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Q: Movie rentals disappear before watching them

Hi,
I rented some movies (4 in total) from iTunes hoping to sync them on my iPad for a road trip. Unfortunately after plugging the iPad, just before I could sync it, I ran into a bunch of bugs and then suddenly two of these movies simply disappeared from the rentals list. In the end I wasn't able to sync any of the movies. I was really looking forward to watching some movies during the trip back home so, I ended up renting one of them AGAIN! (using my iPad, and from my hotel room connection).
These movies DO appear in my purchase history, which means I was charged for things I can't use.
I'm very frustrated to say the least.
Is there some way to bring back those movies to my rentals list? Are they lost forever? (I hope not)
Please help!

iMac G5 21.5, Mac OS X (10.6.5)

Posted on Feb 7, 2011 8:31 PM

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Q: Movie rentals disappear before watching them

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  • by rryba,

    rryba rryba Feb 1, 2012 4:49 PM in response to freshy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 1, 2012 4:49 PM in response to freshy

    I started having the same problem after the upgrade to iOS 5 on my iPad 2. After losing a bunch of rented movies, I went to iTunes support without a lot of luck. After getting to iOS engineers we finally figured out what the problem was with mine (this may not be your problem, but it's big enough that they've elevated it to the software engineers). It was wi-fi sync. For some reason, they haven't figured it out yet, but with wi-fi sync enabled, my movies would disappear. Once I went back to wired syncing, the problem is gone.

     

    What's odd is that movies would disappear even if I weren't syncing. One minute there, one minute gone. So if you have wi-fi syncing enabled and are losing movies, try disabling it. If you're not using wi-fi sync, then it's a whole nuther problem than mine. The engineer I worked with is now reviewing the boards (apparently even though a lot of people seem to have this, or similar problem, it's not a lot in the scheme of things. As I said, it has been elevated to the software folks by Executive, so hopefully we'll see a fix soon.

  • by ejk3000,

    ejk3000 ejk3000 Feb 10, 2012 8:12 AM in response to freshy
    Level 1 (3 points)
    Feb 10, 2012 8:12 AM in response to freshy

    I am having the same type of problem!  I rent a movie from iTunes, download it to my MacBook Pro. Then I sync my iPad 2 and move the rented movie over.  At some point before the 30 day rental period is over (sometimes a day or less) and before I watch it, it disappears from my iPad, and of course it's no longer available on my

    MacBook because I moved it!  Does anybody know how to correct/avoid this problem?  Apple can't or won't help.

  • by tedfromsunnyvale,

    tedfromsunnyvale tedfromsunnyvale Feb 10, 2012 11:47 AM in response to ejk3000
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 10, 2012 11:47 AM in response to ejk3000

    Not using mac but last time I had this problem, I simply went to Apple support express lane :

    https://expresslane.apple.com/GetproductgroupList.do?PRKEYS=131629&locale=en_US

    It's very easy to report the problem.

    Someone contacted me in one day and had my rental restored.

    Hope this helps.

  • by seansterator,

    seansterator seansterator Mar 5, 2012 10:58 PM in response to freshy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 5, 2012 10:58 PM in response to freshy

    I have seen this same problem SO MANY TIMES.

    I spent over an hour watching a movie tonight, and *BAM* the movie "expired" and I could not finish it.

    I then spent the next hour or two trying to find a phone number at Apple to resolve the problem..

    Without any success, I spent the next hour or so trying to find a way to move away from Apple/iTunes/iPhone.

    I will continue to search for a better solution, as not being able to finish a movie I paid for -- is not acceptable, and not having a direct phone number to a HUMAN is not acceptable....menu **** that leads nowhere is no help to one that just lost money....

  • by neiler2,

    neiler2 neiler2 Mar 6, 2012 4:49 AM in response to seansterator
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 6, 2012 4:49 AM in response to seansterator

    There are a couple solutions depending on your setup. On a mac you can go to Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Downloads and the file will be there. Double click and it will open iTunes and restore it to the rentals section. In other other setups this might be Music/iTunes/iTunes Movies ... or some such. If you search "downloads" and find the downloads folder in iTunes your movied should be in it.

  • by 609pop,

    609pop 609pop Mar 21, 2012 7:49 AM in response to neiler2
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 21, 2012 7:49 AM in response to neiler2

    I have had this problem but this is how I sorted it out: on your computer search the name of the film you have rented. When you see it, double click it and it should appear back in your iTunes library. It is similar to neiler2's solution but for me it it just quicker and easier because you don't have to spend hours looking through all the files if you have many film downloads.

  • by RJS5,

    RJS5 RJS5 Mar 25, 2012 6:47 PM in response to 609pop
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 25, 2012 6:47 PM in response to 609pop

    Downloading movies... iTunes was interrupted and had to shut down computer.  BAM! Movies gone!

     

    Went to express lane (as noted by Tedfromsunnyville above) and found this link: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1725

     

    Basically: iTunes -> "Store" tab (up top) -> "check for available downloads". 

     

    Since it's connected to your account, it SHOULD resolve your issues even if you weren't using your Mac.

     

    Don't dig through program files, it's a pain in the rear.

     

    Hope this helps!!!!

  • by sandra 184,

    sandra 184 sandra 184 Mar 27, 2012 3:37 AM in response to Graham11
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 27, 2012 3:37 AM in response to Graham11

    The same just happened to me. it is sooo frustrating

  • by jameseflock,

    jameseflock jameseflock May 15, 2012 1:28 PM in response to freshy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 15, 2012 1:28 PM in response to freshy

    I have two rentals that have dissapeared after just a few days that I have NOT started watching yet.  Does anyone actually have an answer as to how I get them back please??

  • by Bniblock,

    Bniblock Bniblock May 19, 2012 6:43 PM in response to freshy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 19, 2012 6:43 PM in response to freshy

    I have an iPad 2 and downloaded movies on several occasions and they've "disappeared" from my iPad. This usually happens after I've plugged my iPad into my iMac. To date I've had 4-5 movies disappear that I've paid for and would love to have watched them on my trips. Finding a way to report this to Apple is a joke. Apple I expect your products to work a lot better than this.

  • by RJS5,

    RJS5 RJS5 May 19, 2012 8:14 PM in response to Bniblock
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 19, 2012 8:14 PM in response to Bniblock

    All - this is an incredibly frustrating problem.  Even after I managed to recover my files on my iMac using the method I list above, they disappeared into "never never land" when they were on my iPad.

     

    I dont know that Apple is "on it" as rryba has indicated. I launched a complaint using the express lane and got a full refund.  However, when I complained about the problm the tech rep seemed apathetic and uninterested in the problem.

     

    Long story short - simply ask for your money back, Apple will give it to you.  Just dont expect them to care about the issue.

     

    P.S. it helps to have your receipt and order number on hand to reference.

     

    P.P.S. I'm about 6 glasses of wine deep, so please excuse any spelling errors or incoherent ramblings.

  • by sherlin10,

    sherlin10 sherlin10 Jun 24, 2012 7:34 AM in response to freshy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 24, 2012 7:34 AM in response to freshy

    this happened to me but i resumed it by clicking on itunes then click on itunes store on go to the top left corner click on "store" and scroll down to "check for available downloads" it should resume your downloads/rentals

  • by Rexxors,

    Rexxors Rexxors Dec 15, 2012 1:08 PM in response to freshy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 15, 2012 1:08 PM in response to freshy

    I had a similar problem that started this year. A few days after I watched one rented movie, all other unplayed, rented movies expired and were removed from my iDevice. Apple support accused me of clicking play on the other movies. The Apple culture thinks, or knows, its customers are stupid. I've had my original iPad for 2 years, renting movies all during that time, and never before had this problem. Apple support only blames the customer and does not try to resolve their technical issue causing the problem. They want you to pay a "per incident" fee for them to solve their technical problems. I guess that’s one way to accumulate billions of dollars of cash.

     

    I no longer rent movies from Apple. I only have the misfortune of dealing with Apple because I received my iPad as a gift. Based on my experience, I will never buy another Apple product.

  • by carolsasai,

    carolsasai carolsasai Jun 9, 2013 11:26 AM in response to freshy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 9, 2013 11:26 AM in response to freshy

    I rented a movie yesterday and as long as I know it expires after 30 days if you don't start watching. well, I didn't start watching and now that I decided to do it, it's saying that the movie will expire in one hour! please id like a refund!

  • by d1patel,

    d1patel d1patel Sep 7, 2013 11:29 PM in response to phillipsdf
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 7, 2013 11:29 PM in response to phillipsdf

    I am suffering similar problems almost 2 years on. Interesting that Apple doesn't seem to do anything about it. I have just rented my last movie from itunes.

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