iTunes User Files Class Action Lawsuit Against Apple After Paying Twice For One Song

An iTunes customer who was billed twice for the same song has filed a class action lawsuit against Apple after the Cupertino company refused to refund his money. Robert Herskowitz $2.58 for Adam Lambert’s pain-inducing pop song “Whataya Want From Me,” but he should have paid just $1.29.

He’s now taking Apple to court in an effort to make refunds easier for iTunes customers.

It’s notoriously difficult to get a refund out of Apple for anything you’ve purchased from iTunes, the App Store, or the Mac App Store. In fact, it’s sometimes easier to just go straight to a developer when your issue concerns software. Apple has needed a much simpler process for some time, but we’re yet to see one.

After paying nearly $3 for an embarrassing pop song, Herskowitz felt it was time to step up and force Apple into making a change. He’s filed a class action lawsuit against the company, which reads:

This is a nationwide putative class action for damages and injunctive relief relating to Apple’s unlawful policy and practice of refusing to refund Apple’s customers who have been ever charged for purchases of products and Iservices from -Apple’s “e-Stores” in violation of the customer agreements governing those transactions, the California Unfair Competition Law (“UCL”), Cal. Bus. & Prof Code 17200, et seq., and common law … Under the Agreement, as with any consumer transaction, customers are to be billed only once for the products and services they purchase. Apple, however, has “double billed” customers for purchases made through the Apple Stores. Even more troubling, Apple has implemented a policy and practice of refusing to refund the extra charge to customers who have been over billed, causing their credit cards or PayPal accounts to be billed twice for a single purchase.

In Herskowitz’s case, it actually seems like he may have accidentally hit the “buy” button twice for “Whataya Want From Me,” because Apple insists his refund request was “carefully considered” and that he was ineligible for the claim:

Your request for a refund for “Whataya Want from Me” was carefully considered; however, according to the iTunes Store Terms of Sale, all purchases made on the iTunes Store are ineligible for refund. This policy matches Apple’s refund policies and provides protection for copyrighted materials.

Whatever the case may be, I think we can all agree that Apple needs to introduce a better refunds process for its digital stores. We’ve all purchased iOS apps and games that aren’t what they claimed to be, and we’d all like to get our money back. But as things stand, it’s just too darn complicated.

Whether or not a judge understands that remains to be seen. Let’s just hope they’re an App Store user.

Source: Techlaw

Via: Macgasm

Killian Bell

Killian Bell is a freelance writer based in the U.K. He has an interest in all things tech and also covers Android over at CultofAndroid.com. You can follow him on Twitter via @killianbell.