Is it illegal under false advertisement for iTunes to have a movie offer in the wrong store?

The will most likely categorize it as a clerical error / omission and not as false advertising per se. To prove false advertising, there would have to be some sort display of intent to defraud.

Although I sympathize with you, you will not win the argument.

You know the wage slave with whom you had the chat is not authorized to give you the deal, probably has no idea on how to achieve your desires, and most importantly, could care less one way or another. Can you try to dial up the original offer & buy it from the Irish site? How much effort are you ready to expend on this?

@stanleybmanly the offer is not available from the Irish iTunes store at all. They have not given Irish customers any film bundle offers for the Bourne movies. You can still preorder the new film. But the closest thing to an offer is a slight reduction of price on the previous four movies. They work out as €5.99 each. Which in turn would be twice as much as the UK store gets based on their bundle offer. It would work out as over €23, where as the UK customers get them for £9.99 (which is worth €10.63).

But as soon as you click on the original offer in the Irish store, you are redirected to the new Bourne movie to pre-order. You have no options for a movie bundle. But they let you purchase the older movies individually for €5.99 each.

I think @elbanditoroso and @stanleybmanly both have it. You won’t get anywhere because you can’t prove intent and the person you’re talking to doesn’t have the authority to do what you want.

Apple also has a whole bevy of arguments they can use against you. False advertising requires malicious intent. It usually involves making claims about the product. When it’s about the pricing, the fees have to be hidden until after purchase.

And that’s all before they ask what evidence you have that you weren’t looking at the UK storefront. It’s not illegal to offer the same product for different prices to different people, and they might have some sort of economic reason to give people in the UK a different deal.

@Uberwench Unfortunately yourself, @elbanditoroso and @stanleybmanly are correct.

I did take a screen shot of the advertisement. It clearly shows that most of the prices are in euro with the exception of the Jason Bourne ad being in british pounds.

But as you have all pointed out, I cannot prove intent. I was not aware that proving intent was relevant in the first place. But I guess finding out the correct information is the point of my question.

@NerdyKeith The initial complaint was a good idea. Sometimes they’ll happily give you the same deal they’re offering other people. But sometimes they won’t (or can’t). I don’t think there’s anything more you can do. Sorry it didn’t work out.

@Uberwench Ok well thanks for the advice and information.

On the upside they did give me three free rentals. I’ll probably use them at some stage.

I heard a report on the radio that in a poll of millenials a full 90% stated that they don’t and never will pay for content. I wonder if that includes going to theaters? In any event, it floored me as a revelation, and I think those in the business of providing and transmitting content are beginning to feel the wave. Our kids have loaded us up with so much stuff (most if which I don’t understand), that a few months ago I called the DISH people and told em to come get their equipment. They told me that returning the equipment was on me, then passed me on to someone who asked what he needed to do to keep my business. When I told him “give it to me free”, the negotiations began in earnest. The bottom line was that we got a 40% reduction in our bill, along with 90 days of Showtime
& HBO. It was a lesson I’ll
remember.

@stanleybmanly Yes I think companies like satellite tv providers can be persuaded to give you better deals. More companies should be operating like this I feel. I could very easily torrent everything I want and possibly get away with it too. But at the end of the day it is stealing. And I always think back to the examples that have been made of those who break copyright laws.

In any case I think Apple could be doing more to make iTunes more appealing internationally and to wider audiences. Not nearly enough of their international stores offer TV shows, their prices could be lower and special bundle packages are too minimal. They basically need to offer better incentives to their customers. This is coming from someone who normally loves Apple products. But their services need vast improvements.

Given that false advertising laws are different in the EU than in NA, if you are interested in pushing for the advertised deal, why not check to see whether intent is actually a factor in these cases? It may well be that the company has to honour an offer even if it was posted as an honest mistake.

There’s a get out clause in the law where the retailer doesn’t have to honour the price advertised if the retailer has made a genuine mistake and the consumer should have noticed. Given the offer was advertised in £ as opposed to € there’s an argument to be made that it was genuine mistake.

@dappled_leaves My answer was based on EU laws. I spent a lot of time looking them up and reading through them before responding.

@Uberwench Yes the issue of EU laws is very relevant. Even if Ireland wasn’t an EU nation, iTunes would still be obligated to abide by Irish law since they are trading in Ireland.