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jtan1

Q: Itunes Pre-Order Appears to Be a Scam

I recently purchased a pre-order album for $11.99. There are 12 songs in the album. Two of them were available for download and I then received an invoice for $1.29 for each song. This does not make any sense since 12 times $1.29 is way more than the cost of the album. I have contacted itunes support 4 times now asking for clarification but there is no repsonse from them (very rude and unresponsive). Does anyone know how this works?

iPad, iOS 6

Posted on Jan 10, 2014 6:07 AM

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Q: Itunes Pre-Order Appears to Be a Scam

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  • by King_Penguin,

    King_Penguin King_Penguin Jan 10, 2014 6:14 AM in response to jtan1
    Level 10 (132,868 points)
    iTunes
    Jan 10, 2014 6:14 AM in response to jtan1

    It's not a scam. From the page that you posted from :

     

    Some pre-orders include songs that are available for download immediately. When you pre-order, you will be charged only for these songs and you will receive them immediately.

     

    When the actual album comes out you should only be charged for the remainder of the pre-order price.

     

    The price of an album is usually less than buying the tracks individually, and with pre-orders you are charged at normal individual track prices if the record company releases tracks in advance of the album - theoretically you could still cancel the pre-order and not get the actual album, so the track prices need to be their normal price.

  • by jtan1,

    jtan1 jtan1 Jan 10, 2014 6:33 AM in response to King_Penguin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 10, 2014 6:33 AM in response to King_Penguin

    Thanks for the quick reponse - that helps a lot - this is the first time that I have pre-ordered an album. The key thing I was trying to get from Apple Support is - will I only be charged for the the remainder of the pre-order price? I thought this was a simple question for support to answer but they are apparently not capable of doing that. I understand from your response that only the remainder price will be charged and hope that is what happens.

     

    I will see how this works but it seems to be better from a customer perspective to buy the CD and import rather than dealing with this type of hassle and lack of support.

     

    Not a good experience with Apple.

  • by King_Penguin,

    King_Penguin King_Penguin Jan 10, 2014 6:38 AM in response to jtan1
    Level 10 (132,868 points)
    iTunes
    Jan 10, 2014 6:38 AM in response to jtan1

    Yes, you should only be charged for the remainder - so if the pre-order price was $11.99 and you've been able to download two of the tracks early (at $1.29 each), then when the album is released you should only be charged $9.41