Someone used my Gmail address for receipts on iTunes. How do I tell him about his mistake?

January 21, 2012 7:26 AM

Someone used my Gmail address for receipts on iTunes. How do I tell him about his mistake? I am in the UK, he is Rhode Island, USA.

I just got a receipt in my inbox for about $10. I am in the UK and realised these are not my purchases. I tried googling but no phone number came up. I tried 118 104 [the UK number for international directory enquiries], but there is no number registered in that town [Westerly, RI] for this surname.

Any ideas as to how I can tell this guy his mistake?

posted by dash_slot- to computers & internet (11 answers total)

When this has happened to me (not for iTunes but for other online stores) I've just contacted customer service for the store and told them the email address was wrong.
posted by rustcellar at 7:35 AM on January 21, 2012

Oh, you're nice. Since my email was the one being used, I reset the iTunes, password, disabled the person's credit card and changed the password, figuring that when person was unable to download apps, s/he would then take the pertinent steps to provide correct information. But people put my email address down for so many services all over the US that I get tired of following correct channels.
posted by girlbowler at 7:46 AM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

This just happened to me with Microsoft. I received a receipt with an activation code that I figured the person would need. What had happened was that she and I share the same first and middle name and I have an email address that is firstnamemiddlename@ and she has one that is the same with a number afterwards. Microsoft made the mistake and dropped the numbers. I looked her up on facebook and let her know what happened. Try searching facebook (if you haven't already). Otherwise contact customer service. Chances are it's a similar situation where something has been dropped from the email address.
posted by Felicity Rilke at 7:47 AM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

Does iTunes have customizable password reminder questions? If so, I've recently had success with alerting people to the problem by changing their password and changing their password reminder question to "You registered with an email address that doesn't belong to you. Please write me."

The person contacted me and I gave them the new password and they changed their email address on the account.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:57 AM on January 21, 2012

Update:

He's not on Facebook [well, 2 people w his name are but they are in different places, NH & Canada].

My gmail is [e-mail], but i have recently taken to dropping the middle dot. That is the address he used.

If I go to Customer Services in Itunes they communicate by using....my email address. So I am stumped.

I have entered his iTunes/apple account and changed the password, but I am not interested in looking at other details, I just want him to correct his details.
posted by dash_slot- at 8:01 AM on January 21, 2012

Is there a full billing address in their iTunes account info? You could send them snailmail.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:08 AM on January 21, 2012

jacquilynne - I just saw his phone number, tried it & got a voicemail. Im not gonna leave a costly message so I sent him a link to this thread [ http://bit.ly/xTO6ZN ] & a request to email me. It's up to him now :)

Cheers everyone!
posted by dash_slot- at 8:10 AM on January 21, 2012

I have changed the password on his apple ID, put his secondary email as his new ID & login [it is like mine with numbers in it] & removed my email from that box [how on earth Apple verified it I dont know!]

I have sent him via email the new password and hope he is savvy enough to change it immediately. Joe, if you are reading this, do it!
posted by dash_slot- at 8:45 AM on January 21, 2012

Off-but-nearly-on-topic: This is how I met my alternate-universe self four years ago (same name). We're friends now via email, and I still forward the occasional wayward message to her. It's fun to think that there's another version of me hanging out in Doha. She also loves the idea that we're the same entity, but in different places and six years apart... it's a schtick we employ when we update each other on happenings.
posted by heyho at 9:24 AM on January 21, 2012 [6 favorites]

Dots are not significant in gmail addresses so [e-mail] and [e-mail] are equivalent.
posted by rdr at 3:31 PM on January 21, 2012

Thanks rdr, for confirming what I said earlier.
posted by dash_slot- at 5:01 PM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]