Since the iTunes Store no longer offers a "buffer" preventing you from accidentally purchasing content (for example after you have customized iTunes to stop asking confirmation before purchasing content), you may end up having to request a store credit or full refund for some of your purchases. In some cases, Apple automatically refunds purchases (as is the case for a purchased TV season that ends up canceled, as explained later in this tutorial), or when a number of people report a problem with a download, in which case iTunes often automatically downloads a free replacement.
Automatic free download replacements
If you get a corrupted TV show or other download, chances are that you are not the only one: typically, the iTunes Store support staff will automatically send you an email informing you that a fixed download is available as replacement, at no cost to you (free), and will automatically be added in your download queue. In cases like this, you will not have to request a refund. The exception is when you decided to download the same TV show (for example) again, to fix the problem: in this case, the iTunes Store will let you purchase the duplicate content only after you confirm that you are willingly purchasing the content a second time. Then, since you will have been charged twice for the same content, you can login to your iTunes account to manually request a refund or credit.
Manually request an iTunes Store credit or full refund
Click on the Store menu, and choose "View My Account". Login as requested, and on the Apple Account Information screen that loaded in iTunes, click on the "Purchase History" button. In the next screen, iTunes lists all recent purchases you have made: scroll to the very bottom, and click on the "Report a Problem" button.
Then, click on the corresponding Report a Problem link displayed for each of your recent purchases. iTunes no longer includes the complaint form within the iTunes Store, but instead opens a web page on Apple's website, giving you first alternate options before you get to the last resort of emailing Apple customer service directly.
Get refunds from the iTunes Store
Since it is difficult to prove that you have not watched a TV show or listen to an album, purchases from the iTunes Store are essentially not-refundable. As we saw in the Purchasing from the iTunes Store tutorial, recent versions of iTunes make it difficult to purchase duplicate content by accident: this means that refundable purchases are limited to low-quality.
But there are exceptions: if you download a TV show whose sound quality is very poor, or that ends abruptly before its actual end, you can contact the iTunes Store staff for a refund. They will usually do one of two things: either give you a store credit in the amount of the purchase, or, as is most often the case, will let you re-download a new version the TV show or album that does not have this problem. You will even get preemptive notices when iTunes notices that a recently posted item had problems, and you will receive an email that includes an updated download link.
Automatic refunds
In some cases, the iTunes Store will automatically refund portions of purchases, for example when a TV show season ends up including less episodes (for which you paid) than originally anticipated. The screenshot below shows a recent case in which an automatic credit was issued to our iTunes account to compensate for missing episode for a season pass purchase:
Note that this type of refunds are not issued as iTunes Store credits: they are instead refunded to the credit card attached to your iTunes account, and you will be able to see the refund in your next credit card statement.