I could not agree more. I also live in Australia. When I bought this app it was great. Then slowly new versions came out with new "features" of zero use to me like flyers for US shops and us food recalls. Like I need that in Australia. Now to pay for these features we are to have ads foisted on us at my download expense. I think not. Time to trash the app and buy something else!

I'm with you guys. This app was FANTASTIC and then they offered this crazy update. I was lucky that I checked the details of the download BEFORE I hit okay, realised that the company was behaving unethically and now have to download every other app's update individually as I will experience the same problems as you if I hit 'update all'.
Don't bother contacting the company; to include advertisements that causes expensive downloads of irrelevant information for international customers just shows their poor morals. Report them to iTunes, I'm sure they're breaching their use agreements for the Australian store by adding ads to a previously purchased app.

And on that topic, what other program do you recommend we download to replace this awful one?

Edit: Here is the Australian complaints page for apps not functioning as purchased. I have requested the provider be investigated for breach of conditions and continued relevance in the Australian store:
http://www.apple.com/au/support/itunes/ ... plications

Please make this possible for at least the countries where this feature is useless.

An update to my earlier post. I emailed and asked for a refund. Here is part of the response:

To give credit where credit is due this was a genuine attempt at offering me a refund. Sadly a US checque in Australia costs more to convert to real money ($AU) than the value of the refund so, for me, it's not a practical solution. If you live in the US it would be.

I also note there is now mention on iTunes of an ad OptPut feature, but I'm not sure how that works exactly. This is promising, but it may cost more.

When I go to the App Store on my iPhone, the info for Shopper states:



Anyone know how this works?

Given the silence on these forums about it, am I being overly uncharitable in my suspicion that it's deliberate misinformation, possibly to try and reduce the damage caused by the run of very poor ratings from people disgruntled by the introductions of ads into a paid app?

prk.

Ditto on the offer of a refund, but no reply when I asked if they'd send it to me in Australian currency.

I also noticed the opt-out feature on last night too - I've emailed support to ask about it. Howver, given we've previously been told it wouldn't be available until the next shopper version, I'm rather suspicious of the announcement being quietly slipped into the App Store (to try and keep sales going) without any mention of it here on the forums.

prk.

I have been using this app for the last 7 months and recently sponsors/advertisements are showing below the "products" I have on my list.
1. This makes the list look very untidy
2. Since it is placed at the same place where notes usually shows up it "confuses" and distracts the order of the shopping list due to the reason you actually have to look twice to make sure it is an ad. and not something you have written
3. If I am not mistaking when I bought this app it was mentioned in iTunes that this app was ad free
4. I think it is unethical to start putting ads into a paid app, I feel that I am being ripped off since I have paid for a product. I would understand and accept the ads if I had the free shopper lite version and had less functions.

Because of these ads I am considering removing my app and find a new "shopper" app, but before I do I hope you can give me a feed back regarding this. I am yet to rate and comment this app in iTunes, hopefully you will remove the ads and I can give this app the 5 stars it deserves instead of 1 star due to the use of ads.

Waiting for your reply

I also inquired about this, and received the following reply from someone named Milan:


As for the opt-out mechanism, you will be able to pay a little amount to get out of the ads (you won't see them anymore). Please bear with us for the next release in which
you will be provided a solution to opt out of these ads.

Well I hope they will give a reply to this thread to show that they are serious about listening to their customers. They created a suggestion forum so I hope they are serious about replying and takning the suggestions serious.

They might not give me the answar I want, but with a reply I will know what they intend to do about this issue.

Here's my constructive criticism:

1. Return shopper to the version prior to the advertising for your existing customers who purchased the app ad free and then stop developing it.

2. Create a new Shopper 2.0 that you can develop 'til your heart's content with Brand Sponsorship, bells and whistles, at whatever download price you want to set.

At least then, those users that have been using the product for a while will get the app they paid for and if you really come up with something good they may even purchase 2.0.