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Apple Offers Refund To Stiffed Breaking Bad Season Pass Customers

Posted by timothy on from the we're-sorry-you-caught-us dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Two weeks ago, a man sued Apple after finding out that the $22.99 he paid for a season pass of Breaking Bad was only good for the final season's first 8 episodes. ... In light the mix-up, Apple late on Monday began informing folks who purchased a season pass for the 5th season of Breaking Bad that they are entitled to a refund in full in the form of a $22.99 iTunes credit." "Mix-up" seems an entirely charitable description.

3 of 215 comments (clear)

  1. That's not a refund. by Forbo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    That's not a refund. A chargeback is a refund. With this they just keep your money and give you the illusion of getting the full value back, when in actuality it costs them cents on the dollar to do this.

    1. Re:That's not a refund. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      You guys realize Apple doesn't set prices or chose how seasons are offered for sale. They can't refund money they have already given to AMC. This is a good faith measure. Why are you complaining to apple when AMC is the reason this happened?

    2. Re:That's not a refund. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Don't be so damned quick to exhonerate Apple, here. Apple was the "vendor", and they deliberately misrepresented the product they sold - period. It's entirely possible that AMC/Sony had some hand in it, however they were selling a "Season Pass" to Breaking Bad Season 5 - no strings attached. This is still "Season 5" regardless of what Apple iTunes insists it is - visit AMC's site, listen to interviews to Vince Gilligan. No one at AMC has *ever* represented the last 8 episodes as anything other than the second half of season 5. Apple is guilty (even if it is a matter of being complicit) of false advertising through manipulation of terms - in this case, selling a "Season Pass" when it only entitled the buyer to half of said season. "Season" is the key term in this whole mess, and Apple grossly abused it's meaning in this case. Yes, I purchased a "Season Pass" to Breaking Bad Season 5, it was the first (and will be only) iTunes "Season Pass" I have purchased. I purchased it last year so I could continue to follow the show while Dish Network was busy lying to it's customers over their blackout/dispute with AMC. To the fanbois who will quickly point out that $22.99 was "far below the value of comparable Season Pass cost", I'd say this: 1) this was the first (and ony) Season Pass I've ever purchased, I had nothing to compare it to, and 2) if you purchase and pay for an entire product months "in advance" of it completion, it's natural to expect some kind of break/discount on said product. In retrospect, at $2.99 an individual episode versus $22.99 for a (half) season in this case, that works out to be a whopping 3.9%/$0.93 savings. Big. Fucking. Deal. Yes, Apple "made good" on what they sold the original "Season Pass" customers - bravo. But not without a lot of screaming, frustration, and finally threats of litigation over the false advertising issue. They didn't do it because they wanted to - they did it because they had to.