pre-order movies - Why no invoices and proof of agreed payment?

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Level 1

6 points

pre-order movies - Why no invoices and proof of agreed payment?

I pre ordered a movie to save some money.. (14.99 vs 19.99) then the day comes when it comes out and my invoice says its 19.99.

Upon doing a little research, I realized, I never got an invoice of my pre-order showing the amount I actually pre-ordered for. Then, looking at my account page to check my pending pre-orders, they only show the movie and a cancel button.

You really don't get a confirmation how much you agreed to pay until the movie is out and ready to be downloaded. (Day you are actually charged)

This is the first time, I am not happy with Apple..

In my opinion you SHOULD confirm via email the person's pre-order and the amount he or she agreed to pay at the time of ordering. If you go and change the prices on me, why should I bother to pre-order anything? Smartly you leave the customer with no records, unless he or she takes a screenshot. (Which I now did and I have a little database to reference) If I am wrong, please advise why we don't get an invoice etc.. I would love to be proven wrong here. Especially, since I am a HUGE apple fan and this is the first time, I am truly disappointed and have the feeling of being duped. (Something Apple never had to stoop to, since the products speak for themselves)

Thoughts?

Posted on Mar 4, 2015 7:59 PM

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Answer 1

Mar 4, 2015 8:07 PM in response to BMKR

Nobody sends invoices for pre-orders. Amazon doesn't and neither does iTunes. And the reason why is because prices can change. If you want to contact iTunes Support they may be able to straighten it out:

iTunes Support WorldWide

Also, pre-orders are not cheaper than ordering it after the fact. Are you certain you didn't look at the SD price and then the HD is what you got? Most movies on iTunes are $14.99 for SD and $19.00 for HD....

Cheers,

GB

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Answer 2

BMKR Author

Level 1

6 points

Mar 4, 2015 8:57 PM in response to gail from maine

Thanks for your comment but actually your wrong.. How about you look up Kingsman or 50 shades of grey as examples.. they are 14.99 in HD. Also, I never buy SD and I own over 400 movies and god knows how many TV shows.

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Answer 3

BMKR Author

Level 1

6 points

Mar 4, 2015 9:03 PM in response to gail from maine

Oh and Amazon has a pre-order price guarantee.. (again, the lure of pre-orders)

I can't display the actual Amazon policy but is comes up if you google it "type: Amazon pre-order price guarantee" and you do get a invoice showing price at time of purchase.

This is not intended as an advertisement for Amazon and their invoicing system, merely because you mentioned that Amazon does it.

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Answer 4

Mar 4, 2015 9:05 PM in response to BMKR

I stand corrected. Your best bet is to contact iTunes Support to get this straightened out. They may also be able to tell you why Apple does not put the pre-order price in writing. We are not Apple here - we are just users like you, so really have no idea what the answer would be.

I do know that I pre-order a lot of stuff from Amazon, and I never get anything until it is fufilled. So, seems in line with industry practice.

Cheers,

GB

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Answer 5

BMKR Author

Level 1

6 points

Mar 13, 2015 11:48 PM in response to gail from maine

Hi Gail,

No worries, I appreciate you taking the time to reply.

I was more hoping for someone at Apple to reply and advise on this "invoicing system" .. as well as raise the issue to other customers.

Amongst my remaining 4 pre orders, I have one, of "Interstellar". By the time I figured out that I am actually charged more than I recall paying for at the time of my pre order, the charge went up to 19.99. When I placed the pre order, I am fairly certain it was 14.99. No proof at this point and of course, I can go and cancel that pre-order. But I would also cancel the original price I purchased this at. If only there was some way to track it. (that somewhat the reason why i started the post) All other pre-orders, I went in, clicked the purchase button and took a screenshot of the popup that notifies me that I already purchased the item. Thus, proving the purchase as well as showing the price in the background. (while it is at 14.99).

Anyways, I am probably making that sound more complicated than it needs to be.. still, the question remains.. how do I or other customers know what they paid for in a pre-sale? Once the item is out and the movie confirmed as purchased via invoice at the date of release, there is no going back.. no returns and at the same time, the customer can't proof a thing. (nor would I want to then get into a "he said, she said" situation with apple)

If I don't get some sort of resolutions, pre-orders will simply not be worth it. I don't want to fight each measly charge via screenshot proofs etc..

Sadly as I am moving to a complete digital movie library for all my purchases, this really is something I would love to get resolved. My library is far to big, to suddenly start moving to an amazon digital library.

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Answer 6

BMKR Author

Level 1

6 points

Mar 14, 2015 12:16 AM in response to BMKR

On second thought..

I just cancelled my last pre orders.. Its just not worth the trouble. I will continue as I had before... buy when its out and if I like the price.

This whole pre-order business is more trouble than what its worth. (case in point me wasting time posting on here) A friend of mine, sold me on the advantages of pre ordering on iTunes but for once, I wish I had not let someone talk me into something I didn't need.

Case closed.. the answer no longer matters to me. I did great before without pre-orders and its clearly the way to go for me. (until there is a proper invoicing order proof system) Ill check back in a few years..

Cheers

B

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