PayPal Users Massively Overcharged for Mac OS X Lion
Some Apple users that paid for their OS X Lion upgrades via PayPal have been charged thousands of dollars by accident.
It seems a little blunder has seen customers buying Apple's latest OS X update charged more than once for their purchase. Unfortunately for users stuck on the receiving end of this mistake, neither Apple nor PayPal appears to be owning up to the mistake.
MacRumors reports that John Christman purchased OS X Lion on July 23, and paid $31.79 after sales tax. His PayPal account was then charged an additional 121 times, for a grand total of $3,878.40. However, when he contacted both Apple and PayPal, each pointed the finger of blame at the other. He's not alone, either. MacRumors points to a discussion thread on Apple's support pages that is filled with people that experienced something similar.
"I purchsed OS X Lion from the app store and now paypal statement shows that itunes store charged me 20 times more, a total of $599.80," user Abhas writes. "Please help, what am I supposed to do. I already talked with paypal and they said they will look and I emailed apple customer service, no reply yet."
Abhas includes a screenshot that shows each additional iTunes charge.
Another user said that though Apple has refunded the extra charges, they will still have to wait a few days for refunds to be lodged with their bank.
"All the charges ended up in my bank account today and overdrafted it and incurred fees," writes Teknikks. "Now have to wait days for the refunds to take effect and more days to put them back in my bank account," he continued. "App Store agents have told me this is now a known issue and Apple is investigating the specific causes. So far they can only blame an overload in their automated payment system from all the Lion downloads..."
While Apple is blaming an overloaded payment system, there are other theories. John Christman, the user that was charged 121 times, believes it might have something to do with Apple's iCloud feature that allows iTunes to automatically download previous purchases.
"I fresh installed Lion, because the upgrade caused a lot of problems. My system needed as fresh start anyway," he told MacRumors. "I logged into our developer account and got the latest iTunes Beta, and installed it. iTunes has a cool new feature to download all your purchased apps for you.
I clicked download all," he continued, adding, "As each download started it charged me $31.79. Some apps came fast, some took longer, but the timing was directly related to when a new app started to download."
Christman says that though the items say 'refunded' in his account, this isn't the case.
"Apple claims there was only one transaction. When I told PayPal to dispute them, they closed the cases and marked the items as refunded on the 23rd. Bear in mind all this money was taken and never returned yet."
Have you had issues with being charged multiple times for OS X Lion? Let us know your story in the comments below!
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I thought Mac users liked paying for for less. No one should be complaining about this.
Wait, the programmers over at Apple couldn't make this mistake, they are genius! It must be a FEATURE!!!! HAAHHAH
I thought Mac users liked paying more for less. No one should be complaining about this.
Great... jaja
this is a real apple innovation!! new ways of taking your money for nothing!!
Should of read the terms of agreement. It clearly states in article 54 paragraph, 13,
in a microscopic font size that Apple has the right to choose to charge more than its listed price at anytime and that you surrender all assets including your soul over to Apple.
Now if you excuse me its time for me to face the direction of the Apple HQ and pray to our Lord Steve Jobs.
Now the other news that Apple has 70 billion in cash makes sense.
At least they've pre-ordered the next 20 service pac-- I mean OS iterations from Apple.
lul
You're buying it wrong?
Sue: for the overpayment, refund of any penalties levied by your bank, the negative impact said penalties will have on your credit report, and demand interest.
Your money? Now you see it, now you don't! It's magical!
One can only dream of Windows costing $31.79.....
One can only dream of Windows costing $31.79.....
Apparently one can only dream of OS X Lion costing that much too
One can only dream of Windows costing $31.79.....
One can only dream of Win 7 SP1 costing $0.00...
oh wait...
One can only dream of Win 7 SP1 costing $0.00...oh wait...
One can only dream of a Linux distribution costing more than $0.
One can only dream of Linux actually being useful outside nerdsville.
One can only dream of Windows costing $31.79.....
Already does cost lower than that...
opps..
It just works.
One can only dream of Win 7 SP1 costing $0.00...oh wait...
Windows 7 was basically a service pack for Windows Vista, but it's $120 for an upgrade license. $200 for a full license.
Sorry to break it to you, but Microsoft has a higher net profit margin than Apple.
1/3 of Microsoft's revenue is pure profit and it has been like that for 1 or 2 decades.
One can only dream of a Linux distribution costing more than $0.
iOS has more market share than Linux...lol
Sue: for the overpayment, refund of any penalties levied by your bank, the negative impact said penalties will have on your credit report, and demand interest.
That was my first thought as well. Simply file in small claims for $7500 (in CA). It's amazing to me how many people go through the ringer dealing with companies when a small claims suit will usually resolve things much, much faster. The majority of the time you don't even have to go to court as the company then has motivation to resolve the matter for you as there are additional costs associated with having to send a company representative to court.
Windows 7 was basically a service pack for Windows Vista, but it's $120 for an upgrade license. $200 for a full license.
Sorry to break it to you, but Microsoft has a higher net profit margin than Apple.
1/3 of Microsoft's revenue is pure profit and it has been like that for 1 or 2 decades.
Apples and oranges. Microsoft is almost entirely a software company. Apple has transformed into a consumer electronics company and that is where the bulk of revenue comes from. If you compare Apple's profit margins to that of its primary competitors, (which isn't Microsoft) Apple is far higher. For example, Nokia's pretax profit margin is 1.9%--Apple's pretax profit margin is 30.8%.
Apple iDrone John Christman states , "I logged into our developer account and got the latest iTunes Beta, and installed it. iTunes has a cool new feature to download all your purchased apps for you."
Is "cool" really worth all the hassle, inconvienence, and expense, John?.
If I hear that stupid word "app" or "apps" one more time I am going to puke!
I truly and honestly can't stop snickering. hahahhahahaha
This is just like the iPhone signal problem. it only appears, due to a software glitch, that the product price was $31.79. In actuality the price was between $599 and $4000. Steve Jobs will be personally mailing apology rubber bands to all those affected.
You're buying it wrong.....
Apples and oranges. Microsoft is almost entirely a software company. Apple has transformed into a consumer electronics company and that is where the bulk of revenue comes from. If you compare Apple's profit margins to that of its primary competitors, (which isn't Microsoft) Apple is far higher. For example, Nokia's pretax profit margin is 1.9%--Apple's pretax profit margin is 30.8%.
Margins in the software business are usually higher, correct, but you have to compare how Microsoft and Apple achieve those margins.
Apple has a lot of competitors and achieves high margins by actually convincing customers that they products are better.
Microsoft achieves those margins by abusing a monopoly. The most serious competitor they have are some scruffy hippies doing Linux.
Microsoft made Bill Gates the richest man in the world for 13 years and he probably would still be the richest man in the world if he hadn't given so much to charity.
Has anyone else in the last 20 years made any money by selling desktop operating systems?
btw: Microsoft's pretax profit margin was 40,1% last year.
i have to go with PayPal on this one. They have the more mature part of the deal, its apples set up that's new. Lets hope that they work out the bugs soon.
Genny :
Apples and oranges. Microsoft is almost entirely a software company. Apple has transformed into a consumer electronics company and that is where the bulk of revenue comes from. If you compare Apple's profit margins to that of its primary competitors, (which isn't Microsoft) Apple is far higher. For example, Nokia's pretax profit margin is 1.9%--Apple's pretax profit margin is 30.8%.
Margins in the software business are usually higher, correct, but you have to compare how Microsoft and Apple achieve those margins.
Apple has a lot of competitors and achieves high margins by actually convincing customers that they products are better.
Microsoft achieves those margins by abusing a monopoly. The most serious competitor they have are some scruffy hippies doing Linux.
Microsoft made Bill Gates the richest man in the world for 13 years and he probably would still be the richest man in the world if he hadn't given so much to charity.
Has anyone else in the last 20 years made any money by selling desktop operating systems?
btw: Microsoft's pretax profit margin was 40,1% last year.
I'm not disagreeing, but I think you highlighted why some have such a fervent dislike for Apple. "...by convincing customers that their products are better" I see Apple as largely smoke and mirrors. It's absolutely brilliant marketing, but marketing at its core is manipulation (coming from someone with an MBA with an emphasis in marketing). That is not to say Microsoft is some moral beacon but merely that Apple is no better.