Apple adds another month free for some MobileMe trials

For our friends and neighbors in the UK (and elsewhere: see the update below), the MobileMe quagmire continues to fester. Infinite Loop is reporting that some users were erroneously charged to the tune of £121, and Apple is offering those users another free month of service.

Apparently, when someone tries to create a trial account in the UK, a 50p pre-authorization is placed on the user's credit card. (Not unlike buying fuel and paying with a credit card.) Unfortunately, instead of 50p, someone mashed the keypad, and users were billed £121 instead.

For debit card users, it's worse: the money is actually removed from your account, of course. Once the mistake is corrected it takes as much as a month for the funds to reappear.

Apple is, of course, refunding the charges for credit cards, and "working to have these holds removed earlier" for debit card users.

These users now have four months to try the service.

Update: According to some of our commenters, this affects users in Germany, France, Switzerland, Belgium, and Canada too. Wow.