How to resolve an unusual billing problem?

Hi all,

I have an ongoing problem with buying books from Apple through iBooks. Basically it’s a bug that I can’t get squashed. Any help would be most welcome.

SUMMARY:

I buy a book from iBooks. The book downloads successfully but, at the time, I get no receipt and no bill for the correct amount that I just spent. But I do get a request for an unrelated amount of $3.38. The same thing happens to my wife, who uses a separate Apple ID but the same card and bank account.

DETAILS:

1. After purchasing and downloading, our bank immediately receives a request for $3.38 - regardless of the price of the book. We can find no record of ever trying to buy a book (or app) for $3.38. Where did that glitch come from? Who knows.

2. Five days or so go past without any further merchant details ever being provided. The $3.38 is then credited back and all trace of it disappears from the bank statement.

3. A further five or so so days go past with nothing more from Apple. This may vary a bit. If we buy another book it may cause a deduction to be made for both the current and previous purchase and a single receipt to be issued for both books. As far as we can tell, we do eventually get charged for what we have bought. But it's been going on for many months now and it’s become a pain to keep track of. We’d really like to get it fixed.

This phantom billing of $3.38 started happening some time last year and has happened many times since. It has always been associated with purchases through Apple. The same card has never apparently had any problems when buying from other merchants, including Amazon Kindle. It only seems to happen with Apple. But presumably the glitch could be anywhere in the chain between Apple and MasterCard and might not be easy to track down.

When I bought a book back on July 21st I politely reported the problem through the system that linked it to the book I’d just bought. The onscreen message said “An iTunes Support Advisor will contact you within 48 hours via the email address associated with this Apple ID to resolve your request”

I received an automated acknowledgement giving me a case number, but no actually reply. Eight days later I’m still waiting for a human response. Are they always that casual?

I don’t want to make changes at this end if the glitch might simply transfer in some way. One of the ideas below might work. Any suggestions please?

a. Setup new Apple IDs

b. Get a new debit card for the account

c. Ditch Apple and buy only through Amazon Kindle, or

d. ????

Thanks for any assistance.

Cheers, Chris