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PSA about Apple Account Balance
June 16, 2023 at
08:37 AM
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For a while now I used to purchase Apple devices using my Apple account balance that I slowed accumulated over time using Apple/Itunes gift cards that were at sale at various places (Target, Chase UR, etc).
But today when I tried to purchase a Macbook air 15-inch from Apple.com, the site said that my payment could not be authorized. Called Apple support and they mentioned that this has been happening for a while now (purchases with Apple account balances) and that they would transfer me to the security review team. After a total of 1 hour and 3 transfers, they asked me to wait for 24 hours while they try to sort out this issue and I should place the order then.
What's really scary is that they did not seem to be concerned about me not being able to access my funds at all. The reason I loaded my gift cards onto my Apple account was because of all the problems we noticed with Apple Gift Cards being wiped clean after a while (especially ones that were purchased at Target). But now it seems like there is no safety for Apple gift cards whether they are loaded onto the account or not.
Take my experience as a PSA - the hoops that we need to jump through and the overall risk is not worth the small savings on gift card deals.
But today when I tried to purchase a Macbook air 15-inch from Apple.com, the site said that my payment could not be authorized. Called Apple support and they mentioned that this has been happening for a while now (purchases with Apple account balances) and that they would transfer me to the security review team. After a total of 1 hour and 3 transfers, they asked me to wait for 24 hours while they try to sort out this issue and I should place the order then.
What's really scary is that they did not seem to be concerned about me not being able to access my funds at all. The reason I loaded my gift cards onto my Apple account was because of all the problems we noticed with Apple Gift Cards being wiped clean after a while (especially ones that were purchased at Target). But now it seems like there is no safety for Apple gift cards whether they are loaded onto the account or not.
Take my experience as a PSA - the hoops that we need to jump through and the overall risk is not worth the small savings on gift card deals.
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FWIW if they start clamping down on gift cards as a payment method I would expect them to take a pretty big (at least 10%) sales hit in the US at the very least.
But today when I tried to purchase a Macbook air 15-inch from Apple.com, the site said that my payment could not be authorized. Called Apple support and they mentioned that this has been happening for a while now (purchases with Apple account balances) and that they would transfer me to the security review team. After a total of 1 hour and 3 transfers, they asked me to wait for 24 hours while they try to sort out this issue and I should place the order then.
What's really scary is that they did not seem to be concerned about me not being able to access my funds at all. The reason I loaded my gift cards onto my Apple account was because of all the problems we noticed with Apple Gift Cards being wiped clean after a while (especially ones that were purchased at Target). But now it seems like there is no safety for Apple gift cards whether they are loaded onto the account or not.
Take my experience as a PSA - the hoops that we need to jump through and the overall risk is not worth the small savings on gift card deals.
FWIW if they start clamping down on gift cards as a payment method I would expect them to take a pretty big (at least 10%) sales hit in the US at the very least.
Even if apple manually fixes this problem for me, the warning on the risk stands and I don't know if I will buy into their gift card deals.
Even if apple manually fixes this problem for me, the warning on the risk stands and I don't know if I will buy into their gift card deals.
That said, the agent's advice makes no sense. Loading a bunch of gift cards and then spending them all soon after is *exactly* what a scammer would do.
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That said, the agent's advice makes no sense. Loading a bunch of gift cards and then spending them all soon after is *exactly* what a scammer would do.
I need to start buying lottery....