Edible Apple

Apple has started refunding OS X Lion users who were erroneously charged multiple times for one software purchase.

In one glaring example of a technical mishap, one user named John Christman recounted how his account was charged 122 times when he downloaded Lion.

I fresh installed Lion, because the upgrade caused a lot of problems. My system needed as fresh start anyway.

I logged into our developer account and got the latest iTunes Beta, and installed it. iTunes has a cool new feature to download all your purchased apps for you.
I clicked download all.

As each download started it charged me $31.79. Some apps came fast, some took longer, but the timing was directly related to when a new app started to download.

Frustratingly, when Christman informed PayPal of the error, they said to talk to Apple whereupon the good folks in Cupertino told him to go back and talk to PayPal. While Christman’s situation seems to be unusually extreme, a number of other users have encountered similar problems. Unfortunately, these overcharges have resulted in real life problems for some users. Christman, for example, was out a few thousand dollars and needed to pay his mortgage while some users on an Apple discussion thread about the same issue recounnted tales of overdraft fees.

Subsequently, Apple has begun handing back refunds to those unlucky group of users who were inexplicably overcharged. Christman writes,

Apple kept me on a very need-to-know basis all along, but once I confirmed the money was in my PayPal account, he then asked for a list of fees to review. Once he saw the fees (very minimal), he offered to pay them and give me a bit extra to pay any additional fees I incur.

via MacRumors