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Angry iTunes customer cries foul

updated 09:05 am EST, Tue November 14, 2006

iTunes customer cries foul

One angry iTunes customer is voicing his frustration with Apple's iTunes Music Store after he purchased a South Park, Season 10 Season Pass, only to receive seven episodes instead of the entire season. Comedy Central decided to 'split' the season into two halves and offer each half for $11.99, confusing many customers who purchased the passes hoping to receive all of the episodes in the entire season. What's more, Apple quietly changed the name of the South Park, Season 10 Season Pass to Season 10A, adding Season 10B as the second half of the episodes available to customers after initially posting the season pass without any indication that it would be split into two parts. Another user has launched a blog about the changes to iTunes content following its public availability, trying to rally other frustrated users with the hope that Apple will give them the second half of the episodes.

"I am sorry that Comedy Central's choice to package the Fall Season of South Park with the same name as the Spring Season has caused you frustration. The portion that is now labeled Season 10A was offered as 7 South Park episodes for $11.99, a savings of $2 over purchasing the episodes separately," an iTunes Store customer support representative wrote in an email to the angry customer, who insists that television shows do not have 'fall' and 'spring' seasons and that his purchase was not labeled anywhere as the first 7 episodes of season 10, but rather just a season 10 season pass.

"When I gave my money for South Park Season 10, I trusted the integrity of your business to follow through with this simple and clear to understand description," the angry customer wrote in a reply to iTunes customer support. "Allow me to download the rest of South Park Season 10, this is what we (myself and iTunes) both agreed to at the time of purchase."

by MacNN Staff

(17)

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jarod
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2005

0

11/14, 09:42am | report spam | close Reply |
Sigh

Don't you just love the music and movie industy! The customer is right in this case although Apple can caught in the middle unintentionally. I think Apple should just give this guy what he wants. No need to make a big deal over a few bucks.

unity@mac.com
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Sep 2005

0

11/14, 10:11am | report spam | close Reply |
Ya, me too....

Im still ticked about this. Not that I have to pay more, that I bought season ten and ended up with half of it. I will NEVER buy another season pass again. As a matter of fact, I stopped buying most of the shows I regularly purchased.

iK9
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2004

0

11/14, 10:23am | report spam | close Reply |
season pass

a season pass means just that, if I have a season pass for the red sox, I am in for ALL the games at Fenway -this is a commonly understood term. IF Apple labeled it a season's pass, that means ALL episodes for the season. As to what constitutes a season in the TV business, I'd find an "official" DVD of a South Park "season" and compare. If Apple did indeed get caught in the middle, they should just fork over the extra shows in good will gesture to maintain happy iTunes customers.

unclelar
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Feb 2006

0

11/14, 10:31am | report spam | close Reply |
not the only ones

When I was watching LOST the other night, I notice that they said that was the end of the fall season.

When I was looking for DVD's of Battlestar Gallactica, they broke that into two separate packages for the second season.

It looks like this is going to be more the norm.

Sondjata
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2000

0

11/14, 10:45am | report spam | close Reply |
hard place for Apple

I see no reason to fault Apple for a decision it had no part in. The copyright owner decided to split the season and directed Apple to comply. The customer got the shaft because he bought, through apple, the Southpark season. It would not have mattered if it was Apple or the Zune store, the customer would have been screwed either way. problem for Apple is that if it caves to this customer then it will have to cave to every one who was caught out there. Instead the ire should be directed at the copyright holders who decided to split the season in order to generate more profit. The copyright holders could have waited until all shows had ended their season as understood by it's viewers and then changed to the split format.

climacs
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Sep 2001

0

11/14, 12:31pm | report spam | close Reply |
vote with your $$$

by not buying the fake season pass!

I too think that's bullshit... if they see sales fall off the cliff, they will change their policy.

If it's not a true season pass, why call it that? Deceptive advertising...

Buran
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: May 2000

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11/14, 02:45pm | report spam | close Reply |
No part? Certainly not!

"I see no reason to fault Apple for a decision it had no part in."

It offered a 'season pass' of a program for $x. The customer purchased the pass, which reasonable people understand to be (for weekly shows) around 22 episodes. That is how the phrase is used in literature, in the TiVo programming guide, and in ordinary conversation.

Apple only gave half of that and then refused to make amends when the customer complained. It's Apple's online store. Apple has total control over it. Apple can, and should, fix this and give the guy what he paid for since he paid for it before the terms were changed.

And then Apple needs to "un-split" the passes so that there won't be anyone else who gets upset. "They can't do that" you say?

I guess then I can't change the content on MY website, either.

migs647
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2005

0

11/14, 02:45pm | report spam | close Reply |
7 Episode Seasons

Seven episodes in an entire season is actually starting to become more normal. There are so many tv shows out there now, and not enough time for them. So they are doing seven shows instead of fourteen. This happened to one of my favorite TV Series "The Loop". It is pretty dumb if you ask me. So in affect, apple is right. It is a full season. Blame the broadcasting stations / network stations. This is 100% not apple's fault.

milhouse
Senior User

Joined: Jan 2001

0

11/14, 02:52pm | report spam | close Reply |
Apple should

do the stand up thing and just give everyone who made the same purchase the entire season.

McDave
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jun 2006

0

11/14, 03:19pm | report spam | close Reply |
Depends...

I'm not sure about US law but usually the copyright holder has the right to define what constitutes a 'season' and it's Apple's responsibility, as a vendor, to communicate that on to the customer. If Apple (knowingly or not) mis-informed the customer at the time of purchase by implying season 10 constituted a certain number of episodes, which transpired not to be the case, they must procure the blame. If the customer assumed the number of episodes based on other shows or previous seasons that's not the case & the fault lies with them.

Either way, it's not good for Apple commercially and they would probably concede and seek compensation from the supplier.

Hey, maybe they can launch the service outside of the US?

theothermacguy
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2006

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11/14, 03:40pm | report spam | close Reply |
stop complaining

I don't purchase the TV shows, but if I would buy them, I'd read the fine print. I'm sure the purchase listed exactly how many episodes were included in the purchase. It is a bit sneaky for Comedy Central to split the show into a spring season and fall season. But nonetheless, you should read what you're buying and what you're getting.

And also about the baseball season pass: Although the name may betray the reality, most baseball season passes sold are not for the entire season but for a series of games throughtout the year, maybe 10 games or 25 games. Who has the time to attend 80 baseball games live in the period of a few months? They still call these season passes, but just for a portion of the season. This way they can sell more tickets because there are more people willing to buy smaller packages of games, instead of the entire season.

Moral of the story: read before you buy.

At least Apple has changed the name on the package of shows to minimize misunderstandings in the future. It is not Apple's fault that Comedy Central chose to break up the season. The creatives might not even known that the season was not exactly seven shows. But they run a professional operation and I'm certain that they specified that you were geting 7 shows.

I feel bad that you misunderstood. It is understandible for someone to make that mistake. But don't try to hit them up for each and every time that you feel that you should've known that the season was more than 7 shows. iTunes doesn't want unhappy customers, so theytry to minimize the future misunderstandings but don't ask them to give away a $12 product for free to maybe 100,000 individuals when they are making cents on that and Comedy Central is making dollars on it. And you'll have to agree that if they give you 2 season half for the price of one season half then everyone else who purchased the season half should also get the FREE shows that would normally cost $12.

If iTunes gives away 100,000 FREE passes then they will give away their profit on 1,000,000 to 10,000,000 TV shows. I don't know about you, but that would be a bad business decision in my book.

You can't feel that you're so special that only you deserve the FREE shows. If you or only a small group of people misunderstood, rather than most purchasers of the pass, then that fact goes to the point that it wasn't so unclear as you try to claim.

If on the other hand, the majority of season pass purchasers misunderstood and feel agrieved, then it would be in Apple's best interest to make it up to the loyal customers and get Comedy Central to participate in a concession to the early purchasers of season 10A by offering a discount on season 10B for the first 25,000 purchasers of 10A who take them up on their offer, or all buyerrs of 10A who purchased before they changed the name, etc.

That way you'll feel like they care.

But please don't misread the

theothermacguy
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2006

0

11/14, 03:49pm | report spam | close Reply |
stop complaining

I don't purchase the TV shows, but if I would buy them, I'd read the fine print. I'm sure the purchase listed exactly how many episodes were included in the purchase. It is a bit sneaky for Comedy Central to split the show into a spring season and fall season. But nonetheless, you should read what you're buying and what you're getting.

And also about the baseball season pass: Although the name may betray the reality, most baseball season passes sold are not for the entire season but for a series of games throughtout the year, maybe 10 games or 25 games. Who has the time to attend 80 baseball games live in the period of a few months? They still call these season passes, but just for a portion of the season. This way they can sell more tickets because there are more people willing to buy smaller packages of games, instead of the entire season.

Moral of the story: read before you buy.

At least Apple has changed the name on the package of shows to minimize misunderstandings in the future. It is not Apple's fault that Comedy Central chose to break up the season. The creatives might not even known that the season was not exactly seven shows. But they run a professional operation and I'm certain that they specified that you were geting 7 shows.

I feel bad that you misunderstood. It is understandible for someone to make that mistake. But don't try to hit them up for each and every time that you feel that you should've known that the season was more than 7 shows. iTunes doesn't want unhappy customers, so theytry to minimize the future misunderstandings but don't ask them to give away a $12 product for free to maybe 100,000 individuals when they are making cents on that and Comedy Central is making dollars on it. And you'll have to agree that if they give you 2 season half for the price of one season half then everyone else who purchased the season half should also get the FREE shows that would normally cost $12.

If iTunes gives away 100,000 FREE passes then they will give away their profit on 1,000,000 to 10,000,000 TV shows. I don't know about you, but that would be a bad business decision in my book.

You can't feel that you're so special that only you deserve the FREE shows. If you or only a small group of people misunderstood, rather than most purchasers of the pass, then that fact goes to the point that it wasn't so unclear as you try to claim.

If on the other hand, the majority of season pass purchasers misunderstood and feel agrieved, then it would be in Apple's best interest to make it up to the loyal customers and get Comedy Central to participate in a concession to the early purchasers of season 10A by offering a discount on season 10B for the first 25,000 purchasers of 10A who take them up on their offer, or all buyerrs of 10A who purchased before they changed the name, etc.

That way you'll feel like they care.

But please don't misread the

robopope
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2002

0

11/14, 04:34pm | report spam | close Reply |
Me too

When I purchased the season pass for SP10, I assumed it covered the whole season, as every other SP season is listed as a whole season. This retroactice season splitting was not indicated when I purchased this new season, so to dismissively claim that we should "read the fine print" is disingenuous at best. Nothing will be done and most of us will continue to grudgingly buy the new episodes. Apple won't care and doesn't care. We are a revenue stream, nothing more and nothing less.

kevinpr81
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2006

0

11/14, 05:07pm | report spam | close Reply |
It's not mindless whining

The problem is that Apple did NOT have fine print saying how many episodes there would be. Like it says in the article: "his purchase was not labeled anywhere as the first 7 episodes of season 10, but rather just a season 10 season pass." You can read the complete back-and-forth correspondence this journalist is referring to on the blog he mentions in the article. The customer support representatives even confirm that there was no fine print saying that the season pass was limited to only 7 episodes.

As for not knowing it was going to be a short season, the 10th season of South Park is not only 7 episodes long. South Park seasons have always gone well over 7 episodes. This is not a new series surprising a customer with a short season. It's a completely new definition of a season that Apple and Viacom sprung on unsuspecting customers. Television shows do not have a Season A and Season B within the same numbered season. It is ridiculous to blame a consumer for not knowing the place they were buying from was going to make up new definitions for their products. If the season pass was purchased after the announcement of a split season, it would make sense to blame their ability to read, but this is not the case in this situation.

The complete lack of fine print in the matter is why this truly is a case of false advertisement, and Apple and/or Viacom need to make good on their sale. It doesn't even make sense to have it up for argument, they should just apologize for their mistake and deliver what they sold.

xnusART
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2006

0

11/14, 07:24pm | report spam | close Reply |
You know...

I don't believe Apple can simply give the customers of the season pass the other episodes to be nice, even if they wanted to - Comedy Central holds the copyright. For Apple to give away the other episodes would be a breach of copyright, just like piracy. Apple COULD pay comedy central the money for the episodes, though I am sure they would rather try to discuss terms first - which I am sure happened, before the change was made on the iTS. Apple wants to make their customers happy, lets see what happens over the next few days.

I would like to see Apple bare the cost of the extra episodes and give them to the customers, it would be the right thing for them to do. Apple is usually very fare with its customers, I hope this issue gets cleared very soon.

suilenroc
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2006

0

11/15, 06:04pm | report spam | close Reply |
Other South Park Seasons

If you look at the Episode Guides page for South Park (http://www.epguides.com/SouthPark/), you'll find that South Park has a history of releasing 7 episodes (sometimes 8) before taking a break for the summer, only to finish the season 7 or 8 more episodes in the fall. It's apparently common for Comedy Central to break up seasons like this. The interesting thing, however, is that there have been no other seasons identified with as season 10 is, with the A and B distinctions. This is sneaky on the part of Comedy Central, and quite unfair to those of us who purchased the season pass for Season 10. I don't see the fault in lying with Apple, but with Comedy Central, who obviously (and rightly so) are the ones in charge of how their shows get distributed. Apple is the middle man in this equation. Because of the shenanigans (note the obscure South Park reference with that word) on the part of Comedy Central, I have not, and will not, purchased any other South Park episodes. I have been and will continue to download all of the other South Park seasons via BitTorrent (I've only got season 4 left to do) and won't feel the least bit bad for doing so. I have bought, and will continue to do so, other episodes and season for other shows, just not South Park. It's my way of protesting this, once again, "shenanigan."

Laurence
Mac Enthusiast

Joined: Mar 1999

0

11/15, 11:47pm | report spam | close Reply |
Why bother?

This is the exact reason that I get all my TV shows from bit torrent. They are all available BEFORE they air on the west coast and the quality is much higher than what you get on iTunes. A quick google search for "torrent tv rss" will show you how to get every TV show you want without having to search for shows each time their air... Its like the season pass, but free!

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Angry iTunes customer cries foul

updated 09:05 am EST, Tue November 14, 2006

iTunes customer cries foul

Sigh

Ya, me too....

season pass

not the only ones

hard place for Apple

vote with your $$$

No part? Certainly not!

7 Episode Seasons

Apple should

Depends...

stop complaining

stop complaining

Me too

It's not mindless whining

You know...

Other South Park Seasons

Why bother?

Login Here

10 Most Read

10 Most Discussed

MacNN Marketplace

Angry iTunes customer cries foul

updated 09:05 am EST, Tue November 14, 2006

iTunes customer cries foul

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Sigh

Ya, me too....

season pass

not the only ones

hard place for Apple

vote with your $$$

No part? Certainly not!

7 Episode Seasons

Apple should

Depends...

stop complaining

stop complaining

Me too

It's not mindless whining

You know...

Other South Park Seasons

Why bother?

Login Here

10 Most Read

10 Most Discussed

MacNN Marketplace