Apple hotline. Error “For assistance contact iTunes support” and its solution

Recently an amazing story happened to me involving unauthorized purchases, correspondence with the service iTunes support Store and a happy ending. Therefore, I would like to talk about how not to get into such a situation and what to do if you find yourself in my place. But first, a little background.

One day at the end of June, when trying to update or download programs from App Store I received the following message:

This Apple ID has been disabled for security reasons. Visit iForgot to reset your account(http://iforgot.apple.com)

Account activation by specified address took only a couple of minutes, after which I successfully forgot about the problem without even trying to find the cause of its occurrence, and continued to work with the iOS application store in normal mode, but in vain. Looking ahead, I’ll add that such a blocking can occur automatically - after a certain amount wrong attempts entering your Apple ID password.

After that, exactly two weeks passed, and it was at that moment when I had no Internet for two days that some bad person downloaded an application (a variation of poker) from the App Store on my behalf, and then made an in-app purchase of an item of unknown purpose with the strange name “15M chips” for $20:

The attentive reader will undoubtedly wonder how simple my password was? I’ll answer: it’s not that simple and it fit the requirements described below (it was once generated using pwgen). I'm still at a loss.

Along with the payment receipt, I received two more letters. They stated that these purchases were made from a computer that was not previously associated with my Apple ID, and also suggested that I change my password as soon as possible:

I would like to warn users: if you find yourself in a similar situation, never download the application out of idle curiosity - this will be another confirmation that you are right.

What made the situation especially poignant was the fact that I can’t stand gambling, especially poker :-) An unpleasant moment, but the reasons for the June account blocking immediately became clear.

The range of opinions obtained from a quick survey of friends was quite wide: someone said that you should definitely write to the support service iTunes Store, and some - that Apple won’t dress up for $20. As it turns out, it will.

When traveling through the “Report a problem” links, I was redirected to the contact form, where I filled out the appropriate fields, in the “Specific request” drop-down list, I selected the item “I have unauthorized purchases on my account”, indicated the “Order number” (it is in the payment receipts) and did not forget to describe the details in detail.

Since I have American Apple ID, I had to write a letter and communicate with the support service in English. So if you have problems with a foreign language, I recommend having someone read it and correct it before sending it.

Unfortunately, the response to the first request did not come within the promised 24 hours. They didn’t give me any attention on the second day either, so I simply filled out the request again and within a few hours I was reading the first letter from a very polite iTunes Store Customer Support employee named Ranjit.

To prevent the attackers (whoever they are) from buying anything else, Ranjit temporarily disabled the download option for my Apple ID and informed me that In-App Purchase without my consent is an exception to the rules for providing services in Apple stores and, therefore, I can count on a refund, which should occur within 5-7 banking days (although everything went much faster). Also, the letter stated that I may not see the money returned until I log out and log into my account again.

There is one more nuance: the money was debited from Store Credit, which appears after replenishing your account with a Gift card. And it is unknown how the story would have ended if the return had to be made to a credit card with my real address. I'm 99% sure that the account would have simply been banned.

My Apple ID was not completely blocked: I could not download applications, but I could log into my “personal account” without problems. And in order to complete the full activation, I had to write another letter to Ranjit.

It was necessary to indicate the billing address linked to account, and one thing to choose from:

Order number of the most recent purchase or free download(you can watch it in iTunes - section “Most Recent Purchase”).
Or the name of any application that I have ever downloaded with this account.

The real owner of the Apple ID will not have any difficulty answering these questions. Also, I didn’t indicate my phone number, but if they want to talk to you in person, it’s worth saying that at the moment you are abroad and therefore no longer use that number (in the USA, as far as I know, there is a practice of reusing old telephone numbers).

Finally, my assistant from iTunes Store support once again strongly advised me to change the password (which I had already done by that time) and gave me a link to (English) from the Apple knowledge base, which describes some techniques for ensuring the security of your account.

I'll quote a few from it. interesting moments. First, Apple recommends signing out of the iTunes/App/Mac App Store whenever you finish making purchases there. Secondly, when setting a password, the user can use the following recommendations:

Do not use the same password for multiple accounts or a password that is the same as the account name.
Do not use previous passwords.
Do not tell anyone your Apple ID password and the answer to security question, even to your family members. Moreover, the answer to the secret question should not be obvious, so that it is more difficult to find.
Change your password from time to time to reduce the risk of ending up in a situation similar to mine.

And the password itself must be at least 8 characters in length, contain at least one number, one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter (you can add another sign to be sure, for example, @ $!) and not contain three identical consecutive characters.

If you encounter a problem related to Apple technology or one of the Apple services, and it was not possible to solve it on your own or with the help of specialists, it’s time to ask for support from the company. About how to contact technical support Apple will tell you in this manual.

Important: Before calling or writing Apple, make sure your device is still eligible for service and support. This can be done on a special page of the official Apple website, where you need to enter serial number device and click “Continue”.

How to contact Apple technical support by phone

The most in a fast way Contacting Apple support is a phone call. Moreover, it is by telephone that you can get advice on the operation of all your devices - the possibility of online chat with company representatives will not be available on all issues.

Apple Technical Support Number: 8 495 580 9557

It is worth noting that the line operates only on weekdays, from 09:00 to 20:00 Moscow time.

How to Contact Apple Technical Support Online

Recently, an amazing story happened to me involving unauthorized purchases, correspondence with iTunes Store support and a happy ending. Therefore, I would like to talk about how not to get into such a situation and what to do if you find yourself in my place. But first, a little background.

One day at the end of June, while trying to update or download programs from the App Store, I received the following message:

This Apple ID has been disabled for security reasons. Visit iForgot to reset your account (http://iforgot.apple.com)

Activating the account at the specified address took only a couple of minutes, after which I successfully forgot about the problem, without even trying to find the cause of its occurrence, and continued to work with the iOS application store as usual, but in vain. Looking ahead, I’ll add that such a blocking can occur automatically - after a certain number of incorrect attempts to enter the password for your Apple ID.

The attentive reader will undoubtedly wonder how simple my password was? I’ll answer: it’s not that simple and it fit the requirements described below (it was once generated using pwgen). I'm still at a loss.

I would like to warn users: if you find yourself in a similar situation, never download the application out of idle curiosity - this will be another confirmation that you are right.

The range of opinions obtained from a quick survey of friends was quite wide: some said that you should definitely write to the iTunes Store support service, and others said that Apple wouldn’t dress up for $20. As it turns out, it will.

Since I have an American Apple ID, I had to write a letter and communicate with support in English. So if you have problems with a foreign language, I recommend having someone read it and correct it before sending it.

To prevent the attackers (whoever they are) from buying anything else, Ranjit temporarily disabled the download option for my Apple ID and informed me that In-App Purchasing without my consent is an exception to the rules for providing services in Apple stores and, therefore, I I can count on a refund, which should happen within 5-7 banking days (although everything went much faster). Also, the letter indicated that I may not see the money returned until I log out and log into my account again.

There is one more nuance: the money was debited from Store Credit, which appears after replenishing your account with a Gift card. And it is unknown how the story would have ended if the return had to be made to a credit card with my real address. I'm 99% sure that the account would have simply been banned.

It was necessary to indicate the billing address associated with the account, and one thing to choose from:

Order number of the most recent purchase or free download (it can be viewed in iTunes - section “Most Recent Purchase”).
Or the name of any application that I have ever downloaded with this account.

The real owner of the Apple ID will not have any difficulty answering these questions. Also, I did not indicate my phone number, but if they want to talk to you live, it’s worth saying that you are currently abroad and therefore no longer use that number (in the USA, as far as I know, there is a practice of reusing old telephone numbers).

I will cite a few interesting points from it. First, Apple recommends signing out of the iTunes/App/Mac App Store whenever you finish making purchases there. Secondly, when setting a password, the user can use the following recommendations:

Do not use the same password for multiple accounts or a password that is the same as the account name.
Do not use previous passwords.
Don't tell anyone your Apple ID password or the answer to your security question, not even your family members. Moreover, the answer to the secret question should not be obvious, so that it is more difficult to find.
Change your password from time to time to reduce the risk of ending up in a situation similar to mine.

Hello! Despite numerous instructions posted on the Internet and on this blog, there are issues regarding the iPhone and iPad that can only be resolved with the help of Apple technical support. For example, remove iCloud lock, . Who can do this? Nobody! Only specially trained company employees. And it’s not just a matter of blocking; you never know what other questions might require an answer from a competent specialist?

And after all, it would seem that technical support itself is not hiding from anyone, there are quite a lot of ways to contact it, but people still ask in the comments how to call or write to the Apple operator? And since they ask, we will answer!

Here are all the ways to reach technical support, no matter where you are.

Apple technical support phone numbers in Russia

Apple, like any normal company, has its own hotline whose employees will answer any question related to iPhone and iPad. Here are the phone numbers for the Russian Federation:

8-495-580-95-57 (Moscow number).
8-800-555-67-34 (Toll free number for calls from any region of Russia).
8-800-333-51-73 (Apple Store Customer Support Service).

At any of these numbers, Russian-speaking employees will be ready to advise you from 9.00 to 21.00 on weekdays.

Other ways to talk to Apple technical support in the Russian Federation

When you call any of the phones, you are greeted by an answering machine. If for some reason you cannot get through his commands or do not want to do this, then you can order a call back - the company itself will call you. To do this, go to this page and:

The incoming call will not be from the numbers listed above, but from others. This can be a number from any country (I received calls from the Philippines, Bangkok and somewhere else in Asia). There is no need to be afraid - a Russian-speaking employee will talk to you and this call will be free.

For some reason you don't want to talk? You can always communicate with technical support through a special chat. To do this, we repeat all the steps indicated just above, the only thing is that on the third point we select: “Chat”. Shown here approximate time expectations that it is convenient.

In 2018, Apple launched an application that contains various articles and instructions on the company's products. Cool? Not bad!

However, you and I are interested in another opportunity of this program - getting help from a technical support specialist. What needs to be done?

All you have to do is select the device and the problem you are facing. The application will offer various solutions:

Articles and instructions.
Chat with a specialist.
Call support yourself.
Order call back.

Agree, the choice is simply excellent. Let's use it!

How to contact Russian Apple technical support if you are in another country?

Exists large number countries where technical support is either absent in principle, or is available, but in the language that Russian speaking user doesn't know. What to do in this case? How to contact and talk specifically with Russian technical support if you are in another country?

There is nothing complicated about this, there are several ways:

But ordering a call back if you are in another country will most likely not work (unless, of course, you have a Russian SIM card). The fact is that the call back form requires specifying a number starting with +7 (prefix for Russian numbers). You cannot erase it and replace it with another.