PayPal users mistakenly charged as much as $4,000 for Mac OS X Lion
Multiple PayPal users have been incorrectly charged for purchasing Mac OS X 10.7 Lion from the Mac App Store numerous times, with one user claiming to have received a bill of nearly $4,000 for the $29.99 software.
One customer who contacted AppleInsider on Wednesday said they were charged $3,878 on July 28 in a series of 122 separate charges for $31.79 each. They said they reached out to Apple but have not been able to secure a refund.
"Apple blames PayPal, PayPal blames Apple," they wrote in an e-mail. "They both are claiming to investigate, but I am stuck broke for three days now."
The story is bolstered by a growing thread on the official Apple Support Communities, filled with users who have also seen multiple mistaken charges for Lion. The thread was started by user "abhas," who found they were charged by the iTunes Store 20 times for Lion, leaving them with a bill of $599.80.
The problem seems to lie solely with users who have a PayPal account connected to their iTunes Store account for payments. Some who contacted PayPal said they were told that the multiple charges were made by the iTunes Store, while Apple has insisted to some that the iTunes Store only charged ones.
"I just got off the phone with PayPal," user "JustinIowa" wrote. "They said that even though Apple has refunded the balance and it shows that in my PayPal account, that they will not refund the money back to my bank account. It will wait until it withdraws the full amount from my bank balance, then it will be refunded to my PayPal balance."
Some reported that they have been hit with overdraft fees and other charges because of mistaken multiple charges. Some have also been left waiting days for the refunds to reappear in their PayPal accounts.
"App Store agents have told me this is now a known issue and Apple is investigating the specific causes," user "teknikks" wrote on the Apple forums. "So far they can only blame an overload in their automated payment system from all the Lion downloads."
Currently available only on the Mac App Store, Lion got off to a strong start last week, topping a million downloads in its first day of availability. That's the fastest start of any operating system in Apple history.
The switch from disc-based operating system installs to the Mac App Store did result in issues for a handful of users who experienced problems updating their systems to Lion. But by all accounts those issues have been rare, as 14,772 customers on the Mac App Store have given Lion an average score of four-and-a-half stars out of five.
One customer who contacted AppleInsider on Wednesday said they were charged $3,878 on July 28 in a series of 122 separate charges for $31.79 each. They said they reached out to Apple but have not been able to secure a refund.
"Apple blames PayPal, PayPal blames Apple," they wrote in an e-mail. "They both are claiming to investigate, but I am stuck broke for three days now."
The story is bolstered by a growing thread on the official Apple Support Communities, filled with users who have also seen multiple mistaken charges for Lion. The thread was started by user "abhas," who found they were charged by the iTunes Store 20 times for Lion, leaving them with a bill of $599.80.
The problem seems to lie solely with users who have a PayPal account connected to their iTunes Store account for payments. Some who contacted PayPal said they were told that the multiple charges were made by the iTunes Store, while Apple has insisted to some that the iTunes Store only charged ones.
"I just got off the phone with PayPal," user "JustinIowa" wrote. "They said that even though Apple has refunded the balance and it shows that in my PayPal account, that they will not refund the money back to my bank account. It will wait until it withdraws the full amount from my bank balance, then it will be refunded to my PayPal balance."
Some reported that they have been hit with overdraft fees and other charges because of mistaken multiple charges. Some have also been left waiting days for the refunds to reappear in their PayPal accounts.
"App Store agents have told me this is now a known issue and Apple is investigating the specific causes," user "teknikks" wrote on the Apple forums. "So far they can only blame an overload in their automated payment system from all the Lion downloads."
Currently available only on the Mac App Store, Lion got off to a strong start last week, topping a million downloads in its first day of availability. That's the fastest start of any operating system in Apple history.
The switch from disc-based operating system installs to the Mac App Store did result in issues for a handful of users who experienced problems updating their systems to Lion. But by all accounts those issues have been rare, as 14,772 customers on the Mac App Store have given Lion an average score of four-and-a-half stars out of five.
Comments
This is why I have my paypal account backed by US guaranteed securities!
What happens when our country defaults, has a depression, and can't guarantee those anymore?
I don't usually like to argue such semantics, but the headline is misleadingly presenting the notion that Appleinsider has uncovered an additional instance of this scenario (as I have already read this news elsewhere and knew the value to be less than 4k).
PayPal is great...so far. That won't last though. If there is one single site in the world that carries more credit information than PayPal, I don't know about it.
What this means is that the problem is not if...but when...PayPal will become a major target for hackers and it's safety will become permanently compromised, with the loss of millions of $$$ to users throughout the world.
You can pretend what you will. But it is only a matter of time. When you choose to use a site like this one, you are not asking...but rather begging for trouble.
If you use your own card, in a single transaction between you and a single vendor you may still have a problem...but you can be certain that fewer people are actually looking for your CC information that way.
I'd stay away from them... I mean, if I were a client.
Once?
Multiple PayPal users have been incorrectly charged for purchasing Mac OS X 10.7 Lion from the Mac App Store numerous times, with one user claiming to have received a bill of nearly $4,000 for the $29.99 software.
It would be okay if he also received a complimentary OSX Lion copy on DVD or USB.
It would be okay if he also received a complimentary OSX Lion copy on DVD or USB.
First, why does he deserve a free copy of Apple's software just because there was a glitch? It never ceases to amaze me the entitlement some people feel these days.
Secondly, the only way to get a DVD of Lion is to make one yourself. There will never be a Lion DVD for sale from Apple, and the USB version costs twice as much and won't be available for a month or more.
First, why does he deserve a free copy of Apple's software just because there was a glitch? It never ceases to amaze me the entitlement some people feel these days.
Secondly, the only way to get a DVD of Lion is to make one yourself. There will never be a Lion DVD for sale from Apple, and the USB version costs twice as much and won't be available for a month or more.
Lighten-up Professor. Need I end everything with </sarcasm>??? The problem is being resolved as best as possible, so just trying to make light of the situation. Sheesh.. too much coffee today????
First, why does he deserve a free copy of Apple's software just because there was a glitch? It never ceases to amaze me the entitlement some people feel these days.
Secondly, the only way to get a DVD of Lion is to make one yourself. There will never be a Lion DVD for sale from Apple, and the USB version costs twice as much and won't be available for a month or more.
We don't know if that's the only 4k the man had. He should get all of his money back and they(Apple) should work out the deal with pay pal separately.
I didn't even know you could tie your iTunes account to PayPal.
First, why does he deserve a free copy of Apple's software just because there was a glitch? It never ceases to amaze me the entitlement some people feel these days.
Secondly, the only way to get a DVD of Lion is to make one yourself. There will never be a Lion DVD for sale from Apple, and the USB version costs twice as much and won't be available for a month or more.
'also' received. As in 'as well as'. Probably as a return for the extra couple thousand dollars the punter paid for the OS. This might be a joke of some sort. I don't know.