Your account balance may be wrong.

I just got my ccard statement and noticed a couple of $.99 purchases from Apple. I figure that was for some in game purchases I've made. The problem is, I have a balance of $17.07 in my account (from a gift card), so I shouldn't be getting charged.

After finding the needle in the haystack that is actual chat support, I got a rep who explained that this happens sometimes, and I was being charged because my balance ran out over 3 months ago....even though my account balance in iTunes was still showing $17. If it ran out in April, that number wasn't current for much longer than 3 months, as these silly .99 in game purchases are pretty much all I've bought lately.

So my choice to spend that "free" money turned into "real" money because iTunes was showing my account balance incorrectly.

I connected to the iTunes store, and my balance zeroed out. I pretty much never go to the iTunes store. It seems like that your balance will only be updated if you connect to the store or sign off\on.

So, if you're iTunes behavior is similar to mine, that $ you see in your account balance may not be there.

I'll add that the support guy was helpful and refunded the $5 or so of purchases after my account ran out. I had asked if a defect had been opened and he said they log problems so they can be fixed.

I know some apple problems are kind of buggy and annoying, but reporting false financial information is a bit different. I work for a big bank, and if we were to report false balances on our online apps, we rack up fines and people get fired.

I really hope they fix it soon, but figured I should warn others of this behavior.

Thanks.