper we never imagined.

* Refunds on the App Store are unusual, as we (developers) don't have any control at all over the purchase process. We can't even confirm that someone has actually bought the application in order to provide a refund through another method (ie other than iTunes) - all we get is a report showing the number of sales for each reason.

I'm sure that people can get refunds on app purchases, as from time to time I get a '-1' sales entry for a particular region which clearly represents someone who has complained to Apple about our app, and received a refund.

When this happens, we don't get any notification, feedback or an opportunity to present our side of the story. If someone buys our app planning to use it with a camera we don't support, and then complains to Apple that the app doesn't work, there is nothing we can do. This is a hugely frustrating process - imagine Harvey Norman being forced to refund a coffee machine purchase because the user can't make Lemon Mohitos with it (and note I say 'forced', because I'm sure some retailers/developers would be willing to refund such a purchase if the customer asked nicely).

* Bad reviews really upset me, although I'm sure I take them too personally. I've had 1 Star reviews from people who bought the app without reading the description that clearly states it won't do what they want. I've had people send me an email, and although I responded within 24 hours with a series of follow-up queries, they posted a negative review claiming I ignored them and am only on the app store as a scam.

I have 9 '1 Star' reviews - 4 from people who bought the software without checking whether it would work with their cameras, and 5 from people who experienced (legitimate) issues that I could have helped them resolve quite easily had they taken the time to contact me rather than posting a review.

* PLEASE give developers a chance to respond to your support queries before blasting them and their products in iTunes. Not everyone on the App Store is a full-time iPhone Developer, and even those who are don't check their emails 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We all need weekends, sleep, family time etc, and when we're away from the computer not checking our emails that doesn't mean we've taken your money because we are scam artists who won't respond to your queries.

* I really wish that Apple would let developers respond directly to reviews on the App Store, just like eBay lets you respond to negative feedback after a transaction. I'm pretty sure all of my responses would say 'I can fix this issue, please contact me so I can help', and we'd all be much happier.

* I really really wish that there was a way to delete reviews from the App Store, but developers don't have the power to do this. I've even lodged complaints with Apple about reviews that were blatant lies (like the one accusing me of being a scam artist), providing them with clear evidence that the review is a lie, but Apple didn't even bother to respond to my complaint let alone act upon it.

In short, I'm sorry to hear you are having problems with a particular app (even if it is one of our competitor's products), but unfortunately the whole iPhone App Store process is not perfect from either side of the fence.

Hello, I'm one of the developers of iCam.

We make it a point to answer every support e-mail we receive and and respond to every support forum post.

kyncaid - We did receive an e-mail from you on January 27, and I responded to it just over an hour after you sent it.

The e-mail response I sent bounced back with a "5.1.1 unknown or illegal alias" error.

I also don't see any posts from you in our support forum, so we had no way of contacting you.

Is your e-mail working again? If so, then I can re-send the reply I previously sent to you.

I also have to agree with pretty much everything jamesatfish said ... Thanks for posting that.

Originally Posted by macaholic

Has anyone else used iCam?
I'm looking for one like this, and with push notification (upon detected movement) it would be awesome.

Jamesatfish, what is your app?

We publish two apps - Cam Viewer (Cam Viewer and Cam Viewer for SecuritySpy (a specific version of the standard application with features optimised for SecuritySpy).

Without a back-end server watching over your cameras it would be quite difficult to implement push notification for motion detection, but you might want to check out SecuritySpy if you're running your own cameras as it does all the motion detection and can handle email and other notifications, and we are looking at ways to incorporate SecuritySpy's notifications into our Cam Viewer for SecuritySpy application in order to implement some kind of push-notification service.

Me again.

I gave the app another shot again after the devs posted (some updates have come though since i first posted). It now seems to work as advertised, even over 3G

App is no longer the suxor :-)

Originally Posted by kyncaid

Me again.

I gave the app another shot again after the devs posted (some updates have come though since i first posted). It now seems to work as advertised, even over 3G

App is no longer the suxor :-)

So audio and video come through OK?
I suppose wifi is needed for real-time.

PS. I saw your original review on the app store. I'm glad you got it working OK. The push notification will be great if it works as advertised.

Originally Posted by macaholic

So audio and video come through OK?
I suppose wifi is needed for real-time.

PS. I saw your original review on the app store. I'm glad you got it working OK. The push notification will be great if it works as advertised.

No. Audio didn't come through even on Wi-Fi so not quite as advertised.

I just got the Latest update of the iCam App and it now works great and they have added motion detection push with a $1.19 in App purchase.

It took them a while but they got there and now it's more awsome than before.

i've only used it with my isight but i'd love to try it with more cams.

Does this allow you to take screen shots or record the video feed?
I've been playing with AirCam light and was thinking of getting the full version.

But, if this can record etc, might save me a few bucks