T-mobile has surveyed customers asking the leading music service to stream without problems. Google Play took the top spot but the wireless carrier opted to offer another six. On another development, Google Play has extended its refund window from 15 minutes to two hours.
According to CNET, T-Mobile has started offering six additional services on its Music Freedom concept. This allows people to steam music without going against the data restrictions of the cellular network. However, it has yet to arrive to Google Play. The Music Freedom concept started in June in hopes of looking into data plans and charges imposed on such services.
Good news for users who mistakenly purchased apps on Google Play: Google has seemingly increased their 15-minute app refund window, extending their refund period up to two hours after the purchase has been made.
Android Police's Play Store Trial
Android Police was the first to report about the said app refund window extension. According to David Ruddock, who posted about the discovery, the extension seemed to apply for most paid games and other apps on Google Play. Android Police reports having three members of their team test the feature out to see how long the Refund button stays on the Google Play page of the purchased game or app. The test revealed that the button stayed on the page for exactly two hours; afterwards, it closed.
Ruddock also documented one purchase in detail to show the timestamps proving the extended refund period. The screen captures clearly show the Refund button being present from the time the app was purchased at 9:50 in the morning up to two hours later, with the button changing to Uninstall at exactly one minute after the two-hour mark at 11:51 AM.
Not Officially Supported by Google?
Google has kept mum over the two-hour extension of their refund allowance, and LifeHacker reports that the company "doesn't officially support this option." The Play Store Support page for returning paid apps still states 15 minutes as the accepted refund period, telling users to contact the app developers if they want a refund and the 15-minute allowance is up. LifeHacker also recommends that users follow the instructions in the Google Play Orders page should the refund option not be available after 15 minutes.
Google sent a statement to Android Police, where they said they "only advertise a 15-minute refund window, that is the guaranteed window for a user, but [we] do extend the window in some cases to account for download times." It will be safe for users to follow the 15-minute refund window officially prescribed by Google, but having the 2-hour window now even on an unofficial capacity is still good for users who have made accidental purchases on Google Play.
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